Civilisation américaine - Partie II

Civilisation américaine - Partie II
2013-1014

III - Institutions

A- Constitution
1) History of the Constitution

At the origin of the country, there were 13 former colonies who declared themselves independent from England in 1776. The question was what to do with the 13 colonies. The Spanish colonies became independent, leading to the creation of several countries in South America. Nothing forced the English colonies into one country, but they had a lot of common point, more than differences.
a) Common points
They had in common that they hated England, a monarchy with a king. Thus they decided not to turn into a monarchy. But the choice of a republic was not abvious either, because it was not a wide spread political system. England was briefly a Republic under Cromwell, but he was worse than most kings. There was one in Switzerland, but is was not very organized. America had to experiment political systems. The former colonies had in common that they were located close to each other, and far from Europe and its wars. Most of them were going away of the political instability of Europe. They also had a common language and the English customary law.
b) Differences
Between the North and the South, there were 2 systems:
- In the North they had a very democratic system based on the equality of chances.
- In the South the political system was based on slavery. People were owned by slave owners, agriculture being the main activity of the South.
They didn’t have much in common concerning economy and society. The notion of one country was not obvious.

2) The articles of confederation

The 1^st draft of the Constitution was the articles of Confederation. It was a short-lived document establishing common rules in the 13 colonies. After a few years, the colonies were in conflict with each other. The articles of confederation didn’t allow the 13 colonies to speak with one voice. They had their own diplomacy and foreign policies. The confederation was on the verge of imploding by itself.

The challenges had not been defined clear enough.
They wanted the unity to be strong enough but not too strong, which would have been like a monarchy. They also wanted a balance between bug and small states. Some had been founded 200 years ago, while other were just created. There were also 2 different lifestyles:
- In the North based on equality
- in the South based on slavery
There weren’t much common points between them.
They also wanted the governments to be under the people, contrary to the idea of Europe. They wanted it to be responsible to the People. They already had the aspirations of a Republic.

3) The federalists and antifederlists

The men in charge of conducting the debates for the Constitution shared the values of the 18^th century. There were the values of enlightenment. The reason was a major principle in major decisions. There is a French influence in this constitution through the French philosophers. It had been so far only abstract, but America could be a laboratory to experiment such ideas that had so far been theoretical.
The people were divided in é sides, and there are today still 2 major parties in Ameica.
They had the same differences as today’s parties:
- The federalists wanted a strong federation
- The antifederalists were against this strong federation and wanted a loose federation. They didn’t want to end in a Monarchy.
Their concern was about having whether a strong or a mild government.

The federalists were led by Harold Hamilton and supported by the merchants, the industrialists. They favoured high tariffs, because they made imported goods more expensive, giving an edge to local industry. It is called protectionism. They usually supported the wealthy and educated rather than the poor. They did not trust the poor and uneducated people when it came to voting. In terms of international affairs between France and England, the federalists had a preference for England although they were the enemy. To become independent they had to win a 5-years war against Britain, with the help from French. The federalists estimated that the tie between the colonies and England was stronger than the one with French.
Today, the party that has inherited their ideology is the democrats.

The antifederalists were suspicious of a strong government. They were led by Thomas Jefferson, who was the first ambassador of the colonies with France. He was himself a planter, and the antifederalists were supported by farmers and artisans. They were closer to france, because Louis XVI had accepted to support George Washington during the Independence war. Admiral de Grasse and Comte de Rochambeau supported them both with navy and armies. Lafayette was a close friend of George Washington. They favoured the autonomy of the state from the central government. They were suspicious of a strong government stifling the initiatives of states. They were careful to protect individual rights. Unlike federalists, they were in favour of free trade, because they were farmers, and in those days farmers exported. If high tariffs were imposed on them, the trading partners would impose high tariffs on your products. They supported by the uneducated and the poor and were supported by them. They were in favour of a one man vote. Specially speaking, they were a bit lower in the social ladder than the federalists.

4) The great compromise

They agreed on a document with 7 articles. It was a compromise. These articles reinforced the idea of a strong government to avoid the mistakes of the Confederation. There were 26 delegates to sign the Constitution, 2 per colony.

In the Constitution there are 4 articles that have a real importance, the last 3 approving the Constitution.
The 1^st 3 ones defined the notion of strong government.
Article 4 defines the power of the state.
In order to be accepted by the antifederalists, it was necessary to pass 10 admendments that would guarantee the people against state infringement by defining people’s rights. There was the Bill of Rights, which was adopted at the same time. It is considered a part of the constitution.

Constitution:

Article 1: the legislative parts of government
It describes:
- Congress, which is bicameral (2chambers). The high chamber is the senate and the low chamber is the house of the representatives.

