Title: Supreme Court Upholds Limits on Judicial Fundraising

Student Blog

Title:  Supreme Court Upholds Limits on Judicial Fundraising

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/29/politics/supreme-court-ruling-judicial-fundraising/index.html

Author of Article:  Ariane de Vogue

Date:  May 11, 2015

Blog by:  Drewv Magan

On Wednesday, April 29, 2015, The Supreme Court upheld a Florida rule that said that judicial candidates cannot personally raise money while they are candidates. Chief Justice John Roberts said, "Judges are not politicians, even when they come to the bench by way of the ballot.”  He went on to say, "A State may assure its people that judges will apply the law without fear or favor—and without having personally asked anyone for money."  This just goes to show that judges can’t be bought.  I totally agree with this ruling because I would not want a judge who received a large donation from someone to vote in their favor.  That would go against what our Constitution says.  

As of now, 39 States use an election to pick some of their judges.  Thirty of these States limit the way in which candidates “themselves” ask for money.  This ruling is a loss for Florida’s judicial candidate, Lanell Williams-Yule.  The state of Florida’s disciplined her for breaking its Judicial Code of Conduct for doing a mass mailing in which she signed a letter requesting campaign funds to support her race.  Such requests from candidates can create distrust in our judicial system.  There is plenty of distrust in our Executive and Legislative branches so it is very important to project our Judicial Branch from such opinions.  

The vote was 5-4.  Justices Scalia, Kennedy, Alito and Thomas wrote the dissent opinion as they did not agree with the decision.  Scalia said the ruling, "wildly disproportionate restriction upon speech."  

This article relates to what we are learning about in class regarding the Judicial System.  This case relates to what we learned because the Judicial Branch is seen as the fairer place to protect our rights.  Plus, it says that the dissent opinion was written by those Justices that did not agree with the ruling – as I learned from the chapter.

Is Baltimore the new Ferguson?

Is Baltimore the new Ferguson?

http://cnnuslive.cnn.com/Event/Baltimore_Riot?Page=0

Yesterday, the Baltimore Orioles played the White Socks in a game that will be written in the record books...because there were no fans at the game.  Is is due to the frighting death of 25-year old named Freddie Gray who dies of an unexplained spinal cord injury.  This sparked rioting, which was peaceful at first and then it quickly escalated into a violent brawl resulting in 10 arrests. Because of this Maryland’s gov. declared a state of emergency, called in the National Guard, and the city’s mayor set a curfew.  This sparked such a wave that even president Obama spoke out on this matter saying that the U.S. has to do some sole searching over the pattern of black deaths recently.  Also, that everyone in the riot were thugs and criminals.  This connects to Ap Gov because it relates to the constitution on the matter of freedom to assembly and the court case Brandenburg Vs. Haze. 

Senate Confirms Loretta Lynch as Attorney General 166 Days After Nomination

Student Blog

Title:  Senate Confirms Loretta Lynch as Attorney General 166 Days After Nomination

Source:  http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/senate-confirms-loretta-lynch-attorney-general-166-days/story?id=30527905

Author of Article:  Arlette Saenz

Date:  April 23, 2015

Blog by:  Drewv Magan

The Senate narrowly approved Obama’s nominee for Attorney General, Loretta Lynch.  President Obama originally nominated Lynch back in November 2014.  It took the Senate 166 days to confirm the North Carolina native.  In a tight vote, 56-43 (Senator Ted Cruz was absent), the first African American woman was confirmed as the country’s newest Attorney General.  

Many Senate Democrats felt that the majority led Senate put her nomination on the back burner.  However, the Senate Republicans say that the President’s executive immigration action and an anti-human trafficking bill took priority over Lynch.  

President Obama was excited about her confirmation today and said that “America will be better off it.”  He also stated that as head of the Justice Department she will oversee many different areas including, counter-terrorism, voting rights, public corruption, white collar crimes and much more.  

This relates to what we are currently studying because the Attorney General’s Office (also known as the Department of Justice) is a Cabinet position in which the President nominates a person and the Senate confirms him or her.  That is exactly what happened here.  Obama chose Lynch because she had some of the same ideologies as he.  The Senate carefully examined and questioned her record and past decisions before confirming her.  This is a great example of how our checks and balances system works. 

Title:  Can Rubio, Bush Both Compete for the Latino Vote?

Source:  http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/13/politics/election-2016-marco-rubio-jeb-bush-

latinos/index.html

Author of Article:  Nia-Malika Henderson

Date:  April 13, 2015

Blog by:  Drewv Magan

Two presidential hopefuls from Florida want to be President.  They both speak Spanish, they’ve

both served in government and they are both Republican candidates.  Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush

are in a battle over who will be able to get the most Latino votes in the 2016 election.  Rubio is

the son of Cuban immigrants and Jeb Bush is married to a Mexican woman.  Each has loyalties

to the Latin-American community.

Although Bush hasn’t officially announced that he is running, the fact that they are both

candidates from Florida with similar stances on issues is making it awkward for FL activists and

donors.  Rubio is a Bush protégé and he running against Bush is risky because the Latino vote

may be split.

Jeb Bush has always been a proponent of immigration reform.  He is respected and adored by the

Latino community in Florida.  However, they see Rubio as living the American dream as he was

born to Cuban parents to immigrated to the US.  Both are strong candidates and voters will

struggle with who to vote for.

The GOP will have two Latin-American (Rubio and Cruz) and one Latin-American by marriage

(Bush) to pick from.  This should help the Republicans change how they are viewed by

Democrats in terms of getting the Latino vote.

Many analysts feel that Jeb Bush will have more pull with the Latino community because the

Bush family has always supported and courted them in past elections.  Rubio will have his work

cut out for him.

This article relates to our current study of the Presidency and how important it is to court

minorities as they are starting to represent a large percentage of the voters.  Unlike in the past,

the typical Presidential candidate is not middle-aged, Protestant, white man.  It is inspiring to see

people how people from all backgrounds have a chance in America.

Shooting in Kenya

Somali Militants Kill 147 at Kenyan University

Live link: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/03/world/africa/garissa-university-college-shooting-in-kenya.html 

In recent news, Somali militants burst into a university in eastern Kenya killing about 150 students in the worst massacre since the bombing of the United States Embassy.   About five to ten militants roamed the halls, going door to door, class to class, asking students if they where Christian or not.  If the happened to be Christian they were executed on the spot.  By the time reinforcements arrived the killers were shot, they had already killed 147 people and were on the top story of the school.  Some survivors stated "All we heard in the moments leading up to the attack was distant gunshots."  Not only was this a tragedy to the families and the country; but this further damages Kenya's tourist attraction, in turn creating economic struggles amongst its citizens.

This connects to Ap Gov because it goes hand and hand with the department of Foreign Affairs and how the U.S. has installed a department of Homeland Security incase another mass murder occurs in the U.S. again. 

French Plane Crash

French Plane Crash

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/25/europe/germanwings-crash-main/ 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32063587

By: Drewv Magan

In recent news the co-pilot of a Germanwings flight started, what was is suspected to be a ten minute decent, into the side of the French alps.  Co-pilot Andreus Lubitz was left alone in the cockpit of the plane while the other pilot went to the restroom. Upon the pilots return the co-pilot would not let him in, nor uttered a word in response to the pilots screams and attempts to break down the door.  Since 9/11 most planes are equipped with bullet proof doors without a key.  The rule is when a pilot leaves the cockpit and flight attendant must take his place.  This was not the case on this flight.  Also, the pilot may have overrode the planes onboard computer because if he had not the plane out not have decent into the mountain.

This connects to Ap gov regarding foreign affairs and how they affects the U.S. indirectly.  Tho this os not a direct threat this affects the United States mass media. 

Blog – March 19, 2015

Article:  Obama Talks Up Transformative Idea:  Mandatory Voting

Article by: Steve Benen

Website:  http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/obama-talks-transformative-idea-

mandatory-voting

Blog by:  Drewv Magan

Dozens of States in the US are guilty of curtailing voting rights or blocking Americas’ access to

polls during elections. However, Oregon’s Governor Kate Brown and President Obama are huge

proponents of automatic voter registrations and mandatory voting.  The President cites that if

Americans are worried about the influence that money has on elections, the country should

consider mandatory voting.  Obama noted that mandatory voting works in countries like

Australia and it could work here too.

“President Barack Obama on Wednesday suggested that if American voters want to “counteract” the

role of money in politics, it may be worth making voting mandatory.”

“It would be transformative if everybody voted,” Obama said during a town hall event in Cleveland,

Ohio. “That would counteract (campaign) money more than anything. If everybody voted, then it

would completely change the political map in this country.”

The President said that only 36% of Americans actually come out and vote during elections.  It is

the older, wealthier, mostly white population that votes.  Immigrants, minorities, younger and

low income people are the ones who don’t come out and vote.  Many proponents of mandatory

voting feel that this would encourage many of these folks to come out and vote.  Opponents of

such a requirement feel that voting is not a duty but a privilege.  Americans should take personal

pride in voting and not be forced to do it.  This connects to Ap Gov because it stress our rights as well

 as the constitution's meaning, as we studied this week.

This will be a subject of debate for many years to come.  It is something to think about and

consider.