AP Test Review

Question 1

enumerated powers

Answer 1

printing money, regulating interstate and international trade, making treaties and conducting foreign policy, declaring war

Question 2

reserved powers

Answer 2

issue licenses, regulation of intrastate businesses, the responsibility to run and pay for federal elections

Question 3

concurrent powers

Answer 3

collect taxes, build roads, operate courts of law, borrow money

Question 4

the federal government does not have the power to…

Answer 4

suspend the writ of habeas corpus, pass ex post facto laws or issuance of bills of attainder, impose export taxes, use money from the treasury without the passage and approval of an appropriations bill, grant titles of nobility

Question 5

the state governments do not have the power to…

Answer 5

enter into treaties with foreign countries, declare war, maintain a standing army, print money, pass ex post facto laws or issuance of bills of attainder, grant titles of nobility, impose import or export duties

Question 6

advantages of federalism

Answer 6

mass participation, regional autonomy, government at many levels (politicians in touch with concerns of constituents), innovative methods

Question 7

disadvantages of federalism

Answer 7

lack of consistency, inefficiency, bureaucracy (corruption/stalemate)

Question 8

Amendments to the Constitution

Answer 8

1: RAPPS
2: right to bear arms
3: quartering of soldiers in peacetime
4: unreasonable searches/seizures and warrants
5: grand jury, double jeopardy, self incrimination, due process, eminent domain
6: impartial speedy public trial, lawyer, witnesses
7: trial by jury in common law cases
8: excessive bail/fines and cruel/unusual punishment
9: rights not specifically mentioned in the Constitution are still protected
10: state rights
11: states may not be sued in federal court by citizens of another state or country without the consent of the states being sued
12: electoral college, what happens if tie in presidential election
13: prohibited slavery
14: due process/equal protection clause
15: POC voting
16: income tax
17: direct election of US Senators
18: prohibition
19: women voting
20: defined procedures regarding presidential/legislative terms and shortened the amount of time between presidential election and inauguration
21: repeal of prohibition
22: limited President to two terms
23: DC voting
24: prohibited poll taxes
25: selection of new vice president/VP temporarily taking over
26: lowered the voting age from 21 to 18
27: if Congress votes itself a pay increase, that increase cannot take effect until after the next election

Question 9

Smith v. Allwright

Answer 9

the denying of African Americans the right to vote in a primary election was found to be a violation of the Fifteenth Amendment

Question 10

Wesberry v. Sanders

Answer 10

ordered House districts to be as equal as possible; enshrine date principle of “one man, one vote”

Question 11

Shaw v. Reno, Miller v. Johnson

Answer 11

race cannot be the sole or predominant factor in redrawing legislative district boundaries

Question 12

U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton

Answer 12

states cannot set term limits on members of Congress

Question 13

Bush v. Gore

Answer 13

Florida’s recount in the election of 2000 was ruled to be a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause

Question 14

Shelby County v. Holder

Answer 14

invalidated part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, clearing the way for the expansion of photo ID laws

Question 15

Pendleton Act

Answer 15

eliminated the spoils system of patronage in selection for government jobs and set up an exam-based merit system for qualified candidates

Question 16

Sherman Anti-Trust Act

Answer 16

provided Congress with authority to regulate and break up monopolies–or trusts–in the United States; abuses, however, to break up labor unions

Question 17

Hatch Act

Answer 17

permitted government employees to vote in government elections but forbade them from participating in partisan politics

Question 18

Freedom of Information Act

Answer 18

declassified govern documents for public use

Question 19

Air Quality Act

Answer 19

the beginning of a series of acts to regulate impacts on the environment

Question 20

Federal Election Campaign Acts

Answer 20

established the Federal Election Commission and required disclosures of contributions and expenditures, as well as limitations on contributions and presidential election expenditures

Question 21

War Powers Act

Answer 21

limited President’s power to use troops overseas in hostilities, put a time limit on use, and gee Congress final power to withdraw troops; since 1973, all president have declared this act unconstitutional and it has been repeatedly ignored

