Monday, February 17, 2020

Democracy, Equality, and the Supreme Court Essay

Democracy, Equality, and the Supreme Court - Essay Example Our regular elections work to keep the government in check as special interests, elected officials, political groups, and lobbyists jockey for the inside track at making laws and enacting policy. As these differing political and social forces meet, our civil society demands that their disagreements be settled peacefully and that the participants will honor the settlement. The real power of America's Democracy does not lie in the people, elected officials, special interests, or lobby groups. Our rule lies in our body of law and the constitution. Over the centuries, laws, rights, and freedoms have been challenged and debated. The US Supreme Court, the highest arbitrator in the land, has been the seat of responsibility for progress and the expression of these freedoms. Our individual and collective rights are protected and directed by the decisions made by the Court. We can measure and view our nation's progress by looking at the history of our Democracy through the court's decisions. The case of Marbury vs. Madison set the precedent that the Supreme Court would be the ultimate and final voice in constitutional questions and could void any law seen as contrary to the constitution. The court was further granted the power to determine the legality of the actions of the various branches of government and laid the foundation for the court's power, as well as our belief in a system guided by law and not men. Though the case was initiated over rather insignificant quarrels among the Republicans and Federalists, its effect has been paramount and enduring. Marbury vs, Madison has been the basis for bringing other landmark cases before the Supreme Court. The court had laid the groundwork as an arena to fight for individual rights as granted by the constitution. The case of Derd Scott vs. Sandford is an interesting case in that it was hoped that the court's decision would diminish further debate on the slavery issue. However, the court's finding that states could not outlaw slavery further divided the nation and led to the Civil War. Through great political pressure and deep differences, the court ruled that the constitution did not provide protection from slavery. This was not the failing of an unsympathetic court, it was a shortcoming in the constitution. But our founders had made provisions for the constitution to be fixed as the future would dictate. The decision ultimately led to the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments which constitutionally guaranteed citizenship and equal rights for African-Americans and former slaves. Other decisions by the court have been viewed by history as contrary to freedom and liberty. In some of these cases, the court has overturned a previous ruling as changing times have dictated. Two such cases were Plessey vs. Ferguson and Brown vs. Board of Education. Plessey vs. Ferguson argued for definition of equality as guaranteed by the 14th amendment. The case was brought when Plessey, a Louisiana black, was arrested for violating the Separate Car Act. He had challenged the law that legalized segregation in public transportation and elsewhere. The court upheld Louisiana's segregationist laws under a finding that came to be known as

Monday, February 3, 2020

United Nations and Rwanda Genocide Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

United Nations and Rwanda Genocide - Essay Example The UN organization was formed in 1945 after the World War II ended. It was formed to ensure that the world became a better place of living for everyone. In other words it was formed to avoid war, killings, injustice and promote peace in all areas of the world. It basically aimed to influence all the countries of the world through economic progress, social security and international law. Presently it has 192 Member states which have to follow the rules laid down by the UN in the general assembly along with 5 permanent states and 10 non permanent states in the Security Council. It also has an Economic and Social council which has 54 members and an international court of justice consisting of fifteen judges. It has a Trusteeship council and a secretariat which are discussed subsequently. The United Nations through its five bodies is helping to maintain international politics in such a way that the whole world remains in peace and harmony. It is basically acting as a judge of politics s o that countries do not fight or the populations of the countries do not suffer either financially or physically because of any threat. In order to develop a norm for all the countries international laws are laid down by the United Nations which have to be followed by all the member countries. These international laws are regulated by treaties between the UN and the countries. These treaties are broad as they consider many aspects of the society such as human rights, refugees and border restrictions (United Nations 2010). The question now arises as to if the United Nations has remained successful in achieving its objectives or not. This question can be viewed from several perspectives as some would view the role of United Nations to be limited to only the betterment of itself however some would view the UN to be an organization which is working for the betterment in the society. Rwanda Genocide is cited to be one of the failures by the United Nations organization which shows that th e UN has not been very successful in achieving its objectives. On the contrary many other successful scenarios of UN can also be analyzed all over the world which shows that they have regulated international politics in such a way that many wars have been avoided. An example of Indo Pak can be cited here which was stopped with the help of UN intervention. Rwanda Genocide is cited to be one of the failures by the United Nations organization which shows that the UN has not been very successful in achieving its objectives. The United Nations Security Council played an important role in the failure of the organization in the Rwanda genocide when it did not forward directives to the soldiers to bring an immediate ceasefire between the fighting groups of Hutus and Tutsis. The genocide occurred because of the complete failure of UN as the region of Rwanda had been suffering from trouble since 1918. The trouble began in 1918 when the Belgians took over Rwanda which comprised of two ethnic g roups namely Tutsis and Hutus. The Tutsis were less in number than the Hutus but still they were given the leading positions of the state by the Belgian forces. This was the step which created anger amongst the Hutus and they began to react. After Rwanda gained independence from Belgium the Hutus came with a strike on the Tutsis and exiled them from the region making their own president. The Tutsis then formed a militia known as the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). In 1991 the RPF launched an attack on the state of Rwanda killing many Hutus and this led to an organization of army by the state leading to massacres of the people living in the region who were mainly Tutsis. It was in 1993 that a pact was signed under the supervision of UN between the RPF and the state government of Rwanda. It was after this act that UN Security Council had to follow all the happenings of the region but it did not do so even though it was constantly reminded by the commander Romeo Dallaire (Dallaire 2004) . In 1993 an army