Sample Law Paper on United States Law and Politics

Sample Law Paper on United States Law and Politics

  1. Donald Trump victory over Hillary Clinton has been highly publicized with people debating the shocking circumstances that cultivated Trump’s success. One of these people is Robby Soave who uses his article to explain the dynamics that caused Trump’s success. According to Soave, all the reasons that have emerged only serve to mask the real reason for Trump’s victory which is the notion of political correctness. Soave insists that the importance of the cultural element of political correctness to many Americans was the main cause for Trump’s shocking and popular election. He claims that many of the perceived reasons for Trump’s victory like policies on immigration, globalization and the capitalization on the anxieties of the blue collar workers. Soave uses the example of University campuses that have been manifesting political correctness which is usually strictly against individuals who go against this notion. He uses the example of Milo Yiannopoulos, a speaker invited to speak by the students groups against political correctness. He emphasizes that most students were not really interested in listening to Milo Yiannopoulos and only tolerated and entertained the speaker due to his undermining of political correctness. In essence, just like Trump, the students ignored the negatives of Yiannopoulos as he served to work against the system and against political correctness. Yiannopoulos is of the opinion that despite the anomalies of Trump as president, the leftist underestimated him by ignoring political correctness. In my opinion, Soave’s arguments are valid and agreeable; the notion of political correctness was a major reason why Trump was elected the 45th president of the United States. However, this cannot be sole reason why people voted for Trump, his policies on many issues served to illustrate a difference with the Obama administration.
  2. commerce, one of the most popular clauses in the US constitution refers to Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 of the constitution of the United States that gives power or allows the US Congress to regulate commerce among several states, foreign nations and the Indian tribes. It regulates or restricts the ability of a state to burden interstate commerce by stopping any discrimination. There are several cases that have been associated with the commerce clause including probably the most famous of them, Gibbons v. Ogden. Gibbons v. Ogden was a case that pitted Aaron Ogden and Thomas Gibbons over the Gibbon’s navigation in waters that had been licensed exclusively to Ogden, his former business partner, by the Orleans State. However, Gibbons violated this license by conducting business in the waters and claiming the power of interstate commerce was regulated by the Congress which national power over state powers. The judge ruled in favor of Gibbons claiming any license granted using the federal coastal act superseded any state acquired license. Another case that concerned the commerce clause was West Lynn Creamery Inc. v. Healy. This particular case concerned two milk dealers in Massachusetts who were caught in the crossfire of a pricing order installed by the state in an effort to send subsidies to dairy farmers in Massachusetts who were being affected by price plummeting. The two dealers refused to pay since they bought their milk outside the state, their licenses revoked and they thus sued the state on claim of the commerce clause violation. The court ruled in the state’s favor claiming the benefits from the subsidies outweighed interstate commerce. Another case was the Gonzales v. Raich case which concerned the growing and use of home grown cannabis even when the state is a proponent of the use of medicinal marijuana. Defendant Angel Raich was a user of homegrown marijuana for medical purposes. However, the use of this marijuana was legal in California but illegal under federal laws and all her plants were destroyed. The ruling went against Angel Raich as the court claimed that the respondent understood Congress’s power to control marijuana and that banning marijuana growing limited the abuse of marijuana for non-medicinal purposes.
  3. During the elections of November 2016, many phrases were utilized, some of these phrases included “drain the swamp”, “lock er up”, and “build the wall”. Drain the swamp is a phrase that means, in terms of this election, removing corruption and greed from the government, be it the national or the local governments. Donald Trump used this phrase to signify his willingness to revamp the system and introduce new people that would adequately deliver without the threat of corruption and other anomalies. In addition, it means removing outside interests from the walks of government in Washington. Used predominantly by Trump, “lock er up” is a phrase that called for the prosecution of Hillary Clinton for the alleged corruption charges. Trump used this phrase to insist that action should be taken to control Clinton and her alleged corruption. He associates Hillary Clinton with her husband, former president Bill Clinton and their alleged participation in corrupt activities. “Build the wall” is a phrase used by Trump to signify the curtail the entry of immigrants into the United States, especially Mexican immigrants. The phrase was an emphasis that more action needed to be taken to ensure control is upheld on the border.