Exam 2 Flashcards
Filibuster
Rule in Senate allows any senator to hold the floor indefinitely and thereby delay a vote on a bill to which he objects. Ended only when sixty senators vote for closure.
Cloture or cloture vote
Senates only approved method for halting a filibuster or lifting legislative hold. 60 senators (three fifths)
Conference committee
Temporary collection of house and senate members that work out compromise for legislation that passed both chambers in different forms.
Reapportionment
Reorganization for house districts, process that follows the results of a census taken every ten years. Redraw lines to ensure enough reps are selected.
Civil servants
Members of the permanent executive branch bureaucracy who are employed on the basis of competitive exams and keep their positions regardless of presidential administration.
Inherent powers
Powers assumed by president often during crisis. On the constitutional phrase “the executive power shall be vested in the president”
Cannot be forced to divulge convos with advisors- needs secrecy
Expressed powers
Powers the constitution explicitly grants to the president.
Military- commander in chief
Judicial- grant reprieves
Diplomatic- nego treaties
Executive- nominate a cabinet (take care clause)
Legislative- veto, set agenda of congress, necessary and expedient (recommend things to congress)
Delegated powers
Powers that congress passes on to the president.
Examples:
1821 budget and accounting act - requires pres to propose budget to congress
Bureaucratic model
Hierarchy
Division of labor - divide labor to group or individual
Fixed routines - well defined rules
Equal rules - for all
Technical qualifications - expertise more than pop vote
Pendleton civil service act
Law that shifted gov toward a merit based public service. (Exams for qualification)
Spoils system
A system which government jobs are given out as political favors.
Street level bureaucrats
Public officials who deal directly with the public.
Appellate courts
The system of federal justices, organized into district courts and circuit courts who hears appeals from lower courts, culminating in the Supreme Court.
Civil law
Cases that involve disputes between two parties.
Criminal law
Cases in which someone is charged with breaking the law.
Common law
System of law developed by judges in deciding cases over the centuries.
Judicial review
The court authority to strike down acts that violate the constitution and to interpret what the constitution means.
Circuit courts
The second stage of federal courts which can review the trial record of cases decided in district court to ensure they were settled properly.
District courts
The first level of federal courts which actually try the cases. Each decision is based not on a statue but on previous judicial decisions.
