2) The Constitution Flashcards
What are the 3 key features of the US constitution?
Codified
specific & vague
entrenched
What is a codified constitution?
a constitution that consists of a full and authoritative set of rules written down in a single text
What is entrenchment?
Entrenchment is the application of extra-legal safeguards to a constitutional provision to make it more difficult to amend or abolish it.
What are the 7 Articles of the US Constitution?
Article I – The Legislative Branch Article II – The Executive Branch Article III – The Judicial Branch Article IV – The States Article V – Amendment procedures Article VI – Debts, Supremacy, Oaths Article VII – Ratification procedure
What is the supremacy clause?
Federal law takes precedence over State Law
Proportion of Article VI which states that the constitution, as well as treaties and federal laws, ‘shall be the supreme law of the land’.
Made explicit in Marbury v Madison in 1803 that the provision in Article III states the Court’s judicial powers applies to ‘all Cases…arising under this Constitution’
What are Enumerated powers?
Enumerated (or delegated) powers are powers delegated to the federal government under the Constitution in the first 3 Articles
What are implied powers?
Implied powers are powers possessed by the federal government by inference from those powers delegated to it in the Constitution - e.g. draft soldiers, raise taxes (see also ‘Necessary and proper clause’).
What is the ‘Necessary and proper clause?
Necessary and proper clause (or elastic clause) the final clause of Article 1, Section 8, which empowers, Congress to make all laws ‘necessary and proper’ to carry out the federal government’s duties
What are reserved powers?
Reserved powers are powers not delegated to the federal government, or prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states and to the people
What are concurrent powers?
Concurrent powers power possessed by both the federal and state governments, such as collecting taxes, building roads, maintaining courts.
How are constitutional amendments made?
A 2 stage process requiring super majorities for proposal by congress or state legislatures calling for a national constitutional convention (2/3) and ratification by state legislatures or ratifying conventions (3/4)
How many amendments have been made?
27
Who has proposed all of the amendments?
Congress
Which was the only amendment to be ratified by state constitutional conventions?
21st (repealed 18th Amendment on prohibition)
When was the Bill of Rights ratified?
1791
What were the first 10 amendments collectively ratified in the Bill of Rights?
I Freedom of religion, speech, the press, and assembly
II Right to keep and bear arms
III No quartering of troops in private homes
IV Unreasonable searches and seizures prohibited
V Rights of accused persons
VI Rights of trial
VII Common-law suits
VIII Excessive bail, and cruel and unusual punishments prohibited
IX Unenumerated rights protected
X Undelegated powers reserved to the states or to the people
Give examples of other Amendments to the constitution
XIII Slavery prohibited (1865)
XIV Ex-slaves citizens - including ‘equal protection’ and ‘due process’ clauses (1868)
XVI Federal government granted power to impose income tax (1913)
XVII Direct election of Senate (1913)
XVIII Votes for Women (1920)
XXII Two term limit for president (1951)
XXIV Voting rights to minorities (1964)
XXV Presidential succession and disability procedures (1967)
XXVI Voting age lowered to 18 (1971)
XXVII Congressional pay change at next term (1992)
What are the 4 main reasons why the constitution has been so rarely amended?
1) deliberately difficult process (congress and states with super majorities)
2) deliberately unspecific and vague document allows evolution
3) Supreme Courts’ power of judicial review allows ‘interpretive amendments’
4) Veneration and caution (see prohibition 18th/21st)
How many votes on amendments took place under Clinton and George W. Bush?
Bill Clinton - 17 votes on amendments (balanced budget 1995 and flag desecration 1995/7/9) few votes short in Senate
George Bush - 6 votes on amendments, only 3 (flag) got 2/3 in House of Representatives, 66-34 one vote short in Senate.
How many amendments have failed at ratification in over 210 years?
6 of 33 (most recent was DC voting rights to treat as a state in 1985 only 16 of 50)
What are the principal constitutional rights?
Constitutional rights are fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution, including freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from arbitrary arrest
What are the key principles of the US Constitution?
Separation of powers
Checks and balances
Federalism
How can the President check the power of Congress?
Vetoing bills
Obama used regular veto 12 times
How can the President check the power of the Courts?
