1. The Constitution 📜

Articles of Confederation:

• 1776

• first attempt to create a government

• between 13 US states

• loose commonwealth of countries → no president!

• little central authority

When was Shay’s Rebellion?

1787

What was the purpose of Shay’s Rebellion?

• led by Daniel Shay

• Daniel → was owed money for service in the war → congress couldn’t pay veterans because there was no national money

• Shay + other farmers stormed Massachusetts

• they realised that if there was no government, there would keep being rebellions

Constitutional Convention:

1787 → attended by 55 → the Founding Fathers 👴👴👴👴

→ drew up the Constitution!

→ needed 9/13 states to ratify it before it could come into effect

when did the 9th state ratify the Constitution?

June 1788 → New Hampshire

when was the 17th Amendment, enabling people to directly vote individuals into the Senate?

1913

what did Alexander Hamilton (🎵) think of an elected democracy?

it wouldn’t work → people would be too fearful of losing their jobs / losing elections to always act for the greater good

what did the Constitution say about slavery?

nothing! it left the issue unresolved and avoided direct mention of slavery.

‘The Bill of Rights’

• the first 10 amendments to the Constitution

• agreed in 1789 and ratified in 1791

• focus on individual rights: freedom of speech, religion

what is the Connecticut Compromise?

• dealt with the clash between small + large states

• the Senate (upper chamber) would have equal representation from each state

• the House of Representatives (lower chamber) would have representation based on population size.

• the compromise also established that enslaved people were 3/5th of a freeman→ to estimate the number of seats for the House of Representatives

• compromise between founding fathers who wanted strong central gov. (Hamilton) and stately powers (Jefferson)

Constitution is a mix of vague + specific powers. Give example of each:

Vague:

Article II, Section 3: “[The President] shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed”

Congress can “provide from the common defence and general welfare of the United States”

Specific (enumerated):

Article I, Section 8: “To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof”

Minimum age for various positions: President = 35, Senator = 30, member of the House of Reps = 25

‘Elastic Clause’

• the ‘necessary and proper clause’

• empowered Congress to make all laws that are ‘necessary and proper’ to carry out its duties

give examples of the ‘necessary' and proper’ clause being weaponised:

1. Immigration Act 1924 → banned the entry of all Asian people to the USA

2. Voting Rights Act 1965 → expressly forbids racial discrimination in voting

this clause enables for shifts with the times BUT can also be manipulated

slavery in the Constitution:

not mentioned → resulted in a bloody civil was of the 1860s

1865 → Thirteenth Amendment → slavery is banned

Nineteenth Amendment:

1920 → Women are enfranchised

Second Amendment:

‘right to bear arms’ → but ALSO ‘A well-regulated Militia, being necessary for the security of a free state’

the issue with the President, Congress, and war:

→ Const. gives Congress the power to officially declare war.

→ BUT the President is “commander-in-chief”

→ SO Presidents can order military action without Congress knowing: secret bombing missions of Laos and Cambodia during the Vietnam War (1955 - 1975)

when did judicial review come into fruition in the US?

1803 → Marbury v Madison

examples of a later Supreme Court overruling a previous ruling: (education)

1. 1896 Plessy v Ferguson is overturned by 1954 Brown v Board of Education

2nd example of the Supreme Court overturning a previous ruling:

West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish (1937) overturns Lochner v. New York (1905)

what causes gridlock?

1. budgeting → proposed by President → sent to Congress (could be Dems vs. Reps)

2. legislating → President can veto legislation → Congress can refuse to pass legislation put forward by the President

2 examples of US political gridlock

1. 2018 - 2019: 35 partial federal government shutdown → longest in US history! Trump + the Senate wanted funding for the US-Mexico border, the Democratic House didn’t want to support it.

