1. Does the Supreme Court have appellate jurisdiction only?
2. How do the justices on the Supreme Court grant a case permission to be heard by the Supreme Court"
3. What is the writ of certiorari?
4. Sub question: What is a Supreme Court term?
5. Sub question: What is a constitutional case?
6. Where do the current members of the Supreme Court fall on the ideol0gical spectrum ranging from conservative to liberal?
7. What issue positions do conservative justices tend to have?
8. What issue positions do conservative justices tend to have?
9. What are the sources of Congress' power to legislate?
10. Have these sources changed over time?
11. Do you agree that these sources are sufficient for the amount and type of legislation necessary in the 21st Century?
12. Do you believe that these sources give Congress power that is so broad it meddles in areas of the law that it shouldn't? Explain.
13. What are the problems associated with Congressional investigations? Explain.
14. Do you agree that members of Congress should have full legal immunity for comments they might make?
15. Is this the correct way to make appointments in a democracy? Explain.
16. According to the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), why could President Obama approve appointments over the heads of the senators when the Senate was in [pro forma] session?
17. In Kucinich v. Obama (2011), the Supreme Court ruled that a group of Congressmen did not have standing to sue the president because he had not sought a declaration of war before intervening in Libya. What is standing? Why did these Congressmen not have standing according to the Court? Do you agree with the ruling? Why or why not?
18. In Al-Aulaqi v. Obama (2010) the father of an American citizen turned terrorist in Yemen sued to force the government to prove that his son was an imminent threat before they could target him for a possible drone strike. The Supreme Court dismissed the case because the elder al-Aulaqi lacked standing and because the case raised a political question. Why was here no standing? How did the case raise a political question?
19. What three-pronged defense did President Obama make in defense of drone strikes abroad in his Northwestern University Law Speech?
20. What is the unilateral presidency? Has President Obama made use of the unilateral presidency theory?