Nominate judges and pardons
(Obama appointed Sonia Sotomayor (2009) and Elena Kagan (2010) to the Supreme Court)
(Ford pardoned Nixon in 1974
Clinton pardoned 140 people on last day, including Mark Rich a tax fugitive
Obama pardoned 142 people in final 3 weeks)
How can Congress check the power of the President?
amending/delaying/rejecting legislative proposals override veto (2/3 both houses) power of purse refuse appointments (Senate) ratify/refuse treaties (2/3 Senate) investigation impeachment (simple House, 2/3 Senate)
How can Congress check the power of the Courts?
proposing amendments
refusing nominations (Senate)
Impeachment
Congress passed the 16th Amendment (1913) to levy income tax after it was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1896
1986-9 Congress removed 3 federal judges for tax evasion - Harry Claiborne for tax evasion, Alcee Hastings for bribery and Walter Nixon for perjury.
2010 Judge Thomas Porteous was impeached for corruption
How can the Courts check the power of Congress and the President?
Declaring laws or actions unconstitutional
2013 United States v Windsor declared the Defense of Marriage Act (1996) unconstitutional
1974 United States v Windsor ordered Nixon to hand over the White House tapes
2006 Hamdan v Rumsfeld declared Bush’s Guantanamo Bay military commissions unconstitutional
2017 State of Washington v Donald Trump temporary restraining order on Trump’s executive order Muslim ban
What is the separation of powers?
a theory of government where by political power is distributed among the legislature, the executive and the judiciary, each acting both independently and interdependently
What are checks and balances?
a system of government that gives each branch the means to pass the control of power exercised by the other branches
What is the presidential veto?
the presents power under article 2 of the constitution to return a bill to Congress on signed, along with the reasons for his objection
What is impeachment?
a formal accusation of a serving federal official by a simple majority vote of the House of representatives
What is bipartisanship?
close cooperation between the two major parties to achieve desired political goals.
George W. Bush worked with congressional Democrats such as Edward Kennedy to pass education reforms (2001-2)
What is divided government?
When the presidency is controlled by one party, and one or both houses of Congress are controlled by the other party, can lead to gridlock
How many years of divided government has their been in the 48 years between 1969 and 2016?
35½ years of divided government 24 of which the president’s party controlled neither house
What is Federalism?
A theory of government by which political power is divided between a national government and state governments, each having their own areas of substantive jurisdiction
Why did the role of the federal government increase (especially 1930s-1960s)?
Westward expansion
Growth of population (4 million in 1790, 322 million by 2016)
Industrialisation
Communication
Great Depression
Foreign Policy
Supreme Court decisions (‘necessary and proper clause’, ‘common defense and general welfare clause’ and commerce clause.)
Constitutional Amendments (14th required ‘due process’ and ‘equal protection’; 16th federal income tax)
What was the ‘commerce clause’?
Article I, section 8 of the constitution in power in Congress to regulate commerce with foreign nationals and among the States
What was ‘New Federalism’?
New Federalism was a decentralisation approach to federalism characterized by return of certain powers and responsibilities from the federal government to the States under Republicans Nixon, Ford, Regan and Bush.
What were block grants?
In New Federalism block grants were given by the federal government to be used within broad policy areas
What were unfunded mandates
As the federal deficit increased in the 1980s and programs were cut unfunded mandates required States to perform functions for which the federal government does not supply funding
How much did federal spending increase under George W. Bush?
33%
What 4 policy areas did George W. Bush increase federal spending?
Education: No Child Left Behind Act (2002)
Medicare: expanded at a cost of $400 billion in its first 10 years
National Defense: DoD spending increased from $290million to $651million (125%) and 2001-6 homeland security from $13million to $69million
Economy: effective nationalisation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
How much of Obama’s 2009 stimulus package went through state governments?
$246 billion (plus $275 billion in economic aid
transportation, energy, public safety and IT provision in the American recovery and reinvestment act of 2009)
How much did The patient protection and affordable care act 2010 - ‘Obamacare’ cost the federal Government?
$938 billion over 10 years
What was the outcome of National Federation of Independent Businesses v Sebelius (2012) ?
The Supreme Court struck down the Medicaid provision in the Affordable Care Act.
What was the executive order for the deferred action for childhood arrivals 2012?
confirmed non-immigrant legal status around 1.7 million illegal immigrants who came to the United States before their 16th birthday, were under 31 years of age, I completed High school, and had no serious criminal record
What was the executive order for deferred action for parents of Americans 2014?
offered temporary legal status to millions of illegal immigrants along with an indefinite reprieve from the threat of deportatio
What are the consequences of federalism?
Legal consequences: variety of state laws
Policy consequences: state policy laboratories such as healthcare, immigration, affirmative action, environment, drugs.
Consequences for elections: all state based and varied
Consequences for political parties: decentralised state based parties
Economic consequences: federal grants to states and complex state and federal taxes
Regionalism: distinct cultural, racial, religious and ideological differences
