Political Science Question

Week 2 Position Paper

Instructions

Before participating in the discussion for Week 2, please submit your written position paper related to the case for grading. You should base your position paper related to the case on the Recommended and Required Readings as well as some limited independent research. Please do not submit your thoughts on Parts II and III of this week's discussion via this assignment. You should cite any sources upon which you relied to craft your position paper.

Your position paper should be no longer than one or two pages. You can post your position paper as part of your initial post in the discussions.

Assignment

This week, remember to submit your written position paper for grading via the Assignment portal before participating in the discussion of the case. Your position paper should be a one or two-page write-up that expresses both your legal analysis as well as your position on the question posed. While you can engage in some limited outside research, please try to base your analysis, in large part, on the Required Readings that you can find under the Content section.

As you analyze the fact patterns, remember that I have intentionally omitted certain information needed to analyze the situation. I intentionally created some ambiguity in each of the cases, as well as the debate topics, because as a homeland security professional, you will often confront situations where you need to make decisions or provide recommendations when you do not possess all the relevant information. In such situations, you must often make decisions based on incomplete information.

Once you have submitted your position paper via the Assignment tab, you should post an initial post in the discussions. You may reuse all or part of your written submission as your initial discussion post. In the discussions, please try to critique and comment on the posts of students who are playing different roles. For example, if you are playing the role of a government official defending the government policy in question, please try to engage in a discussion of the program with students who are playing the other roles.

This week, you will earn two grades. First, I will evaluate your written submissions. Second, I will evaluate you on the quality of your interactions in the discussions. Remember that you need to answer any follow-up questions that I may ask you. I will often ask each of you a series of follow-up questions to make you consider a different perspective or deepen your analysis of the case. additional info:In the Recommended Readings for Week 2, you will find several Supreme Court cases that are relevant to this week’s case, and you should review the judicial opinions if you have the time to do so. example of some cases:

The first case, i.e., Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438 (1928), explores whether police can wiretap telephone conversations without a warrant. In Olmstead, the Supreme Court held that the police were allowed to do so without violating the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the United States Constitution. However, the Supreme Court’s decision in Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347 (1967) reversed Olmstead.

In Katz, the Supreme Court confronted a situation in which an individual, who was using a telephone booth to conduct illegal activities, was convicted based, in large part, on tape recordings of his conversations. The police obtained these tape recordings by installing a recording device on the outside of the telephone booth. The Supreme Court held that the man placing the bet in the phone booth expected privacy when he entered the booth and that a wiretap, even without a physical intrusion constituted a search, requiring a warrant.

Wrap Up

In this week's brief lecture, I discussed a handful of Supreme Court cases that have explored the Fourth Amendment. As you work on your analysis of the case, please try to rely upon your Required and Recommended Readings. Also, try to focus on discussing whether individuals who use social media should have any expectation of privacy and whether such individuals even have the legal standing to object to the actions of third parties like the social media companies that may house records of an individual’s posts and other activity. Furthermore, remember that you may need additional information to assess and evaluate the case. In your written submissions and in your discussion posts, please note the additional information needed to assess the legality of the government program. And, as always, remember that I am here if you need any help or guidance as you work on your first case project.