congressional powers. reviewing gerrymandering-requirements population equality: currently set at...
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Congressional Powers
Reviewing Gerrymandering-Requirements
Population Equality: Currently set at 710,000. At the federal level, courts tend to enforce the population equality standard very strictly.
Contiguity-Each district must be one continuous shape. No "land islands" are allowed. U.S. courts always enforce the principle of contiguity.
Compactness- Generally speaking, districts need to be drawn in compact shapes. Extremely jagged edges and skinny extensions are features that are the hallmarks of gerrymandered districts. Because compactness is a traditional standard about which there is no generally accepted method of measurement, the courts in most states do not usually enforce the compactness principle in practice.
Reviewing Gerrymandering-Methods
CrackingSpreading like-minded voters apart across multiple districts to dilute their voting power in each. This denies the group representation in multiple districts.
Reviewing Gerrymandering-Methods
PackingConcentrating like-minded voters together in one district to reduce their voting power in other districts. This gives the group representation in a single district while denying them representation across districts.
Reviewing Gerrymandering-Methods
Kidnapping
The party in power redraws lines to move a minority- party incumbent into a different district where she/he is less likely to win reelection
Effects of Gerrymandering
Who draws the lines?How often?Does this apply to Representatives or Senators?
Effects of Gerrymandering
Makes districts less competitiveGives incumbents the
advantageIncreases campaign costsDecrease in descriptive
representationDilutes minorities votes
Sorting Activity
Look through the cards with your partnerEach card contains one of the clauses of the text of
Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. Sort the cards into categories—determine the
number and title of the categories that you divide the cards into
Discuss
What have you noticed about the powers given to Congress?
Where does the power come from?
Working with the person behind you try to decide which clause gives Congress the power to make each law
If you use the Necessary and Proper Clause, match it with an additional clause that the power could be derived from
Be ready to share your answers and your reasoning
General Welfare (Clause 1)
The Congress shall have power To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the Untied States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.
Examples: Social Security Act
Medicare
The Bailouts
Obamacare
Commerce Clause (Clause 3)
"To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.“
For a long time, judges tended to read the clause narrowly, overturning federal laws they deemed focused mainly on regulating economic activity within states rather than between them.
Since the 1930s, however, judges have tended to read the clause broadly, allowing the government to regulate all kinds of economic activity—by setting a national minimum wage, for example.
Examples of Commerce Clause
No price fixing Minimum wageMaximum hoursSet quotas on crop production Civil Rights Act of 1964
Necessary and Proper Clause-Elastic Clause (Clause 18)
Laws passed using the necessary and proper clause range in topic: Banking
Railroads
Expansion of the US
Mistreatment of minorities
Gov’t corruption
Business corruption
Unions
Environmental protection
Education Equality
Veteran’s Affairs
Women’s Rights
War and Terrorism
Article I; Sections 8; Clause 18-- Congress has the power to make all laws which are necessary and proper for carrying
out the powers of the Constitution.
Necessary and Proper Clause (Elastic Clause)
Uses the ‘means to an end’ testLaws Congress enacts must be appropriate and related to an
enumerated power
Rational: In the U. S. Supreme Court case of McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), the Court ruled that under this clause Congress does have implied powers, and consequently, for example, Congress could, by combining Clause 18 with Clause 5, pass a law creating a Bank of the United States, even though such a power is not specifically listed as belonging to Congress in the first seventeen paragraphs.
How is Congress Limited?
No direct tax- the 16th amendment allows income taxNo tax on exportsCongress may only tax for public purposeAll states must be treated the sameCongress must approve all expenditures of the
President through lawsNo titles of nobility