Question 22

Budget and Impoundment Control Act

Answer 22

established congressional budget committees and the Congressional Budge Office, as well as gave Congress the power to prevent the president from refusing to fund congressional initiatives

Question 23

Gramm-Rudham-Holling Bill

Answer 23

set budget reduction targets to balance the budget; failed to eliminate loopholes

Question 24

Espionage Act, Sedition Act

Answer 24

severely curtailed the civil liberties of Americans during wartime and greatly increased the power of the federal government in controlling public activity; the Sedition Act was repealed by Congress in 1921

Question 25

Immigration Act

Answer 25

this law stringently limited the number of immigrants admitted in to the United States and set strict quotas for entry

Question 26

Voting Rights Act

Answer 26

suspended literacy tests, empowered federal officials to register voters, and prohibited states from changing voting procedures without federal permission

Question 27

Age Discrimination in Employment Act

Answer 27

banned age discrimination in jobs unless age is related to job performance

Question 28

Civil Rights Act or Fair Housing Act

Answer 28

Title II banned discrimination in public places on the basis of race, color, national origin, or religion; title VII prohibited employment discrimination based on gender

Question 29

Title IX of the Higher Education Act

Answer 29

prohibited gender discrimination in federally funded education programs

Question 30

Americans with Disabilities Act

Answer 30

protected civil liberties of disabled Americans and mandated “reasonable accommodations” to public facility use

Question 31

Patriot Act

Answer 31

in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Congress granted broad poise authority to the federal, state, and local government to interdict, prosecute, and convict suspected terrorists. This law is formally known as the USA-PATRIOT Act, an acronym for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism.”

Question 32

New Deal Legislation

Answer 32

legislation that expanded the role of government in the economy and society; created entities like Social Security, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Tennessee Valley Authority; these laws also dramatically expanded the role and size of the federal government

Question 33

Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act

Answer 33

the Welfare Reform Act signaled a change in the role of the federal government in the relationship with the states; this law sought to increase the role of personal responsibility in welfare recipients and shifted many responsibilities for welfare provision to state governments

Question 34

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act

Answer 34

banned soft money contributions to national political parties and raised hard money limits to $2000. In a controversial decision in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court struck down several provisions in this law, especially those related to contributions made by corporations to political campaigns

Question 35

Fletcher v. Peck

Answer 35

the first case in which the Court overturned a state law on constitutional grounds. Fletcher established the Court’s rights to apply judicial review to state laws. previously, judicial review had been applied only to federal law

Question 36

McCulloch v. Maryland

Answer 36

the Court ruled that the states did not have the power to tac the national bank (and, by extension, the federal government). this decision reinforced the supremacy clause of the Constitution, which states that the Constitution “and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof…shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary not-withstanding.”

Question 37

Gibbons v. Ogden

Answer 37

the Court ruled that the state of New York could not grant a steamship company a monopoly to operate on an interstate waterway, even though that waterway ran through New York. the ruling increased federal power over interstate commerce by implying hat netting concerning interstate trade could potentially be regulated by the federal government

Question 38

Federal Trade Commission

Answer 38

responsible for preventing fraud in the marketplace by preventing price fixing and deceptive advertising

Question 39

The Securities and Exchange Commission

Answer 39

protects investors by regulating stock markets and policing corporations to prevent false and misleading claims of profits in an effort to increase stock prices

Question 40

Nuclear Regulator Commission

Answer 40

controls how electric power companies design, build, and operate nuclear reactors

Question 41

Federal Communications Commission

Answer 41

responsible for assigning broadcast frequencies, for licensing radio and television stations, and for regulating the use of wireless communication devices

Question 42

Food and Drug Administration

Answer 42

responsible for ensuring the health of the American people by inspecting the food supply for contaminants and spoilage. the agency is also responsible for regulating the sale of over-the-counter drugs and patent medicines

Question 43

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Answer 43

responsible for preventing price fixing and price manipulation in electric utilities, interstate oil and gas pipelines, and natural gas suppliers

