John Sanderson
Professor Hachikian
CRJ 104
28 January 2015 Chapter 1

1. Checks and Balances are the means of making sure each of the three branches of government. The first three articles call for the Federal Powers be divided between three separate branches: The Executive branch, the legislative branch, and the Judicial branch. The Legislative branch makes the laws and sends then to the Executives Branch. According to the Free Dictionary,1 The President has a ten-day period to decide to either sign the bill, veto the bill, which can be, overrode by a two-thirds majority of both houses of Congress, or do nothing. If he does nothing, the bill becomes law, but if Congress adjourns before the ten-day period and the President has not signed the bill, it is considered to be subject to a pocket veto, and they are deprived of the chance to override the formal veto. If the President vetoes the bill, the Legislative branch has the option of overriding the veto and make it automatically a law. When it becomes a law, the people or the Executive Branch can challenge it, and the judicial branch may rule that it is unconstitutional after hearing both sides of an argument, but may be challenged again and heard in a higher court up to and including the Supreme Court. The ruling of the Supreme Court is the final ruling, and the law stands, is modified, or declared unconstitutional and is stricken from the laws.
2. The reason there are many exceptions to the Constitution comes from the fact that it was written in 1789 and as the times changed, the government had to review the different amendments and make update the provisions. The reason for the Bill of Rights is that the Constitution already contained provisions for rights. “Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution, for instance, arguably is a bill of rights of sorts--defending habeas corpus , and prohibiting any policy that would give law enforcement agencies the power to search without a warrant (powers granted under British law by "Writs of Assistance")2In addition, “Article VI protects religious freedom to a degree when it states "no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."2 The exceptions were necessary because the courts have seen a need to make exceptions to the laws, and impose some limitations to the rights given in the Constitution.
3. The Third Amendment states, "No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law."3 This means the military cannot force homeowners to house troops. The founders were afraid soldiers would be forced on them at some time in the future, because of the Quartering Acts of 1765 and 1774. The only case of forced housing in the history of the Third Amendment was Engblom vs. Carey, in 1982, which came about during a prison strike in New York. Several correction officers were forced out of their homes by evection, and National Guard members that were on duty at the prison were housed in the officials’ homes. The State of New York did not consider the correction officers to be homeowners because they did not own the houses. The officials lost their case originally, but after appeal, the second circuit court stated that they were to be considered homeowners, as they