Permanent Laws of the US Congress - Assignment Example

?Midterm Examination Question Official publications of the national government that report court opinions, are published under the direction of either state of federal governments. All other publications are considered unofficial publications. Both unofficial and official publications usually provide a full text of the opinions. The only difference is that privately reported opinions will typically include editorial commentaries. Question 2: Legal briefs are the legal arguments presented by both sides of a case representing each party’s legal arguments in support of their cases. Researchers may find legal briefs important because they will not only cite important case and statutory law, but can be used to help the researcher analyse a similar research issue. Question 3: The US Code is a chronological organization of all permanent/current laws of the US Congress. The US Code is published every 6 years with each edition reflecting all amendments and supplements to the law currently in effect. Thus each subsequent edition of the US Code will be expected to reflect only the current law or laws currently in effect. For instance, if an Act or provision of an Act was repealed, the next edition of the US Code will reflect the repeal. However, if an Act or provision was amended or supplemented by an additional provision, the new provision or supplementary provision will be reflected in subsequent editions of the US Code. Question 4: Legal professionals and legal scholars might share an interest in the original intentions of the US Constitution as a means of understanding what the framers’ initially intended the Constitution to mean. By taking this approach, the possibility of conflicting and confusing interpretations is reduced and the US Constitution is understood and applied with greater consistency and predictability. In looking for the original intentions of the framers of the US Constitution, legal professionals and legal scholars will look at the debates between the Federalists and the anti-Federalists at the time before and during ratification. The debates will be found in the Federal Papers. Another important source is the Declaration of Independence. Question 5: Court opinions, statutes, and documents containing arguments of the framers of legislation and constitutions are regarded as primary sources because they are authoritative in nature. In other words, primary sources of law reflect actual statements of the law or the original intention of what the state law will or are intended to be and how it should be interpreted and applied. Question 6: Cite-checkers as secondary sources of law are features providing information relative to a specific area of the law. The information typically includes headings and primary sources to which the heading relates. For example a cite-checker for the US Code will identify whether or not the statute is revised. Editorial notes relating to the primary source will also be included and relevant information not included in the primary source. Legal digests differ only in that they will provide indices of legal issues and the case and statutory laws supporting the specific position. Cite-checkers and legal digests are therefore valuable secondary sources of information for researchers because they direct the researcher to primary sources of information. Question 7: Encyclopedias and legal periodicals both provide statements of the law as it is, as it was and as it should be. However, what distinguishes encyclopedias from legal periodicals is content. Encyclopedias are general and concise statements of the law. However, legal periodicals are far more comprehensive and provide both theoretical and practical discussions over a period of time. While neither source is authoritative, both can be valuable guides to where a researcher might look for primary and authoritative sources of law. Legal periodicals however, usually reflect opinions and analyses that can have persuasive value even to judges determining a legal dispute. Thus researchers should only use legal periodicals and encyclopedias as guides to primary resources or as factual or theoretical guides. Question 8: Electronic sources available for finding cases by subject matter in a manner similar to a legal digest include US Supreme Court cases and other state court, federal cases. Like legal digests, electronic sources permit a search by case name or subject matter. The most popular electronic sources are FindLaw.com, West and Lexis Nexus. Question 9: Sheperdizing means finding relevant law and how the law is dealt with, interpreted and applied by the judiciary. In other words, sheperdizing allows the researcher to determine whether or not a particular statute or decision is still valid and enforceable and how it might apply to a specific set of facts and circumstances. Sheperdizing means that a plaintiff or a defendant or a legal scholar will not suffer the embarrassment of supporting an argument or defence with law that has already been repealed, overturned or modified. Shepardizing essentially leads to a compilation of relevant citations. The citations will appear in chronological order and will include changes made since its last applicable date. For instance, a ruling by a lower court may have been reviewed by a higher court and the last ruling may have either confirmed or overturned the ruling by a lower court. Question 10: A. Briefing a case involves identifying the most important parts of an opinion expressed in the case. Thus briefing a case will promote consideration of what meaning can be attached to the opinion. Briefing a case will also provide the researcher with notes relative to the opinion for further reference so that the opinion will not have to be revisited in its entirety. A legal brief goes into far more detail than briefing a case. Writing a legal brief includes identifying and summarising the procedural history, facts of the case, legal arguments, legal issues, applicable law as well as the decisions and reasoning behind the decision. B. When briefing