SUNDAYS AT JASA SPRING 2026 SEMESTER
The Supreme Court: When Law and Politics Collide
Mondays at 10:00 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
Virtual Class on Zoom Beginning March 9
Instructor: Leora Harpaz
Email - lharpaz@lharpaz.com
Course Description:
This course will examine the Supreme Court’s recent actions in
areas of political significance. During the 2025-26 Supreme
Court Term, those cases include subjects including transgender
rights, tariffs, the scope of presidential power over
independent administrative agencies, & possibly birthright
citizenship. Other important cases before the Court involve
redistricting, election financing, and gun rights. In addition
to cases on the Court’s regular docket, the Court has decided
many cases that came to the Court as emergency applications -
these cases will also be discussed, as will any major cases
added to the docket during the 2026-27 Term.
Class 9 - May 11, 2026 and Class 10 May 18, 2026 (last of
semester)
U.S. Constitution: Article II, Section 1:
The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United
States of America.
Article II, Section III: Take Care Clause:
he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed
Classes 7 & 8 - April 27, 2026 & May 4, 2026
Amendment XIV:
Section 1
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and
subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United
States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make
or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or
immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State
deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due
process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction
the equal protection of the laws.
Section 2
Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States
according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number
of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when
the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for
President and Vice-President of the United States,
Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers
of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied
to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one
years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way
abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime,
the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the
proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to
the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in
such State.
Section 3
No Person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or
elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office,
civil or military, under the United States, or under any State,
who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress,
or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any
State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any
State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall
have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or
given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by
a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Section 4
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized
by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and
bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion,
shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any
State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid
of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any
claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such
debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
Section 5
The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate
legislation, the provisions of this article.
Amendment XV:
Section 1
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be
denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on
account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude–
Section 2
The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.
SECTION 2 OF THE VOTING RIGHTS
ACT
42 U.S.C. § 1973. Denial or abridgement of right to vote on
account of race or color through voting qualifications or
prerequisites; establishment of violation.
a) No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting or
standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied
by any State or political subdivision in a manner which
results in a denial or abridgement of the right of any
citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or
color, or in contravention of the guarantees set forth in
section 10303(f)(2) of this title, as provided in subsection
(b).
(b) A violation of subsection (a) of this section is
established if, based on the totality of circumstances, it
is shown that the political processes leading to nomination
or election in the State or political subdivision are not
equally open to participation by members of a class of
citizens protected by subsection (a) of this section in that
its members have less opportunity than other members of the
electorate to participate in the political process and to
elect representatives of their choice. The extent to which
members of a protected class have been elected to office in
the State or political subdivision is one circumstance which
may be considered: Provided, That nothing in this section
establishes a right to have members of a protected class
elected in numbers equal to their proportion in the
population.
Class 6 - April 20, 2026
No material posted for this class.
Class 5 - April 13, 2026
No material posted for this class.
Class 4 - March
30, 2026
No Material posted for this class.
Class 3 - March 23, 2026
No material posted for this class.
Class 2 - March 16, 2026
No material posted for this class.
Class 1 - March 9, 2026
The International Emergency Economic Powers Act - IEEPA
50 U.S. Code § 1701
(a) Any authority granted to the President by section 1702 of
this title may be exercised to deal with any unusual and
extraordinary threat, which has its source in whole or
substantial part outside the United States, to the national
security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States, if
the President declares a national emergency with respect to such
threat.
50 U.S. Code § 1702
The President may:
(B) . . . regulate, direct and compel, nullify, void, prevent or
prohibit, any acquisition, holding, withholding, use, transfer,
withdrawal, transportation, importation or exportation of, or
dealing in, or exercising any right, power, or privilege with
respect to, or transactions involving, any property in which any
foreign country or a national thereof has any interest by any
person, or with respect to any property, subject to the
jurisdiction of the United States;
The Selective Words relied on by the Justice Department in its
argument which ignores all 16 words in between:
the president may . . . REGULATE,
direct & compel, nullify, void, prevent or prohibit), any
acquisition, holding, withholding, use, transfer, withdrawal,
transportation, IMPORTATION or
exportation OF, or dealing in, or
exercising any right, power, or privilege with respect to, or
transactions involving, any PROPERTY IN
WHICH ANY FOREIGN COUNTRY OR A NATIONAL THEREOF HAS ANY
INTEREST by any person, or with respect to any
property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.