Article 2: the executive parts of government
It describes:
- The executive branch of government, the top of which being the president. The White House is the seat of the executive power.
- The qualifications of the president of the US.
- The order of succession in case the president would die. The vice president, then the senate.
- The compensation: How much the president of the US should earn.
- The cabinet (gouvernement), which helps the president. It is composed of the various secretaries, the most important being the secretary of State. There are around 15 cabinet members, depending on the cabinet.
- The pardon (grâce présidentielle), which is a right of the president.
- The impeachment: The president of the US can be accused, although it is very controlled, through an impeachment. He then loses his immunity.

Article 3: the judiciary parts of government
It describes:
- The Court system: At the top of this system, there is the Supreme Court.
- The Supreme Court, which has one main task: to determine whether a decision or a law is constitutional or not. It is also the final court of appeal.
- The trial by jury, which is a constitutional right. It was pretty much a new notion at that time.
- The treason: When it was drafted, the Constitution had to define treason, because during the War of Independence, some villages of the colonies had been for England. Something happened a few months ago concerning this notion, Snowden leaking information.

Article 4: states
It describes:
- Each state must honor the others. There must be a certain respect between states to guarantee the big ones respects the small ones.
- It describes American Citizenship. You have to be the citizen of a state and then you can become citizen of the US.
- It also deals with extraditions. There are some elements to guide the judges to make such a decision.
- It explains how to admit new states in the US.
- It also defines the government of the US as a Republican government.

Articles 5: amendments
An amendment is something you add to the constitution or to other amendments. There are 27 amendments.

Article 6: debts and oaths
An oath is pledged to the country. The question was whether having an oath for the country or for each individual state.

Articles 7: ratification of the Constitution. It has become obsolete.
It was very important at that time because some states could have refused to ratify the constitution, but it is now obsolete. It is not possible to go back and cancel the ratification. During the civil war, no state was able to leave the US.

The Bill of rights was at first composed of 10 amendments:
- Amendment 1: freedom of religion, speech and press. People were still “embastillés” in France. In England, puritans were persecuted. They in turn became intolerant toward people who were not and founded the state of Rhodes Island. It adopted the idea of separation of church and state. The governments of the colonies would not represent a church. This was in the 17 th century. Later, Virginia was founded on the same principle, except they were Quakers. These people were also persecuted in England. Pennsylvania developed the idea of religion toleration.
In England there was an official church, but there was not in the US. In England, it was dangerous to openly criticize the king, but there was less fears in the colonies, because they were far away.

- Amendment 2: bear arms. If the people would have no right to bear arms, they would not be independent. They also needed them to hunt.

- Amendment 3: quartering of soldier. It has become obsolete. It used to define the conditions under which soldiers can be quartered by the population. In the beginning of the problems in the colonies, English troops were sent and quartered among the population. The problem is they didn’t always behave. American hated this tradition and regulated this situation.

- Amendment 4: search, seizure and warrant (mandat d’arrêt ou de perquisition). The police have no right to go into a house without a warrant granted by a judge. It is a protection of privacy.

- Amendment 5: trial and punishment. Trial has to be fair and the punishment adapted to the fault.

- Amendment 6: right to speedy trial, to confrontation with witness. A trial must be relatively speedy. They didn’t want a trial during which someone was accused of a crime that happened &0 years before. If you are accused by witnesses, you must be able to confront them.

- Amendment 7: trial by jury in civil cases. The jury enables you to avoid what is a biased decision of one person. If there are several people, you can consider that an average will consider your crime. You need to have a consensus, otherwise you benefit from the doubt.

- Amendment 8: limits to cruel punishment
- Amendment 9: construction of constitution

- Amendment 10: power for the states and of the people. It counterweighs on the constitution that reinforced the central power. It reinforces article 4 and the individual rights of people.

- Amendment 13: abolition of slavery: It was voted during the civil war. The 4 millions of slaves living in the south were freed.

- Amendment 15: race no bar to voting. Race cannot prevent people from voting. For example, if you grandfather couldn’t vote, you couldn’t either.

- Amendment 22: presidential term limit. US president cannot be elected more than 2. The second term is the last. Clinton, W.Bush cannot be reelected. It was voted after WW2, when people realized that Franklin Roosevelt had been elected 4 times.

- Amendment 26: the voting age was brought down from 21 to 18. IN a lot of states, the drinking age is 21, which means some people can vote, but not drink.

- Amendment 27: compensation (salaries and bonuses) of memebers of congress: this amendment couldn’t be applied on the salaries of people who adopted it, so it came into effect during the following term. It was the last amendment, in 1992.

