...Civil Rights and Liberties Supreme Court Case 2 Douglas Ganim Thursday, November 5, 2015 VOTE: 5-4 in favor of Sally Spyalot, Director of National Security Agency JUSTICE ALITO delivered the opinion of the court Shortly after September 11, 2001, at the request of the National Security Agency, several of the major phone companies were asked to provide phone records for all calls made within the United States, and all calls made to the United States from other countries. The data the NSA received, provided information on the phone number the call was made to and from, the call’s duration, the date of the call, and the time of day. No Financial data, nor content of the calls, were ever obtained by NSA. This action proceeded without a warrant for any of the information provided. In addition, there was no individual suspicion since this was considered “meta-data” or “bulk data collection” of phone records. The vast majority of the data was analyzed by computer programs and never looked at by NSA personnel. Before we delve into an analysis of the court’s decision in this case, it is prudent we first address an important point. Prior to the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, few American’s contemplated a threat to homeland security. Today, the fear of terrorism is ingrained in our daily thoughts. Following the events of 9/11, American’s sense of safety nearly vanished, and the direction, and scope of national security were forever changed. The National Security Administration...
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...Alabama Legislative Black Caucus v. Alabama case, the lower courts decided that the redistricting conducted by the Republicans after the 2010 census was not motivated by racial gerrymandering, but instead was the result of being in compliance with the law. The Republicans, at the time, had increased the African American population in already predominantly African American districts, which had upset people because they believed that it was racial gerrymandering. The basis of the argument against opponents revolved around the idea of “one person, one vote.” Coupled with this equality that has been ingrained into society is the Voting Right Acts, more specifically Section Five, which stated that when redistricting, the same number of majority-minority districts was to be maintained along with the...
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...This study will be about “Are Supreme Court Justice influenced by the public opinion in decision making. Do Appeals Court Justice make their decision based on public opinion? This question is one that will be an ongoing topic. Many scholars continue to debate whether the justices, and thus the courts outputs, actually respond to the public preference (Mishler and Sheehan, 1996). Common people wonder if the Appeals Court Justices will decide the verdict of a case based on others opinion or if the Appeals Court Justices will make their decision based on other factors. Many individuals would like to believe that federal justices will make their decisions based on the laws and facts. However, the direct linkage between public opinion and the voting behavior of justices does not arise from the justice’s strategic concerns over maintain legitimacy and compliance among the public (Casillas, Enns, Wohlfarth, 2011). The Courts of Appeal is not the court of last resort. Therefore, Appeals Court justices allow public opinion to influence their decision...
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...Obergefell v. Hodges 2015 U.S. LEXIS 4250 (2015) decision granting the LGBT community to legally marry, pushes the issue of including sexual orientation discrimination in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In July 2015, the high profile case of Obergefell v. Hodges allowed the Supreme Court to interpret the Fourteenth Amendment in which it requires states to issue marriage licenses between two individuals of the same sex. Prior to the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage, 37 states had legalized same-sex marriage. With legally issued marriage licenses, it will grant same-sex couples spousal benefits, but does not protect same-sex couples from being discriminated against at work in the private sector. Our country will allow same-sex...
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...Jasmine Thibodeaux Case Study #2 Kirk v. Louisiana I. In 1998, residents of a New Orleans neighborhood left tips for the New Orleans Police Department regarding drug activity. Detectives from the NOPD started surveillance on the apartment which belonged to Kennedy Kirk. During the surveillance of the apartment they witnessed four apparent drug transactions at Kirks residence. After one suspected buy they stopped the buyer that just left the apartment and found that he was in possession of crack cocaine. The detectives had probable cause and believed that evidence could be destroyed if they waited for a warrant. They decided to enter without seeking that warrant. Once inside the residence, they found crack cocaine, cocaine and cash on Kirk himself. No other drug paraphilia was located in the apartment. Kirk was convicted of possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute. He believed his arrest was illegal and “police were not justified in entering his home without a warrant absent exigent circumstances” (Cornell University Law School, n.d.) and appealed to the higher court. The Louisiana Court of Appeal declined to determine if those circumstances existed because “the evidence required to prove that the defendant possessed cocaine with the intent to distribute, namely the cocaine and the money, was...
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...TITLE AND CITATION: United States Supreme Court v. Robinette 533(1996) TYPE OF ACTION: This a criminal case, Robinette wants the evidence seize from his vehicle in the traffic stop be suppressed for violating Fourth Amendment and search and seizure rights. Which Robinett claimed he was not free to go when the officer stated he was. FACTS OF THE CASE: On August 3, 1992, Robert D. Robinette was stopped for a traffic violation in Ohio, the officer gave him a warning, returned his license and told him he was free to go. The officer than went a step further and asked Robinette did he have any illegal drugs or weapons in his vehicle, Robinette reply no and the officer asked him can he search his vehicle? Robinette although was told he was free to go, did not know he could have refused for the officer search his vehicle and said yes. The officer search Robinette vehicle, found marijuana and other illegal drug inside the vehicle. Robinette was arrested for possession of controlled substance. Robinette appealed at his trail to have the illegal drugs found inside his vehicle to be suppressed, the court of appeals reversed, the State Supreme Court affirmed....
