Second Essay, Fall 2015

I have divided the class into four work groups of four or five students each. Every group will assign each of its research questions to one of its members. Within each group, every student will ask another to review her or his paper. The reviewer’s name should appear on the paper, along with that of the author.

• Essays should be double‑spaced and no more than four pages long. (Use twelve-point type.) I will not read past the fourth page.
• Use secondary sources to establish context. Use primary sources for the bulk of your research. Seek information in scholarly journals and government publications. Wherever possible, rely on hard data such as election returns and polling results. Do not just rely on news media accounts, which may be inaccurate.
• Cite your sources, using proper Turabian/Chicago format.
• Watch your spelling, grammar, diction, and punctuation. Errors will count against you.
• Submit essays to the Sakai dropbox by 11:59 PM on Friday, October 16. Papers will drop a gradepoint for one day’s lateness, a letter grade after that. I will grant no extensions except for illness or emergency.

Burton, Elliott, Fraser, Park

• Why did the Senate reject the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities? Does it have a chance at a comeback?
• Why did President Obama delay the ACA employer mandate? Did he have the legal authority to do so? Explain the controversy.
• Analyze Reid's use of the "nuclear option" to secure approval of federal judges. Explain the political costs and benefits of the move.
• On June 15, 2011, The New York Times reported: "The White House, pushing hard against criticism in Congress over the deepening air war in Libya, asserted Wednesday that President Obama had the authority to continue the military campaign without Congressional approval because American involvement fell short of full-blown hostilities."  Explain the issue.  Did the president prevail?  What were the consequences?

Brown, Fedorochko, Forest, Miller, Wiltshire-Gordon

• Why did Schiff introduce H.J.Res. 58 (114th Congress)?  What are the arguments for and against the measure?  What are its prospects for passage?
• Why did Nixon propose a guaranteed income?  What happened to his proposal?
• Why and how did the House ban earmarks?  What are the arguments for and against earmarks?
• What happened to S. 987 (113th Congress)?  Explain the politics of the issue, and the arguments for and against the measure.
• Explain what happened to Kucinich's efforts to impeach President George W. Bush.

Abraham, Kessler, Lempres, Mann, Youn

• On May 18, 2008, Barack Obama said, “We're not going to use signing statements as a way of doing an end-run around Congress.” How does his performance measure against that pledge?
• Describe and explain Boehner's role in the original passage of NCLB.
• LBJ biographer Robert Caro writes of the 1964 Civil Rights Act: "The clergymen helped shift the tide of battle off the familiar—and hostile— terrain in which civil rights had, time after time, become mired in the Senate."  Explain.
• Explain the passage of the ABLE Act.
• Why did LBJ seek passage of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution?  Consider the role of historical precedent and the fog of war.

Becker, Lopata, Nikolaou, Pineda, Wong, 

• The president has asked Congress for an AUMF against ISIL.  Explain what happened to the request and why.
• Justice Scalia has written: "The Court holds that when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act says `Exchange established by the State' it means `Exchange established by the State or the Federal Government.' That is of course quite absurd, and the Court’s 21 pages of explanation make it no less so." Explain.  How would you evaluate his argument?
• Explain the passage of HR 2048 (114th Congress).  In your answer, consider the role of partisanship and changing attitudes toward privacy.
• Why did the Kyoto Protocol never win Senate approval?
• Why did Dan Rostenkowski go to prison? Explain the background of the case.