2. Merrick Garland Nomination Block (2016) → after Justice Scalia’s death, Obama nominated Garland for SCOTUS → Rep Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to hold hearings → Dem President v. Rep Senate

post-textbook examples of political gridlock:

Democrat Pres. Biden vs. Rep. Congress → $2.2 trillion on social spending (blocked by 2 Dem Senators + Reps) → Police Reform → Voting Rights Protections → Climate Measures

different methods of voting:

1. electronic voting machines

2. paper ballots

3. mail ballots to all voters (Utah)

   1. lever machines introduced in 1990s

Georgian 2021 runoff election:

→ in 2020 election, neither candidate for its 2 senatorial races achieved over 50% of votes in November

→ they needed a runoff election in January 2021

different states having different rules for electoral ids:

1. Kansas + Mississippi → strict voter ID laws → arguably ‘voter suppression’

Trump + Rep supporters still argued that the 2020 election was ‘stolen’

separation of powers:

1. clear separate branches

2. BUT some share powers → e.g. Congress + President have legislating powers

no-one can serve in both Congress + legislature:

• Hillary Clinton had to resign as Senator for New York when appointed Secretary of State

• Deb Haaland resigned as a New Mexico congresswoman when Biden nominated her as secretary of the interior in 2020

2024 example of someone resigning in Congress to go to the Exec:

2024 → Matt Gaetz → resigned from the U.S. House (for Florida) after being announced as Trump’s nominee for the US Attorney General

the VP casting the vote in the Senate:

1. Mike Pence → used to confirm Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary in 2017

2. Mike Pence → to confirm Jonathan Kobes for the Court of Appeals in the Eighth Circuit (2018)

3. Harris used this power 33 times

   4. American Rescue Plan → $2.1 trillion package → VP Harris used her casting vote

Trump I → 3 new SCOTUS judges

1. Neil Gosuch

2. Brett Kavanaugh

3. Amy Cohen Barrett

6:3 Republican:Democrats

Trump, Biden, and the Presidential Pardon:

1. Biden + Hunter Biden

2. Trump → pardoned 1500 people from the January 6th riots

3. 2018 → Trump pardons Scooter Libby → a former Chief of Staff to VP Dick Cheney, convicted of perjury + obstruction in a CIA leak case

Presidential veto of Congressional Acts or resolutions:

• Obama vetoed the Keystone XL pipeline + issued 12 regular vetoes in his 2 terms in office

• Trump → vetoed a resolution revoking his declaration of a national emergency at the US-Mexico border

Presidential veto being overturned by a supermajority (2/3) in both houses:

2016 → Obama’s veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act [JASTA]

Bush → had 4/12 vetoes overturned

Trump → 1/10 vetoes overturned → defence spending bill in January 2021

Presidential threat of veto:

• Obama made 4 threats in his 2015 State of the Union Address to stiffer Iran sanctions, diluting or overturning his Affordable Care Act, loosening Wall Street oversight, and tightening immigration controls.

Senate must confirm presidential appointments to the administration:

2013 → Senate blocks the Obama appointment of Robert Wilkins to the District of Columbia court of appeals.

2024 → Matt Gaetz → sexual misconduct → Attorney General application

Elise Stefanik → concerns over the Republican’s thin House majority

Executive Orders:

2017 → Trump → travel ban on visitors from several countries (mostly Muslim-majority countries)

Senate threat to reject presidential appointments:

2020 → Biden’s Neera Tanden as Director of Office Management and Budget → withheld in March 2021 when it was clear she would not secure Senate votes.

President using the ‘Commander-in-Chief’ Role:

2001 + 2003 → Bush orders invasions of Afghanistan + Iraq

Congressional power of the purse:

Biden → did not get all the money he wanted for his Build Back Better Act $1.7 trillion for funding social programmes → this was scaled back to the Inflation Reduction Act

Impeachment:

2019 → House vote to proceed in the impeachment of Trump

• Trump accused of pressuring Ukraine’s president to investigate Joe + Hunter Biden, by withholding military aid

2021 → vote to impeach him AGAIN

• incitement of insurrection → January 6th Capitol riots

Congress blocks treaties negotiated by POTUS:

• 2/3rds vote in the senate required to ratify treaties.

