Abel Zukerman

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/senate-panel-divided-over-mike-pompeo-for-secretary-of-state  The article "Senate Panel Divided Over Mike Pompeo for Secretary of State" by Lisa Mascaro discusses the confirmation process of Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo. He must be approved by the Senate because the Senate Advice and Consent Power gives the Senate the power to approve presidential treaties and appointments. The article states that, because of strong Democratic resistance in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Pompeo may be sent to the full Senate without a positive review from the committee, a rare occurrence. He is still expected to pass the full Senate, but it is now only by a few votes. So far, four of his twelve democratic supporters during his CIA director hearing have turned against him. This is largely due to his statement at his hearing that he would not step down if Trump were to fire Frank Mueller. He has also created opposition through his past ...

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/19/594164065/trump-cabinet-turnover-sets-record-going-back-100-years The Article "Trump Cabinet Turnover Sets Record Going Back 100 Years" by Tamara Kieth discusses the unprecedented changing of cabinet members in the Trump Administration. We have learned in AP Government that the cabinet is made up of the heads of the 15 executive branch departments of the federal government. It actually has little influence over presidential decisions because it is not explicitly mentioned in the constitution and has historically been unable to cooperate enough to be very efficient. The president gets to appoint the heads of the departments because he has to share power over the departments themselves with Congress. The article says that, in just 14 months, Donald Trump has already fired more cabinet members than the last 16 presidents did in their first two years. The cabinet members replaced were Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, Secretary of Stat...

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/us/harvard-asian-admission.html " Asian-Americans Suing Harvard Say Admissions Files Show Discrimination" The article " Asian-Americans Suing Harvard Say Admissions Files Show Discrimination" by Anemona Hartocollis discusses accusations that Harvard has turned down Asian-Americans in favor of other races due to the Asians' achievements as a race. They claim that Harvard's admission process makes use of an illegal quota system. This relates to the constitutional case University of California v. Bakke, which we learned about in class. It was a landmark ruling allowing affirmative action, which is when schools use quota-like systems to ensure certain numbers of minority students. The plaintiff requests that the evidence be revealed to the public because it concerns the public and is very revealing. Harvard argues that this would not be wise because they have to protect the privacy of their applicants and themselves. They s...

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/26/opinion/judicial-activism-supreme-court.html "The Consequences of Judicial Activism on the Supreme Court" The article "The Consequences of Judicial Activism on the Supreme Court" by Moshe Z. Marvit. Judicial activism, as we have learned in class, is when Supreme Court justices follow the Constitution loosely. These justices say that this method of constitutional interpretation is more reasonable because the Constitution was written 230 years ago and the rules then cannot work now. The article mainly discusses the case Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees , a case arguing against the constitutionality of fair-share fees. Fair-share fees are when unions collect fees from nonmembers who benefit from them. In 1977,   Abood v. Detroit Board of Education  ruled that such fees are constitutional, but Janus is expected to overturn that ruling. The activists argue that this will deplete union funding by...

http://time.com/5175458/supreme-court-free-speech-cases-janus/ The article "The Supreme Court is Considering the Limits of Freedom of Speech in 3 Upcoming Cases" by Tessa Berenson relates to class because it discusses the limits of the Freedom of Speech guaranteed by the Constitution. We have recently discussed this and the many court cases relating to it. The article discusses three court cases concerning free speech. The first of these cases is Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, a case debating whether or not unions can take money from nonmembers of whom they are representative. Janus argues that his being forced to contribute money is compelling speech from him. On this case, I believe that Janus should not have to contribute to a union onto which he did not sign. The second case, Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky, argues the constitutionality of a law banning the wearing of political insignia at a polling place on election days. I ...

"When a man lies, he murders some part of the world. These are the pale deaths, which men miscall their lives."  - Paul Gerhardt https://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-interests-groups-spent-record-339-1517460788-htmlstory.html The article "Interest Groups Spent Record $339 Million on Lobbying California State Government in 2017" by Patrick mcGreevy discusses, as stated in the title, a record year in spending for California interest groups. It says that the leading spenders by far were the oil companies Chevron and States Petroleum Assn., and that this shows the above average importance and quantity of issues concerning California's energy industry. They were able break down the cap-and-trade program, limiting air-quality regulators from adopting carbon-cutting rules for refineries. Other major spenders were the California State Council of Service Employees ($3.9 million), the California Chamber of Commerce ($...