Equal rights amendments for women was a consequence of the 1970s. It was quickly voted in congress, but was not ratified by the needed 2/3 of the states within 10 years. It was thus considered dead. In the first years after the act was voted in congress, there were 30 states in favour of it, but they didn’t ratify it.

5) Supreme law of the land

The constitution is the supreme law of the land.
The US are governed by a text.

-power delegated to public officials
- Elected or appointed. Either they had elected them (congressmen), or they were appointed by an elected person.
- Apply the law according to the constitution. They have to make sure the law is constitutional and applied everywhere.
- Above President, Congress and Supreme Court.

6) Checks and balances

There are branches who counter each other’s powers. This checks and balances system ensure no state becomes a despot.
The president doesn’t have a monopoly on the executive powers.

a) President = executive powers limited:

- By congress, which ratifies treaties, confirms appointment, votes budgets.
The President is in charge of foreigh policy and can in theory sign treaties with other countries. He can be at the origin of the League of Nations like Wilson. It was though not ratified, and the US were never part of it. He can nominate whoever he wants, but if the person is not accepted by the senate, he has to start again. The president can call a military operation and send armies in a country, but the budget has to be voted for the operation to be sustainable.

- By Supreme Court, which can declare unconstitutionality. This groupe of nine people can force the president to go back if his acts are judged unconstitutional.

- Impeached by congress. The president can’t be sued unless he lies. If the president lies in office, he is not trustworthy and cannot be the president of the US. It almost happened in the 1970’s with Nixon, who said the election committee of the republicans didn’t spy on the one of the democrats, which was false. The procedure of impeachment was launched. The first half is conducted by the Housed of Representatives and the second half is conducted by the Senate. President Nixon resigned while he was on the verge to be impeached, and was replaced by the vice-president. As president, Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon. He paid this very dearly because he was never reelected in 1976.

- Veto overridden. The president has the right to veto a decision of the congress, but it is also limited because the congress can revote and get rid of veto with a 2/3 majority.

- Small versus big states. When the constitution was drafted, it was already a concern. A compromised was found with the House of representative, where the representation of each state is proportional to its population, and with the senate, where each states has 2 senators whatever its size. The citizen of small states are in fact better represented in the senate than citizen of big ones.

b) The Congress, which is composed of 2 houses.

- Long VS short term. This is the opposition between the senate and the H of representative because a senator is elected for 6 years, against 2 years for a representative. Someone who is elected for 2 years has a short term vision, the 2nde year being often used for reelections. They will seek reelection very quickly, whereas the senators have time. They can think on policies that are difficult to swallow on the short term, but profitable in 5 or 6 years. The notion of time is not the same between the 2 Houses.

- Small VS big states. There are 100 senators altogether, which means 2 senators per state, no matter its size or population. In other words, a citizen of a small state has mathematically a better representation in the Senate. In the House, there are 425 representatives, and the allocation of representatives is decided according to the population of each state. The bigger the state is, the more representatives. No state can have less than one representative. There is also a maximum of 345-49. If all state but one lose In population and get to one, this one will have 296.

- Compromise. They wanted to oblige the people who have different opinions to compromise. When the president does not have a majority in Congress to pass his policies, he must compromise with Congress. That way, it’s not only the opinion of 51 % that wins. Even the minorities feel represented. If the French system, the UMP has no power while the PS is in charge. If the UMP gets the majority, the situation is reversed.

- Limited by veto. The president could limit the legislative power of Congress by vetoing a vote, but similarly, Congress can override the veto by voting again with a 2/3 majority. The veto is then considered overridden.

- Limited by Supreme Court: unconstitutionality. It may at any time decide that what has been voted and ratified is not constitutional. They have to come up with a new law that is constitutional.

c) The Supreme court:

- Time factor. In theory, when a Supreme Court Justice is appointed, he or she is appointed for life. He may decide to resign like Pope Benedict, but can also decide to remain in office till his or her death. Unless it has been proven a Justice is mentally inapt, he cannot be removed. It has not been unusual for some of them to remain in office 40 or 45 years.

- Serenity. They are in an ivory tower, from which they don’t hear the clamor of the street. They don’t need to be elected, so they don’t care about public opinion.

- Conscience. It is important, because when a Justice is appointed, he or she has a reputation for being more conservative or liberal, but this reputation is only pre-appointment. Once they are in office, they tend to take distance from this reputation, and it is difficult to predict what decisions they will take. For example, a woman Justice who had been appointed by Reagan and considered conservative, voted in favour of liberal decisions.

- Independence. No pressure can be put on them by Congress or by the president.

- Appointed by president. It is just a nomination. The president doesn’t take the final decision. The president can have an advantage when he proposes names.

- Confirmed by Senate. Having the final word, the Senate can prevent the president from picking only persons with his political opinion.

