Posted on by Arto Artinian

Discussion Board 11.1

  1. In what ways is the court system better suited to protect the individual, than are the elected branches of government (such as Congress and the President; or the Mayor of NYC and the NYC City Assembly)? Give an example to illustrate your argument.

2. Think about how federal judges get to become judges – unlike Presidents, Mayors and members of Congress (and other legislatures), they are not elected, but rather appointed. Many Americans have thus called the federal courts system, and especially the Supreme Court, anti-democratic places in our government. Do you agree that the Supreme Court, for example, is an anti-democratic part of our government? What could be the reason for this way of choosing judges in federal courts? (HINT: think about our discussion of “Federalist #10”, and which social class plays a leading role in our government system.)

Posted on by Arto Artinian

First Exam related information

Hi class,

I have finished grading your first exams. Couple of things to keep in mind.

  1. If you wrote your email address on your exam paper, you should have received a link to your graded exam, whereby you can view your grade and my comments.
  2. If you DID NOT receive such an email with a link to your graded exam, that means you forgot to write you email address on your exam paper, and thus I was unable to email you. If you want to see your graded exam, email me and let me know.
  3. If you DO NOT see an exam grade on your Brightspace page for this class, that most likely means you submitted your exam in a format other than Microsoft Word (.DOCX). For example, if you submitted your exam as a PDF of any other document type, I will not read it, which means you didn’t get credit for your first exam. In this case, take a look at your exam paper and if you send it to me in a format other than .DOC/.DOCX, resubmit the exam in the correct format, and send me an email that you have done so. Then, I’ll be able to grade your exam.
  4. IMPORTANT: The First Exam can be rewritten for a higher grade. If you would like to rewrite your exam, please go ahead and do so. Upload it, and send me an email letting me know that you’ve rewritten your exam.
  5. NOTE: Exam responses that contained 1-3 sentences lost credit. You are expected to write more than that on your exam. Each question should be in paragraph(s) form. Please ensure that you don’t submit any rewritten responses that contain 1-3 sentences…
  6. If you have any questions about your exam, or if you don’t see a grade for your exam on your Brightspace class page, please let me know.
Posted on by Arto Artinian · 1 Comment

Discussion Board 9.2

  1. P. Williams writes in her essay, that the war on terror is a new type of a war. What’s new about it, how is it different from traditional wars?
  2. In what ways does the “Roving Wiretaps” of the Patriot Act seem to violate the Bill of Rights? Which amendment(s) does it seem to violate and why?
  3. What about “Sneek and Peek” Warrants?
Posted on by Arto Artinian · 1 Comment

Discussion Board 9.1

  1. Describe how you understand the “Establishment Clause” and the related “Lemon Test”.
  2. Is burning the US flag protected by the First Amendment? Explain by referring to the relevant court case discussed in the reading.
  3. What does it mean when someone says “I’m taking the Fifth”?
Posted on by Arto Artinian

The First Exam has been posted

Hi class,

I have posted our first exam: https://openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu/pol-100-0507-spring-2025-introduction-to-american-government/module-8-first-exam/

The exam is due by midnight, next Sunday.

In writing your exam, please review any of the summary videos I have, especially in Module 5 on social classes.

Lastly, your exam must be in Microsoft Word document format (.DOCX), so I can comment on them on BMCC’s Dropbox folder. No PDFs will be graded.

Posted on by Arto Artinian

Discussion Board 7.1

  1. Describe the primary differences in the role of citizens in government, among the federal, confederation, and unitary systems.
  2. Briefly explain how you understand the system of division of power.
  3. How does the federal government shape the actions of state and local governments? Write your answer based on doing a bit of research on how the federal government has influenced the actions of NY state and local governments, during the COVID-19 pandemic.