Exam 3 Questions Flashcards
Senatorial courtesy describes the practice of
senators from a president’s party approving of a judicial nominee from their home state.
When President Andrew Jackson reputedly said, “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it,” what did he mean?
The Supreme Court is unable to enforce its decisions without the aid of the executive branch.
In what type of law is the government always the plaintiff?
criminal law
The need to divide the labor of legislation is best exemplified in what formal structure of Congress?
the establishment of standing committees
There are ________ U.S. district courts.
94
Baker v. Carr (1962) involved ________.
apportionment of legislative seats
Why is Marbury v. Madison an important case?
In this case, the justices authorized the Supreme Court to exercise judicial review over laws passed by Congress.
How many justices currently serve on the Supreme Court?
9
Each Supreme Court justice is assigned ________ law clerks.
4
What is the essence of the rule of law?
Every state must judge government officials by the same laws as its citizens are judged.
Following the 2006 elections, ________ became speaker of the U.S. House.
Nancy Pelosi
A writ of habeas corpus declares that
the government must show a legal cause for holding someone in detention.
A proposed piece of legislation is called a ________.
bill
About ________ percent of all lower court cases are reviewed by federal appeals courts.
20
________ occurs when a criminal case is resolved through a negotiated agreement before a full trial is completed.
A plea bargain
A ________ veto occurs when Congress adjourns during a ten-day period after presenting the president with a bill and he or she takes no action.
The number of cases filed in the Supreme Court has
increased dramatically since 1940.
Which of the following statements best describes the Supreme Court?
The justices have broad latitude to decide which cases they will hear and generally hear only those cases they deem to raise the most important issues.
Which of the following statements concerning the process of reapportionment is correct?
In order for one state to gain a seat, another state must lose a seat.
Trial courts in the federal judicial system are called ________.
district courts
________ were the only two presidents to be impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives.
Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton
What was known as the “court-packing” plan?
the attempt by President Franklin Roosevelt to add sympathetic justices to the Supreme Court in order to get New Deal laws upheld as constitutional
________ occurs when two members of Congress share no common interests but agree to support each other’s bills.
Logrolling
Constituency service is so important that
party leaders will not ask any member to vote in a way that conflicts with the interests or opinions of the member’s district.
Which of the following statements about Congress’s delegation of power to the executive is most accurate?
Since the New Deal, the courts have not struck down any congressional delegation of power to the executive branch as impermissibly broad.
Normally, ________ judge(s) hear(s) a specific case on a federal circuit court of appeals.
3
The Supreme Court’s power to review acts of Congress has not been seriously questioned because
the Court has been reluctant to strike down congressional laws and has overturned only a small number over the last 200 years.
The assignment of the opinion in a Supreme Court case is
important because differences in wording and emphasis can have important implications for how the decision is interpreted in future litigation.
Cloture is
the process by which three-fifths of the Senate can end a filibuster.
Each year, the Supreme Court receives about ________ appeals and hears about ________ of them in full court.
8,500; 80
In Roe v. Wade (1973), the Supreme Court was required to rule on the issue of ________, due to the fact that the pregnancy had already come to term.
mootness
The requirement of standing means that parties in a case must
have a concrete injury or interest at stake.
Which of the following is true of the impeachment process?
It is a partisan exercise.
Congressional organization is influenced by all of the following EXCEPT ________.
presidential directives
In recent years, federal court appointments have
been characterized by intense partisan and ideological efforts to support or defeat the candidate.
The frequency with which they must seek re-election makes members of the U.S. House
more responsive to the needs of local interest groups in the districts they represent.
Which of the following is NOT a resource congressional party leaders have at their disposal to secure the unity and cooperation of their members?
constituency service
One reason some people support the establishment of term limits in the House and Senate is that it will
increase turnover and get new faces into Congress.
________ occurs when a member of Congress makes resources available to government officials.
Patronage
Why did many Republicans oppose President Obama’s nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court?
She supported affirmative action.
Which of the following is NOT a task of congressional staff members?
debating and voting in subcommittee meetings
The jurisdiction of standing committees
is defined by the subject matter of legislation, which often parallels the major cabinet departments or agencies.
Oversight can best be described as
the efforts of Congress to supervise the manner in which its laws are implemented by the executive branch.
