In the context of right of privacy, explain the evolution of laws governing same-sex marriage.

What will be an ideal response?

The ideal answer should include:
1. Although privacy rights are not mentioned specifically in the Constitution, the First, Fourth, and Ninth Amendments are sometimes read by the courts as creating a "zone of privacy" that shields individuals from government spying on their phones and computers, homes, and, notably in the context of same-sex marriage, their bedrooms. In other words, there is a "right to be left alone."
2. The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), signed by President Clinton, defined marriage as exclusively between one man and one woman and said that states could not be forced to recognize same-sex marriages authorized in another state.
3. In early 2004, President Bush endorsed a constitutional amendment that would restrict marriage to two people of the opposite sex, but the difficulty of the amendment process made the proposal more of a campaign slogan than a likely constitutional change.
4. In 2011, President Obama told the Justice Department to stop defending DOMA in court.
5. In 2013, in a 5-4 decision in the case of Windsor v. U.S., the Supreme Court struck down the federal government's definition of marriage as between one man and one woman. While states were still permitted to ban same-sex marriages, the federal government was forced to recognize them in states that chose to allow them.
6. In 2015, the same 5-4 majority went further, ruling that same-sex marriage rights were guaranteed under the Equal Protection Clause, effectively legalizing these unions nationwide.

Political Science

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Rosenhan may have made the error of

A) Drawing high-constraint conclusions from low-constraint research. B) Inferring causality from high-constraint research. C) Using a non-representative sample. D) Using inappropriate statistical tests.

Political Science

Which of the following statements about winner-take-all district elections with primaries is true?

A. The need to win the primary drives candidates away from the overall center. B. The candidate nearest to the “ideological edge” virtually always wins the general election. C. The need to win the general election drives candidates to the overall center. D. These types of elections typically lead to two parties that claim ideological ground just to the right and left of center.

Political Science