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...1998, Daryl Atkins was sentenced by a jury to death on account of capital murder charges as well as armed robbery and abduction. In response, Atkins appealed the ruling of the trial court on the ground that sentencing a mentally retarded criminal to death was a cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. Prior to Atkins, in 1989, merely 13 years earlier, the United States Supreme Court ruled the Eighth Amendment does not categorically prohibit the execution of mentally retarded capital murderers in the case Penry v Lynaugh (“Penry v Lynaugh”). The verdict of this case gave state legislatures the ability to decide whether to adopt the death penalty or not, however, the United States Supreme Court limited the states' ability to execute. States are prohibited from executing minors and the insane; for reason that, these defendants' diminished capacity for reasoned judgment limits their culpability. Yet, the Supreme Court case, Atkins v Virginia, challenged the constitutionality in executing the mentally retarded, ultimately revisiting the limitation verdict of Penry v Lynaugh. The legal...
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...Medellín v. Texas Student: Kais Karowadia Class: Government Dual Credit Teacher: Jonathan Solis The Supreme Court case between Jose Ernesto Medellín and the state of Texas was fought over whether or not international law should play a role in the due process of the law within the United States. The international law in debate was made at the Vienna Convention and was designed for convicted foreigners to be able to notify their embassy immediately. As a part of the United Nations, the United States ratified this article (Article 36 on Consular Relations). During this case, however, the state of Texas did not follow the international law set at Vienna. The plaintiff, Medellín, had raped and killed two teenage girls in Houston in 1993 and confessed for participating in the crime. He was later sentenced to death by Texas courts. While on death row, Medellín sent letters to the Mexican consulate explaining his situation. Mexico saw that the United States had not upheld the agreements from the Vienna Convention and sued the United States in the International Court of Justice. Alongside the dispute between the two nations, Medellín filed for a writ of...
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...issue that has arisen is whether horizontally drilling under someone else’s property is trespassing (1752). The author then concludes that based on the Texas Supreme Court case Coastal Oil and Gas Corp. v. Garza Energy Trust, extracting gas or oil...
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...over who really has control such as the Van Orden vs Perry Supreme Court Case and arguments between leaders such as Pope Gregory II and King Henry IV. Pope Gregory stated made a series of statement in the Dictatus Papae that angered many secular leaders, particularly Henry IV. Pope Gregory stated,” ... the church was founded by God alone. The Roman pontiff alone can be called universal. He alone can depose or reinstate bishops. It may be permitted to him to depose emperors.” This angered many non-secular leaders, because if the Pope had the ability to depose (remove) or reinstate (bring back) the Pope frightened the Secular leaders such as Kings, because they could be...
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...Review & Summary: The article that I am reviewing is “ The Public’s Conditional Response to Supreme Court Decisions” (Johnson & Martin 1998). This article specifically speaks to answer, whether the Court affects public attitudes when it makes decisions or initial rulings on a salient issue or subsequent decisions on the same issue. Johnson allows us to investigate the effect of the Supreme Court on public opinion, which offers the conditional response hypothesis based on the theory of Supreme Court legitimacy, and a micro-level social-psychological theory of attitude formation through his writing. To test this prediction Johnson analyzes public opinion data before and after the Supreme Court ruled in a highly visible abortion case (Roe v. Wade 1973), along with three key capital punishment rulings. (Furman v. Georgia 1972, Gregg v. Georgia 1976 & McCleskey v. Kemp 1987) When the Supreme Court made decisions, the public simply accepted them as legitimate. The reasoning behind this is simply because the Supreme Court is seen as the ultimate arbiter of the law. The model used by both Johnson and Martin (1998) is based upon two different theories. The first, since the public generally views the Court as a highly credible institution, individuals are more likely to clearly elaborate their attitudes toward an issue after a ruling. When the court makes its first major decision on a particular, the structure of public opinion changes in a manner consistent with...
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...Case Study Analysis – Connecticut v. Teal (1982) HRM/552—Organizational Training and Development Case Summary The case of Connecticut vs. Teal is a part of landmark Supreme Court cases that were heard in the 1980s. Black employees that worked for the State of Connecticut were promoted to supervisors with a provision that for their promotion to become permanent, they would have to pass a written examination. There were 48 black candidates and 259 white candidates that took the written examination. A little over half of the black candidates that took the examination passed, however the black employees that did not pass were excluded from the remaining selection process to become permanent supervisors (Connecticut v. Teal, 1982). These employees filed lawsuit against the State of Connecticut in Federal District Court alleging that, “petitioners had violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by requiring, as an absolute condition for consideration for promotion, that applicants pass a written test that disproportionately excluded blacks and was not job related (Connecticut v. Teal, 1982). Prior to the case going to trial, the petitioners promoted 22.9% of the black candidates and 13.5% of the white candidates from the eligibility list. Due to these promotions, the employer felt that by applying the bottom line concepts, the black employees had been more favorably promoted. The District Court sided with the employer and ruled that the “bottom line” percentages were...
