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VUS.15 Part I Narrative:
The Supreme Court, Federalism and the Reagan Presidency, and the Federal Government’s Role in
Today’s Economy
In recent decades the United States Supreme Court has played a key role in defining a constitutional
right to privacy, affirming equal rights, and upholding the rule of law. The membership of the U.S.
Supreme Court has changed over time. Until 1967 only white males had served on the Supreme Court. In
that year President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Thurgood Marshall as the first African-American justice
of the nation’s highest court. Since Marshall’s appointment, presidents have appointed a number of women
and minorities to the Supreme Court. In 1981 President Ronald Reagan appointed Sandra Day O’Connor,
making her the first woman justice in American history. Clarence Thomas became the second AfricanAmerican justice, when Thurgood Marshall retired in 1991, and two years later Ruth Bader Ginsburg
became the second female and first Jewish justice.
The decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court have expanded individual rights in the years since its 1954
ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. Indeed, the civil rights movement of the 1940s,
1950s, and 1960s provided a model that other groups have used to extend civil rights and equal justice. For
example, the federal courts have consistently protected employment opportunities for American women by
citing not only the 1964 Civil Rights Act, but also the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment. In 1971 the Supreme Court heard the case of Reed v. Reed. This case involved an Idaho law,
which said that “males must be preferred to females” in appointing administrators of estates. The Supreme
Court ruled unanimously that the law’s different treatment of men and women was unconstitutional, because
it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Thereby, this decision set precedent
that the Supreme Court could use the Equal Protection Clause to protect the rights of American women
under certain circumstances. This meant that although the federal courts may use the Fourteenth
Amendment to prohibit sex discrimination in some situations, gender receives fewer protections under the
Equal Protection Clause than issues related to race, religion, and national origin.
Furthermore, the U.S. Supreme Court continues to protect the individual rights enumerated (listed)
in the Constitution of the United States. For example, in its 1989 decision in Texas v. Johnson the Supreme
Court ruled in favor of a Texas man who was arrested for burning an American flag as a political protest.
The high court declared that flag-burning is protected by the First Amendment right to free expression.
The United States Supreme Court has also identified in recent decades a constitutional basis for a
right to privacy that is protected from government interference. Perhaps, the most famous right to privacy
decision involved the case of Roe v. Wade. In its 1973 decision in this case the Supreme Court declared that
women have the right to obtain an abortion during the first three months of pregnancy. The court’s majority
concluded in Roe v. Wade that “State criminal abortion laws, like those involved here, that except from
criminality only a life-saving procedure on the mother's behalf without regard to the stage of her pregnancy
and other interests involved violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which protects
against state action the right to privacy, including a woman's qualified right to terminate her pregnancy.”
During the last several decades, the Supreme Court has invalidated (cancelled or annulled)
legislative acts and executive actions that the justices agree exceeded the authority granted to government
officials by the Constitution of the United States. This means the Supreme Court has used the power of
judicial review to protect the Constitutional principle of separation of powers, as well as the checks and
balances system.
Federalism is the distribution of power between a central government and its political subdivisions.
Under the Constitution, the principle of federalism results in power sharing between the federal government
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and the states. In other words only the federal or national government holds certain powers, while the state
governments exclusively possess other powers, and the federal and state governments share a third category
of powers. Since Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson disagreed on the constitutionality of the Bank
of the United States during the presidency of George Washington and the first two political parties
developed, Americans have held conflicting opinions on the issue of federal vs. state power. In 1980 the
American people elected Ronald Reagan president. President Reagan’s policies during the next eight years
had an impact on the relationship between the federal and state governments, which some observers have
called the “Reagan Revolution.”
Ronald Reagan, a Republican, possessed a conservative political philosophy, which opposed
expansion of federal power at the expense of the states. Reagan’s conservative political philosophy
prompted a re-evaluation of the size and role of government in the economy and society of contemporary
America. Consequently, the “Reagan Revolution” advocated (supported or promoted) tax cuts, the transfer
of responsibilities from the federal government to state governments, the appointment of federal judges and
Supreme Court justices who exercised “judicial restraint”, and reduction in the number and scope of
government programs and regulations. President Reagan hoped all of these actions would reduce the size
and power of the federal government and turn over decisions to either state governments or individual
citizens. Since Ronald Reagan considered national defense a key function of the federal government, he
and his conservative Republican supporters also advocated a strengthened American military.