• 2012 → Senate fails to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

• Passed 61 - 38, but needed 5 more votes to get ratified

Congress investigating Presidential actions:

• 2019 → House Oversight and Reform Committee launches an inquiry to a potential conflict of interest over increased spending by the US air force refuelling at a struggling Scottish airport near a resort owned by Trump

POTUS nominates all federal judges:

Obama → Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan

Trump → Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett → 33% of SCOTUS are Trump-nominated →

SCOTUS checks the President:

Judicial Review → Hamden v. Rumsfeld → rules against George W. Bush’s attempts to try suspected members of terrorist groups al Qaeda.

July 2020 → Trump v Vance + Trump v Mazards → both involving tax and financial record of Trump → ruled that the President is not above the law

POTUS issues pardons:

Gerald Ford → pardons Nixon

Trump → pardons media mogul Conrad Black in 2019 (who had previously written Trump a favourable biography)

Obama → issues 330 commutations on his final day

Trump → 73 pardons → 70 commutations (includes Steve Bannon → serious fraud chargs)

Congress impeaches federal judges:

2010 → Louisiana federal judge → Thomas Porteous → successfully impeached for corruption

SCOTUS can declare acts of Congress unconstitutional:

• 2013 → Defense of Marriage Act was ruled unconstitutional in United States v Windsor → major advance for the legislation of same-sex marriage!

• June 2024 → SEC v Jarksey → Court ruled that the Securities and Exchange Commission that a congressional law allowing SEC to impose civil penalties through in-house administrative proceedings, violated the 7th Amendment’s guarantee in a jury trial

post-textbook SCOTUS declares a Congressional act unlawful:

June 2023: US vs Hansen → a federal law states it is a crime to ‘encourage or induce illegal immigration’ → SCOTUS reviews whether this law violates 1st Amendment + too broad = not overturned, but limited

judicial review 2025:

PTE: May 2025. SCOTUS blocked President Donald Trump's attempt to deport Venezuelan nationals under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The administration provided detainees with as little as 12 hours' notice before deportation, without adequate opportunity to contest their removal .The Supreme Court found this approach unconstitutional, emphasizing that such practices denied individuals their right to due process under the Constitution.

4 examples of presidents locking in and putting legislation through in their first 2 years (before the midterms!)

2010 = Obama + Affordable Care Act

2017 = Trump + Tax cuts + Jobs Act

2021 = Biden + American Rescue Plan Act

2025 = Trump + ‘Big, Beautiful” bill → Tax Cuts

2024 gridlock over Ukraine + border security:

→ the bipartisan border security + Ukraine aid package bill collapsed in the House of Representative

→ tied aid to Ukraine + Israel, humanitarian assistance to Gaza, and major changes to US border + asylum policy

there are 2 routes for amending the constitution:

1. 2/3 majority in BOTH houses

2. ¾ of state legislatures must then ratify the amendment

successfully done 27 times!

1. at a ‘constitutional convention’ that must be called by 2/3rds of states

2. ¾ of state legislatures must then ratify the amendment at special state ratifying conventions

successfully done NO times! came close in 1992 with 32 states petitioning for Congress to propose a balanced budget amendment

how many amendments have there been to the constitution?

27

what are the first 10 amendments of the Constitution known as?

the bill of rights 1

1st Amendment:

freedom of religion, speech, press, and assembly 2

2nd Amendment:

right to bear arms

8th Amendment:

bans the use of ‘cruel and unusual’ punishments

13

13th Amendment:

1865 → abolishes slavery

14th Amendment

citizenship to formerly enslaved people - ''equal protection’’ clause

26th amendment

1971 → lowered the minimum voting age from 21 to 18

27th Amendment:

1992 → Increases to congressional salaries must take place AFTER elections. Originally proposed by James Madison but didn’t make the cut in the original Bill of Rights.

what is the Equal Rights Amendment?

1971 → aimed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex

• approved by House in 1971 + in the Senate in 1972

• Congress set a 7 year deadline for state legislatures to ratify the amendment.

