1. The court system is considered better suited to protect individuals than elected branches of government due to upholding individual rights and constitutional principles, the state court system create laws and punish criminals who rob, rape, and murder, or do violations of state laws. And handle other civil matters. State courts also handle civil matters, personal injury, malpractice, divorce, family, juvenile, probate, and contract disputes and real estate cases. The federal courts, on the other hand, will hear any case that involves a foreign government, patent or copyright infringement, Native American rights, maritime law, bankruptcy, or a controversy between two or more states.

2. Yes, I agree that the Supreme Court, is an anti-democratic part of our government because they allow appointed judges to overrule the will of the people. The reason for this way of choosing judges in federal courts is because federal judges are chosen to ensure a fair and impartial justice system. The president nominates a candidate to a judgeship or justice position, and the nominee must be confirmed by a majority vote in the U.S. Senate,

1. In the Walmart case, the supreme court found that the plaintiff’s evidence did not demonstrate commonality required for a class action lawsuit under Rule 23’s commonality requirement because the lawsuit did not have a “commonality” of 1.5 million female Wal-Mart employes who were denied the same promotion, the same pay raise, or insulted, belittled, or obstructed by the same manager in the same store, their cases could not legitimately be litigated all at once.

1. The war on terror is a new type of a war due to its unconventional nature. It is unpredictable that targets non state actors and involves a global, decentralized conflict with no clear geographical boundaries or predictable end putting those in emotional terminal about when the next attack will happen. Opposed to traditional war that is armed conflict between nation states or coalitions, characterized by force-on-force military operations using conventional weapons and tac tics.

2. Roving Wiretaps violates the Fourth Amendment because Wire taps surveillance people without their permission and if a government intelligence agency thinks you’re under the control of a foreign government, they can wiretap you and never tell you, search your house and never tell you, break into your home, copy your hard drive, and never tell you that they’ve done it. The fourth Amendment is supposed to protect against unreasonable searches, requiring warrants to be supported and specifically describe the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.

3. Sneek and Peek Warrants allows law enforcement to enter a property without the owners or occupants’ knowledge or consent to conduct a search and this also violates a person’s Fourth Amendment

1. The establishment clause is part of the first Amendment that prohibits the government from establishing or endorsing a religion. interpreted as preventing government from favoring some religious beliefs over others or religion over non-religion.

The Lemon Test was established by the supreme court for deciding whether a law or other government action that might promote a particular religious practice should be allowed to stand. The Lemon test have three criteria for a law or action to be found constitutional and remain in effect. 1. The action or law must not lead to excessive government entanglement with religion; in other words, policing the boundary between government and religion should be relatively straightforward and not require extensive effort by the government.

2. The action or law must have some secular purpose; there must be some non-religious justification for the law.

3. The action or law cannot either inhibit or advance religious practice; it should be neutral in its effects on religion.

2. Yes, if someone were to burn up the American flag, this action would still be protected by the First Amendment. The First Amendment protects the right to freedom of religious conscience and practice and the right to free expression, particularly of political and social beliefs. So, under the first Amendment burning the American flag is considered a form of protected speech.

3. when someone says, “I’m taking the Fifth” this means the person is invoking the right against self- incrimination or the right to remain silent. People have the right not to give evidence in court or to law enforcement officers that might constitute an admission of guilt or responsibility for a crime.

1. The social class that wrote the constitution was the delegates, and the class that was excluded and not allowed to participate in this process were the Native Americans, Persons of Africain descent, Women, indentured servants, and white males lacking sufficient property.

2. Would say that the social class structure of early United States society, was the same as ours today, or different? Explain.

No, the social class structure of the early united states was different from modern society because, the early American class structure was more focused on the interest of the wealthy class who held power and influence while a large majority were peasant class who were not allowed to vote unless they were a white male with property and wealth and social mobility was more restricted in early America. In modern society no matter the social class an individual has, they have the right to vote. Individuals have more economic opportunities, that can move them up social classes. There are no longer two classes that were only the wealthy and peasants but now are called upper, middle and lower class

3. Why were the people who wrote the Constitution so afraid of democracy?

The Delegates were afraid of democracy because People would speak out against the government. They were concerned about tyranny of the majority and the potential for instability.