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...(Slip Opinion) OCTOBER TERM, 2010 Syllabus 1 NOTE: Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as is being done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is issued. The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader. See United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321, 337. SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES Syllabus SNYDER v. PHELPS ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 09–751. Argued October 6, 2010—Decided March 2, 2011 For the past 20 years, the congregation of the Westboro Baptist Church has picketed military funerals to communicate its belief that God hates the United States for its tolerance of homosexuality, particularly in America’s military. The church’s picketing has also condemned the Catholic Church for scandals involving its clergy. Fred Phelps, who founded the church, and six Westboro Baptist parishioners (all relatives of Phelps) traveled to Maryland to picket the funeral of Marine Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq in the line of duty. The picketing took place on public land approximately 1,000 feet from the church where the funeral was held, in accordance with guidance from local law enforcement officers. The picketers peacefully displayed their signs—stating, e.g., “Thank God for Dead Soldiers,” “Fags Doom Nations,” “America is Doomed,” “Priests...
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...1. What is Computer Forensics? System forensics is the process of systematically examining computer media as well as network components, software, and memory for evidence. System forensics involves collecting, preserving, analyzing, and documenting evidence to reconstruct user activities. Appropriately collected evidence is often presented in court to solve criminal cases and prosecute criminals. 2. How has technology improved the way criminal investigators perform their job? Technology improved the way criminal investigators perform their jobs by making it easier to track things, there is different types of software out there today to help them with these issues, and make the jobs easier, when you have different technology to help. 3. Why would a company report or not report a compromise case? The reason a company may or may not report a compromise because if it’s not in their favor and they may report it if it’s in their favor and vice versa. They wouldn’t want to look incompetent. 4. Who is in charge of labeling and securing sensitive information? The one in charge of labeling and securing sensitive information is the forensic specialist. 5. What is the Daubert standard? The Daubert Standard provides a rule of evidence regarding the admissibility of expert witnesses' testimony during United States federal legal proceedings. 6. Why would someone use a hex editor in a forensic investigation? The reason someone would use a hex editor in a forensic investigation...
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...TABLE OF AUTHORITIES PAGES: UNITES STATES SUPREME COURT CASES Adams v. United States ex rel. McCann, 317 U.S. 269 (1942) ARIZONA V. FULMINANTE, 499 U.X. AT 310-311 (1992) Brecht V. Abrahamson, 507 U.S. 619, 629-630 (19930 CARTER V. ILLINOIS, 329 U.S. 173, 174-175 (1946) CLEBURN TEXAS V. CLEBURNE LIVING CENTER, 473 U.S. 432, 439 (1985) COLUMBUS BOARD OF EDUCATION V. PENICK, 443 U.S. 449 (1979) DAVIS V. UNITED STATES, 417 U.S. 333 (1974) DENT V. WEST VIRGINIA, 129 U.S. 114, 123 (1889) DESHANEY V. WINNEBAGO DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES 489 U.S. 189, 195, 196 (1989) FARETTA V. CALIFORNIA 422 U.S. 806, 819-821 (1975) FAY V. NOIA, 372 U.S. 391 (1963) FIORE V. WHITE 521 U.S. 225, 228-220 (2001) (PER CURIAM) HARRIS V. MCRAE, 448 U.X. 297, 317-318 (1980) TABLE OF AUTHORITIES PAGES: IN RE WINSHIP 397 U.S. 358, 364 (1970) (EMPHASIS ADDED) JACKSON V. VIRGINIA 443 U.S. 307, 309 (1979) KOLENDER V. LAWSON, 461 U.S. 352, 357 (1983) MCKASKLE V. WIGGINS 465 U.S. 168, 177 N. 8 (1984) ROBINSON V. NEIL, 409 U.S. 505, 509 (1975) SCHLESINGER V. COUNCILMAN, 420 U.S. 738, 755 (1975) SHELLY V. KRAEMER, 334 U.S. 1, 22 (1948) STRAUDER V. WEST VIRGINIA, 100 U.S. 303 (1879) STRICKLAND V. WASHINGTON, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) THORNBURGH V. AMERICAN COLLEGE OF OBSTERICIANS AND CYNECOLOGISTS, 476 U.X. 747, 791 (1986) (WHITE, J. JOINED BY REHNQUIST DISSENTING) UNITED STATE V. CRONIC...
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