C – The 3 branches of government

- The executive branch
- The legislative branch
- The judiciary branch

1) The executive branch

a) the presidency
It is the President, who is at the top of the pyramid, but also the Cabinet and the Administration, which means thousands of civil servants.
The seat of the presidency is in Washington DC, which is a territory outside states. It goes with the idea of checks and balances, because the president could be influenced by the State he seats in. The District of Columbia became independent from Virginia, so that the government will not be the hostage of the state that hosts it. The city of W has grown outside of its lozenge, but all the government buildings are located in it.
The name of the building in which the president works and live is the White House. It may seem small, but it is in fact the tip of the Iceberg, because there are underground installations that host thousands of people.

The president in the US has to be American born. This means for example, that somebody born in Austria like Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was senator of California twice, cannot be elected. In 70’s, there was another politician, Henry Kissinger, who negociated the end of Vietnam War, had also been born in Austria could not qualify for the presidency. The president is elected for a term of 4 years. It is halfway between the terms of the senators and the representatives. It is not just by chance. It is meant to alternative governments. In History, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected 4 times in a row, but after, the law was changed. Because of Roosevelt, it was decided to amend the Bill of Rights, so a president could only be elected twice. Barrack Obama will not go for reelection in é years. The president must also be 35. He has a compensation of 400 000 dollars a year. It may seem very important, but it is in fact a very limited amount of money. The CEO in Publicis in France earns that tenfold. When Bill Clinton stepped down after 4 years, he owed money to the banks, in spite of this compensation. But he could write a few books and be invited in courses, which earned him a lot more of money.

The Vice-president has a compensation of roughly 227 300. If the president dies in office, he is replaced by its Vice-President, but he can also die.

They use 2 different places to avoid that and also avoid being at the exact same place. If it happens nonetheless, the President of the Senate is in charge. It is the order of succession. The Republic cannot remain without president, there must have a continuity. In Belgium, they remain 6 mounth without a president.


b) The presidential powers
The Constitution says the executive power goes with the president, but it would be incomplete to remain at that level. The president doesn’t have 100% of the executive power. On the one hand he has not all the executive powers, but on the other hand, he also have legislative, judicial and foreign powers.
He is the chief player in Foreign Affairs. He receives foreign presidents and discuss with them about trade agreements. For this, he has an assistant: the Secretary of State (John Kerry today). They are both in charge of negotiating trade and military agreements, but not 100%. If the US president nominates an ambassador, he has to be supported by the Senate.
The president office is the White House, and it is a beehive (ruche). The White House is like an iceberg, you do not see what happens underground. There are offices underneath the building. In this White House, the president spends a lot of time negotiating by receiving people from congress, the opposition… It is usually a dead end situation. He may also spend a lot of time at phone. These days, his correspondent by phone is probably Vladimir Poutine. The president also has counsellors or aides that discuss with him about the Crimean situation. However, everything that is said in the White House is recorded, like the Watergate tapes. But we are not supposed to know the content of the records. The president is also assisted in his work by his cabinet (gouvernement), made of executive departments (ministères), at the head of which there is a secretary (minister). Also depending on the executive branch there is a number of independent agencies like the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) and NASA which is in charge of the space program of the US. They directly funded by the executive. These people report directly to the president.

2) The legislative branch

The Senate is composed of 100 senators that are:
- 30 years old
- American for 9 years
- Resident of state
- Elected for 6 years
- One third every other year. A senator is elected for 6 years, but only one third of senators is renewed every year. One election can only change 1/3 of the senate constitution. 2/3 remain the same.
- Elected for a long term, on the contrary to representatives.
- Paid a compensation of 165 000$ for regular senators, 193 400$ for the party leaders. It is not very much for somebody that has a lot of responsabilities. We want these people to have enough money to live comfortably so that they are less subject to bribery.

The House is composed of 435 representatives that are:
- 25 years old
- American for 7 years
- resident
- Elected for 2 years. 100% of the representatives are renewed or reelected every 2 years.
- 1 minimum per state
- Elected according to a population ratio number.
- Changes every census. One state can win 1 or 2 representatives, but that means another state has to lose some, so it remain 435. States of the sunbelt are attractive, so they tend to gain representatives.
- Speaker: 223 400$

Power of Congress:
- Each house can initiate legislation.
- Collect and levy taxes. They mainly decide on the budget and where the state takes the money to fund it. Recently, the ceiling of the debt was decided not to move as a result of negotiations between branches. They agreed on a compromise for the next 2 years.
- Regulates between states and with foreign countries. It is the referee in commerce between states of the US but also foreign countries.
- Makes laws regarding naturalization. They decide who is American.
- Raises and supports armies. Although the president is the commander in chief of the army, it is up to the congress to raise it and to decide on a military budget.
- Senate confirms appointments, ratifies treaties, and declares wars. At the end of WW1, Harold Wilson came up with the idea of a League of Nations (Société des Nations), but the US itself didn’t join it because the senate refused to ratify it. The US was theoretically never at war with Viet-nam, because it was not a country.
- Role when Impeachment. The procedure to bring to court a public official is very technical. The enditement is brought about by the House of Representatives. Then a committee of Senators are to conduct a trial.

