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CQ Researcher. 2012. "Re-examining the Constitution" Available: https://ecourses.pvamu.edu/mod/resource/view.php?id=1037641 (Feb. 3).

History.com. 2017. "Checks and Balances." Available: http://www.history.com/topics/checks-and-balances (Feb. 3).

Google Search. 2018. Available: https://www.google.com/search?q=list+of+checks+and+balances&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjpoOyc-IrZAhVEIqwKHUhXAnUQ_AUICigB&biw=1396&bih=667#imgrc=FZcdHuTQcXycJM: (Feb. 3).

USA.gov. 2018. "Branches of Government". Available: https://www.usa.gov/branches-of-government (Feb. 3).

Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum. 2017. "Our Three Branches of Government"' Available:  https://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/teacher_lessons/3branches/3b_toc.htm (Feb. 3).

History.com. 2017. "Three Branches of Government". Available: http://www.history.com/topics/three-branches-of-government (Feb. 3)

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I believe the most important constitutional reform idea is abolishing the electoral college. "Elect the President and V.P. by Direct Vote — No More Elec-toral College” by RadOwl It seems pointless to even have a popular vote if the electoral college is going to overrule it anyway. The representatives in the Electoral college do not even FULLY represent the states they are in charge of. The entire system is just unfair and backward. Without the electoral college, the percentage of voters would increase because citizens would feel like their vote actually matters and would hopefully be led by someone they picked. Also, certain "swing states" matter more than others. Who gave the government the right to say one state matters more than the other when choosing who is going to lead the free world? The number of seats each state gets is not even equal. That alone should prove that the electoral college is not fair.

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Editor's note: In the next few weeks, President Obama is expected to commute the sentences of dozens of federal inmates behind bars for nonviolent drug offenses, according to the New York Times.
It's just after 9 p.m. near the corner of Fourth and Marshall, a poor part of Shreveport, Louisiana. A homeless man approaches a guy on the street and asks him what he's looking for. That guy, an undercover cop, says he wants "two dimes" and promises a $5 commission. And Fate Vincent Winslow, knowing that $5 buys a meal, if not a great one, agrees. Minutes after he returns carrying two crumpled bags of marijuana, worth $10 each, he's in the backseat of a squad car. Three months later, Winslow is found guilty of selling a Schedule I Controlled Dangerous Substance. Another three months and the sentence lands: life imprisonment at hard labor with no chance for parole.

Winslow's punishment-to die behind bars, for a transaction involving a minuscule quantity of pot-is hard to believe. But it's not unique. Every year, more people are arrested for pot possession than violent crimes. Around 40,000 people are currently serving time for offenses involving a drug that has been decriminalized or legalized in 27 states and Washington, DC. Even as Americans' attitudes toward pot have mellowed, the law has yet to catch up, leaving pot offenders subject to draconian sentences born out of the war on drugs. As David Holland, a criminal-defense attorney in New York City who filed a presidential clemency petition for marijuana lifers in 2012, puts it: "The world has changed, but these poor bastards are still sitting in jail."

"Life for two bags of weed," Winslow writes. "People kill people and get five years."

Writing from the notorious maximum-security Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Winslow told me how he'd come to face "the great injustice that is upon me." As a kid, he dropped out of high school and landed on the streets, "hanging with the wrong crowd." At 17 he was convicted of simple burglary; he later got eight and a half years for rifling through an unlocked car. A decade later, he was caught with some coke. "I always had a job," he writes-working in chicken plants, building houses. Yet his encounter with the undercover cop in 2008 branded him a habitual offender under Louisiana law, triggering an automatic life sentence. "Life for two bags of weed," he writes. "People kill people and get five years."

How many prisoners are serving life sentences for pot? At least 69, based on data collected by the American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations. But that figure probably is low, particularly if you count older inmates serving lengthy sentences who will likely die in prison. Federal judges have sentenced 54 people to life without parole for marijuana crimes since 1996, according to the Clemency Report. Solid numbers are hard to find. "Incarceration data for cannabis-only-related offenses is the holy grail of criminal-justice data for cannabis law reformers," says Allen St. Pierre, the executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, who has filed dozens of requests for this information. "All the time it seems like I learn of another one that I'd never heard of before," says Cheri Sicard, vice president of the CAN-DO Foundation, an advocacy group for nonviolent drug offenders.

Among those serving life for pot are two more Angola inmates: Dale Wayne Green, who acted as a middleman selling $20 worth of weed to an undercover cop in 1999, and Terrance Mosley, who was riding with an acquaintance when police searched the car and uncovered two pounds of marijuana. Craig Cesal has served 13 years of a federal life sentence. He once repaired freight trucks, and served a company involved in high-volume marijuana trafficking. He says he never saw or handled the drugs, but was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute thousands of pounds of marijuana. Like other lifers accused of similar crimes, he took his case to trial. "I had no idea I had done anything illegal," the soft-spoken 55-year-old says on the phone from the Federal Correctional Institution in Greenville, Illinois.

