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James Madison - Consider The Following . . .

  • Have the class research arguments by the Federalists and anti-Federalists regarding the federal government. Present a debate over the merits of each perspective, focusing on criminal justice concerns.
  • Some claimed the liberties protected by Madison and the Supreme Court eroded in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. For example, the War on Drugs initiated in the 1980s and the later USA Patriot Act (passed as an antiterrorist measure in 2001) gave law enforcement greater powers. Describe how individual liberties could be affected by these programs.
  • The protections offered in the Bill of Rights would not be strongly upheld until the 1960s when the Supreme Court issued a series of rulings that revolutionized the criminal justice system. What did the Supreme Court rule and how did it support the constitutional protections in the Bill of Rights?

Bosom: Chest; meaning a person's emotional center.

House: U.S. House of Representatives.

Amity: Common understanding.

Inviolable: Cannot be violated.

Redress of their grievances: To resolve political issues.

Requisite of unanimity: All jurors agree on the verdict.

Magna Charta: Early English document [also known as the Magna Carta] granting rights to citizens and limiting the power of royalty.

Salutary: Helpful; supporting a useful purpose.

Republican: Government in which the power is held by the citizens who elect their political leaders.

Residuum: The remainder.

Discretionary: Left to its own judgment.

Indefinite: limited.

Interdicts: Prohibits.

Bill of attainder: The legislature finding a person guilty of a felony rather than a court of law.

Ex post facto law: Making a new law apply to the past actions of people.

Trench upon: Abuse.

Fortify: Strengthen.


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