ASSESSING THE CONSTITUTION

Checks and Balances

1. Which checks and balances are justified?
2. How do they limit the power of government to protect individuals?
3. Which checks and balances are excessive?
4. What is ‘divided government’ and ‘congressional gridlock’?
5. How does hyper-partisanship reduce the effectiveness of government as a result of checks and balances?

Electoral College

6. How does the Electoral College work?
7. How are states over or under represented in the Electoral College?
8. How does the Electoral College promote federalism?
9. What is a ‘faithless elector’ and why do they pose a risk to democracy?
10. How can a president receive the most individual votes and still not become president?

Supreme Court

11. How does the power of judicial review help limit the power of government?
12. How do the unelected and unaccountable justices threaten democracy?
13. Why are Supreme Court Justices accuse of ‘legislating from the bench’?
14. What is judicial activism?
15. How does judicial activism attempt to dictate society’s moral compass?

Protection of Rights

16. What individual rights are protected in the constitution?
17. Which groups were not originally protected by the constitution?
18. How has the use of the death penalty been extended? (Glossip v Gross)
19. How has the power of the wealthy been extended at the expense of the poor? (Citizens United v FEC)
20. How has the ‘War on Drugs’ undermined constitutional democracy? (Veronia School District v Action)

Amendment Process

21. Why is the amendment process so difficult?
22. Why should the amendment process be difficult?
23. Why has the Equal Rights Amendment failed?
24. How can a determined minority resist changing the constitution?
25. Why are the 18^th and 21^st amendments a ‘cautionary tale’ in amending the constitution?