Supreme Court Extravaganza

The end of June is fast approaching, and that means it's time for summer vacation...for the Supreme Court. Yup, just like you and I the Supreme Court is readying itself for a well deserved summer break. Before they leave the courthouse for the summer however, they have some important work to conclude.

For those of you who don't know, the Supreme Court's "season" runs from October to June. The Court hears cases from October to April and issues decisions in May and June. Traditionally they save their most important, controversial, and divisive decisions until the very end of their session in June. That means the court is getting ready to issue MAJOR rulings during the next week on issues like gay marriage and Trump's travel ban.

Here is an excellent little primer on the issues before the court and the make-up of the court itself. The article includes embedded links that will help to explain anything you don't understand, so please click away!

The Skimm's Guide to Supreme Court Decisions 2017

Major News from Court's Last Day

President Trump's Travel Ban:

As I'm sure many of you know, one of President Trump's first major actions as President was to issue an executive order (more on those during class) that effectively banned immigrants coming from seven Muslim majority countries (below).

The travel ban was immediately brought to court by the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Association) and was declared unconstitutional by 2 separate appeals courts (the 9th and the 4th). President Trump then asked the Supreme Court to review it, and today they decided that they would hear argument on the travel ban in October. At the same time, they decided to let parts of the ban take effect until they made their final decision on its constitutionality. Here are some excellent articles on what the court did, why the did it, and the impact it will have:

Supreme Court allows Trump's travel ban to take partial effect 

from Politico.com

What the Supreme Court’s travel ban ruling means 

- from The Washington Post

The Court and the Separation of Church and State: Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia vs. Comer

The court's most controversial ruling of the day came in a 7-2 decision in which the court ruled "that states cannot exclude religious institutions from state programs that have a purely secular intent — in this case, making playgrounds safer". The case is controversial because it seems to set a new precedent that public tax dollars can be used to fund religious institutions, despite numerous state and federal laws that say the opposite. Most importantly the case might pave the way for President Trump, and his secretary of education Betsy DeVos, to implement federal school vouchers programs. You can read more about the court's ruling here:

States must support some church programs, high court rules 

- from Politico.com

Opinion analysis: Church prevails in funding dispute 

- from SCOTUSBlog.com

Questions for Discussion:

Rather than giving you specific questions for this current event, I'm just going to give you some general/big idea questions that you can use to start your comments.

1. Do you agree with the court's decision in the case?
2. How will the court's decision impact the country and it's citizens?
3. How will the court's decision impact President Trump?

The Fate of Obamacare

As I hope some, or most of you, have heard, the Senate will be considering a bill to repeal and replace President Obama's signature healthcare law, The Affordable Care Act (AKA Obamacare). The bill was written by Senate Republicans in response to a similar bill passed by the House of Representatives earlier this year. The House bill was criticized by both Democrats and Republicans and has been unpopular with the public since it's release (so unpopular in fact the President Trump went as far as calling it "mean" just last week).

This all helps explain why the Senate Republicans decided to pass their own version of a healthcare bill, however, the Senate bill has not been without controversy either. Perhaps the biggest criticism of the bill before it's official release today was that until today nobody, except a small group of senators, had seen it. The Senate Republicans choose to write the bill without allowing public hearings or markup (amendment adding) sessions - meaning that the bill was basically written in secret by a small group of Republican Senators, and it will have major impact on the whole population of the country, but the public was not given the opportunity to see how.

OK, enough of my yapping, on to the real questions: (1) What's in this bill? And (2) will it pass the Senate?

Here are some articles and links that should help you (and me) to better understand what's in this bill, what it does to Obamacare, and whether or not it will reach President Trump's desk.

First Step: What is Obamacare?
Before reading or commenting it's a good idea to find out, or to refresh yourself on exactly how Obamacare works. Below is a video on just that:



Links for Further Reading:
Senate GOP brings Obamacare repeal bill out of the shadows - from Politico.com
What's in the Senate's Obamacare repeal bill - from Politico.com
GOP Senate Health Care Bill: What you need to know - from Politico.com
The Senators Who Could Take Down The Health Care Bill - from FiveThirtyEight.com
Will the Senate Pass Its Healthcare Bill? - from FiveThirtyEight.com

Questions for Discussion:

1. Should Obamacare be repealed or stay in place?
2. How does the Senate bill change Obamacare? How is it different from the bill proposed by the House?
3. Does it matter that the Senate bill was written in secret without the input of the public?
4. Is the Senate bill a good change/fix to Obamacare? If so, why? If not, what would be better?
5. Will the Senate healthcare bill pass the Senate?
6. Which Senator has the best chance to stop the passage of the bill?

Before you comment, look over these questions and decided which you would like to write about. Obviously, there are too many here for you to write about all of them in a well developed comment, so instead decided which you think you have the strongest opinion about.

DON'T FORGET TO READ MY POST ON CURRENT EVENT COMMENTS BEFORE YOUR COMMENT!!

Current Event Comments

Before you begin commenting on my current event posts for you summer assignment I thought I would lay down a couple ground rules to help you decipher what is and what is not a current event.

To be credited with a current event post:

Your post must attempt to analyze the current event.
Don't only try to answer the questions that I pose in the order I pose them. You need to consider the importance of the event and its impact on the country politically, socially, economically, etc.

This is a political discussion - be opinionated and provocative!
Make sure that your comment addresses both the article posted and your classmates' comments. This blog should be treated as an extension of our classroom discussions. If you're the first to comment, end with a question for your classmates or me. Feel free to disagree with your classmates too, political debate is at the heart of American politics

You must comment a current event post within the 2 week period.

Remember your 4 current event comments are due in 2 week increments starting on July 2nd. In order to earn credit for a current event comment for that two week period you must comment on a current event I posted during that two week period.

You must comment on a current event I post to earn credit.

At least for the first 2 current events, you must comment on one of my current event posts to receive credit. As we get farther into the summer, and you begin to post your own current events, I will allow you to comment on each other's current events and earn credit for a current event comment. Keep checking the blog for updates!

If you're looking to see what a good current event post comment looks like check one out from last year:
Independence Day Roundup