Senior American Government

Extended Project: Congressional Memorandum

A great deal of the American Governmental and Legal system is based on Case Studies, also known as Congressional Memoranda. These are attempts to research, analyze and develop an understanding of complex issues and develop a proposed/suggested Congressional action or solution. Grant Proposals, Congressional Legislation and legal briefs follow the format of a Case Study.

Most Memoranda require Congressional aides (students in this case) to answer an open-ended question or develop a solution to an open-ended problem/issue with multiple potential solutions.

A form of qualitative descriptive research, the Memoranda/case study looks intensely at an individual or small participant pool, drawing conclusions only about that participant or group and only in that specific context. Researchers do not focus on the discovery of a universal, generalizable truth, nor do they typically look for cause-effect relationships; instead, emphasis is placed on very narrow exploration, description and solutions

In this assignment, students are asked to be legislative staff members the specific Congressional Representative of their District,who have been asked to provide the Congressional Member with a Congressional Memorandum/Case Study on a particular political issue that coming up for vote and/or a constituent Town Hall Meeting. Students have 3 weeks to research and prepare case study.

Guidelines for Writing the Memoranda/Case Study

In the most straightforward application, the presentation of the case study establishes a framework for analysis. Utilize these guidelines as you address your chosen issue:

• Who is your Congressional representative? What is the demographic of your district?
• What is the issue? Who are the significant Congressional advocates? Detractors?
• What similar legislation is in the legal ‘pipeline'?
• What is the goal of the analysis?
• What is the context of the problem?
• What key relevant historical facts/written or oral arguments should be considered?
• What alternatives are available to the decision-maker?
• What would you recommend - and why?