Question 44

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Answer 44

responsible for ensuring workers are employed in a safe work environment. for example, OSHA can regulate the type of ventilation in a factory, as well as the type of clothing worn and tools used

Question 45

reserve requirement

Answer 45

the amount of money bans are required to keep on hand. raising the reserve shrinks the amount of money available for borrowing, which raises interest rates

Question 46

discount rate

Answer 46

the interest banks pay to the Federal Reserve Banks for borrowing money. lowering the discount rate will lower the interest rates for consumer loans. the higher the rate, the less consumers purchase

Question 47

open market operations

Answer 47

by manipulating open market operations, the Federal Reserve buys and sells united States government bonds. people buy bonds because they have a better interest rate than savings accounts. when the Fed sells bonds, people withdraw money from banks to take advantage of the bond’s higher interest rate. because the bank has less to loan, consumer interest rates go up, which slows consumer spending and economic growth. when the Fed buys bond, money flows bank into the banks, which increases the money available for loans. with more money in the bank for consumers to borrow, interest rates are driven down. lower interest rates means more consumer spending, which increases economic growth.

Question 48

Schenck v. United States

Answer 48

established that speech which evokes “a clear and present danger” is not permissible

Question 49

Gitlow v. New York

Answer 49

this case created the “Bad Tendency Doctrine,” which held that speech could be restricted even if it only has a tendency to lead to illegal action. though this element of the decision was quite restrictive, Gitlow also selectively incorporated freedom of speech to state governments; began the process of selective incorporation

Question 50

Tinker v. Des Moines

Answer 50

students in an Iowa school were suspended for wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam war. the Court ruled that this suspension was unconstitutional, and that public school students do not “shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door.”

Question 51

Bethel School District v. Fraser

Answer 51

gave public school officials the authority to suspend students for speech considered to be lewd or indecent

Question 52

Hustler Magazine v. Falwell

Answer 52

the Court held that intentional infliction of emotional distress was permissible First Amendment speech, so long as such speech was about a public fire and could not reasonably be construed to state actual facts about its subject

Question 53

Texas v. Johnson

Answer 53

established that burning the American flag is an example of permissible free speech, and struck down numerous anti-flag burning laws

Question 54

Morse v. Frederick

Answer 54

the Supreme Court limited student’s free speech rights. the justices ruled that Frederick’s free speech rights were not violated by his suspension over what the majority’s written opinion called a “sophomoric” banner

Question 55

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission

Answer 55

the case established that corporations have a First Amendment right to expressly support political candidates for Congress and the White House

Question 56

Miller v. California

Answer 56

Court avoided to define obscenity by holding that community standards be used to determine whether material is obscene, established “miller Test,” which sets three part standards for measuring obscenity

Question 57

Near v. Minnesota

Answer 57

established that state injections to prevent publication violate the free press provision of the First Amendment and are unconstitutional. this case is important in that it selectively incorporates freedom of the press and prevents prior restraint

Question 58

New York Times v. Sullivan

Answer 58

if a newspaper prints an article that turns out to be false but that the newspaper thought was true at the time of publication, has the newspaper committed libel? this case said no

Question 59

New York Times v. U.S.

Answer 59

when Defense Department employee Daniel Ellsburg leaked some confidential files indicating that the war in Vietnam was going poorly, the government sought to prevent the publication of these “Pentagon Papers” by the New York Times. In this case, the Court held that executive efforts to prevent the publication violated the First Amendment

Question 60

Hazelwood School v. Kuhlmeier

Answer 60

in Hazelwood, the Court held that school officials have sweeping authority to regulate free speech in student-run newspapers as long as censorship is related to legitimate concerns

Question 61

Thornhill v. Alabama

Answer 61

labor unions have been controversial since the dawn of the industrial revolution; did their strikes constitute a form of unlawful assembly? in Thornhill, the Court held that strikes by unions were not unlawful

