Constitutional Law: Govt. Powers

This is a research paper assignment, which by definition, means you must include scholarly research in your paper such as books, scholarly journals and/or law review articles. The paper must be 10-12 pages in length and is worth 30% of your overall grade. It is due in class on Thursday, April 30. You must also upload your paper on Turnitin, which can be found on Blackboard. The paper will analyze and take a position on one of the following constitutional issues that are currently pending before the United States Supreme Court.
California v. Texas – Whether the individual and state plaintiffs in this case have established Article III standing to challenge the minimum coverage provision of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), section 5000A(a)?

Trump v. Mazars USA – Whether the US House Oversight and Reform Committee have the constitutional and statutory authority to issue subpoenas to President Trump’s accountant demanding private financial records belonging to the president?

Your paper must include the following components: (1) introduction with a thesis statement; (2) provide a overview of the legal issue involved in the case you have selected (not the facts of the underlying case); (3) explain how the USSC or other courts have dealt with the issue(s) or similar issue(s) over time (e.g., what tests or doctrines have the courts used, including the USSC as well as lower courts); and (4) write an opinion from the perspective of the Supreme Court as to how they would decide the issue(s). (Note: I am well aware that legal opinions have been written from lower courts in both cases. Do not simply plan to copy that opinion, you will not get credit if you do.)

Your paper must be word-processed, double-spaced, with 12-point font and 1-inch margins. It must be stapled in the top left-hand corner and have a coversheet. You must cite your sources in the paper. In other words, you must provide a citation within the body of the paper whenever you refer to, or rely on, any source other than your own thoughts. Please use parenthetical citations in the body of the text and set out the full citations in a work cited (no endnotes). Only cite the materials in your work cited that you cite in the body of the paper. Please use MLA format for your parenthetical citations and the sources in your work cited. Your formatting will be graded so you need to format your paper correctly. Relying on formatting websites such as “easy bib” is never recommended. When citing to court opinions in the body of your paper, provide the name of case (underlined), the volume of the reporter, the name of the reporter, the first page of the case, and the year of the case, e.g. Smith v. Jones, 445 U.S. 316 (1994). Do not place cases in your bibliography. Finally, it is never worth turning in a paper late. Your paper will lose 5 points for every day late and 5 points if you fail to meet the 10page minimum