Russia

by: Mathea Wharff (71), and

Ellise Feldman (51)
We chose Russia for our report because of its unique and interesting
differences and similarities to America. Russias constitution states laws
and guidelines for citizens of Russia to live by, just as our constitution
states laws and guidelines for citizens of the united states of America to live
by.
Russia is a republican country. In both America and Russia you have
to be eighteen or older to vote, and thirty-five or older to be the president.
In russia the elected president must repeat the oath,"I swear in exercising
the powers of the President of the Russian Federation to respect and
safeguard the rights and freedoms of man and citizen, to observe and
protect the Constitution of the Russian Federation, to protect the
sovereignty and independence, security and integrity of the State, to
faithfully serve the people", with many people watching in a solemn area.

To be a judge in Russia you must be a citizen of the Russian

Federation, twenty five or older, well trained in law and have a law service
record of five years or more. The Federal law can add additional
requirements for the judges of the courts of the Russian Federation. In
America you must be at least twenty five years of age and have at least
four years of law experience. A criminal appeals judge must be thirty-five
and have ten years of experience as a lawyer or a judge.
Both the American and Russian constitutions provide for a
president to be elected by nationwide popular vote. While the
American constitution has a detailed description of the powers and
the limitations on the powers of congress, it uses a very small amount
of space to define the authority of the president. The Russian
constitution, on the other hand, contains a long description of the
powers of the president and a very small description of the authority
of the parliament.

In Russia there are four amendments, these amendments

change things in chapters one, two and nine, chapters three through
eight and article sixty five. Although Russias constitution has less

amendments than Americas constitution, Americas constitution still

does not have very many amendments, because our original
constitution has a shared viewpoint with the majority of Americas
citizens. The US has twenty-seven amendments. The first ten,
constituting the bill of rights, were written in 1791 as part of the
original document. The most recent amendment to the constitution
was the 27th amendment added to the constitution in 1992, which
regulated congressional pay rates. So there are significantly more
amendments in the American constitution than in the Russian
constitution.
In Russia, any able bodied child over the age of eighteen is to take
care of their disabled parents, providing they have any. This is
something that the American constitution does not have that I I think
they should have. It is something that shows that there are higher
goals that we can reach for. Of course even with this being in the
constitution it is not always carried out, but it is still a worthy concept
to include.
The country of Russia was very interesting to research and we
found many interesting differences and similarities between America

and Russia that we never realized before we did our research for this
report.