Question 62

Cox v. New Hampshire

Answer 62

when a group of Jehovah’s Witnesses were arrested for marching in New Hampshire without a permit, they claimed that permits themselves were an unconstitutional abridgment of the First Amendment freedoms. In Cox, the Court held that cities and towns could legitimately require parade permits in the interest of public order

Question 63

Lloyd Corporation v. Tanner

Answer 63

this case allowed the owners of a shopping mall to throw out people protesting the Vietnam War. the key element here is that malls are private spaces, not public. as a result, protesters have substantially fewer assembly rights in malls and other private establishments

Question 64

Boy Scouts of America v. Dale

Answer 64

private organizations’ First Amendment right of expressive association allows them to choose their own membership and expel members based on their sexual orientation even if such discrimination would otherwise be prohibited by anti-discrimination legislation designed to protect minorities in public accommodations. as a result of this case, the Boy Scouts of America were allowed to expel any member who was discovered to be homosexual

Question 65

Engel v. Vitale

Answer 65

this landmark case prohibited state-sponsored recitation of prayer in public school

Question 66

Abington School District v. Schempp

Answer 66

the establishment clause of the First Amendment forbids state-mandated reading of the Bible, or recitation of the Lord’s Prayer in public schools

Question 67

Epperson v. Arkansas

Answer 67

in line with the establishment clause, Eppperson prohibited states from banning the teaching of evolution in public schools

Question 68

Lemon v. Kurtzman

Answer 68

this case dealt with state laws intending to give money to religious schools or causes. the Court held that in order to be consistent with the establishment clause, the money had to meet three qualifications: 1. it must have a legitimate secular purpose 2. it must not have the primary effect of either advancing or inhibiting religion and 3. it must not result in an excessive entanglement of government and religion

Question 69

Wisconsin v. Yoder

Answer 69

this case dealt with the Amish community’s desire to pull their children from public school before the age of 16 so that they could help with farm and domestic work. The Court sided with the Amish and held that parents may remove children from public school for religious reasons

Question 70

Employment Division v. Smith

Answer 70

this case determined that the state could deny unemployment benefits to a person fired for violating a state prohibition on the use of peyote, even though the use of the drug was part of a religious ritual. in short, states may accommodate otherwise illegal acts done in pursuit of religious beliefs, but they are not required to do so

Question 71

Weeks v. United States

Answer 71

though the Constitution is unequivocal when it forbids unlawful search and seizure, such ill-gotten evidence was still commonly used to prosecute defendants. Weeks established the exclusionary rule, which held that illegally obtained evidence could not be used in federal court

Question 72

Powell v. Alabama

Answer 72

the Constitution is clear in the Sixth Amendment when it guarantees all those accused of a federal crime the right to have a lawyer. in Powell, the Court ruled that state governments must provide counsel in cases involving the death penalty to those who can’t afford it

Question 73

Betts vs. Brady

Answer 73

the Betts case established that state governments did not have to prove lawyers to indigent defendants in capital cases

Question 74

Mapp v. Ohio

Answer 74

the Mapp case extended the exclusionary rule to the states, increasing the protections for defendants

Question 75

Gideon v. Wainwright

Answer 75

this was a powerful repudiation of Betts v. Brady. here, the Warren court strongly holds that all state governments must provide an attorney in all cases for those who can’t afford one

Question 76

Escobedo v. Illionois

Answer 76

The Court held that any defendant who asked for a layer had to have one granted to him, or any confession garnered after that point would be inadmissible in court

Question 77

Miranda v. Arizona

Answer 77

the court found that all defendants must be informed of all their legal rights before they are arrested

Question 78

inevitable discovery rule

Answer 78

illegally seized evidence that would eventually have been found legally is admissible in court

Question 79

Furman v. Georgia

Answer 79

the Court ordered a halt to all death penalty punishments in the national until a less arbitrary method of sentencing was found

Question 80

Woodson v. North Carolina

Answer 80

North Carolina tried to satisfy the Court’s requirement that the imposition of the death penalty not be arbitrary, so they made it a mandatory punishment for certain crimes. the Court rejected this approach and ruled mandatory death penalty sentences as unconstitutional

Question 81

Gregg v. Georgia

Answer 81

Georgia was finally able to convince the Court that it had come up with a careful and fair system for trying capital offenses. as a result, the Court ruled that under adequate guidelines the death penalty did not, in fact, constitute cruel and unusual punishment. thus Gregg allowed the resumption of the death penalty in America.

