FREE ESSAY ON US CONSTITUTION

US CONSTITUTION

US CONSTITUTION
1. Article 1 - Enumerated Powers
a. Creates Congress - House and Senate
b. Lists powers of Congress
1. Regulate commerce
2. Levy taxes
3. Senate tries impeachment proceedings
2. Article 2 - Executive Branch
a. President is Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces
b. President has appointment power for officers and judges
c. Has the power to negotiate treaties
d. Veto power
1. Pocket veto - if President does not act in 10 days and Congress is not still in
session, bill dies and must be reintroduced; if Congress is in session and President does
not act in 10 days, bill becomes law
3. Article 3 - Judicial Branch
a. Federal judges are appointed for life
b. Section 2 - jurisdiction
c. Article 78 - mandamus - order from a Court directing a government official, body or
Court to do something it is required to do (done by trial court)
4. Article 4 - Powers of the States
a. US shall protect states from invasion
b. All powers not specifically granted to the US are granted to states
5. Article 5 - Congress (2/3) can propose amendments; 2/3 of state legislatures can call
a convention to propose amendments.
6. Article 6 - Constitution is supreme law of the land
7. Article 7 - Specifies requirements for ratification of the Constitution
8. First Amendment - 
a. No law establishing religion
b. No law prohibiting free exercise of religion
c. Freedom of speech
d. Freedom of the press
e. Freedom to assemble (free association)
f. Right to petition government for a redress of grievances
9. Second Amendment - Freedom to bear arms
10. Third Amendment - No soldiers quartered in private homes
11. Fourth Amendment - No unreasonable search and seizure
a. Does not apply to the private sector (government only)
b. Does not say that a warrantless search is illegal, just unreasonable
c. Warrantless searches are legal in exigent circumstances; plain view
d. Privacy interests of the individual vs. states' interests
12. Fifth Amendment -
a. Right to a grand jury
b. No double jeopardy
c. No self-incrimination
d. No deprivation of life, liberty or property without due process of law
1. Procedural due process - speedy and public trial; right to attorney; presumption of
innocence.
2. Substantive due process - laws that would deprive you of fundamental rights
e. No taking private property without compensation
13. Sixth Amendment - 
a. Speedy and public trial by jury
b. In the state and district
c. Notice of crime
d. Confrontation of witnesses and to compel witnesses
e. Assistance of counsel
14. Seventh Amendment - Right to trial by jury in civil cases involving amounts over $25
15. Eighth Amendment - No excessive bail or fines, cruel and unusual punishment
16. Ninth Amendment - No law can infringe on other's rights
17. Tenth Amendment - Powers not delegated to the US given to the states
18. Eleventh Amendment - The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed
to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United
States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State. 
19. Twelfth Amendment - Election of President and Vice President - changes Article 2 in
that the race for President and Vice - President are different.
20. Thirteenth Amendment - Outlaws slavery
21. Fourteenth Amendment - Dual citizenship
22. Fifteenth Amendment - Right to vote - blacks
23. Sixteenth Amendment - federal income tax 
24. Seventeenth Amendment - The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two
Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator
shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite
for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures. 
25. Eighteenth Amendment - Prohibition
26. Nineteenth Amendment - Right to vote - women
27. Twentieth Amendment - The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon
on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the
3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had
not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin; The Congress shall
assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3d day
of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day; 
28. Twenty-First Amendment - repeals 18th
29. Twenty-Second Amendment - No more than 2 terms for president
30. Twenty-Third Amendment - DC's electoral votes - = to the number of senators and
representatives if was a state, but no more than the least populated state
31. Twenty-Fourth Amendment - No poll taxes
32. Twenty-Fifth Amendment - removal of President - Vice-President becomes President; new
President nominates new Vice-President who is confirmed by a majority vote of both houses
of Congress 
33. Twenty-Sixth Amendment - SECTION 1. The right of citizens of the United States, who
are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United
States or by any State on account of age. 
SECTION 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation. 
34. Twenty-Seventh Amendment - No law, varying the compensation for the services of the
Senators and Representatives shall take effect, until an election of Representatives
shall have intervened. 
II. Marbury v. Madison 
1. asserted the Supreme Court's power to review acts of Congress and invalidate those
that conflict with the Constitution
2. Background Info. - President John Adams, a Federalist appointed several judgeships at
the end of his term when Thomas Jefferson, a Republican was elected to office; Jefferson
refused to deliver the commissions and as a result, William Marbury, one of the
appointees sued James Madison, the secretary of state, and asked to Supreme Court to
issue a write of mandamus to order the delivery of his commission
3. Opinion - John Marshall decided that although Madison should have delivered the
commission to Marbury, but that the Court lacked the jurisdiction to issues writs of
mandamus (must come from a court of original jurisdiction); a section of the Judiciary
Act of 1789 granted the Court the power to issue writs of mandamus, the Court ruled that
this exceeded the authority allotted the Court under Article III of the Constitution and
was therefore null and void.
III. Plessy v. Ferguson - 
1. Background :1896 - Plessy, who insisted that he was 7/8 Caucasian and only 1/8 black
refused to sit in a separate railcar from whites, he was arrested 
2. Holding - the Supreme Court found that a Louisiana statute requiring separate
intrastate railcars for whites and blacks neither abridge