Obama has granted 43 petitions for commutation, including one for a man serving life for growing more than 18,000 pot plants.

Many pot offenders are casualties of drug laws that may treat marijuana like hard drugs, as well as "three strikes" laws that do not distinguish between armed robbery and selling a dime bag. Even as then-Attorney General Eric Holder called for a move away from mandatory minimum drug sentences and once tough-on-crime lawmakers have come to embrace criminal-justice reform, these pot prisoners currently have few legal remedies. While some federal prisoners serving time for crack cocaine offenses can have their sentences shortened thanks to the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act, there's been no similar retroactive reform of pot sentences. "Unless a law is created that specifically looks back in time, a person is stuck with whatever sentence they were given based on the laws that existed at that time," explains Chris Lindsey, a legislative analyst at the Marijuana Policy Project. He has seen only one proposal to address pot prisoners whose crimes might result in lesser punishments today. "By default," he explains, "we don't rewind the clock and reevaluate existing sentences."

For now, the sole hope of the marijuana lifers is clemency. But clemency, which generally may be granted only by the president or a governor, is rare. President Obama has granted just 43 petitions for commutation, including one for a man serving a life sentence for growing more than 18,000 pot plants.(This could change soon: President Obama is reportedly set to free dozens of nonviolent drug offenders locked up in federal prisons, potentially reducing more sentences in one stroke than any other president in recent memory.) Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has granted just 47 clemencies.

"There is no life in prison," Winslow writes. "Just living day by day waiting to die in prison." So far, his handwritten appeals have gone nowhere. In the meantime, he says he spends "every day" praying and going to Angola's law library, "doing everything I can to get out."

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This man is "waiting to die in prison" for selling two bags of pot

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Even as more Americans toke up legally, many are still rotting behind bars for marijuana offenses.

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"Prohibits “excessive bail,” “excessive fines,” “cruel and unusual punishments"."
This amendment is important because certain crimes should be associated with specific punishments and fines. Someone who is guilty of a misdemeanor should not get the same punishment as a murderer. Also if this amendment was not in place judges may use their personal vendettas while judging instead of doing what is right.

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"Protects right to jury trial in “suits at common law” (not applicable to states)."
I chose this amendment because everyone should have the right to be judged by a group of their peers. It is also interesting that it only applies to federal courts. Some lower court cases may benefit by using a jury to fully and unbiasedly analyze the evidence and come to an agreement.

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This is the list of 10 amendments to the Constitution established two year in to the new government. For an amendment to become part of the Constitution 2/3 of Congress must vote yes followed by 3/4 of states' representatives voting yes.

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The Amendment Process in the Constitution

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The Amendment Process in the Constitution

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National Constitution Center - The 5th Article of the U.S. Constitution

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The 5th Article of the U.S. Constitution

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The problem is not that the constitutional amendment process requires a consensus but that the Supreme Court often intervenes before a consensus can emerge. A consensus often takes a long time to develop.

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They analyze the laws before  Congress can pass them. If they ruled unconstitutional the law will not be passed.

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The president nominates federal judges. This is an attempt to make sure the judiciary system is not biased. He may also pardon some people the court convicts if he believes the judgement is wrong.

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They have the power to impeach the president. Before this happens they will watch his actions carefully then make a decision. All of his treaties, budgets and appointments also go through Congress.

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Checks and Balances Constitution Lesson for Kids - Schoolhouse Rock

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School House Rock is an animated children's cartoon that teaches about the Constitution, the American Revolution, and other aspects of American politics, civics, and U.S. History. This video is part of a playlist with many hours of homeschooling videos and lessons: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL79156F04DE48560E Please share and enjoy with students, teachers and your kids.

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"A principle of government under which separate branches are empowered to prevent actions by other branches and are induced to share power" defined by the Encyclopedia Britannica

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Legislative Branch (Congress)- Article I

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Legislative Branch (Congress)- Article I

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The Senate and the House of Representatives

Makes the country's laws

Can declare war

Can impeach the president and remove judges

Approves presidential appointments

Can override a presidential veto

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The Supreme Court and 9 Justices

Interpret the laws

Makes sure laws do not violate the Constitution

Punish rule breakers

Judge executive orders

Manages lower courts

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Enforce the laws of the nation

The President- leads the country as Commander and Chief and head of state

appoints heads of departments

can pass or veto laws

negotiates treaties

Vice President- Presidential support

President of the United States Senate and votes when there is a tie

The Cabinet- advise the president

15 departments