Citizen Bee- The Bill of Rights Institute

Current Events

Citizen Bee questions in the Current Events category will be based on a number of sources. There are no Study Guide entries for this category. To do well in the Current Events portions of the Bee, be sure to study the following:

Bill of Rights in the News Activities
Names and offices of Cabinet members
Candidates and issues of the 2008 general election
National news stories related to:

The Constitution and all amendments;
constitutional principles including separation of powers, federalism, republican government, limited government, and popular sovereignty.

District of Columbia v. Heller - April 7,2008
On March 18, 2008, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of District of Columbia v. Heller. Security guard Dick Anthony Heller is challenging the District of Columbia’s gun law, which includes a complete ban on private ownership of handguns, as well as requirements that other types of weapons be kept unloaded and trigger-locked. The case marks the first time the Court has heard a Second Amendment case since 1939. This month’s Bill of Rights in the News focuses on the oral arguments in District of Columbia v. Heller.
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California and Homeschooling - March 17,2008
On February 28, 2008, a California Appellate Court held all children in the state must actually attend a public or private school, or be tutored at home by someone holding teaching credentials. Families who home school are potentially affected by this ruling. The Governor of California opposes the ruling, and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction has stated that the California Department of Education will not enforce the ruling. This month’s Bill of Rights in the News spotlights this ruling and its implications for religious freedom, personal liberty and the government’s separation of powers.
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Article II and Elections - March 3, 2008
This week’s Bill of Rights in the News focuses on the Constitution, issues of the 2008 general election, and presidential candidates. Students will first read and analyze Article II of the Constitution, and then use Web resources to understand and evaluate candidates’ stated positions on issues.
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Surveillance Bill - February 19, 2008
Last week, a showdown took place between House on one side, and the Senate and the President on the other, concerning the government’s surveillance power. The House and Senate have each passed bills, but they differ in key ways, including whether to grant immunity to telecommunications companies who provided the government with private data and complied with warrant-less wiretaps. This week’s Bill of Rights in the News spotlights this event, highlighting Fourth Amendment protections as well as the constitutional separation of powers.
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Supreme Court Preview - February 4, 2008
The Supreme Court recently began a four-week recess, but when the Court gets back to business, it will hear several cases concerning Bill of Rights protections. In this month’s Bill of Rights in the News we are spotlighting three important cases that turn on the Court’s interpretation of the First, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments.
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Federalism and REAL-ID - January 21, 2008
On January 11, 2008 Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff unveiled the requirements for a new federally-approved driver’s license. The requirements come under the REAL-ID act, which was passed by Congress in 2005. States have responded to the new rules in various ways. While four have passed legislation applauding the rules, seventeen others have declared their opposition to the new requirements, setting the stage for a confrontation between those states and the federal government. This week’s Bill of Rights in the News focuses on the Real ID Act, the privacy concerns it has raised, and the issues of federalism highlighted by some states’ response to the Act.
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8th Amendment and Lethal Injection - January 7, 2008
On Monday, January 7 the Supreme Court hears arguments about the constitutionality of lethal injection. Lawyers for two inmates in Kentucky will argue that the three-drugs used in lethal injection can cause extreme pain if given improperly. Therefore, they say, it amounts to “cruel and unusual punishment” and violates the Eighth Amendment. This week’s Bill of Rights in the News looks at this important case now before the Court.
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Federal Sentencing Revisited - December 17, 2007
Last week saw two key rulings from the Supreme Court and the US Sentencing Commission. These two decisions decreased the federal government’s power to punish crack cocaine offenses more harshly than powder cocaine users. The Supreme Court ruling gave federal judges some flexibility to depart from federal sentencing guidelines (which required judges to treat 1 gram of crack cocaine as equal to 100 grams of powder cocaine). In related news, the US Sentencing Commission voted last Tuesday to retroactively reduce sentences for crack cocaine offenders, potentially affecting 10% of all federal prisoners. This week’s Bill of Rights in the News focuses on these important decisions.
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Supreme Court takes on DC Gun Ban - December 4, 2007
Late last month, the Supreme Court agreed to hear its first Second Amendment case in 70 years. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia recently struck down that city’s ban on handguns as unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the city’s appeal in the case. Its ruling will be based on the Second Amendment, which reads, “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” The Court will answer the question: does the Second Amendment protect an individual right to own handguns?
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Illinois Moment of Silence - November 19, 2007
Last month, the Illinois legislature passed the Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act. Under this Act, public schools—which as of 2002 had been permitted to have a moment of silence at the start of each school day—were now required to hold that moment of silence. The law was immediately challenged as a violation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. This week’s Bill of Rights in the News looks at the Illinois law and its implications for the First Amendment.
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Nooses and the First Amendment - November 5, 2007
The New York legislature is considering making it a crime to display a noose in a threatening way. The proposed legislation is in response to incidents involving the hanging of nooses, including one in Jena, Louisiana in December 2006. Additionally, nooses have been hung in recent weeks on the campus of Columbia University, and another at a post office at Ground Zero. This month’s Bill of Rights in the News focuses on the New York legislation, nooses, and the First Amendment.
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Atlantic Yards and the Fifth Amendment - October 15, 2007
This month’s Bill of Rights in the News looks at the Fifth Amendment and a property case in Brooklyn, New York. Atlantic Yards is the name of a planned development for 22 acres near downtown Brooklyn. The development will include 8 million square feet of apartments, offices, stores and an arena for the New Jersey Nets. A group of leaseholders and business owners in the area has sued, claiming that the government’s taking of this property (known as the power of eminent domain) is unconstitutional, as the development is not for public use, but rather benefits an individual private developer.
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Bill of Rights Supreme Court Preview - October 1, 2007
The Supreme Court begins its term today, October 1, 2007. We have selected four of the cases the Court will hear this year to explore in this eLesson.
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Sections of Patriot Act Unconstitutional - September 17, 2007
In 2005, a federal judge declared some sections of the USA-PATRIOT Act unconstitutional. Congress revised the law to take the ruling into account, but last week that same judge ruled that the amended law still did not pass constitutional muster. The provisions held to be unconstitutional concern “national security letters” which allow the government to conduct secret, warrant-less searches. Learn more in this week’s Bill of Rights in the News eLesson.
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First Amendment and the TX Pledge - September 4, 2007
We begin the school year by focusing on a practice that begins the school day in classrooms across the country: the Pledge of Allegiance. Texas lawmakers recently voted to add “one State under God” to the state pledge, which students recite each morning after the federal Pledge of Allegiance. The addition of the four words was immediately challenged in Federal Court. Last week, the Federal Court refused to block the law. Explore the First Amendment issues involved in this case with this week’s Bill of Rights in the News.
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