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  • 2) Name the statements which are true:

a) America’s independence from Great Britain on July 14, 1776.

b) The supreme law of the United States is the Constitution.

c) The Constitution of the USA protects the sovereignty of each individual state.

d) The powers of the US government to create, implement, and adjudicate laws were not separated.

e) The President of the USA cannot veto the laws of the Congress.

f) The justices of the US Supreme Court are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

g) “A more perfect union” – this expression means a more perfect country.

  • 3) Compare the Constitution of the usa and the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Is there anything in common between the two Constitutions?

7.7 The President of the usa

  • 1) Read the text and answer the question: “Can you be the President of the usa?”

Do you want to be the President of the United States of America? Maybe you can apply for a job. Answer these three questions. Are you a U.S. citizen? Are you thirty five years old or older? Have you been a resident of the United States for fourteen years or longer? Did you say “yes” to all three questions? Then you can take the first steps to the White House.

You become President for a term. A term is four years. You can only serve two terms. This means that you can only be President twice. This became law in 1951. Before that, the law was different. In fact, Franklin D. Roosevelt became president in 1933. He was still President when he died in 1945. He was President for twelve years. No one was President longer than he was.

As President of the United States, you earn $200,000 a year. You also get extra $50,000 for expenses, tax free. You have your own limousine, jet, and housekeepers, all free. You also live rent free, in the White house, D.C. And you are Head of the richest country in the world.

Presidents of the United States are very different people. Twenty two were lawyers, four soldiers, four farmers, four teachers, two writers, two businessmen, one tailor, and one actor. Eight of them didn’t have a college education!

  • 2) Answer the questions concerning the current President of the usa:

a) What is his name?

b) Is he a U.S. citizen?

c) How old was he when he became the President of the USA?

d) When does his term expire?

e) What education does he have?

7.8 Half a Million Lawyers in the usa

  • 1) What does the title of the text imply?

“It was you, wasn’t it?” says the district attorney, pointing to the woman on the other side of the courtroom. “It was you who murdered your husband.”

“Yes!” says the woman, hiding her face in her hands. “Oh God, yes, it was me!”

“OK. Cut!” shouts the movie director. “One minute break, everyone.” He is pleased. He knows that his TV series will be a success. The great interest that Americans have in the law and the courts will make sure of that.

It is extraordinary, in fact, how important the law is in America’s national life. Indeed, the justices of the Supreme Court are some of the most powerful people in America. It is often they, rather than the politicians, who make the big decisions that will change people’s daily lives. It is the justices who decide that black children and white children should go to school together. It is they who decide whether criminals should be punished by death. Politicians, after all, can lose an election if they make unpopular decisions. Justices keep their job for life.

The nine justices of the Supreme Court are probably the most respected people in the U.S.A., but Americans do not think so highly of the less important lawyers. Perhaps this is because there are so many of them. One in every 450 Americans is a lawyer, and in Washington, D.C., the number is one in every sixty-four.

One reason for the large number of lawyers is that each state has different laws. In Alabama, for example, the school age is from seven to sixteen years old. In Pennsylvania, it is eight to seventeen. In addition to the different state laws, there are also federal laws, which everyone must obey.

Americans hurry to the courts of law to fight for their rights for all kinds of reasons. This can be a good thing. No employer can afford to be careless about safety. The workers might take him to court. No doctor can be careless with her patient. She will find herself in court, ordered to pay millions of dollars for her mistake.

Some people feel that things have gone too far. Take Mr. and Mrs. Zak, for example. One evening they offered scotch to a guest who then drove off in his car and crashed. The court decided that the Zaks had been wrong to give their guest scotch and allow him to drive away drunk. They were ordered to pay $72,500. It must have been the most expen­sive bottle of scotch the Zaks ever bought.

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