Achievement in Essay Writing

In 1953, President Eisenhower established Law Day. Law day is an important celebration sponsored by the Houston Bar Association to remind citizens about how important the rule of law is in every citizen’s everyday life. This year, Lauren Rainey’s essay, included below, was chosen for an honorable mention in the Houston Bar Association’s 2008 Law day Essay Contest. She received a certificate of achievement and a cash award. Congratulations to Lauren, and to her social studies teachers, Colleen Russo and Melanie Shaw!

The Rule of Law: Foundations for Communities of Opportunity & Equity
By Lauren Rainey

What if you lived in a third-world country and got arrested for no reason? Say you’ve been in jail for a year and haven’t had a single trial. This happens in countries all over the world. Here, in America, we have a Bill of Rights and a Constitution. We also have a system of checks and balances so each branch of government has equal power.

The Executive Branch of government consists of the President, Vice President, and the President’s Cabinet. The President runs the country and commands the military, while the Vice President runs the Senate and is a back up president. The President’s Cabinet advises the President on different issues. If the President dies or can no longer fulfill his duties, the Vice President becomes President. The Executive branch relates to laws because the President signs or vetoes any laws that are proposed to the Executive branch. The Executive branch promotes fairness and equity by letting the citizens have an equal say in who they want to have as their President.

The Legislative helps the Executive branch by proposing laws to the President. The Legislative branch consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate, which represent the states. The House of Representatives, or simply, “The House,” has 435 representatives, all from different states. The state’s population determines the number of representatives coming from each state, so the big states have more representation than the small states. The Senate has 100 senators, two from each state. The Senate can say yes or no to treaties made by the president and to hold trials for a government official who has done something very wrong. The Legislative branch promotes equity and fairness by having two senators from each state, regardless of population. The Legislative branch relates to laws because if the representatives and senators break the law in a big way, they can be removed from office.

If the law is broken in a big way, if no one can tell if something is right or wrong, or if someone feels that their rights have been violated, the Judicial branch steps up to the plate, and a trial can be held with the Supreme Court if the case is serious enough. The Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. and consists of nine Supreme Court Justices who are appointed for life or until they resign or are impeached. Once the Supreme Court makes a decision, it can only be changed by another Supreme Court decision or by amending the Constitution. The Judicial branch relates to laws because the cases taken to the Supreme Court are about broken laws. The Judicial branch promotes equity and fairness by making fair decisions during a trial and all the Justices have an equal say in the decisions made in the Supreme Court.

The Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches have equal power due to a very important system of checks and balances. Without this system, things would be chaos. Then America would be just like that third-world country with no Constitution or a Bill of Rights. Each branch has power in different categories, but no one branch has more general governmental power than the rest, which creates equity within the government. They also have rules to make sure we have good government officials. If a government official breaks a law, they can be impeached, or removed from office. This creates a good image of moral values. The three branches help people be good citizens and provide equal opportunities for everyone by investing in schools and colleges so they can educate the new generation.

National Merit Scholar

Each year, 1.5 million junior year high school students sit down on one day in October and take the Preliminary Scholastic Assessment Test (PSAT). Out of that group of students, only 50,000 are named selected on the basis of their scores for the national Merit Scholarship program. This year, for the second year in a row, a Monarch student has been so selected, with a score in the top 96% of all students. Our congratulations to Matt, his family, and his teachers for this rare accomplishment.