Week 1.docx - 1. Explain the government structure in the...

1. Explain the government structure in the United States to include a
discussion about constitutional democracy and federalism.
2. How do the principles of federalism impact policing?
3. What rights and protections are afforded to American citizens in the Bill
of Rights?
Good evening class,
Instead giving authority to just one person, like a king, the U.S. Constitution divides the authority and
balances it. According to The National Constitution Center, power is first divided between the national,
or federal government, and the state and local government under a system known as Federalism. At the
federal level, the Constitution again divides power between the three major branches of our federal
government, which are the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. Powers not delegated to the
federal government, nor prohibited to the states are reserved to the states or to the people. Under the
supremacy clause of the Constitution, federal law is supreme over state law and State or local laws that
conflict with the Constitution or federal statutory law are preempted. According to the Legal information
Institute at Cornell Law School, Federalism is a system of government in which the same territory is
controlled by two levels of government. This essentially means that the national government would be
responsible for the larger territories while the state and local governments would be responsible for
local issues and territories. The United States Constitution has established a system of dual sovereignty,
under which the States have surrendered many of their powers to the Federal Government, but also
retained some sovereignty. Federalism impacts policing when the federal government nationalizes an
inherently state or local issue, it ensures that whatever policy it produces will fail to solve the problems.
Because of the various demographic differences among the states, a one size fits all policy may not work
or may not work most effectively and efficiently in every particular state. Due to the way the United
States is divided through federalism, a potential exists for conflict between federal law and state law. A
federal law may make something illegal, and a state law may insist that it is legal. Whenever a conflict
occurs between federal and state law, courts must follow the federal law. The Bill of Rights is the first ten
amendments to the Constitution. The Bill of Rights protects freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the
right to keep and bear arms, the freedom of assembly and the freedom to petition, it also prohibits
unreasonable search and seizure, cruel and unusual punishment and compelled self-incrimination
(United for Human rights). According to the National Archives the First Amendment provides several
rights protections: to express ideas through speech and the press, to assemble or gather with a group to
protest or for other reasons, and to ask the government to fix problems. It also protects the right to
religious beliefs and practices. It prevents the government from creating or favoring a religion. The
Second Amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms. The Third Amendment prevents
government from forcing homeowners to allow soldiers to use their homes. Before the Revolutionary
War, laws gave British soldiers the right to take over private homes. The Fourth Amendment bars the
government from unreasonable search and seizure of an individual or their private property. The Fifth
Amendment provides several protections for people accused of crimes. It states that serious criminal
charges must be started by a grand jury. A person cannot be tried twice for the same offense (double
jeopardy) or have property taken away without just compensation. People have the right against self-
incrimination and cannot be imprisoned without due process of law (fair procedures and trials.) The

Sixth Amendment provides additional protections to people accused of crimes, such as the right to a