TO: ALL PROSPECTIVE AP GOVT STUDENTS
FROM: COACH HALL
RE: 2017SUMMER WORK FOR AP U.S. GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
1)Read Jeffrey Toobin's book about the Supreme Court entitled The Nine: Inside the
Secret World of the Supreme Court (PAPERBACK edition) AND complete the 15 study guide questions below. Your answers to these questions must be typed and submitted to turnitin.com no later than 11:59 p.m. on August 7, 2017.
Turnitin.com info: Class ID: 14640308 Password: HallAPGovt
This book is widely available and you should have no problem finding it on Amazon.com or in alocal bookstore or library.
You must read it, know it and be prepared to write about itfrom memory on the FIRST day of school. You will be asked to examine in free response fashion some of the main ideas of the book as presented in the 15 study guide questions below. Don’t complete the study guide questions in June and then put them aside and forget about them. You must review them thoroughly before the firsttime that we meet. YOU WILL BE TESTED ON THESE EXACT QUESTIONS ON THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! Don’t forget to submit your study guide answers to turnitin.com or you will not receive any credit for your work.
2) Keep close track of the major events in national politics during the summer.
Here are a few ideas for how this can be accomplished:
1) Follow me on Twitter: @hallapgov. On this Twitter account, I follow all of the major political news outlets on the web and I re-tweet a handful of their best stories each week. If you check my account every couple of days, you’ll be able to catch up on the stories I’m following (i.e., the ones you need to follow!). You do not have to have your own Twitter account
to access mine. To view the stories on my account, you can simply Google and bookmark “@hallapgov Twitter.”
2) Bookmark the following websites and check them regularly throughout the course of the summer:
(this is run by CNN); is run by the WashingtonPost); is the
L.A. Times political page): (this is a compilation of the best political writing on the web).
3) Get into the habit of watching one of the Sunday morningtalkshows (Meet the Press on NBC,This Week on ABC, Fox
News Sunday on FOX, etc.). Another good habit is to occasionally watch daily political shows like The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC (for news with a liberal slant) and The O’Reilly Factor on FOX news (for a conservative outlook).
4) For those who like political humor, check out clips of TheDaily Showwith Trevor Noah fromComedyCentral, and from
HBO, Real Time with Bill Maherand Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. The SaturdayNight Live crew also doesgreat
political skits.
From this wide variety of sources, you will begin to meet someof themore prominent politicalactors and commentators on the national scene. You need to be familiar with them before you enter the AP Govt classroom for the first time. Pay close attention to the following:
What are the major issues being debated at the national level?
Who appears to be defining the agenda of which issues are important and which are not?
Where does Donald Trump stand on the key issues?
What are Trump’s priorities? What pieces of legislation is he actively fighting for?
Does public opinion appear to be with the president? Why or why not?
Who are the major players in both parties in the House & Senate?
Does the Congress appear to be nudging the president in a more conservative or a more liberal direction? How might this be explained?
What major decisions have come down this spring/summer from the Supreme Court?
During the first days of the new school year you will be required to do the following:
1) Take a closed-book, closed-note free-response test on the study guide forThe Nine. (First class meeting)
2) Write aboutthe details of recent national political events from memory. (Second class meeting)
AP Government can be an interesting, thought-provoking and intellectually stimulating experience, but it requires a group
of students who are committed to working at the college level,AND WHO HAVE A DEEP INTEREST IN OUR NATIONAL POLITICAL LIFE. If you have no interest in politics, this course will be neither fun nor interesting – it will just be a lot of very hard,
very time-consuming work! If you are planning to sign up for AP Govt please give this summer work your everyconsideration. If
you have any questions, please don't hesitate to e-mail me and ask(). I check my email all summer!
THE NINEAP GOVT
STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONSMR. HALL
INSTRUCTIONS: Your answers to these questions must be typed and submitted
to turnitin.com no later than 11:59 p.m. on August 7, 2017.
Turnitin.com info: Class ID: 14640308 Password: HallAPGovt
1) By the mid-1980s, conservatives in the Reagan White House had come to believe that in orderto overturn the decision
in Roe v. Wade (1973), they didn’t “need better [constitutional]arguments, they just needed new justices.”
Explain this line of thinking by discussing how the justices of the Supreme Court came to a decision in the
case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992).
2) Explain the unique legal tactic used by Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) to win several
cases that allowed various types of religious observances in public places suchas schools. Discuss the facts of
ONE of these cases.
3) When asked to compare his judicial philosophy to that of one of his ideologically closest colleagues on the Supreme
Court, justice Antonin Scalia said, “I’m an originalist, but I’m not a nut.” Briefly explain and illustrate what
“originalism” means. Also, name the justice to whomScalia was comparing himself and give an example of why
Scalia might consider this fellow justice “nutty.”
4) Explain the legal concept known by the Latin term of “stare decisis.” Also, use examples to discuss the attitudes of any
TWO Supreme Court justices from the book toward this legal principle.
5) Which of the nine justices held the swing vote in the case of Bush v. Gore (2000)? On which constitutional principle
did he base his opinion? Explain this decision.
6) Explain how the case of Roper v. Simmons (2003) illuminated the differing opinions of the justices regarding whether
foreign laws and legal practices should be allowed to influence the makingof Supreme Court decisions in the U.S..
7) Jeffrey Toobin argues that in the years after Bush v. Gore was decided, that the Court made a decided turn to the left.
Briefly discuss TWO cases that he uses to illustrate this claim.
8) What is an amicus curiae (or “green”) brief? Explain the important role that one of these briefsplayed during oral
argument in the case of Grutter v. Bollinger (2003).
9) Briefly summarize the arguments made and the opinion of the majority of the justices in the case of Rasul v. Bush (2004).
10) Toobin calls Sandra Day O’Connor “the most important woman in American history.” Providespecific evidence to
support this claim.
11) Explain what happened to the ill-fated nomination of Harriet Meirs to the Supreme Court.
12) O’Connor’s departure from the court and her replacement by Samuel Alito left which justice in the crucial position of
being the swing vote on the most controversial cases? Discuss acase that illustrates how this justice has used his
power since O’Connor’s retirement.
13) Name the FIVE members of what Toobin describes as the new conservative majority on the Supreme Court. What
religion do these five, coincidentally, share?
14) Name the TWO Supreme Court justices that were appointed by Bill Clinton. In addition, name George W. Bush’s
(that’s the younger Bush!) TWO appointments.
15) How has the membership of the court changed since Jeffrey Toobin published The Nine? Have these changes in
membership altered the ideological balance of the Court in any significant way? Explain.
(Note: You’ll have to research #15 on your own, as you will not find this information in the book.)