• ERA falls 3 states short of the required 38 for ratification

Jan 2025: Biden declares the ERA ‘law of the land’ → symbolic and meaningless legislatively

is the US constitution too hard to amend formally?

YES:

• 27 amendments in 200 years is not impressive

• contains outdated provisions: Electoral College + Second Amendment

• women and people with disabilities are not constitutionally protected

• too many informal judgements made by the SCOTUS

• no national constitutional convention has ever been held

NO:

• change only happens when there is wide consensus (a good thing?!)

• obsolete clauses can be repealed → Prohibition → and clauses can be modified without outright abolition (e.g. Second Amendment)

• groups of people can be protected in federal + state laws!

• SCOTUS often takes the direction of public opinion into account (LGBTQ+ rights)

Abortion rights court case:

Roe v Wade (1971) → protected a woman’s right to have an abotion

overturned in 2022 → Dobbs v Jackson

District of Columbia v Heller (2008)

gives people the explicit right to a private gun ownership Mi

Miranda v Arizona (1966)

the right of those stopped by police to remain silent and avoid self-incrimination - AKA the ‘Miranda’ rights

Citizens United v Federal Election Commission (2010)

the right of corporations and interest groups to enjoy First Amendment rights + extends the notion of free speech to political activity + interest groups

Obergefell v Hodges (2015)

rights of LGBTQ+ Americans

Carpenter v United States (2018)

extended the right of privacy of mobile phone data

what are people who take a literal reading of the constitution called? how about a dynamic meaning?

strict constructionalists v loose constructionalists

the constitution + federalism:

→ not explicitly mentioned

→ all powers not delegated to federal powers “are reserved to the States respectively or to the people”

→ e.g. Marijuana is completely legal in Vermont and Maine, but illegal in Idaho and Kansas

Federal Gov increases → 1865 the North win the civil war

fighting over slavery but also states’ rights

Racial segregation legalised in southern states

• successfully challenged + ended the federal government of the 1850s and 1860s

16th Amendment (1913) → national income tax

→ only constitutional amendment to have expressly extended the power of central gov.

the 1930s - 1960s →

WWII → federal government increases! industry was on a national scale

1950s - 1960s → laws passed to end practices that prevented African-American people voting → some national healthcare schemes like Medicare are introduced

‘New Federalism’ under Nixon (70s) and Reagan (80s)

→ Republican presidents give the states more power

→ federal money

George W. Bush + ‘Big Government’

2002 → No Child Left Behind Act

Patriot Act after 9/11

Obama + ‘big government’

• government spending rose with the Affordable Care Act

• several measures to stimulate the economy growth after 2007-2008 crash

• American Jobs Act 2011 → $140 billion for repairing roads + modernising schools

Trump I + ‘big government’

• Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 2017

• March 2020 → Trump passes the largest ever US financial stimulus package: $2 trillion

• invoked the Defense Production Act 1950 → president has power to force private industries to create items required for national defence

Biden (2021):

National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor (2022) somewhat failed to force large employers to all be vaccinated as it was struck down by the SCOTUS - but still reflects the federal stance to healthcare

American Rescue Plan - $1.9 trillion

Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (2021) - $1.2 trillion

after Dobbs vs Jackson, Biden ensured that interstate travel for abortion was protected

Attempted: Department of Education attempted to cancel student debt but this failed after Biden v. Nebraska 2023 in the SCOTUS 

Passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act imposing stricter background checks + incentivised state-level red flags

Trump II ‘big government’:

June 2025 → Trump federalises 2,000 California National Guard troops to support ICE operations during immigration protests → Trumps overrides state authority and diminishes governor’s control over their own National Guard forces

The Tea Party Movement 🫖

• began in 2007

• opposed Obamacare

• ‘astroturf movement’ → purporting spontaneity but created by hidden elite interest

• flopped and was dead by 2016

• called for lower taxes, reduction of national debt, and a federal budget deficit

Maine vs Alabama in legislation !!

