Each student will submit a research paper on either a piece of legislation, an executive order, or a Texas Supreme Court case, enacted or decided since 2000, by the Texas state government. The tool of policy that you choose must be active, meaning that it is a law that has been passed and is currently enforced, it is an executive order that has not been rescinded, or it is a Supreme Court case that has been decided and not overturned.
Students will use this paper to analyze the example of governmental power/action of their choice by explaining the action to the best of their understanding and then putting the issue in context of the broader scope of government. Ask a few questions:
What does this action say about the power of the branch?
How does it affect the power of the branch, as given by the Constitution?
How does this action affect the relationship between the acting branch and the other branches?
How did this affect citizens and residents of the United States?
Use these questions as a basis for your paper but expand on these ideas from there. The analysis is based on data and facts, not suppositions. Challenge yourself to present statistics or scholarly evidence to back up your analysis. You must draw a conclusion and justify your position.
