Siby Suriyan's Government Blog

1. What is Nancy Pelosi's role in Congress? Nancy Pelosi is the speaker of the House. The speaker of the House determines the agenda in the House, which is powerful because she determines what issues will and will not be addressed. 2. What is President Trump alleged to have done? Donald Trump tried to pressure the Ukranian government to work with his lawyer Rudy Guliani to investigate Hunter Biden's business, Burisma. 3. What is Nancy Pelosi's goal, since she does not want to impeach the president? Nancy Pelosi's goal is to preserve and grow the number of Democrats in the House, and she fears that an impeachment proceeding would alienate purple districts-districts the Democrats won in 2018 that Trump won in 2016. Furthermore, Pelosi wants to pass a law that establishes the indictment procedure for a sitting president. 4. What does Pelosi say has harmed Congress's ability to investigate the Executive Branch? Congress's ability to investigate...

1. How much of the House must agree to impeach a judge? How much of the Senate must agree to remove a judge?   To impeach a justice, a majority of the House has to approve for an indictment, and 2/3 majority in the Senate is needed to remove him or her from the bench.  2. 2. Has this process ever been used before for the Supreme Court?  How many times?  Impeachment has been used for the Supreme Court before. One justice was impeached; however, he was later acquited in the Senate. Federalist Samuel Chase was impeached by Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans for political partisanry and to remove a political enemy. 3.Where in the Constitution does it set up the impeachment process? Under Article IV, section II, the Constitution sets up impeachment for Presidents, Vice Presidents, and other civil officers. Goverment officers can be impeached for " Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” 4.What are the reasons for the impeachment...

1. What was the Iowa Democratic Party's plan for changes to this year's Iowa Caucus? The Iowa Democratic Party wanted to introduce a "virtual caucus" through a phone system alongside their traditional caucus. 2. Why has the Democratic National Committee decided to recommend rejecting these plans? The DNC is reccommending to reject the plan because a tele-caucus system would be susceptible to hackers. 3. Why had the Iowa Democratic Party recommended these changes? Iowa recommends these changes because the traditional caucus system is not accessible for everyone, it can take many hours, and people have to show up in person. The tele-caucus system is more accessible. 4. Why is it so important that Iowa is the first contest?  How do they influence the nomination process? First contests show which candidates have large support bases. And it also determines the candidates that do not have a chance at winning the Democratic nomination.  5. Why are caucuses contr...

1. How much of the US population lives in a state or district with access to legal marijuana? 25% of the American population lives in a state where they have access to legal marijuana. 2. Where in the US were the first places to make marijuana fully legal? Colorado and Washington were the first states to make marijuana fully legal. 3. In the states where marijuana is legal, what differences might there be state to state?  And how are Vermont and DC different? States where marijuana is legal, there are variations state to state with regard to how much marijuana someone can possess. In Vermont and DC, where marijuana is legal, residents cannot buy or sell marijuana, but they can grow it. 4. What is the difference between marijuana legalization and marijuana decriminalization? Marijuana legalization implies that people can, mostly, use, sell, produce, and possess marijuana without any government interference. Marijuana decriminalization means that people caught possessing...