Constitution

Question 1

What is the nature of the US constitution? Define them (3)

Answer 1

1. Codified - the constitution (an authoritative document that acts as the foundation of all laws) is written down in a single document
2. Blend of specificity and vagueness - implied powers (including necessary and proper clause) are established alongside explicit powers
3. Entrenched provisions - difficult to amend or abolish amendments due to extra legal safeguards

Question 2

What are the different types of powers established by the constitution? Define them (4)

Answer 2

1. Implied powers - powers possessed by the federal government through deduction from its enumerated powers
   Eg. Congress has the enumerated power to raise an army, so an implied power would be the power to draft people into the army
2. Concurrent powers - powers shared between the state governments and the federal government
   Eg. Taxation
3. Reserved powers - powers reserved for state governments (prohibited to federal government)
4. Enumerated powers - powers explicitly delegated to the federal government from the state government

Question 3

What is the supremacy clause and the necessary and proper clause?

Answer 3

1. Supremacy clause - national law > state law
2. Necessary and proper clause - (falls under implied powers) powers of the federal government can be stretched in order to allow the govt to perform its authoritative duties

Question 4

What amendment establishes reserved powers?

Answer 4

10th amendment

Question 5

What is the amendments process? (4 ways)

Answer 5

Proposed by:

1. 2/3 of HoR and Senate
2. 2/3 of state legislatures in national constitution conventions

Ratified by:

1. 3/4 of state legislatures
2. 3/4 of ratifying state conventions

Question 6

What is the most common way an amendment is made? What is the least common way? How many amendments have passed through each way?

Answer 6

PROPOSED
Most common: proposed by HoR and Senate (27)
Least common: proposed by state legislatures (0)
Difficult to form a consensus amongst state legislatures

RATIFIED
Most common: 3/4 state legislatures (26)
Least common: 3/4 ratifying conventions (1)

Question 7

How many votes on constitutional amendments occurred during President Clinton’s presidency? Why is this figure so high?

Answer 7

17. All votes occurred during the 6-year period when Republicans controlled both chambers of Congress -> easier to reach the 2/3 majority required

Question 8

Why has the flag desecration amendment not passed?

Answer 8

Reached the supermajority required in HoR 6 times but 0 times in Senate
Democrats retook control in 2006 -> harder to pass as Democrats likely to vote ‘no’ due to their emphasis on civil liberties

Question 9

What are some examples of amendments that have failed to pass? (3) Which stage did they fail in?

Answer 9

1. Flag desecration
2. Equal rights between men and women
3. Balanced budget
   2 + 3 were not ratified by a sufficient number states before their expiry

Question 10

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the amendments process? Evaluate (4 + 3)

Answer 10

Advantages:

1. Difficulty in making amendments -> amendments less likely to be made on a temporary basis
2. Supermajority requirement -> prevents a tyranny of a small majority
3. States are given equal say when proposing/ratifying amendments -> smaller states do not have their voices overshadowed by the larger states
4. Possible for states to pass an amendment without any input/veto from Congress

Disadvantages:

1. Necessary amendments may not pass + difficult to remove outdated provisions (eg. Electoral College) + leaves room for the unelected Supreme Court to interpret the constitution
2. Small minority can thwart the will of the majority
3. Smaller states are over-represented

Eval:

1. Rigidity and inflexibility is undesirable as changes to the constitution will be necessary due to inevitable and natural changes in society + prohibition was passed (and removed) on a temporary basis
2. Supermajority is necessary to ensure a strong mandate for constitutional amendments
3. Minority in terms of population may be able to thwart the will of the majority due to small state over-representation
4. This has never happened (state legislatures have never successfully proposed an amendment)

Question 11

What are the principles of the US constitution? (4)

Answer 11

1. Limited government
2. Federalism
3. Bipartisanship
4. Separation of powers

Question 12

How is the principle of separation of powers carried out in practice? Example?

Answer 12

Executed through a separation of personnel (no one can be part of 2 or more branches of govt at the same time)
Eg. Obama had to resign from the Senate (legislature) when he became President (executive)

Powers are instead shared between the branches -> independence and interdependence -> checks and balances

Question 13

Why is the separation of powers important?

Answer 13

Checks and balances between the branches of govt -> prevents each branch from encroaching onto the powers of the other branches -> prevents a tyrannical govt

Question 14

What are some checks and balances by the President on the judiciary and Congress? Example? (2 + 1)

Answer 14

Judiciary:
1. President nominates all federal judges
2. President can pardon anybody to escape persecution
Eg. Clinton pardoned fugitive Mark Rich

Congress:
1. President can veto a bill
Eg. Obama vetoed the Justice Against State Sponsored Terrorism Act

Question 15

What are some checks and balances by the judiciary on the President and Congress? Example? (1 + 1)

Answer 15

President:
1. Declare actions of the President unconstitutional
Eg. Federal courts declared Trump’s executive order to cut funding to ‘sanctuary cities’ (cities that refuse to aid federal efforts to deport undocumented immigrants) as unconstitutional as it violated the separation of powers (Congress has power of the purse) and federalism (funding should not be coercive)

Congress:
1. Declare actions of Congress unconstitutional

Question 16

What are some checks and balances by Congress on the President and the judiciary?

Answer 16

President:

1. Override a President’s veto
2. Refuse to pass the budget
3. Senate confirms nominations to federal court/executive
4. Senate ratifies treaties
5. Congress has powers to declare war + must approve of troop deployment
6. Amends President’s proposals
7. Impeach President

Judiciary:
1. Senate confirms nominations to the federal judge
2. Congress can pass laws to overturn Supreme Court rulings
Eg. Amendment to allow Congress the power to levy income tax came into force in early 20th century after SC ruled that it was unconstitutional
Eg. Unsuccessful attempt at overturning Citizens United v. FEC (did not receive enough votes in the Senate)

Question 17

What is the principle of bipartisanship?

Answer 17

Founders wanted cooperation and compromise between the two parties to ensure effective governance

Question 18

Does a divided government lead to more effective or less effective governance? (1 + 2)

Answer 18

More effective:
1. Scrutiny tends to be less effective under a united government
Eg. The last time a treaty was rejected by a united government was in 1935
Eg. Only 2 Presidential vetoes have been overridden in the last 50 years by a united government
BUT rejection of treaties and presidential veto overrides are fairly rare in the first place

Less effective:
1. Can lead to political gridlock
2. Decisions may be made solely along partisan lines
Eg. Senate confirmation of Robert Borke

Question 19

What is federalism?

Answer 19

When power is divided between central government and state governments, with each having their own areas of jurisdiction

Question 20

How have federal-state relationships changed? Why has this occurred? (5)

Answer 20

Federal government has increased in its size and scope
1. Great Depression - states turned to federal govt to reduce unemployment + carry out major infrastructure projects
2. Increase in size of USA - expansion form 13 to 50 states, population increase
3. Globalisation - federal govt plays increasingly important role in foreign policy
4. Supreme Court decisions - overrides state laws
Eg. Roe v Wade
5. Constitutional amendments - overrides state laws
Eg. ‘equal protection’ clause allowed federal government to end racial segregation in public schools (states have jurisdiction over schooling systems)

Question 21

What is an example of an expansion of the role of the federal government under Bush?

Answer 21

The No Child Left Behind Act increased funding for reading programmes, under-funded schools and introduced compulsory national testing so that students from failing schools would be moved to other schools -> education is usually under state jurisdiction

Question 22

What is an example of an expansion of the role of the federal government under Obama? (2)

Answer 22

1. Increase in federal funding
   Eg. State funding with federal grants increased from 25% in 2008 to 30% in 2009
   Eg. Bush’s economic stimulus package (2003) was $20 billion whilst Obama’s economic stimulus package (2009) was $246 billion
2. Medicaid programme was to be expanded to cover those who are unable to afford healthcare insurance (if states did not support this then they would lose their Medicaid funding) -> declared unconstitutional under the ‘necessary and proper clause’ and was struck down

Question 23

What is the principle of limited government?

Answer 23

The federal government should only do the essential - uphold the law and maintain security - and leave individual liberties and freedoms as untouched as possible

Question 24

Why is the principle of limited government important?

Answer 24

To prevent a tyrannical government whilst maintaining some degree of centralisation to attain some cohesion and unity between the states