Roe v. Wade – Case Brief Summary

Assignment # 9

Roe (P), a pregnant single woman, brought a class action suit challenging the constitutionality of the Texas abortion laws. These laws made it a crime to obtain or attempt an abortion except on medical advice to save the life of the mother.Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit included Hallford, a doctor who faced criminal prosecution for violating the state abortion laws; and the Does, a married couple with no children, who sought an injunction against enforcement of the laws on the grounds that they were unconstitutional. The defendant was county District Attorney Wade (D).A three-judge District Court panel tried the cases together and held that Roe and Hallford had standing to sue and presented justiciable controversies, and that declaratory relief was warranted. The court also ruled however that injunctive relief was not warranted and that the Does’ complaint was not justiciable.Roe and Hallford won their lawsuits at trial. The district court held that the Texas abortion statutes were void as vague and for overbroadly infringing the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendment rights of the plaintiffs. The Does lost, however, because the district court ruled that injunctive relief against enforcement of the laws was not warranted.The Does appealed directly to the Supreme Court of the United States and Wade cross-appealed the district court’s judgment in favor of Roe and Hallford

   The case of Roe v. Wade occurred in 1973 and it discussed the abortions laws of Texas. In 1973 a pregnant women who lived in Texas decided that she wanted to have an abortion, however she was not allowed to. Therefore, she decided to bring her case up to a supreme court. Before 1973 women were not allowed to have abortion. This women however did not feel like this was fair and she decided to bring her case to the supreme court. Her argument was that her ninth and fourteen amendment rights were being violated.  The decision regarding the abortion laws of Texas was made upon was rule on her favor and the law had change. It allow women to choose where or not to give life. The fourteen and ninth amendment had a tremendous influence during this case it was because of these amendments that this women was able to win. 

     

     In my opinion the above passage is very important because it empowers women over their own bodies. If this cases had not happened many women would still feel like they are not in control of their bodies and that they do not have a voice. In addition, it gives us a background history of our laws and it serves as an example for future laws that we might want to change or create.  Although, it is important that we know how our laws were implemented, in my opinion I think this case as well as other cases served as samples for future cases we want to bring to a supreme court.  If people did not feel like the laws were being unfair and no one stood up then none of these cases would have been brought up to light. 

 Assignment # 8

The Presidency

" For alongside our famous individualism, there’s another ingredient in the American saga. A belief that we’re all connected as one people. If there is a child on the south side of Chicago who can’t read, that matters to me, even if it’s not my child. If there’s a senior citizen somewhere who can’t pay for their prescription drugs, and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it’s not my grandparent. If there’s an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties. It is that fundamental belief, it is that fundamental belief, I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper that makes this country work. It’s what allows us to pursue our individual dreams and yet still come together as one American family. E pluribus unum. Out of many, one. Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters, the negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America — there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America — there’s the United States of America. The pundits, the pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them, too: We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don’t like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and yes, we’ve got some gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq." 

The speech i decided to use was the C-SPAN: Barack Obama Speech at 2004 DNC Convention. During this speech president Obama makes a lot of great arguments regarding race. President Obama starts his speech by talking about his grandfather, he also mentions how he came from a middle class family that only inspired the best for him. Although, his entire speech was great something that stood out to me was when he said that his parents gave him an African name of Barack so that it can show  that in a tolerate like America your name is no barrier for success.  He also mentions that this country is a country of dreams that can indeed be done. And that this country has the ability to help people dreams comes true. Lastly, in my opinion the most powerful part of his speech was towards the end. When he mentions that America should not be an America should not be divided but instead we all need to come together and be a united nation that helps each other out.   


Barack Obamas last part of his speech was the most powerful. Although, he makes several good points while making his speech, when he mentions that we need to become united instead of being divided. I completely agree with him and I think he all his speech try to make people understand that we can become united and make this country a better country. 

Assignment number 7 

America’s most gerrymandered congressional districts

    "This election year we can expect to hear a lot about Congressional district gerrymandering, which is when political parties redraw district boundaries to give themselves an electoral advantage.

Gerrymandering is at least partly to blame for the lopsided Republican representation in the House. According to an analysis I did last year, the Democrats are under-represented by about 18 seats in the House, relative to their vote share in the 2012 election. The way Republicans pulled that off was to draw some really, really funky-looking Congressional districts."

