The Legal Eagle Lowdown
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The Legal Eagle Lowdown is an update blog for the Foundation’s legal newspaper for kids, The Legal Eagle, published FREE three times a year. Posts for the Lowdown will update a story that was recently published in The Legal Eagle but has had some development since publication. Posts will be added periodically. Check back often to get the Lowdown!
NOTE: Beginning with the fall 2019 edition of The Legal Eagle, we will be posting to the blog stories that have been published in the newspaper (complete with discussion questions) so they may be used as individual handouts.
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Access to Social Media Protected by First Amendment
by Maria Wood In the old days, the public square referred to a colonial village square where people gathered to share ideas and pass out written material. Today’s public square is arguably the Internet and more specifically social media. With an 8-0 decision, the U....
State Immunity Ruling Calls Precedent into Question
by Michael Barbella The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), established in 1789, is the highest court in the land and sets legal precedent for all lower courts, affecting decisions across the country. In the Court’s history, it has overturned approximately...
Reading, Writing, Arithmetic…and Religion?
by Michael Barbella American education has traditionally focused on three basic skills: reading, writing, and arithmetic, known as the three “R’s.” Today, an effort is underway in the United States to add a fourth “R” to the mix—religion. Lawmakers in numerous states...
Whose DNA Is It Anyway?
by Maria Wood Commercial DNA testing kits from such companies as 23andMe and AncestryDNA have helped millions of Americans uncover their genetic heritage and find long-lost relatives. In some cases, adoptees have even discovered their birth parents through DNA...
Making Your Choice and Your Vote Count
by Jodi L. Miller It’s 2020, an election year, so once again the nation’s attention turns to the way Americans vote and electoral reforms to make that vote count. One electoral reform that is usually front and center is the use of ranked choice voting (RCV), sometimes...
Battling Over How to Elect a President
by Michael Barbella The debate on how the President of the United States should be elected is almost as old as the country itself. Contrary to popular belief, voters do not elect the president and vice president directly; instead, they choose electors to form an...
Should the Voting Age be Lowered Again?
by Maria Wood Since our nation’s founding, who has the right to vote has changed dramatically. In the beginning, the franchise was limited to white, land-owning males. Today, the right can’t be denied to any citizen 18 years of age or older, regardless of gender or...
Gerrymandering Becomes a Problem for the States to Solve
by Phyllis Raybin Emert Gerrymandering on a partisan basis is not new to politics. The term gerrymander dates back to the 1800s when it was used to mock Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry, who manipulated congressional lines in the state until the map of one...
Balancing the Right to Protest with the Right to Be Heard
by Hanna Krueger Free speech is one of the most sacred rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and nowhere has it been more revered than on college campuses, with sit-ins and student activists arrested fighting for the right to free speech and political action on...
Courts to Decide the Fate of Two National Monuments
by Maria Wood For more than a century, U.S. presidents have declared national monuments, which preserve land that protect endangered species, ecosystems or historical artifacts. Now, lawsuits waiting to be heard in Washington, DC federal court may ultimately decide...