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Separation of Powers / Checks and Balances: Obergefell v. Hodges

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Separation of Powers / Checks and Balances: Obergefell v. Hodges

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On April 28th 2015, Jim Obergefell sued his home state Ohio for their failure to recognize him as the previous husband but now widower of his late partner of 21 years, John Arthur. While Obergefell and Authur were legally married in Maryland just a few months before Authur's passing, Ohio voters had amended their state constitution in 2004 to prohibit gay marriage from being "valid in or recognized by" the Buckeye State. This in turn denied the recognition of Obergefell's marriage to Authur, along with $255 in Social Security benefits, and potentially a small disability benefit Obergefell should have received. Upon dealing with the issue in court, Obergefell argued that the 14th Amendment guarantees equal protection to marriage for all people. Richard Hodges, the respondent in the case, argued that 'traditional marriage' (marriage between a man and a woman) is the only true definition of marriage. In the end, the Supreme Court ruled that by not recognizing same-sex marriages as legal, states were violating the 14th Amendment rights given to U.S. citizens in the constitution, and on June 26th 2015, same-sex marriage was ruled as legal in all 50 states. This demonstrates constitutional dynamism as the Supreme Court made a decision that trumped state law without their approval.

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Between the time periods of April 12th 1861 - May 9th 1865 a civil war was fought in America. There were many causes of the civil war, but the main cause most often talked about was the jarring differences between northern and southern states on the idea of slavery. The north strongly opposed slavery while the south thought of it highly. In the end, it was the north that won the civil war, yet there were still certain states where slavery was completely legal. 8 months after the north side victory on December 6th 1865,  the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, officially ending the institution of slavery, was ratified. The 13th amendment represents the stable nature of the constitution by showing the stability of federal law over state law, as some states still deemed slavery as legal until the ratification of the 13th Amendment, and also by further proving that all men are created equal.

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In 1894, an amendment was attached to the Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act that attempted to impose a federal tax of two percent on incomes over $4,000. The imposed tax was strongly favored in the South, moderately supported in the eastern North Central states, and it was strongly opposed in the Far West and the Northeastern States, as many labeled the tax as "Un-Democratic, inquisitorial, and wrong in principle." Soon after in 1895, a court case titled Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. caused the U.S. Supreme Court to create an amendment that declared certain taxes on incomes to be unconstitutionally unapportioned direct taxes. On June 16, 1909, President William Howard Taft, in an address to the Sixty-first Congress, proposed a two percent federal income tax on corporations by way of an excise tax and a constitutional amendment to allow the previously enacted income tax, and on July 12, 1909, the resolution proposing the Sixteenth Amendment was passed by the Congress. The 16th Amendment  allows the Congress to levy an income tax without apportioning it among the states or basing it on the United States Census. This represents the dynamic nature of the constitution by adding an amendment that would give the government more power to the constitution.

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Federalism: Regulation And Taxation of Marijuana Act

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Federalism: Regulation And Taxation of Marijuana Act

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According to federal law, the possession of the drug marijuana is illegal, as it is a schedule 1 drug and has a very high possibility for abuse. However, over the course of 2016, many states have passed their own laws on the possession of marijuana because have recognized marijuana's medical value. In support of the numerous states that have taken responsibility for the health and welfare of their people, and have implemented medical marijuana laws, ASA is fighting for states' ability and right to pass and enforce their own laws, regardless of federal law. For example, in December of 2016, the Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act was put into effect, which allowed the distribution of marijuana under a system that licenses, regulates and taxes the businesses involved in a manner similar to alcohol to be legal for any citizen the age of 21 or older.

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In 1914, when the idea of a national referendum for any declaration of war was first suggested, it caught the attention of some political figures, and during the 1924 election campaign, both the Democratic and Progressive party platforms endorsed the idea of a popular vote on war, "except in case of actual attack" or "except in case of actual invasion." By the end of 1937, the amendment got enough congressional support for a House vote on a discharge petition designed to permit debate on the amendment, and it came it's closest to overcoming a discharge petition on January 10, 1938, when it was defeated in Congress by a vote of 209 to 188. This portrays the stable nature of the constitution by allowing popular sovereignty for some but not all problems that occur within the US. It also prevents any change from occurring to the limit of popular sovereignty. The proposed text of the failed amendment is as follows:
SEC. 1. Except in the event of an invasion of the United States or its Territorial possessions and attack upon its citizens residing therein, the authority of Congress to declare war shall not become effective until confirmed by a majority of all votes cast thereon in a nationwide referendum. Congress, when it deems a national crisis to exist, may by concurrent resolution refer the question of war or peace to the citizens of the States, the question to be voted on being, Shall the United States declare war on ________? Congress may otherwise by law provide for the enforcement of this section.

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When the U.S was first founded , the first president of the United States, George Washington, was asked to continue on for a third term due to his popularity as a president. However, Washington declined, and stated in his farewell address that no president should serve more than two terms in office. Unknowingly, Washington created an unwritten tradition , and for many years this unwritten rule determined how long a president should stay in office, until  Franklin Delano Roosevelt came along in 1993. After serving in the office as president for 8 years, Roosevelt decided he was going to run for president again as he concerned with the inevitability of world war II, despite the precedent set by Washington. Roosevelt served his 3rd term and died shortly after the beginning of his 4th. After his passing, remembering that Roosevelt had broken the tradition, both houses passed the 22nd amendment in March of 1947 to limit every president to a total of two terms. The amendment was later ratified in the February of 1951. This promotes the prevention of change because it limits our government to what was originally (though not officially) set forth by our founding father George Washington.

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On this side of my padlet I will examine how the Constitution has created a government that remains stable by preventing changes from occurring too quickly.

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At the time the U.S. was founded, female citizens did not share all of the same rights as men. They couldn't own property, they had no legal claim to any money they might have earned, and they were not allowed to vote. Why? Women were expected to focus on housework and motherhood, not politics. However, women were determined to change that, In the summer of 1848, reformers Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott organized the first women’s rights convention at Seneca Falls, New York. After the civil war, woman suffrage endured a setback when the women’s rights movement found itself divided over the issue of voting rights for black men, but the turn of the 20th century brought momentum to the woman suffrage cause, and 19th amendment that allowed all women the right to vote was Passed by Congress June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920. This amendment kept our government dynamic by expanding popular sovereignty to people regardless of gender

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On this side of my padlet I will examine how the Constitution has created a dynamic government that has the ability to change with the times