To my understanding the  above passage is referring to the unfairness during the elections.  From my understanding gerrymandering is considered to be responsible that one party overrules certain districts.  In my understanding from the article gerrymandering, refers to the control of a party over the elections and the government. Even though, it seems to be legal all it does it favors a party. according to the passage in 2012 it favor the Republicans. However, gerrymandering is consider to be unfair because it is only favoring one party and these candidates only used it for their favor. 

the reason why i choose this passage is because i believe that it is extremely important for people to know how elections work. I personally did not know anything about gerrymandering. This honestly seems like the author states " really funky-looking". after learning about this information my view about the way these politically parties run during the elections has totally change. It even seems like during elections we are not able to have a voice. 

The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro

Assignment #6

This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the Fourth of July. It is the birth day of your National Independence, and of your political freedom. This, to you, as what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God. It carries your minds back to the day, and to the act of your great deliverance; and to the signs, and to the wonders, associated with that act, and that day. This celebration also marks the beginning of another year of your national life; and reminds you that the Republic of America is now 76 years old. l am glad, fellow-citizens, that your nation is so young. Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. According to this fact, you are, even now, only in the beginning of your national career, still lingering in the period of childhood. I repeat, I am glad this is so. There is hope in the thought, and hope is much needed, under the dark clouds which lower above the horizon. The eye of the reformer is met with angry flashes, portending disastrous times; but his heart may well beat lighter at the thought that America is young, and that she is still in the impressible stage of her existence. May he not hope that high lessons of wisdom, of justice and of truth, will yet give direction to her destiny? Were the nation older, the patriot's heart might be sadder, and the reformer's brow heavier. Its future might be shrouded in gloom, and the hope of its prophets go out in sorrow. There is consolation in the thought that America is young.-Great streams are not easily turned from channels, worn deep in the course of ages. They may sometimes rise in quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. They may also rise in wrath and fury, and bear away, on their angry waves, the accumulated wealth of years of toil and hardship. They, however, gradually flow back to the same old channel, and flow on as serenely as ever. But, while the river may not be turned aside, it may dry up, and leave nothing behind but the withered branch, and the unsightly rock, to howl in the abyss-sweeping wind, the sad tale of departed glory. As with rivers so with nations. 

  To my understanding the overall message of this passage, is that our nation is so young that it is still building itself and learning from its mistakes. When the author mentions that the nation is only 76 years old and it is only the beginning of the nations career. He is implying that we are still learning how to manage everything that is currently happening. We as a nation have made several mistakes and we are just now learning how to deal with these mistakes. He also compares the our nation to a child's childhood. The comparison between our nation and a child's childhood goes back to the idea that we are not fully developed and the we continue to make mistakes, the same way a child does. Lastly, the authors refers back to the idea that our nation needs hope to continue with all of the things that are happening. And hopefully with hope we can come to a place where we are all consider equal. 

   The reason why I decided to used this passage is because I as well agree that our nation is lingering in their childhood. Children tend to make mistake after mistake and even when they know the consequences will be bad they will still do it. The same happens with our nation regardless of the lesson learned we continue to make the same mistakes. Lastly, I also agree with the idea of hope. In my opinion, hope is the only thing we can rely on. Hopefully with hope we will not end up killing ourselves in order to obtain power. 

       Civil Disobedience - Part 1 of 3

Assignment #5

[4]    After all, the practical reason why, when the power is once in the hands of the people, a majority are permitted, and for a long period continue, to rule, is not because they are most likely to be in the right, nor because this seems fairest to the minority, but because they are physically the strongest. But a government in which the majority rule in all cases cannot be based on justice, even as far as men understand it. Can there not be a government in which majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong, but conscience? — in which majorities decide only those questions to which the rule of expediency is applicable? Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience, then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right. It is truly enough said that a corporation has no conscience; but a corporation of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience. Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice. A common and natural result of an undue respect for law is, that you may see a file of soldiers, colonel, captain, corporal, privates, powder-monkeys,(5) and all, marching in admirable order over hill and dale to the wars, against their wills, ay, against their common sense and consciences, which makes it very steep marching indeed, and produces a palpitation of the heart. They have no doubt that it is a damnable business in which they are concerned; they are all peaceably inclined. Now, what are they? Men at all? or small movable forts and magazines, at the service of some unscrupulous man in power? Visit the Navy Yard, and behold a marine, such a man as an American government can make, or such as it can make a man with its black arts — a mere shadow and reminiscence of humanity, a man laid out alive and standing, and already, as one may say, buried under arms with funeral accompaniments, though it may be

"Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,
 As his corse to the rampart we hurried;
 Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot
 O'er the grave where our hero we buried.

