We have covered many interesting topics this semester, the section that stood out to me the most was civil rights and the courts response to cases involving Native Americans. Particularly the judicial systems response to the case Elk v. Wilkins and Worcester v. Georgia, and the way the executive branch refused to enforce the courts decisions. The power of the president was also informative to me especially the fact that the president could not pardon themselves. I found it enlightening that the president can enter into executive agreements on the behalf of America without even signing any documentation. Moreover, I was surprised by the topic of civil liberties and how they were not easily given to citizens. I did not realize how complicated it was to keep the government out of American’s private life. Specifically, it should not be within the power of the government to infringe on the right for woman to receive contraceptives. Three areas in Political science that I found interesting include the topics of civil rights, extraconstitutional powers of the presidents, and civil liberties. One of the many current problems in America is the constant attempts to defund Planned Parenthood by attempting to block it from public health care programs such as Medicaid.
Civil Rights
One group of people whom have suffered the most at the hands of the American government are the Native Americans. In Elk v. Wilkins in 1884, Native Americans were granted birth right citizenship, meaning that any children born after the case were granted citizenship. This left the older Native Americans without citizenship until the Nationally Act of 1940, through this act, they were given full citizenship rights. They were one of the last minorities to get full citizenship rights, because even African Americans and white females received full citizenship before Native Americans. They have also constantly had their rights violated and numerous treaties that they signed with the federal government were violated. While the Supreme Court attempted to uphold the treaty agreements between the federal government and tribes, the executive government refused to enforce them, leading to tribes being forced to relocate. For example, in Worcester v. Georgia, the courts ruled that the white settlers could not enter tribal lands without the tribe’s permission. Earlier that year in the supreme court case, Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, the justices decided that the tribe was entitled to their ancestor’s land and could not be forced to move. According to Kurtz (2016), “Georgia’s white citizens refused to uphold the court decision in both cases and repeatedly violated the tribe’s rights granted by the courts.” President Jackson, whom had previously been a Native American fighter, also refused to enforce the supreme court’s decision and Native Americans were once again forced to pick up their things and migrate somewhere else.
Extraconstitutional Powers
The extraconstitutional powers of the president seem extensive, but limited at times, particularly when one factors in that the president does not have absolute powers except for the power to pardon. This section was very educational about how much the president can legally do and how congress or the judicial system work to limit it. There are four extraconstitutional powers, but I will be focusing on the executive order and executive agreement. An executive order is a rule or order issued by the president without the cooperation of Congress and having the force of law if the courts do not overturn them. We were able to see an example of an executive order being overturned by the courts in Youngstown S &T v. Sawyer, which involved the constitutionality of Truman’s executive order. Truman ordered that most of the nation steel mills to be seized and operated during the Korean war. In Youngstown S &T v. Sawyer (1940), “The supreme court struck down Truman’s executive order because the president was not allowed to take private property.” The power of Executive agreement is an international agreement between the president and another country made by the executive branch and without formal consent by the Senate. In Dames and Moore v. Regan, we were able to see an illustration of the judicial system upholding a president’s executive agreement. In this case the Carter administration froze all Iran assets in the US before leaving the office. When the Reagan administration entered office, they upheld the agreement and transferred Iranian funds, causing Dames and Moore, whom had money stored there to file bankruptcy. Dames and Moore attempted to recover their money, but the courts decided that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) gave the president the power to transfer Iranian funds, leaving Dames, Moore, and other companies bankrupt.
Civil Liberties
The most insightful subject discussed in this course is civil liberties and the cases that went along with it. It was really fascinating to find out that there is not much that the government will stay out of concerning the lives of American citizens. Specifically, women’s liberties are at stake. Cases like Harris v. McRae and Burwell v. Hobby Lobby were interesting to study. As explained in T. Davis’s lecture, “in the Harris v. McRae case, abortion was shifted from a civil right to a civil liberty and no federal dollars were to be spent on abortion” (Personal communication, 2018). This is troublesome because individuals with low income that cannot afford an abortion are forced to raise children that they will not sufficiently provide for. This leaves countless children whose needs are not being met because their parents could not afford an abortion and cannot afford to raise them. There is also the problem that the government is continuously attempting to limit government funding for Planned Parenthood and birth control by excluding it from some public health programs. As stated by Berg (2017), “Planned Parenthood provides mostly preventive care through Title X and Medicaid to low-income families.” According to Rovner (2018), “Title X is a federal family planning program that provides wellness programs and contraceptive programs. Planned Parenthood provides about 40 percent of Title X patients.” This directly affects low income families who are not able to afford birth control. In another controversial court case called Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, the supreme court ruled that for-profit companies could deny contraceptive coverage to employees for religious reasons. This also affects low income families because without their employee benefits they may not be able to afford birth control which affectively increases the chances of getting pregnant. A solution to this would be that the government give women the right to birth control and stop attempting to defund planned parenthood. The problem is many Americans opposed to Planned Parenthood assume that it uses federal dollars to funds abortions, but it is illegal do so because of the Hyde Amendment. If this misunderstanding is resolved, then women can start to gain more rights for their health and happiness.
The areas in political science that I really enjoyed are the sections about civil rights, extraconstitutional rights, and civil liberties. The section about civil rights was informative because it explained how the Native American’s were suppressed. There was also the discussion of extraconstitutional powers of the president that was fascinating, I was able to understand how to the president uses their powers and how the courts respond. There was also the discussion of civil liberties that illustrated some civil rights have been reduced to liberties. Overall this course has been very informative about America works to suppress groups of people and how the period of time or the president can bring about change.