a case, assumption of jurisdiction should be mentioned in the caption and in the section setting out the procedural history. When the courts assumes jurisdiction through a writ of certiorari, or certification and whether it is a paid or unpaid case (informa pauperis) should be mentioned in the section setting out the procedural history of the case. C. When a court reverses a case, the decision of the lower court is overturned. When a court remands a case, the case is returned for the lower court to reconsider its original judgment. When a court affirms, it upholds the decision of a lower court. Question 11: A brief of a court opinion can be written a variety of ways. One way of writing a brief of a court opinion is to list the citation, procedural history, facts, legal issues, ruling and reasoning. Another way is to begin with the facts of the case after providing the citations and to include the procedural history in the facts of the case. This will be followed by a listing and analysis of the legal issues, decisions and rational. A third way of writing a brief of a court opinion, is to add an analysis to any of the two methods provided above. Question 12: Justifications for writing briefs of published court opinions include identifying the applicable facts and the relevant law as it applies to the fact. Briefs are also justified on the grounds that they demonstrate the applicable arguments, the issues and the how they are interpreted and ruled on by the court. Question 13: Hypothesis is a putative answer to a research question or statement of a problem and is provides a clear articulation of the link between variables that are dependant and independent. Hypotheses are required to be tested by virtue of primary sources or empirical evidence because they are mere suggestions or putative answers. Question 14: A good research design begins with a research question identifying what the issue or issues that the study will explain and the second most important design strategy is the formulation of a hypothesis. The research design should also establish the relationship between variables. The research design should also provide information on how the hypothesis will be tested and the sources of information that the researcher will use in collecting data, the manner in which the data will be analysed, coded and categorized. Question 15: Concerns about the potential for voters to commit fraud have led to the implementation of voter-identification requirements. However, there have been concerns about the constitutional legitimacy of voter-identification requirements.1 It is hypothesized that the usual constitutional challenge on the grounds of an unreasonable discriminatory burden on potential voters is unfounded on the grounds of proportionality. The stated hypothesis, is supported by the US Supreme Court’s decision in Crawford v Marion County Election Board 553 US 181 (2008). In this case the US Supreme Court ruled that an Indiana law requiring that voters provide a photographed identification prior to voting was not ultra vires the US Constitution.2 The US Supreme Court ruled that the voter identification was provided free and thus did not impose upon potential voters an unreasonable burden as photographed identifications were required in a wide variety of daily activities. In this regard, while this requirement might be burdensome to some voters such as the elderly or those who are out of state, this would only be a handful of potential voters. The court held further that the voter identification requirements were justified on the grounds that the state had a legitimate interest in preventing voters fraud and preserving the integrity of the voting system and was thus a necessary measure in a modern democratic country. Therefore based on the proportionality test, voter-identification requirements were justified and therefore not discriminatory.3 Sobel and Smith however, argue that voter-identification requirements are unconstitutional because it has a discriminatory effect. In the US, minority groups have the greatest difficulties meeting the voter-identification requirements and as such are denied the constitutional right to vote and thus compromises representative government proportionate to the population.4 Ellis also argues that voter-identification laws and requirements are no more than an extension or modification of previous requirements that were calculated to keep minorities away from the polls. In this regard, Ellis aligns voter-identification requirements with previous laws such as property requirements and tax laws that kept minority groups away from the polls.5 Davidson also argues that since photo-identification requirements for voting eligibility imposes upon individuals the financial burden of paying for an identification it violates the constitutional right to vote for those hard pressed to afford the identification.6 However, should the state pay for the cost of identification, the issue of unreasonable burdens would be dispensed with. Pre-registration was once challenged on the grounds that it kept some voters away from the polls.7 Just as registration was determined to be necessary and reasonable to prevent voter fraud, so should voter-identification requirements. References Crawford v Marion County Election Board 553 US 181 (2008). Davidson, C. “The Historical Context of Voter Photo-ID Laws,” Political Science & Politics (January 2009) Vol. 42(1): 93-96. Ellis, A. R. “The Cost of the Vote: Poll Taxes, Voter Identification Laws, and the Price of Democracy.” Denver University Law Review, (2009) Vol. 86(3): 1023-1068. James, D. S. “Voter Registration: A Restriction on the Fundamental Right to Vote.” The Yale Law Journal, (June 1987) Vol. 96(7), 1615-1640. Langholz, S. P. “Fashioning a Constitutional Voter-Identification Requirement.” Iowa Law Review, (2008) Vol. 93: 731-800. Sobel, R. and Smith, R. E. “Voter-ID Laws Discourage Participation, Particularly Among Minorities, and Trigger a Constitutional Remedy in Lost Representation.” Political Science & Politics, (January 2009) Vol. 42(1): 107-110. Read More