1. Describe the primary differences in the role of citizens in government, among the federal, confederation, and unitary systems.

In a federal system, citizens have a more direct influence at both the national and state levels, participating in both federal and state elections and potentially influencing policy at both levels. In a confederation system, citizens have the strongest influence at the local or state level, as the central government is weak and largely reliant on the member states. In a unitary system, citizens primarily interact with the central government, which holds most of the power and controls local governments

2. Briefly explain how you understand the system of division of power.

The division of power refers to the distribution of governmental authority among different branches, typically legislative, executive, and judicial branches, to prevent any one branch from becoming too powerful.

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.

The federal government influences state and local governments primarily through grants, mandates and federal court rulings. During covid – 19 the federal government gave significant funding for financial relief to New York state and its local governments through programs like The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and other emergency COVID relief initiatives. Made lockdowns and mask policies to stop the spread of covid. Made every citizen In New York State to have a covid vaccination card. And Vaccination campaigns.

1. The concept that we have already discussed in this course that reminds me of faction is social classes

2. According to Federalist #10 (written by James Madison) The source of wealth is unequal distribution of property. The factor to why some people get to possess wealth by owning private property, and others don’t is because people have different abilities, talents, and circumstances that lead to an unequal distribution of property and wealth

3. Yes, I agree with this explanation of wealth and poverty because it explains how people with talent and abilities such as bankers, merchants or delegates easier access had to own property while someone with little to no wealth could not.

4. The core mission (“first object”) of the US government is the protection of different and unequal faculties of acquiring property. The first object of the government has evolved to encompass a more comprehensive set of responsibilities aimed promoting the wellbeing and prosperity of society such as social welfare programs. Economic regulation, education.

5. No, I am not surprised because Federalist #10 believes a large republic, rather than a pure democracy, is better equipped to manage the dangers of factions. The negative effects of groups pursuing their self-interest would be more difficult to control.

1. Corporations or “Producers” exploit working class people by giving them the expression long hours of labor produce more money but that is not true. Capitalists profit off of workers. This surprised me because this could be considered the life cycle of a worker who work under their boss. The boss gives out the labor, the worker does the labor and create money, but the money does not reflect the hours they worked, the remaining money they have gone from their wage is back to the boss

2. A society with wealth inequality can experience negative implications such as poverty within the working class, lower social mobility, increased debt and financial vulnerability, increased crime, or poor public health. People who are working class may still struggle with poverty and live paycheck to paycheck, and if they miss a paycheck this can cause financial ruin and the risk of homelessness. People with lower social mobility experience more difficulty to improve their economic status or move up the social ladder. Individuals who are in the need of funds or pay bills may apply to credit cards or other loans to get by, this can pile up and turn into debt. Higher inequality is often linked to increased rates of violent crime and property crime. Inequality can have negative impacts on public health, including shorter life expectancy and poorer mental health outcomes.

1. The similarities in the way social class is discussed in readings 4.1 and 4.2 is that social class is determined by Wealth, income, education, occupation or social statues .The difference between these two is that readings 4.1 is about how people choose to identify with their social class even though they do not have the correct income or social status to be determined of that social class. Readings 4.2 have facts and data about which neighborhood is considered lower, middle or upper class

2. I live near the 2, and 5 train station in the Bronx. The social class that tends to live in my neighborhood is the lower-income demographic and the working class. No, I am not surprised by the answer because the area has residentials and low-income housing So, the people who do live here work every day and have families, but the area is also associated with a predominantly low income and economic disadvantage population.

3. Based on readings 4.2 social class in New York City is mixed, with a large percentage of the population residing in the lower and middle class, while a smaller percentage make up the wealthy class. When it comes to the subway people ride the subway everyday with people from mixed class and the distance to lower, middle, or upper class is not far.