I had a few ideas come to mind when considering public controversies. A category could be government controversies. For example, immigration, civil rights, freedom of speech, and censorship. An overarching topic could be applications of Constitutional rights and the different philosophies of interpretation (strict or loose). This might be too broad of a controversy so it might be better to narrow things down to one amendment like freedom of speech, religion, etc. Immigration over the years would be interesting to do because immigrants are the backbone of this country, but our ideas of immigrants have changed. Like how in the 1920s, Irish immigrants were treated with disdain, while today it is immigrants from the Middle East and Mexico who are treated with hostility.

Another place to explore controversy is social controversies. These could include the evolution of AI or reparations. A particularly interesting debate would be between public and private schools and their funding. I feel like I can relate to this topic personally being from an area where the public school was underfunded, and the financial situation was exasperated by the nearby private school taking students and teachers. There are multiple levels to this topic that would be interesting to explore including government funding, money per kid, and schools funded by property tax.