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Legal Process Project
The Legal Process Project corresponds to the following course objectives:
Describe the structure of the Constitution and the powers and rights conferred in it.
Name historic threats to homeland security and describe how the nation formed policies to address them.
Describe how public policy evolves into law through the interaction of the legislative and executive branches.
Describe how the judicial branch reviews laws and creates public policy by finding that the laws sponsored by the legislative or executive branches are consistent or inconsistent with the Constitution or other existing laws.
Identify and discuss the pertinent legislative acts of the Global War on Terror.
You have 15 pages to work with for the overall length of the document, to including the cover page, table of contents, and reference page. Please be concise in your responses to each question so you can complete the task.
Tasks
(a) Analysis of the Constitution
Read and analyze the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Choose the institutional power and the personal right you believe to be the most important, and explain why; choose the institutional power and the personal right you would remove, and explain why; and add a power and a right that you would include, and explain why.
(b) Two Examples of Homeland Security Issues in Art or Popular Culture
For this task, identify two expressions, representations, statements, etc. of a homeland security topic and explain the relation and significance of the work.
For example, English singer Billy Bragg wrote and recorded "Help Save the Youth of America." Take a look at the lyrics online and see below for a sample commentary:
In the song, Bragg presciently identifies a number of topics that will become central in the homeland security dialogue. Written in 1986, some 15 years before the events of September 11th, Bragg's core theme circles around the familiar accusation that U.S. foreign policy is too isolationist. This accusation has been made numerous times, most notably during the twentieth century's two world wars. This is an ironic argument since the United States ultimately became a major contributor, and arguably—perhaps even obviously—the catalyst for victory in each conflict.
Bragg also opines upon globalization, U.S. military engagement, illegal immigration, consumerism, crime, and the general narcissism/naïveté of American culture. These topics ...
(c) Identification of Two Pre-9/11 Homeland Security Events
As we study this new concept of "homeland security," we quickly learn that threats to national security are not new. In fact, the United States faced major threats to its existence even before it was officially a nation. Identify and describe two such events in U.S. history that occurred prior to September 11, 2001, and explain why this event/threat was similar to current homeland security events.
(d) Legal Counsel Exercise
Assume that you are legal counsel for the Scorpions, a militant nongovernmental subset of a Serbian political opposition group, the Bosniak Srpska. During a strategic planning meeting with top officials, Scorpion Subcommander (there are no commanders in the Scorpions in order to mitigate assassinations) Bensayah Belkacem is discussing his plans to commit violent attacks against U.S. citizens and property. Subcommander Belkacem confides that these acts will be performed on behalf of the internationally recognized government of Pasdora, a small country in Southwest Asia near the Caspian Sea.
Subcommander Belkacem knows that you have been educated in the United States and have studied legal and political issues involving U.S. domestic and foreign policy, particularly in the areas of homeland security and the U.S.'s professed Global War on Terror/Overseas Contingency Operations. During the meeting, your opinion on the following matters is asked:
1) If the United States learns about the Scorpions' plan, is President Obama empowered to order a military attack against us? If yes, how would he most likely justify his actions?
2) If U.S. Army soldiers detain our fighters and transfer them to Saudi Arabia (a country known to torture people) for questioning, what is this process called? Does U.S. public policy allow for such a practice? If the current U.S. policy is to allow such a practice, is this policy lawful?
3) As part of its Global War on Terror, the Bush Administration took many captured fighters to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. If our soldiers are taken there, is it likely that they—none of whom are United States citizens—will be able to access the U.S. federal court system and wage litigation warfare? What is the background and current status of this issue?
4) What is a military tribunal? Has the United States used military tribunals in the past? Is the United States currently using military tribunals and, if so, what is their status?
5) Is it true that the United States spies on its own citizens? What are some of the governmental organizations/agencies involved in doing this? Is it lawful for the military to participate in this type of domestic activity?
6) If we believe the United States is going to attack us, is it lawful for us to attack them first? How would we justify it?
7) We understand the United States has a document called the Constitution. Describe its framework and the main concepts, powers, and rights that it contains?
8) Which branch of the U.S. federal government is the most powerful?
(e) Statute Draft
For this task, you need to identify the next great idea in homeland security. Articulate and format your idea as the introduction to a new legislative act. Below are a few paragraphs from the USA PATRIOT Act as an example of how to format the task:
AN ACT
To deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE–This Act may be cited as the "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act of 2001."
TITLE I—ENHANCING DOMESTIC SECURITY AGAINST TERRORISM
SEC. 101. COUNTERTERRORISM FUND.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT; AVAILABILITY–There is hereby established in the Treasury of the United States a separate fund to be known as the "Counterterrorism Fund," amounts in which shall remain available without fiscal year limitation—
(1) to reimburse any Department of Justice component for any costs incurred in connection with—
(A) reestablishing the operational capability of an office or facility that has been damaged or destroyed as the result of any domestic or international terrorism incident;
(B) providing support to counter, investigate, or prosecute domestic or international terrorism, including, without limitation, paying rewards in connection with these activities; and
(C) conducting terrorism threat assessments of Federal agencies and their facilities; and
(2) to reimburse any department or agency of the Federal Government for any costs incurred in connection with detaining in foreign countries individuals accused of acts of terrorism that violate the laws of the United States.
(b) NO EFFECT ON PRIOR APPROPRIATIONS–Subsection (a) shall not be construed to affect the amount or availability of any appropriation to the Counterterrorism Fund made before the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 102. SENSE OF CONGRESS CONDEMNING DISCRIMINATION AGAINST ARAB AND MUSLIM AMERICANS.
(a) FINDINGS–Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Arab Americans, Muslim Americans, and Americans from South Asia play a vital role in our Nation and are entitled to nothing less than the full rights of every American.
(2) The acts of violence that have been taken against Arab and Muslim Americans since the September 11, 2001, attacks against the United States should be and are condemned by all Americans who value freedom.
(3) The concept of individual responsibility for wrongdoing is sacrosanct in American society, and applies equally to all religious, racial, and ethnic groups.
(4) When American citizens commit acts of violence against those who are, or are perceived to be, of Arab or Muslim descent, they should be punished to the full extent of the law.
(5) Muslim Americans have become so fearful of harassment that many Muslim women are changing the way they dress to avoid becoming targets.
(6) Many Arab Americans and Muslim Americans have acted heroically during the attacks on the United States, including Mohammed Salman Hamdani, a 23-year-old New Yorker of Pakistani descent, who is believed to have gone to the World Trade Center to offer rescue assistance and is now missing.
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS–It is the sense of Congress that—
(1) the civil rights and civil liberties of all Americans, including Arab Americans, Muslim Americans, and Americans from South Asia, must be protected, and that every effort must be taken to preserve their safety;
(2) any acts of violence or discrimination against any Americans be condemned; and
(3) the Nation is called upon to recognize the patriotism of fellow citizens from all ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds.
(III) Grading
The Legal Process Project constitutes 40 of 100 points of your final grade for the course. The project elements are assessed as follows:
Legal Process Project Deliverables
Value
Task 1: Analysis of the Constitution
5 pts
Task 2: Examples of homeland security issues in popular culture
10 pts
Task 3: Identification of pre-9/11 homeland security event
10 pts
Task 4: Legal counsel exercise
10 pts
Task 5: Statute draft
5 pts
The Legal Process Project will be evaluated using the following rubric:
