2) The Constitution

Question 1

What are the 3 key features of the US constitution?

Answer 1

Codified
specific & vague
entrenched

Question 2

What is a codified constitution?

Answer 2

a constitution that consists of a full and authoritative set of rules written down in a single text

Question 3

What is entrenchment?

Answer 3

Entrenchment is the application of extra-legal safeguards to a constitutional provision to make it more difficult to amend or abolish it.

Question 4

What are the 7 Articles of the US Constitution?

Answer 4

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

Question 5

What is the supremacy clause?

Answer 5

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’

Question 6

What are Enumerated powers?

Answer 6

Enumerated (or delegated) powers are powers delegated to the federal government under the Constitution in the first 3 Articles

Question 7

What are implied powers?

Answer 7

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’).

Question 8

What is the ‘Necessary and proper clause?

Answer 8

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

Question 9

What are reserved powers?

Answer 9

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

Question 10

What are concurrent powers?

Answer 10

Concurrent powers power possessed by both the federal and state governments, such as collecting taxes, building roads, maintaining courts.

Question 11

How are constitutional amendments made?

Answer 11

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)

Question 12

How many amendments have been made?

Answer 12

27

Question 13

Who has proposed all of the amendments?

Answer 13

Congress

Question 14

Which was the only amendment to be ratified by state constitutional conventions?

Answer 14

21st (repealed 18th Amendment on prohibition)

Question 15

When was the Bill of Rights ratified?

Answer 15

1791

Question 16

What were the first 10 amendments collectively ratified in the Bill of Rights?

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Give examples of other Amendments to the constitution

Answer 17

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)

Question 18

What are the 4 main reasons why the constitution has been so rarely amended?

Answer 18

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)

Question 19

How many votes on amendments took place under Clinton and George W. Bush?

Answer 19

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.

Question 20

How many amendments have failed at ratification in over 210 years?

Answer 20

6 of 33 (most recent was DC voting rights to treat as a state in 1985 only 16 of 50)

Question 21

What are the principal constitutional rights?

Answer 21

Constitutional rights are fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution, including freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from arbitrary arrest

Question 22

What are the key principles of the US Constitution?

Answer 22

Separation of powers

Checks and balances

Federalism

Question 23

How can the President check the power of Congress?

Answer 23

Vetoing bills

Obama used regular veto 12 times

Question 24

How can the President check the power of the Courts?

Answer 24

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)

Question 25

How can Congress check the power of the President?

Answer 25

``` 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) ```

Question 26

How can Congress check the power of the Courts?

Answer 26

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

Question 27

How can the Courts check the power of Congress and the President?

Answer 27

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

Question 28

What is the separation of powers?

Answer 28

a theory of government where by political power is distributed among the legislature, the executive and the judiciary, each acting both independently and interdependently

Question 29

What are checks and balances?

Answer 29

a system of government that gives each branch the means to pass the control of power exercised by the other branches

Question 30

What is the presidential veto?

Answer 30

the presents power under article 2 of the constitution to return a bill to Congress on signed, along with the reasons for his objection

Question 31

What is impeachment?

Answer 31

a formal accusation of a serving federal official by a simple majority vote of the House of representatives

Question 32

What is bipartisanship?

Answer 32

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)

Question 33

What is divided government?

Answer 33

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

Question 34

How many years of divided government has their been in the 48 years between 1969 and 2016?

Answer 34

35½ years of divided government 24 of which the president’s party controlled neither house

Question 35

What is Federalism?

Answer 35

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

Question 36

Why did the role of the federal government increase (especially 1930s-1960s)?

Answer 36

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)

Question 37

What was the 'commerce clause'?

Answer 37

Article I, section 8 of the constitution in power in Congress to regulate commerce with foreign nationals and among the States

Question 38

What was 'New Federalism'?

Answer 38

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.

Question 39

What were block grants?

Answer 39

In New Federalism block grants were given by the federal government to be used within broad policy areas

Question 40

What were unfunded mandates

Answer 40

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

Question 41

How much did federal spending increase under George W. Bush?

Answer 41

33%

Question 42

What 4 policy areas did George W. Bush increase federal spending?

Answer 42

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

Question 43

How much of Obama's 2009 stimulus package went through state governments?

Answer 43

$246 billion (plus $275 billion in economic aid | transportation, energy, public safety and IT provision in the American recovery and reinvestment act of 2009)

Question 44

How much did The patient protection and affordable care act 2010 - 'Obamacare' cost the federal Government?

Answer 44

$938 billion over 10 years

Question 45

What was the outcome of National Federation of Independent Businesses v Sebelius (2012) ?

Answer 45

The Supreme Court struck down the Medicaid provision in the Affordable Care Act.

Question 46

What was the executive order for the deferred action for childhood arrivals 2012?

Answer 46

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

Question 47

What was the executive order for deferred action for parents of Americans 2014?

Answer 47

offered temporary legal status to millions of illegal immigrants along with an indefinite reprieve from the threat of deportatio

Question 48

What are the consequences of federalism?

Answer 48

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