The US Constitution was written in 1787 and ratified in 1788. In 1791, the Bill of Rights was also ratified with 10 amendments. Since then, 17 more amendments have been added. The amendments deal with a variety of rights ranging from freedom of speech to the right to vote. The Constitution of the United States was written in 1787 by 55 delegates at a Constitutional Convention. Its purpose was to revise the weaker Articles of Confederation that had held the 13 states together after they gained independence from Britain. Before it could be put into place, it had to be ratified by conventions from each of the 13 states, where the delegates argued both for and against the binding document. One of the main arguments against the ratification of the US Constitution was the lack of specified individual rights and liberties, so James Madison drafted a set of amendments to add to the US Constitution if it was ratified. By June 1789, Madison submitted 12 amendments, though only 10 were … [Read more...] about The US Constitution has 27 amendments that protect the rights of Americans. Do you know them all?
Exclusionary rule cases
Morgan Stanley is fighting to stop a race-discrimination suit from going to trial by using a controversial tactic that keeps employee complaints secret (MS)
Michael Selby-Green, provided by Published 12:14 pm CDT, Saturday, October 6, 2018 Larry Downing-Pool/Getty Images Morgan Stanley is fighting to keep a race-discrimination complaint from a former wealth manager out of the courts and force it into arbitration. Plaintiff John Lockette and his lawyer, Linda Friedman, who are trying to stay in court, say Morgan Stanley is using mandatory arbitration to mask ongoing race discrimination at the bank. Morgan Stanley denies it discriminated against Lockette. Mandatory arbitration clauses bar workers from filing lawsuits against their employers for a variety of civil-rights and labor complaints. Instead, employees must have their complaint heard in a private and secret forum. The clauses are increasingly being used across corporate America. Business Insider spoke with lawyers, arbitrators, and judges about the expansion of mandatory arbitration in the US and its effects on civil and labor rights. John Lockette, a 64-year … [Read more...] about Morgan Stanley is fighting to stop a race-discrimination suit from going to trial by using a controversial tactic that keeps employee complaints secret (MS)
The bad design that created one of America’s worst housing crises
If you want to understand San Francisco’s self-inflicted housing crisis, look no further than the city’s very first zoning law, commonly known as the Cubic Air Ordinance, which set a disturbing standard for the city’s eventual missteps. Proposed in 1870, during a time of rampant real-estate speculation in a boomtown renowned for its lawlessness, the new law required boarding houses to offer a minimum amount of space per tenant. Officials claimed this would promote safer housing and improve residents’ quality of life, a noble cause for government intervention. But the law’s true purpose—to criminalize Chinese renters and landlords so their jobs and living space could be reclaimed for San Francisco’s white residents—set an ominous precedent. With the Cubic Air Ordinance, city leaders laid the groundwork for 150 years of exclusionary zoning or land-use policy designed to protect the status quo, rather than responsibly manage growth. Often … [Read more...] about The bad design that created one of America’s worst housing crises
Brand-name drugmakers turn on each other in fight for new market
Pfizer's multibillion-dollar gamble on cheaper versions of costly biotechnology drugs has turned into an all-out war of words with its pharmaceutical rivals. In court, regulatory filings and online, New York-based Pfizer has gone up against Johnson & Johnson, Amgen Inc. and Roche Holding AG, making the case that its competitors are blocking access to Pfizer's products and misleading patients to protect their lucrative franchises. In an August filing to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Pfizer accused Amgen and Roche of using Twitter and other social media to mislead physicians and patients about the effectiveness of biosimilars.One Amgen tweet Pfizer flagged to U.S. regulators says biologics and biosimilars aren't "just apples to apples." And an Amgen message on YouTube told patients, "Switching drugs is not a good idea if your medicine is working for you," and warned about side effects or confusion among doctors. The "bottom line is patient safety," Amgen says in the … [Read more...] about Brand-name drugmakers turn on each other in fight for new market
Progressives, Kavanaugh and the precedent predicament
Marshall H. Tanick As U.S. senators take the measure of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, currently a federal appellate court judge in Washington, D.C., progressives (as liberals are wont to call themselves nowadays) and even some conservatives who regard themselves as judicial purists have been intent on getting the high court aspirant to pledge fidelity to following legal precedent. During confirmation hearings this week, senators probed his thinking on the subject. But they may be asking for something they don’t necessarily want. Their concern, indeed fear, is understandable; if confirmed, as seems increasingly likely, Kavanaugh may form a quintet of jurists, along with four other sitting justices, that may be poised to overrule settled legal principles underlying reproductive rights in the 1973 Roe v. Wade case establishing women’s constitutional right to abortion. Additional notable rulings of late concerning health care, same-sex marriage, … [Read more...] about Progressives, Kavanaugh and the precedent predicament