This assignment also serves as your critical thinking assessment.
So be sure to think critically on this one.
Note that the assignment is different for 2305 and 2306.
For GOVT 2305:
The U.S. Patent Office did something interesting yesterday. They cancelled the trademark for the Washington Redskins' name (though not its symbol). They argued that the name is disparaging and granting it protection makes the U.S. Government complicit in their using it. The move does not ban the use of the name, but it makes it possible for other to use it for their own purposes.
- Click here for some background.
- Click here for the ruling.
- Click here for team's legal response.
I want you to apply your critical reasoning skills - not your opinion making skills - to unpack the logic underlying the decision, as well as the argument against it. Speculate on what this precedence might mean for other teams with similar names.
For GOVT 2306:
Recently President Obama announced that he would use executive authority already granted to the Environmental Protection Agency to order cuts to carbon emissions from coal plants. States where these coal plants are located have cried foul and argued that these regulations go beyond the constitutional authority of the national government (some also argued that Obama overreached by using executive authority to implement the policy instead of Congress - but let's not worry about that aspect of it here.)
Since this story raises issues associated federalism - the ongoing conflict between state and national authority which we covered early in the class - this event gives us an opportunity to apply our critical thinking skills to it.
- Click here for come background on the regulations.
- Click here for political issues associated with the decision.
- Click here for a story on "climate federalism."
- Click here for "keeping the cooperative in cooperative federalism."
Pollution is one of those nasty things that just don't seen to respect state borders. it tends to drift from place to place depending on wind patterns and topography. One state's environmental policies impact those of its neighbors. So how do we reconcile this reality with the desire of states to create their own environmental regulations? How do we determine where the line is drawn between national and state authority on environmental issues?
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Remember that I want answers of at least 150 words - and you may go over.
I'll have the links on blackboard open by the end of the day.