The “Reagan Revolution” extended beyond President Reagan’s tenure (time) in office and there four
facts to prove this assertion. First, at the end of Reagan’s second term, the American people elected his vice
president George H. W. Bush president of the United States. Second, although George H. W. Bush failed in
his bid for re-election in 1992, he lost to a centrist Democrat William Jefferson (Bill) Clinton, who had
previously served as governor of the conservative state of Arkansas. The congressional vote on the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) provides evidence of Clinton’s moderate political philosophy.
President Clinton actively supported NAFTA, as did his Republican predecessor George H. W. Bush.
Third, the Republican sweep of congressional elections and statehouses in the 1990s serves as
additional proof that the “Reagan Revolution” extended beyond Reagan’s terms as president. For example,
after President Clinton failed to persuade Congress to pass universal health care legislation during his first
two years in office, the Republicans captured control of both houses of Congress in the 1994 elections. The
1994 election results marked the first time the Republican Party held a majority of the seats in the House of
Representatives, since the first two years of the Eisenhower administration during the early fifties. Finally,
George W. Bush’s victory in the 2000 presidential election provides further evidence that the “Reagan
Revolution” lasted longer than Reagan’s tenure in office.
In today’s America, the federal government has the ability to influence the American economy. It
bases its decisions on economic indicators such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), exchange rates,
inflation, and unemployment rates. GDP is the total market value of all final goods and services produced
in a country in a given year, equal to total consumer investment and government spending, plus the value of
exports, minus the value of imports. In other words, GDP is defined as the market value of the goods and
services produced by a country. Exchange rates are the value of the American dollar relative to other world
currencies, like the European Euro and the Japanese Yen. The dollar’s value floats on the international
currency market according to the basic economic principle of supply and demand. Inflation is the economic
phenomenon when prices increase and the value of the dollar decreases or buys less. For example, during
the summer of 2008 the American consumer faced severe inflation in gasoline prices, as the price rose to
over $4 per gallon.
The federal government promotes a healthy economy characterized by full employment and low
inflation by means of monetary policy and fiscal policy. The Federal Reserve controls monetary policy,
while the President and Congress control fiscal policy. Monetary policy is a central bank’s actions to
influence the availability and cost of money and credit, as a means of helping to promote (support) national
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economic goals. In the United States the term "monetary policy" refers to what the Federal Reserve,
America’s central bank, does to influence the supply of money and the availability of credit in the U.S.
economy. The money supply directly affects interest rates (the cost of credit) and thereby the performance
of the U.S. economy. The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decisions control the supply of money and
credit to expand or contract economic growth. The term “fiscal policy” refers to taxing and spending actions
taken by the President and Congress to influence the American economy. If the President and Congress
believe the American economy is slowing down, they may pass laws to reduce taxes and/or increase federal
spending
VUS.15 Part I Narrative Questions
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What three rights has the U.S. Supreme Court played a key role in defining over recent decades?
Who was the first African-American Supreme Court justice?
Who was the first female Supreme Court justice?
Who was the second African American Supreme Court justice?
Who was the second woman and first Jewish Supreme Court justice?
What precedent was set by the Supreme Court in Reed v. Reed?
Under what amendment is flag-burning protected?
What was the most famous case concerning right to privacy?
What type of legislative acts and executive actions have justices invalidated over the last several
decades?
10. Define federalism.
11. What was the name given for Reagan’s eight years in office?
12. What four ideas did the Reagan Revolution advocated?
13. What two things did President Reagan hope his actions would do?
14. In what four ways did the Reagan Revolution extend beyond Reagan?
15. What four economic indicators does the federal government base decisions on?
16. Define GDP.
17. Exchange rates are the value of the ______________________ dollar relative to other world
_________________________.
18. Define inflation.
19. The ___________ ______________ controls monetary policy, while the _________ and _______
control fiscal policy.
20. What is monetary policy?
21. What is fiscal policy?
22. Create a timeline of SEVEN events from this narrative. Include both the date and a description of
the event.
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