The Constitution in Your Community 

Assume that a local state judge has just retired, thereby creating a vacancy in the local felony court. Steve Smith, a local attorney, has retained the lobbying department of your law firm to advance his candidacy for appointment to the vacant judgeship.

Accordingly, your supervisor wants you to research your state’s constitutional process for filing judicial vacancies in your state’s courts. Prepare a memorandum wherein you outline your state’s constitutional and/ or statutory qualifications and procedures for appointing someone to a judicial position.

Going Federal 

Assume that your law firm has been retained by the family of a man who has been incarcerated for a federal crime he insists he did not commit. The incarcerated man is 85 years old, and his family would like the president to pardon him or, at the very least, commute his sentence. Your supervising attorney would like you to research ( 1) the constitutional authority of, (2) the process to apply for, and (3) the process used by the president to review and issue pardons. Prepare a short memorandum (1–3 pages) answering these questions.

Moot Court 

In response to the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, President Bush initiated wars against the Taliban in Afghanistan, Iraq, and “terror.” Is the war against “terror” the same as the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq? Identify one constitutional issue that is raised by one of the possible differences between the war on terror and other more traditional wars. Break into two groups and debate both sides of the constitutional issue. Review the relevant sections of Articles I and II and the Authorization for Force in Iraq ( 2002) and the Authorization for the Use of Force Against Terrorists ( 2001), break into two groups and debate the constitutionality of all three wars.