ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 acquaints the reader with the United States’ legal system including the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, both at the federal and state levels. Because most of the cases in this book rely on violations of the U.S. Constitution, emphasis is on the federal court system and its interpretation of these rights. This chapter discusses the limitations of the law and asks what happens when the law is unclear or simply wrong. Oftentimes, practices that are within the letter of the law may not necessarily follow an ethical or moral course of action. The chapter ends with a discussion of the confluence between legal and ethical decision making.
