Rachel F.'s AP US Govt. Blog

1.  Why does Shira Scheindlin argue that due process rights for men like Rob Porter have not been violated? The fifth amendment states that no one can "deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.” However, men like Rob Porter are not losing life, liberty, or property with these allegations, so the due process is not necessary. 2.  How does she describe the steps in the process when a legal action is brought against a person? It is often lengthy and complicated due to the many people involved. 3.  What "two prongs" of due process does Andrea Curcio identify? First, the government must notify you when it wants to charge you with crime or take other action against you. Second, before action can be taken, the accused person must have the opportunity to present his or her side of the story to a neutral decision maker 4. How does due process impact the person accused of a crime?  Basically, it protects people from ar...

1. Why was it strange for the Democratic candidate to win in the Pennsylvania district? Trump won the district by 20 percentage points, and the turnout was fairly high 2. On the chart, what is "Democratic swing"? It is the difference between the results of the special election and the district’s partisan lean. Partisan lean is the average difference between how the constituency voted and how the country voted overall in the last two presidential elections, weighing the 2016 election at 75 percent and 2012 at25 percent. 3. Which special elections so far have had the largest Democratic swing? Alabama U.S. Senate (at 31), Kansas 4th (at 23), and Pennsylvania 8th (at 22) 4. How is the generic ballot polling different from the results so far in these special elections? Generic ballot polls are from registered voters or sometimes all adults rather than likely voters, and the actual results are from who actually did vote. As a result, so far, results indicate that ...