Arizona State Legislature Case : Breach Of Election Clause

I found our reading this week to be very informative and interesting. Arizona’s Constitution just like the U.S. Constitution has pros and cons. “Arizona, like many Western states, adopted referendum, recall, and initiative in the early 20th century. Twenty-four states have a referendum provision of some kind, and many states have referendum, recall, and initiative expressly called for in their state constitution” (Potts, D., 2012). When amending the Arizona Constitution it involves a few steps, such as; “first, the amendment must be formally proposed in one of three different ways: (1) the voters can propose amendments using the constitutional initiative process; (2) the legislature can propose amendments using the constitutional referendum

Forgette Richard, Garner Andrew, and Winkle John. “Do redistricting principles and practices affect US state legislative electoral competition? State Politics and policy quarterly, 20(9) (2009): 151 175.

The equal protection clause of the Constitution provided George W. Bush with a historical argument that surprisingly fit his case. Not every Floridians ballot was provided with the same protections. There was no statewide vote recount procedure, every county had their own provisions.Two voters could have marked their ballots in an identical manner, but the ballot in one county would be counted while the ballot in a different county would be rejected, due to the conflicting manual recount

Politics in the United States is a complex structure that is comprised of many systems. While most of these systems appear to work well, there are a few that are broken. A perfect example of a broken system is the district boundaries and the likelihood of gerrymandering. Multiple states across the country are subjected to gerrymandering, which is the act of dividing a county into election districts that provide one political party with an unfair advantage over the other. Gerrymandering is used to help or prevent a particular demographic from gaining adequate representation. In Florida, for example, there is controversy over Congressional District 5, which extends from Jacksonville down to Orlando in a way that creates a “minority-majority” district.

More convincing than the fact that the majority of incumbents retained their seats by overwhelming margins is the shocking statistic that a quarter of the incumbents were uncontested.13 These politicians were so successful at arranging favorable districts that it was futile to even attempt a challenge. The author continued to examine particularly egregious cases of gerrymandering in New York, including that of Senator Guy Vellela, who once selected voters for his district by individual city blocks.14 Senator Guy Vellela, as well as the other state senators of New York, are prime examples of politicians exploiting gerrymandering to manipulate the outcome of elections and improve their outcomes.

Without a certain degree of control over the governmental levels of power, blacks end up disproportionately dependent on white-created legislation and white administration of those laws (Pohlmann, 219). The potential dangers of gerrymandering involves the distribution of blacks into districts where they are diluted into a minority or the creation of districts where blacks are an excessive majority so that an overall district majority white can be achieved (Thornburgh v. Gingles, 31). These redistricting plans severely hindered blacks ability to vote for a representative of their choice (1). However, in order to stem the progress of racially discriminating gerrymandering, these districts are examined based on the impact and district composition

In short, Proposition 140 was an initiated constitutional amendment that sought to reform several key aspects of its own state legislature. One such reform limited the amount the of expenditures the legislature could spend on staff. Another reform barred state legislatures from earning

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits voting discrimination. With the condition to receive preclearance stated in section 5 of the Act from the Department of Justice before making any changes affecting the voting process, also came four other prohibitions. The prohibition of literacy test or other similar test or devices as a prerequisite to voter registration is one prevention. The requirement of jurisdictions with significant language minority populations to provide non-English ballots and oral voting instructions is another. Third is the prohibition of vote dilution, which is the remapping of districts to suppress the minority vote. The final provision was one of the most controversial of the Act. It established the federal oversight

This Proposition has led to Proposition 62, Proposition 218, Proposition 37 and Santa Clara Measure A to name a few. Proposition 62 became effective on November 5, 1986 this said that majority vote was required for general taxes, a two-thirds vote was required for local special taxes, provisions that existing taxes passed after July 31, 1985 would be put before voters within two years, the elimination of property tax transfers and attempted to apply to

It is clear that illegal immigration has gotten out of control and constringent measures need to be taken to protect the United States borders. The local Government of Arizona recently decided to take control of the situation, by passing the “Support our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act” {House Bill 2162}. This bill gives law enforcement officers and agencies the authority, to lawfully stop, detain and arrest anyone who appears to look like an illegal alien. The bill out-right condones racial profiling and it violates civil rights, as well!

Arizona gain statehood on February 14, 1912 as the forty-eighth state in the union. There were several events that led Arizona to statehood. President William Taft vetoed the first document for Arizona to become a state because he did not believe that citizens should use recall to remove judges from office (SU, 2008). This essay will give a detail timeline of the events leading up to Arizona becoming a state and the adoption of the Arizona Constitution. Also, included in this essay is a brief history of the events that influence Arizona Declaration of Rights.

     This case had to do with an Ernest Miranda who raped a Patty McGee*. After extracting a written confession from the rapist about the situation, Miranda’s lawyer argued that it was not valid since the Phoenix Police Department failed to read Miranda his rights, also in violation of the Sixth Amendment which is the right to counsel. Some factors that helped support Miranda’s arguments were that the suspect had requested and been denied an opportunity to consult with a lawyer; the suspect had not been effectively warned about his right to remain silent; and an incriminating statement must have been given by the suspect. The author of the Arizona court’s decision, former U.S. Senator and

Congress finally pushed for Arizona to have separate territorial status because of the discovery of precious metals. On February, 24, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Organic Act, which officially created Arizona’s territory (McClory, 2001). The first official governor, John Goodwin, took the oath of office on December 29, 1863. Prescott became the capital in 1864, then to Tucson (1867), then back to Prescott

Docket number forty-eight, is Virginia’s poll tax unconstitutional? Originally the poll tax was a prerequisite to voting. It would make the residents of Virginia pay a fee to vote in the electoral process. Each fee was about two dollars per person and per vote. That would be equivalent to about fifteen dollars in 2013 (Supreme 2). They would also discriminate towards poor whites and blacks who went in to vote. Even some women were not allowed either; which is against the 19th amendment which was ratified in 1920. In 1966, the residents of Virginia decided that their poll tax was unconstitutional and in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The clause states that “no state shall deny a person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” (Oyez, 1). The Virginia residents felt that the poll tax was violating that clause because they were not being treated equally at the polls, especially with the infringement of the tax. Annie Harper was the one who filed the suit against the Virginia Board in January of 1966. On March 24, 1966, the court came to a six to three decision for Harper (Oyez, 1). The court ruled that it was unconstitutional that fee payments or wealth,

Redrawing the districts to give a political advantage is not sophisticated. It ruins the point of the Fifteenth Amendment which allows the right to vote no matter the race, sex, or personality. The right to vote doesn’t matter because of the unfairness and the corruption of the districts. These voters will be confused about these uncanny district shapes. Because of these lines, the citizens will not know which office to vote for. For Example, the first ever