Congress may not:
- Suppress Habeas Corpus. It is a common law principle that guarantees individual rights. Whether in England of the US, you have it.
- Pass law condemning without trial. Condemnation is possible, but after a due trial.
- Favor a state or a city.
- Grant titles of nobility. It originates in the foundation of Congress to ensure not end up like England and its Monarchy. America has replaced the notion of Aristocracy by the one of meritocracy.

Officers of Congress:
- Vice-President. He is in theory the closest partner of the president, but if he is not playing gulf can go the Senate and can be the speaker of the Senate. You might think his role is unimportant, but his first function is to be alive if the president dies.
- The president pro tempore takes over when the vice-president is not there.
- The speaker of the House.
- Majority leaders
- Minority leaders

Lawmaking process:
- Bills can be initiated in any house, but it can start anywhere in America. For example, a farmer in Wisconsin that thinks there should be a particular legislation can talk with his senator or his representative. If they think it is a good idea that might concern thousands of farmers, they may initiate it. It can also be a lobby, which is an association of people. The bill is the text written when a law is conceived.
- Referred to committee. The bill is referred to a committee, which is a group of Senators specialized in a particular topic. They are not specialists, but are considered to be. They are talking about it with the help of tickets.
- Referred to sub-committee for hearings, experts, marked up or killed. It lasts long because you want to hear a lot of opinions to weigh the pros and cons. If the sub-committee is satisfied, it will mark-up the bill.
- Comes back to house floor amended. There are debates with the whole House that can last a long time.
- Voted or killed. After a vote, a bill can be killed and disappear, or accepted. Then it goes to the other House. Same things happen: committee, subcommittee, back to the committee and of the House to be voted. Even if the text is modified by only a coma, it must go back in the first House. A committee made up of Senators and Representatives discuss how to make one text with the 2 different texts. It is called to conference committee. Once they have this common text, they vote again in the 2 Houses, and it must be accepted by both House or killed. Once it has been accepted by congress it is still a bill. It has to be ratified, signed by the president in order to become an act. It is the right of veto: the president can refuse to sign it, or not sign it in the time limit. If in Congress, they think the president is wrong, they can override the veto with majority of 2/3. It then becomes an act.

Congressional practices:
- Staff. There is an invisible activity going underground of the capitol. There are hundreds and hundreds of offices. Each congressman has a staff, and each staff member has an office. Usually, they have been people who helped a congressman being elected. They can remain here until the congressman is reelected. A congressman from California might got to Washington D.C. with a staff of 40 Californian. Their role is to listen to people who want to talk to them. They are representatives of lobbies. In Washington D.C., there are 20 000 registered lobbies that have a seat in D.C. There is the NRA (National Rifle Association), which defends the right to bear arms. The lobbies can take appointments with the congressmen after speaking with staff members. The congressman himself has no time to do this. It is often seen in foreign countries as manipulation, but in the US, it is a natural way the voices of people heard in congress. This opinion continues to be expressed between elections by the lobbies.
- Capitol
- Lobbying
- Filibuster system old French word. It does nothing to do. Is a practice in American politics, in congress, especially senate to make long speech to slow down the legislative procedure, even to make a vote to late impossible.
Ex: The record for the longest filibuster goes to U.S. Sen. Thurmond, 24 hours 18 minutes against the civil Rights Act of 1957.
- Legislative rider
- Logrolling: the idea usual assistance.
- Pork barrelling is illegal. The idea of politicians can tape money for their own interest. This money was used for some political.

3) The Judiciary branch

- Source of the law. It is English, with the common law. Some principles lay back to the 12^th century, such as the Habeas Corpus. The first settlers brought this common law. A second type of law is everything that has been decided by the congress over 200 years. The Common Law was adapted to the reality of the American environment, in particular the importance of wild life and nature. The English notion of common law was changed by the notion of natural law. It is the notion of law as it can exist in a country that is just beginning. For example, the fact that a judge may not be a professional, which is not taken seriously in France. In the American west, it was necessary to have somebody that acts as a judge. It was often someone that was seen as a bit wiser, but didn’t have a particular knowledge of law.
- Judiciary system
- Criminal procedure
- Legal profession

4) Federal Court system

- Article 3. It says that the supreme court is the supreme judiciary body of America.
- Supreme court is hosted in DC, like the 2 other branches.
- Under the supreme court in DC, there is a network of 13 circuits of courts of Appeal. A circuits comprises several states.
- 94 districts courts with 2 to 28 judges. These are smaller divisions of the courts of Appeal. Under them, we have 2 to 28 judges per court.

