Current Issues: Pro and Con: Websites

Sponsored by IDEA (the International Debate Education Association), the website's Debatabase is a searchable, browsable "online debate topic database." Inside you will find arguments for and against hundreds of debating topics.

Some of the most controversial social issues in the United States end up being argued before the Supreme
Court. This webpage, posted by the Legal Information Institute of Cornell University's Law School, pulls
together high court decisions by topics like abortion and freedom of the press.

"Our writers provide insight, commentary, and analysis of ideas, research, and current events, tapping into the rich scholarship on JSTOR, a digital library of more than 2,000 academic journals, dating back to the first volume ever published, along with thousands of monographs, and other material. In addition to weekly feature articles, the magazine publishes daily blog posts that provide the backstory to complex issues of the day in a variety of subject areas, interviews with and profiles of scholars and their work, and much more."

"National Issues Forums (NIF) is a nonpartisan, nationwide network of locally sponsored public forums for the consideration of public policy issues." The website reproduces the reports that have been generated as a result of these public forums. Topics include Terrorism, Health Care, and Racial & Ethnic Tensions. Reports quote from citizens around the country and indicate both general consensus conclusions as well as opposing views.

"ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest."

Public Agenda is a "nonpartisan, nonprofit public opinion research and citizen education organization." Each "issue guide" published on their website provides an overview, a fact file, and three perspectives on the issue at hand, while the Public Opinion section reports and interprets survey and research results.

"SCOTUSblog is devoted to comprehensively covering the U.S. Supreme Court without bias and according to the highest journalistic and legal ethical standards. The blog is provided as a public service and is sponsored by Bloomberg Law."

" TRAC is a data gathering, data research and data distribution organization at Syracuse University. The purpose of TRAC is to provide ... comprehensive information about staffing, spending, and enforcement activities of the federal government. On a day-to-day basis, what are the agencies and prosecutors actually doing?"