 To my understanding the author is explaining why the government needs to be better. To add, he also states that  people are not asking for a " no government" instead they are asking for a better one. He also mentions that we need a government that respects all people, not just the majority. He then discusses the connection that there is between a government and power. In the first few lines of his paragraph he presents us with that idea that people who are selected to be inside  of the government might not really know what is happening inside these minority communities. Furthermore, he says that power remains among certain people who are consider to be the strongest. Lastly, he states that " a government in which the majority rules in all cases cannot be based on justice". From my understanding, the author is referring how the majority is controlling the government and if we only have a certain amount of people who are controlling the country and taking all the decisions, deciding what is right or not for us, is just simply not going to work. The majority in the government is deciding on what is best for us when they have no idea how most live. 

I choose this passage because I complete agree with the things the author is stating . In my opinion, what  we have is a government who is making all the decisions for us with out even knowing what the real problem is. This government makes the decisions that they think would be necessary, however, it is impossible that those laws or decisions can benefit all of us. This country is composed of so many different issues and people that creating a rule and applying it to all of us seems unrealistic. 

 Revisiting the Constitution: Allow Naturalized Citizens to Be President

Assignment #4

Last week, millions of Americans recited these grand words: “All men are created equal.” Today, this glittering promise means far more than it meant in 1776. “Men” now includes “women,” and a black baby born today is the legal equal of a white baby. First-born children get no larger automatic inheritances than second-born kids, and America is fast approaching a time when those born gay have all the rights of those born straight.

But those American citizens who happen to have been born abroad to non-American parents — and who later choose to become “naturalized” American citizens — are not the full legal equals of those of us born in the U.S. True, naturalized Americans have always been allowed to serve as cabinet secretaries, Supreme Court justices, senators and governors. And at the founding, anyone already a citizen could be president, regardless of birthplace. (Alexander Hamilton, for example, though born in the West Indies, was fully eligible to serve as president under the Constitution he himself helped draft.) But modern-day naturalized citizens are barred from the presidency simply because they were born in the wrong place to the wrong parents.

    I choose this passage because I complete agree with the author. If the United States believes that all men are created equality, than why not make them equal for everything. Not just for the things that seem convenient. I personality think this idea that just because you are born into a country, you are automatically consider to be better and qualify for certain positions. If a child is brought to a new country as a toddler, how can he or she not feel as a born citizen to the country. the child was raised here for his entire life and does not know anything else besides the american culture.In addition, what if a "naturalized" born citizen does have any intentions about becoming the next secretary or the next president. Meanwhile this right is denied to someone else who is interested in completing this task simply because they were as the author says "born in the wrong place or to the wrong parents". In addition, the author also makes a good point when he mentions that America has always kept up to date with other issues like equal rights between men and women, so why not keep up to date with such an important issue that has been happening for a long time. 

The Declaration of Independence

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.”

    To my understanding, the passage focuses on the power the people have over the government. This also focuses on equality of all human beings and that everyone deserves happiness. This declaration of independence is here to remind us that we have gained freedom and that it is our duty to decide how the government is run. It mentions that people have the power to change a government if it is not giving us satisfaction. Although the declaration of independence states that the people have the power most of us know this is not true. That we cannot just simply change the government even though we see injustice being done.

     The reason why I choose this passage is because of the meaning it holds. From what I understand about the declaration of independence people have the duty to rule how a government runs. However this is rarely done and in a way I understand why so many people have lost interest on seeing how much power we are suppose to have. This passage represents freedom and happiness and it expresses the right of the people to demand a government that provides this for us. Overall, this is very important for us to know, it is information that everyone should know. Everyone should know what the country stands for and what are our responsibilities as citizens of the country.