5) State court system

- Not determined by Constitution. It only determines the federal system. We have 50 states, so 50 state courts. There is no competition between federal and state courts. Some offences are federal offences and are judge by a federal court, while others are state offences. There are successive appeals that may end up in the federal system, in the Supreme Court. When it is federal, it never ends up in the state system.
- All states are different
- Appellate court. There is a state appeal court
- Trial courts.
- Judges are often elected officials. They are politicians. Most of the time, they are attorneys or magistrates who get elected, but in a small community, you may have a judge who isn’t competent in legal matters.

6) Supreme court

- Seat DC
- 9 justices (one is chief-justice), who are in fact judges.
- Appointed for life. They are not sensitive to lobbies, pressure, and demagogy. People can demonstrate in the street, they don’t care.
- Compensation: 213 900 (223k for Chief-Justice). They are not sensitive to bribes.
- Selection: screen among federal US attorneys, appointment, confirmation
- Composition: It is difficult to appoint them because of the notion of diversity. Various groups have to feel represented. There has been an effort to make sure that justices represent groups of the American society. The idea of checks and balances is also a system where there has to be a bit of power for everyone all the time. For example, Clarence Thomas is African American. Ruth Bader is a Jewish woman. Sonya Sotomayor represents new immigrants and Hispanics. The oldest justice has been there 81 years. It is the president who nominates Justices, but the final appointment has to be confirmed by the Senate.

7) Role of the Supreme court

- Ultimate Court of appeal. They take their time.
- Including from state Supreme Court decisions
- Yes or no. They decide if decision are constitutional or not constitutional
- Their decisions become doctrine. Doctrine is what a lot of law student spend time studying. They analyse the decisions of Justices. When they discuss the opinion of a Justice in the minority, they are studying the opinion of the dissenting justices.

8 ) Legal profession

- Attorney general (political). It is the American “garde des sceaux”
- US federal attorneys (procureur)
- District attorneys
- Attorney-at-law = lawyer. Lawyer is not the legal term, although it is widely used.
- Judges magistrates elected or appointed, depending on the local situation.

9) Lawfirms

- Big, 100+ Lawyers
- Associate, partner, senior partner. Not everybody has the same status. The person who gave his name to the lawfirm is a senior partner, a funder. The associate are not lawyers, they are hired.
- From +100 000 for a beginning lawyer to +1 million a year for senior partners. Everything can be the source of litigation, which explains they earn so much. It often doesn’t cost anything to hire a lawyer, he usually takes a part of what you get.
- Weigh on US economy and competitiveness, has a cost. It makes everything more expensive in America. If a hospital knows it is going to be sued regularly, it will hire lawyers and take insurance against malpractice.
- Medical malpractice, enhances costs! British Petroleum vs US government because of a leak. BP was sued, but in the end the cost of oil went up and he drivers paid (drivers will pay!). if the expenses go up, they are turned toward the patient.

10) The criminal procedure

- Arrest. You have to be notified of your rights. You may be freed if not, because it is malpractice.
- Say nothing
- Presence of lawyer
- Brought before a magistrate in 48 hours, unless there is a week-end. The jury determines what you are sued for. It is the indictment. Then you come back for the inreadment. You can admit you are guilty and negociate, or go to trial -> faute avouée, à demi pardonnée.
- Release on bail. It costs money -> libérée sous caution
- Right to trial by jury (Haeas Corpus)

11) Trial

• Accusation: indictment
  
• Guilty plea, bargained sentence
  
• 5^th amendment. You have the right not to answer questions
  
• Probation, community service. It is increasing for minor faults.
  
• Not flawless but protects individual rights most of the times (some state legislations are questionable).
  

12) Political life

• Pragmatism
  
• Historical political traditions
  
• Presidential elections
  

12) Pragmatism

• Vs ideology. It is concrete, American are not sensitive to ideologies that we can see in Europe, for example in France. They are interested in concrete actions
  
• Paradox. It may seem paradoxical to consider this pragmatic society has characteristics that are not very democratic. America is a democracy, yet we have the feeling that there are only two parties, so that the ideas are split in two categories. In reality, within the republican and democratic party, all kinds of opinions coexist. There are also other political parties. One that is often thought to be forbidden although it is authorized is communist party. It has Sexisted, even during the cold war. But it has very few followers.
  
