Examine the topic of legal issues, which are legal questions that require a court’s involvement to decide. Legal issues differ from ethical and moral lapses in that they’re based on written principles, while ethical and moral issues are based on subjective ideas of right and wrong. It must be acknowledged, however, that legal issues are inherently intertwined with ethics and morality, which can make them subject to fierce public debate due to people’s differing views on the morality of a legal issue.

While legal issues can arise in any criminal or civil matter, the public discourse of legal issues often revolves around regulations dealing with controversial social issues such as abortion, human and civil rights, gun control, immigration, the death penalty, and privacy. Debates on legal issues can focus on the application of existing regulations, on the need to change existing statutes, or on the need for new regulations. The court system focuses on the interpretation or legality of an existing act, while Congress establishes new laws.