Question 82

Atkins v. Virginia

Answer 82

here, the United States lined up with most other nations in the world by forbidding the execution of defendants who are mentally handicapped

Question 83

Roper v. Simmons

Answer 83

building on Atkins, the Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional for defendants whose crimes were committed as minors, even if they were charged as adults

Question 84

Griswold v. Connecticut

Answer 84

the Constitution never explicitly grants Americans a right to privacy, but the Court discovers one in this landmark and controversial case. writing for the majority, Justice Douglas noted that amendments like the Third, Fourth, and Ninth all cast “penumbras and emanations” which showed that the Founders really had intended for a right to privacy all along

Question 85

Roe v. Wade

Answer 85

established national abortion guidelines by extending the inferred right of privacy from Griswold

Question 86

Webster v. Reproductive Health Services

Answer 86

this case did not overturn Roe v. Wade, but it did give states more power to regulate abortion

Question 87

Planned Parenthood v. Casey

Answer 87

a Pennsylvania law that would have required a woman to notify her husband before getting an abortion was thrown out, but laws calling for parental consent and the imposition of a 24-hour waiting period were upheld. all in all, the message was that states can regulate abortion but not with regulations that impose an “undue burden” upon women

Question 88

Lawrence v. Texas

Answer 88

with this ruling, the Supreme Court struck down a sodomy law that had criminalized homosexual sex in Texas. the court had previously addressed the same issue is Bowers v. Hardwick, where it did not find constitutional protection of sexual privacy. Lawrence explicitly overruled Bowers saying that consensual sexual conduct was part of the liberty protected under the Fourteenth Amendment

Question 89

Civil Rights Act of 1875

Answer 89

banned discrimination in hotels, restaurants, and railroad cars, as well as banned discrimination in selection for jury duty. the Supreme Court declared the act unconstitutional in 1883

Question 90

Equal Pay Act of 1963

Answer 90

federal law that made it illegal to base an employee’s pay on race, gender, religion, or national origin. prior to this bill, many businesses and organizations maintained different pay and raise schedules for their male and female employees. in fact, many continued to do so after the bill passed. federal enforcement of the law, however, has helped narrow the gap between the salaries and wages of the genders

Question 91

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Answer 91

increased the rights of blacks and other minorities, and also gave the federal government greater means of enforcing the law. banned discrimination in public accommodations and in all federally funded programs. prohibited discrimination in hiring based on color and gender. finally, it required the government to cut off funding from any program that did not comply with the law, and it gave the federal government the power to initiate lawsuits in cases of school segregation. states that had previously ignored federal civil rights mandates now faced serious consequences for doing so.

Question 92

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Answer 92

designed to counteract voting discrimination in the South. it allowed the federal government to step into any state or county in which less than 50 percent of the population was registered to vote, or in areas that used literacy tests to prevent voting. in those areas, the federal government could register voters

Question 93

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act

Answer 93

banned racial discrimination in housing

Question 94

Civil Rights Act of 1991

Answer 94

eased restrictions several Supreme Court decisions had placed; the Court limited the abilities of job applicants and employees to bring suit against employers with discriminatory hiring practices

Question 95

Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States

Answer 95

Did the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 mandate that places of public accommodation are prohibited from discrimination against African Americans? Yes, said the Court

Question 96

Katzenbach v. McClung

Answer 96

the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination in public places, but what about in private businesses? the Katzenbach case stablished that the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce extends to state discrimination statutes. this ruling made the Civil Rights Act of 1964 apply to virtually all businesses