• High absenteism. There is a relatively high rate of absenteeism during presidential elections. It indicates that it is a democracy where people don’t believe in their system, and where presidency is questionable. America is also a big country. The people who live in Montana may not vote for their president because they don’t feel concerned by the presidential policies, but may vote for their governor. That is going to change their lives, so it is practicism. Sometimes there is what is call the third candidate, but he usually disappears during the course of the election. From the outside, you may wonder if there is a difference between democrat and republican, but for an American, it is not the same. You can’t compare with the gauche and droite and France, or with the labor and conservative parties in Germany. Without establishing a comparison with one’s own culture, we can demug that republican doesn’t mean conservative and democrat is not progressive, because you have conservative democrats and progressive republicans. For example, the foreign governor of California, Schwarzenneger, was a progressive republican. He was very open to gay rights. Maybe democrat is 7% conservative for 70% progressive. T
  
• Parties.
  
• Conservatism vs progressivism.
  

13) Importance of central government

• Federalists vs anti-federalists. American politics has always hesitated between two policies that would depend of whether having a strong government for the federalists, and a mild central government for the anti-federalists. The people who are in favor of a strong government are the democrats, but some more than others. In history, we had the extreme freedom (ex: 1920’s, wild capitalism, laissez-faire). It was adopted as a type of economic policy where the government gives all freedom to the business actors. It was the theory between the 1921 crash. After the spiral of laissez-faire, the pendulum went the other way, and it was the beginning in state intervention in the economy. That was the basis of the New Deal program. The idea of J.M Keynes dominated more or less between the 30’s and the 70’s, whatever the president. The pendulum had hit the limit of strong government in the 80’s. Then it went the other way. Ronal Reagan said he would not bail out the lain ducks of industry. When banks lost money, they went bankrupt. This had been pioneered a few years before in England, by Margaret Thatcher. She is the first one who decided to go back to the idea of state intervention in the 70’s
  
• New republican party (Lincoln)
  
• Wildcat capitalism until 1929
  
• New deal and state intervention
  
• 80s: strong government is the problem
  
• 2008: return of government? After the 2008 crash, Obama went back to Keynesian policies. He bailed out general motors, at the condition that they downsize to be competitive again. Some people have seen this as socialism but this is not true. Obama wasn’t giving this money to GM, it was a loan, and GM paid it back. Investors got their money back with interests. They had to close subsidiaries, the salaries were cut so the company would be lean again. It took long to be back in the profits and to pay back the loans. Ford refused a loan because of the constraints.
  

• Quantitative easing (assouplissement quantitatif): the Federal Bank of the US is bailing out the debts of the American government. They are doing that by injecting every month several billion dollars in the economy, which is crazy, but is seen as temporary to kickstart the economy. When the economy kicks off, they are supposed to stop it. They are aware it is absolutely abnormal, and totally against American values, but they are pragmatic people. If it helps them getting out of the rust, it is accepted. If the American economy was working well, there would be inflation, but there isn’t.
  

14) Democrats

• Stand for the poor. It a bit caricatural, but it is the case in people opinions
  
• Ethnic vote (African-americans, Hispanics, jews, catholics). They vote more for democrats
  
• Big labor (syndicalism), workers’ rights.
  
• Strong central government. It would be a government that collects a lot of money through taxes and redistribute it
  
• Redistribution through taxation. They collect as much as they can to redistribute
  
• Urban areas
  
• Educated. Maybe 60%, they want more educated people. This is a trend
  

15) Republicans

• Stand for the wealthy
  
• For big business. Big business often invest in both candidates at the same level
  
• For wasps. White anglo-saxons policemen
  
• For religious revivalists. They are called revivalists, or the tea party. They believe the earth was created in 7 days. They want to modify education because they take the bible litteraly.
  
• State, local, rural. They are very suspicious of a strong government that take their money and prefer local governments they think they can control better. They are better representated in rural areas
  

Elections 1:

• Party nomination. You have to be 45, American born
  
• Primaries (open,closed) caucuses. You have to try and be accepted by your own party as the candidate. It goes from January to the end of June. During the 6 months, there are elections in the various states that are called open primaries (all can vote), closed primaries (party members only, and caucuses that lead to the election of someone at the en of the day.
  
• Dynamic process. The result of the first primaries is going to influence the next primaries. The results may influence other elections. It is a race among democratic and republican candidates
  
• Elimination process. Some give up because they don’t have enough money (Clinton owned money in the end of his second term), or because they feel they aren’t popular enough after some time.
  
• From january to may
  

Every state is given a certain number of delegates according to its size. Each candidate accumulates these votes primary after primary. In the end, it is to who has the highest number of votes.

