1. Pick any 5-4 decision in the Supreme Court. Explain the outcome. Could the losing side have done something to win? In your answer, consider the briefs and oral arguments, available at http://www.oyez.org/. You might also consult law review articles.
2. Pick one of the following debate chapters in Ellis: 3 (national initiative), 6 (electoral college), 7 (proportional representation), 16 (“emergency constitution”), 17 (noncitizen voting). Argue for one side or the other. In your essay, do not merely restate material from the book: introduce new arguments and information.
3. Assume that President Obama and Vice President Biden are the Democratic nominees in 2012. Make and explain plausible guesses about the GOP’s presidential and vice presidential nominees. Then make your best guess about the popular and electoral vote. Go to http://www.270towin.com and project how each state will vote. Print your map and attach it to the paper. (It will not count against the page limit.) In your essay, take account of voting history, current polls, and forecasting models.
Whichever essay you choose, do research to back up your analysis.
- Essays should be typed, stapled, double-spaced, and no more than six pages long. I will not read past the sixth page.
- Put your name on a cover sheet. Do not identify yourself on the text pages.
- Cite your sources with endnotes, which should be in a standard style (e.g., Turabian or Chicago Manual of Style). Endnote pages and appendices (e.g., the chart of your “Midterm Madness” picks) do not count against the page limit.
- Watch your spelling, grammar, diction, and punctuation. Errors will count against you.
- Return essays to my office by noon on Friday, November 11. (Yes, you have two additional days.) Essays will drop one gradepoint for one day’s lateness, a letter grade after that. I will grant no extensions except for illness or emergency
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