Question 97

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke

Answer 97

Alan Bakke was a white applicant who was rejected from medical school because of an affirmative action plan to boost the number of black students. the Court ruled that Bakke had been unfairly excluded and that quotas requiring a certain percentage of minorities violated the Fourteenth Amendment. but the Court also held that race-based affirmative action was permissible so long as it was in the service of creating greater diversity

Question 98

Grutter v. Bollinger, Gratz v. Bollinger

Answer 98

these cases involved the University of Maryland Law School and the University of Michigan undergraduate school. both used affirmative action, but the undergraduate school did so by giving minority applicants a large boost in the score used by officers deciding on admission. The Court threw out the undergraduate system of selection, but generally upheld Bakke

Question 99

Title IX of the Higher Education Act

Answer 99

this law prohibits gender discrimination by institutions of higher education that receive federal funds. Title IX has been used to force increased funding of women-only programs, such as women’s sports.

Question 100

Civil Rights Restoration Act

Answer 100

increase the potency of Title IX by allowing the government to cut off all funding to schools that violate the law (and not just to the specific program or office found in violation)

Question 101

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

Answer 101

closed a loophole that limited suits on discriminatory pay based on the timing of the issuance of the first discriminatory paycheck. The Ledbetter Act expanded those limits to allow suits based on any discriminatory paycheck, an important adjustment for employees who learn of inequities in wags or salary only after they have persisted for some time

Question 102

Age Discrimination Act

Answer 102

prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of age. the law makes an exception for jobs in which age is essential to job performance. and amendment to this law banned some mandatory retirement ages and increased others to 70

Question 103

Americans with Disabilities Act

Answer 103

requires businesses with more than twenty-four employees to make their offices accessible to the dialed. It also requires public transportation, new offices, hotels, and restaurants to be wheel-chair accessible whenever feasible. finally, it mandated the development of wider telephone services for the hearing impaired

Question 104

Voting Rights Act of 1982

Answer 104

this law requires states to create congressional districts wit minority majorities in order to increase minority representation in the House of Representatives. the law has resulted in the creation of numerous strangely shaped districts, such a sone in North Carolina that was 160 miles long and at points, only several hundred yards wide. The Supreme Court nullified the district just described, leaving it unclear how the government may both achieve the goals of the Voting Rights Act and maintain the regional integrity of congressional districts

Question 105

South Dakota v. Dole

Answer 105

the federal government mandated the 21-year-old drinking age by threatening to withhold federal highway funds from all states that did not comply. In this case, such withholding was held to be constitutional

Question 106

United States v. Lopez

Answer 106

Congress had used the commerce clause to aggressively create legislation governing what seemed to be purely local matters. here, the Court blocks them a bit by holding that the commerce clause of the Constitution does not give Congress the power to regulate guns near state-operated schools

Question 107

Korematsu v. United States

Answer 107

American citizens of Japanese descent could be interned and deprived of basic constitutional rights due to executive order

Question 108

United States v. Nixon

Answer 108

Congress claimed that there was no such thing as executive privilege as it went after tapes that President Nixon had made of all his conversations in the Oval Office. The Court disagreed and allowed for executive privilege. but they forbid its usage in criminal cases, which meant that Nixon ultimately did have to turn over the tapes

Question 109

Clinton v. New York

Answer 109

this case banned the presidential use of a line-item veto as a violation of legislative powers

Question 110

Roth v. United States

Answer 110

obscenity is not protected under the First Amendment’s free speech provision and may be restricted

Question 111

Zurcher v. Stanford Daily

Answer 111

newspaper could be searched if the police had a warrant

Question 112

Reynolds v. United States

Answer 112

banned polygamy, distinguished between religious beliefs that are protected by the Free Exercise Clause and religious practices that may be restricted, ruled that religious practices cannot make an act legal that would otherwise be illegal

Question 113

Brown v. Board of Education

Answer 113

overturned the decision in Plessy v. Ferguson and determined that separate but equal is unconstitutional, ruled that racially segregated schools will never be equal, thus violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment

Question 114

Baker v. Carr

Answer 114

ruled that the judicial branch of government can rule on matters of legislative apportionment