Elections 2:

• Party conventions. Supporters meet there. Although the winner is often already forcasted, but it is a time to try and unify everybody behind the winner. Hilary Clinton and Obama insulted each other to win, but Clinton had to say he was the best candidate.
  
• August. Conventions often take place during august
  
• Ticket. It is the candidate for the presidency + the candidate for the vice presidency.
  
• Celebration
  
• Patriotism. There is a big show with flags…
  
• unity
  

elections 3:

• campaign. It is the winner of the republican vs the winner of the democrats vs all the small candidates
  
• big financial means. To advertise on TV, to pay billboards.
  
• Cruel. Candidates insult each other, and often with false accusations
  
• Election day. It is always the Tuesday after the first Monday in November
  
• Long ballot. They don’t onl vote for one candidate, but also for the people in congress, the sheriffs, the judges, and maybe even to some referendums
  
• Vote for a man, not a party.
  
• Electors
  
• It is on a labor day, and the employers are supposed to let their employees got to the poll
  

16) Outcome

President elect. He has been elected, but has two or three months to learn about the technicalities of being president of the US. He isn’t president before the 20^th of January

• Each state is given a number of electors, which correspond to the number of representatives of the states + 2* the senators
  
• Role of states electors
  
• Role of states. The election is per state. If in California, if the democrats have a majority of one vote, they take the 55 electors, whereas republicans get 0. Sometimes, American don’t understand that, because it is as if the state was voting. There are 2 exceptions were they split the votes. Usually, you know the winner at the end of the day, it is the one with the biggest number of electors.
  
• Inauguration: Jan 20
  
• Congress. The 20 of January, the president has to take an oath in congress. He’s thus reminded that he will have to deal with, compromise with congress all the time. The building is higher than the president, which also reminds the check system
  
• Oath. He swears that he will defend the condtitution of the US (commitment). It takes 20 seconds if he doesn’t make a mistake. If he doesn’t stutter, it is very short. Afterwards, there is a speech.
  
• Inaugural address. This speech is long. It can last an hour and is expected by the nation and the media, even worldwide. For the first time, he doesn’t need to be elected and can tell what he is going to do. For the first time, you can know his true priorities. It is way more reliable than the speeches he made to be elected
  

17) Terms of office

• First two years. Anything that he would postpone probably won’t take place.
  
• Effectiveness. Everything is does is more effective in the first 2 years. After, there will be mid-term elections in congress. 100% of the representatives and a part of senators will be reelected.
  
• Mid-term elections. He may not have the majority of the first 2 years after the reelection. It happened to Obama, who had to compromise more.
  
• Pyrrhic victory? Sometimes, in the mid-term election, the other party can win and ruin the action of the president, but they don’t really get the chance to win the next elections. Obama was able to capitalize by saying the republican were responsible for the deadlock situation and was reelected
  
• Second half. After mid-terms elections, if the other party won, there is often a situation of stalemate
  
• reelection
  

18) financing

• fees. The fees in the party can only been used if the party has chosen you for the second half
  
• candidate’s wealth. First of all, you start with the candidate’s own wealth. One of the candidate in the last election was billionaire (Mitt Romney)
  
• raising funds. You can count on your supporters to get money. This starts at local level. When the candidate is a serious candidate, a committee forms itself around the candidate. These committees are going to organize the raising funds.
  
• candidate’s election committees.
  
• dinners contributions. You can organize dinners in big hotels, where rich people are invited and must pay for their meal (5 or 10 thousand dollars). On the occasion of these big dinners, you invite stars.
  
• big business contributions. Big labor contribute too, fairly evenly shared between republican and democrats. The company will have to deal with the person elected, whoever she is, so they don’t take
  
• Issue of uncapped and anonymous donations. They recently decided to cap anonymous donations. If you want to give more, you have to give it to a committee, so it is controlled.
  

19) Voter’s viewpoints

• Reasons for absenteeism. There is a higher absenteeism in the US, and it is even higher in certain groups. Some people may think that their situation will not be taken care of whoever is elected
  
• Exclusion (minorities)
  
• Long-ballots. The fact people have to vote for several elections at once is complicated, and people prefer not voting at all.
  
• Suspicion of professional politicians. They aren’t reliable people. There is the idea that it is a corrupt world in an ivory tower, that politicians don’t know about what really happens.
  
• Alternative means of democratic election. The turn-up may be higher at local elections than at national elections. There can be lobbies, associations… The activity of a local association may affect you more than the result of a national election
  

Electors (grands électeurs). En novembre, chaque Etat a un nombre fixe de grands électeurs + 2. Ça va de 3 (1 député + 2 sénateurs)
Voters: électeurs de bases
Delegates: délégués