Gop will pick up seats now but won’t achieve a filibuster proof majority – increasing Trump’s approval rating flips it
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1NC DOD CPThe Department of Defense should restrict military recruiters access from public schools1NC Courts CPThe United States Supreme Court should rule that Section 9528 of the No Child Left Behind Act is unconstitutional. Section 9528—the clause in the No Child Left Behind Act that allows military recruitment in public high schools—violates the first amendment Zgonjanin 6 — Sanja, Juris Doctor, City University of New York School of Law, 2006; M.A., Columbia University, 2000; M.L.S., Queens College, 1999 (“ARTICLE: No Child Left (Behind) Unrecruited”, Connecticut Public Interest Law Journal, Spring 2006, 5 Conn. Pub. Int. L.J. 167) ∂ VIII. Section 9528 Is an Unconstitutional Condition∂ There are ample reasons why the entire NCLB statute may be unconstitutional under the current Spending Clause doctrine. n145 One author correctly noted that "[t]he political expediency with which the bill was enacted, in efforts to unite our country after the threat of insecurity, suggests its flaws. In its haste to enact NCLB, Congress may have unconstitutionally extended its spending powers." n146 This paper focuses only on the constitutionality of section 9528 under the current Spending Clause doctrine as articulated by the Supreme Court in Dole, n147 and the unconstitutional condition doctrine under Rust. n148∂ The Supreme Court recognized long ago that the government has no power to impose an unconstitutional condition on the recipient of a privilege. n149 More specifically, the Court stated in Perry that the government "may not deny a benefit to a person on a basis that infringes his constitutionally protected interests- especially, his interest in freedom of speech." n150 NCLB was enacted pursuant to Congress's spending power. The spending power is limited by a four-prong test articulated by the Supreme Court in Dole: 1) the exercise of the power must be for the general welfare; 2) the condition must be unambiguous so states understand their choice to comply and the consequences of their participation; 3) the condition must be related to the federal interest; and 4) the condition may not compromise other constitutional rights. n151∂ Section9528 is a condition imposed on schools as recipients of federal funding. It states that educational agencies receiving federal money "shall provide" a student directory to military recruiters upon request. n152 Failure to do so will result in loss of federal funding. n153 There is no doubt that the government's interest in recruiting is legitimate. However, that recruiting is a legitimate interest does not necessarily mean that it is exercised "in pursuit of general welfare" as required by the Dole test. Secretary [*193] Rumsfeld acknowledged that "the challenges faced by military recruiters" are the main reason behind Congress's enactment of legislation requiring access to student information. n154∂ There are a number of reasonable explanations for the shortage of enlistees. As of March 1, 2006, the DOD confirmed 2420 American soldiers died in Iraq since the war started in March 2003. n155 According to some statistics, 17,869 U.S. soldiers have been wounded in the Iraq war. n156 Afghanistan Operation Enduring Freedom resulted in 372 deaths of U.S. soldiers and 718 wounded American soldiers. n157 These numbers, especially in light of a failure to find any weapons of mass destruction, a growing anti-war movement across the country, and Congress's questioning of Pentagon activities n158 may signal that the majority of Americans do not find military recruitment, especially at a vulnerable age, to be in "pursuit of general welfare."∂ While it is arguable that section 9528 would pass muster under the first two prongs of the Dole test, it is doubtful it would satisfy the reasonable relationship prong. This prong is consistent with the Court's statement in Rust that "when the government appropriates public funds to establish a program it is entitled to define the limits of that program." n159 Military recruiting has no reasonable relation to improving the academic achievement of the disadvantaged. On the contrary, the only relation military recruiting has to the NCLB is that the NCLB provides a good screening device for the military so that it can target students failing to attain desired academic achievement. Those underperforming students are usually poor minorities and unlikely to attend college. In times when recruitment increases are desperately needed, they represent the best target for military recruiters. There is nothing in section 9528 even remotely connected with improving academic performance or achieving educational success. While the government is free to impose conditions on recipients of federal funding, such conditions cannot be arbitrary. Under Dole and Rust conditions should be in the public interest and within the bounds of, and reasonably related to, the statute providing funding. Being entirely unrelated to the NCLB, section 9528 fails this test.∂ The fatal flaw of section 9528 is its abridgment of First Amendment rights. A condition that violates freedom of speech cannot survive constitutional scrutiny. If the government is allowed to deny benefits to a [*194] student because of that student's freedom of speech, the student's exercise of this constitutional right would be "penalized and inhibited." n160 "This would allow the government to 'produce a result which [it] could not command directly.' . . . Such interference with constitutional rights is impermissible." n161 Section 9528 infringes upon freedom of speech and represents an unconstitutional condition upon recipient of federal funds. An amendment to the military recruitment provision would suffice to transform this condition into a constitutionally permissible exercise of Congress's spending powers. Directory: file -> view view -> Western Europe after wwii view -> Author study: paul fleischman view -> Qpa1 7ela study Guide view -> Arctic Oil/Gas Neg view -> November 1970 Approximately 150,000-500,000 deaths Bhola Cyclone Bangladesh view -> Grade Level: 6 Unit of Study: Caribbean glce view -> Citation: Duffield, Katy view -> Table of Contents Lesson # view -> Chinese Wind Energy Disad Download 186.34 Kb. Share with your friends:
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