Chapter 4A Outline Flashcards
Five Major Roles of Each House of Congress
- Legislators - study proposals and draft legislation; frame public policies
- Agents of Constituents/Representatives - be people’s representative on important matters
- Committee Members - serve on committees that screen proposals for floor consideration
- Servants of their Constituents - assist constituents with bureaucratic and ceremonial tasks
- Politicians - balance interests of constituents and political party
Voting Options for Lawmakers
- Delegates - believe that they should vote based on how “the people back home” would vote
- Trustees - believe each question must be decided based on its merits; vote based on conscience and judgement
- Partisans - believe that they owe their first allegiance to their political party; cast vote in line with party platform and views of party’s leader
- Politicos - attempt to combine basic elements of delegate, trustee, and partisan roles
Important Supreme Court Cases
- Wesberry v. Sanders - States must draw congressional districts of substantially equal populations
- Gomillion v. Lightfoot - the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Tuskegee city officials had redrawn the city’s boundaries unconstitutionally to ensure the election of white candidates in the city’s political races; majority-minority districts violated the 15th amendment
- Powell v. McCormack - Supreme Court ruled that the House could not exclude a member-elect who meets the Constitution’s standards of age, citizenship, and residence
Terms and Qualifications for House of Representatives
- 2 year term
- at least 25 years old
- US citizen for at least 7 years
- inhabitant of state from which he or she is elected
- must live in the district he or she represents
Terms and Qualifications or Senate
(qualifications are “a necessary fence” against the “fickleness and passion” of the House of Representatives)
- 6 year term (no term limit)
- at least 30 years old
- US citizen for at least 9 years
- inhabitant of state from which he or she is elected
Informal Qualifications for Both Houses of Congress
- party identification
- name familiarity
- gender
- ethnic characteristics
- political experience (incumbent = person who currently holds office)
- fundraising abilities
Reapportion Process
- The “permanent” size of the House is 435 members.
- Following each Census, the the Census Bureau is to determine the number of seats each state should have.
- When the Bureau’s plan is ready, the President must send it to Congress.
- If, within 60 days of receiving it, neither House rejects the Census Bureau’s plan, it becomes effective.
17th Amendment
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote; established the popular election of United States Senators by the people of the states; all persons whom the state allows to vote for members of “the most numerous Branch” of its legislature, are automatically qualified to vote for candidates for the US Senate
Apportion
total number of seats in the House of Representatives must be divided among the states on the basis of their respective populations
Reapportion
the redistribution of representation in a legislative body, especially the periodic reallotment of US congressional seats according to changes in the census figures (required by the Constitution)
Gerrymandering
dividing (a territorial unit) into election districts to give one political party an electoral majority in a large number of districts while concentrating the voting strength of the opposition in as few districts as possible; to concentrate the opposition’s voters in one or a few districts, thus leaving the other districts safe for the dominant party or spreading the opposition as thinly as possible among several districts, limiting the opposition’s ability to win anywhere in the region
Off Year Election
congressional elections that occur between presidential elections
Single Member District
voters in each district elect one of the State’s representatives from among a field of candidates running for a seat in the House from that district
Continuous Body
all of the Senate’s seats are never up for election at the same time
Oversight Function
the process by which Congress, through its committees, checks to see that the executive branch agencies are carrying out the policies that Congress has set by law