Protective of abortion → covered by state Medicaid → private health insurance not required → carried out by all qualified professionals

Restrictive → completely banned → patients forced to get an ultrasound (even if unnecessary!!!)

no death penalty (as of 1887) → one of 23

death penalty → one of 27

4 votes in electoral college

9 votes in electoral college

closed primary → 2024: Maine voters can cast ballots without having to join a party

open primary → all voters choose one party’s ballot to vote on + they are not tied to that party. voters that don’t participate in either primary will only be given amendment ballots

times of crisis:

states + governors at forefront of response → Hurricanes Katrina + Sandy → COVID pandemic

e.g. Ohio = quick to lock down, Florida = much slower, Arkansas = never had a full lockdown

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene

 Introduced the Protect American First to end immigration at the Southern border, halting all immigration for 4 years and funding and building 'the wall'.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Co-sponsored and voted for the Women's Health Protection Act (WHPA) which passed out of the House in July 2022. This would reject the SC's ruling on Roe and codify abortion rights into federal law. As a member of the Pro-Choice Caucus, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez also supports repealing the Hyde Amendment, prohibiting federal funds from being used to cover abortion care and, in doing so, denies healthcare to millions of low-income families

problems with the constitution:

1. rigid!! uneven approach to protecting rights

2. enhanced the role of unelected judges

3. ambiguous about war-making powers

4. Electoral college failed to represent popular vote in 2000 + 2016

5. people know who candidates are now. Electoral college is pointless!!

6. biennial elections of the ENTIRE house and 1/3rd of the Senate → constant campaigning

7. Bill of Rights and 2nd Amendment appear anachronistic

the balance between big and small states with the constitution:

the gap between the smallest + biggest has changed since 1776:

• 1789 → gap was 12x

• now → California has 68x more people than Wyoming !!

‘search and destroy’

• Brett Kavanaugh = justice on the Court of Appeals for DC before being a part of SCOTUS → allegations of sexual harassment + owed more to his conservative judicial stance → aggressive ploys to get him unnominated

Amy Coney Barrett nomination [2020]:

52-48 with only 1 Republican and NO democrats directly breaking party ranks

what was the marginal SCOTUS ruling on Obamacare?

5-4

what are social rights?

rights that guarantee access to essential resources + opportunities necessary for a decent standard of living

The UN Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC)

do they really need a constitutional reform?

• most ratified international human rights treaty

• rate each state based on child protection legislation → 0 states have A or B

• based on 4 principles: child marriage, corporal punishment in schools, juvenile justice system, child labour regulations

• child marriage is legal in 41 US states.

First Amendment Rights: Schenck v United States (1919)

• landmark case in 1919

• 2 socialists were convicted under the Espionage Act of distributing leaflets encouraging people to dodge the draft.

• They advised only peaceful action

• SCOTUS used the 'clear and present danger test' + concluded that the 1st Amendment does not protect free speech that could create a clear and present danger of a significant evil that Congress or another body had the power to prevent.

• Justice Holmes reasoned the leaflets were likely to disrupt the conscription process.

• He famously compared them to maliciously and falsely shouting 'Fire!' in a crowded theatre - not protected by 1st Amendment

Morse v Frederick (2007)

• Alaskan high school student who unfurled a banner reader 'BONG HiTS 4 JESUS' at a school-supervised event during the 2002 Winter Olympics

• Suspended by the Principal for promoting the use of illegal drugs

• He appealed, claiming his freedom of expression had been violated.

• Student lost the case on the grounds that schools can regulate speech - 'school speech' - where it undermines a school's educational mission or threatens students' safety.

• Had the banned been at a non-school run event or contrary to the accepted goal of the school (e.g. don't hit bongs 4 jesus), the outcome probably would have been different

3 Acts that protect people's’ rights:

Equal Pay Act 1963 → 10th June 1963 by JFK as a part of his New Frontier Program

Americans with Disabilities Act 1990 → Civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act 2009 → first bill Obama signed → stated that the 180 day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination now renewed each time there is a new paycheck affected by that discriminatory action.