Which of the following does NOT typically affect an individual’s decision to run for elected office?
the individual’s ability to meet the extensive list of educational requirements defined by local, state, and federal laws
Pork-barrel legislation
deals with specific projects and their location within a particular congressional district.
What is the most frequent and best known action of Supreme Court justices in their role as circuit justices?
reviewing requests for stays of execution
Why has partisan conflict surrounded federal judicial appointments in recent years?
The federal courts play an important role in shaping American law and politics.
Activist judges believe that federal judges should
go beyond the words of a constitution or statute to consider the broader societal implications of their decisions.
Congress is a ________ legislature with ________ members.
bicameral; 535
What was the Supreme Court’s ruling in 1948 regarding restrictive covenants?
Individuals had the right to discriminate in private contracts, but courts could not enforce these contracts.
Which of the following is the best definition of a constituent?
It is a person who lives in the district represented by a member of the legislature.
A bicameral legislature is one that has ________.
two chambers or houses
When members of the House and the Senate coordinate two versions of the same bill, they will often use a ________ committee to obtain a single unified bill.
conference
________ is an example of a justice who advocated judicial restraint.
Felix Frankfurter
A senator or representative running for re-election is called the ________.
incumbent
In recent years, about ________ percent of U.S. House incumbents win re-election.
95
One reason why redistricting is controversial is that
computer technologies allow legislatures to know statistically what kinds of people live where, and this can be used to give one party an advantage over the other.
The four joint committees in Congress are
economic, taxation, library, and printing.
Congressional leaders form ________ committees when they want to take up an issue that falls between the jurisdiction of existing committees, to highlight an issue, or to investigate a particular problem.
select
All of the following are part of the official jurisdiction of the federal courts EXCEPT
cases involving citizens of more than one state where less than $75,000 is at stake.
Which of the following statements about the Supreme Court is true?
In 2014, five of the nine justices were appointed by Republican presidents.
The area of authority possessed by a court, in terms of either subject area or geography, is called its ________.
jurisdiction
What happened after the 2010 census?
Texas gained the most U.S. House seats.
Which of the following is NOT an important influence on the legislative agenda of Congress?
the federal courts
The issue of employer liability for employee injuries sustained at work illustrates that
many areas of civil law have been constructed by judicial messages to other lawyers rather than by laws passed by legislatures.
The increase of administrative agencies since the New Deal has resulted in a(n)
delegation of power by Congress to administrative agencies.
The solicitor general is the
third-ranking official in the Department of Justice.
The written opinions of appellate courts have been described as halfway between ________ and ________.
common law; statutory law
Astroturf lobbying refers to the practice whereby
a special interest group simulating a grassroots movement works with well-organized campaigns and petitions.
Marbury v. Madison was decided in ________.
1803
The role that the U.S. Senate plays in impeachments can best be compared with that of
a ________.
trial jury
A certiorari pool describes the
practice by which Supreme Court law clerks work together to evaluate each petition.
Which of the following is part of the Miranda rule?
Arrested people have the right to remain silent.
What was the basis of Justice John Marshall’s assertion that the federal courts have the power of judicial review?
It is the duty of the federal judges to say what the law is; therefore, it is necessary for them to interpret and expound upon the law.
The party that brings a complaint in court is called the ________, and the one against whom the complaint is brought is called the ________.
plaintiff; defendant
Who has the most real power in the Senate?
the majority and minority leaders
Which of the following best describes a way in which the House differs from the Senate?
The House is more centralized and organized than the Senate.
Which is the best description of the K Street Project?
It was an attempt to place former Republican staffers in key lobbying positions to help ensure a large flow of corporate donations to the Republican Party.
Which of the following statements about federal courts is most accurate?
Although the federal courts hear only a small fraction of all of the civil and criminal cases decided each year in the United States, their decisions are extremely important because they interpret the Constitution and the federal laws that govern all Americans.
What is the main function of the chief justice of the Supreme Court?
The chief justice presides over the Court’s public sessions and private conferences.
Over the past several decades, the ________ and the ________ have benefited most from apportionment.
South; West
The role that the U.S. House of Representatives plays in impeachments can best be compared with that of a ________.
grand jury
The doctrine of ________ requires courts to follow authoritative prior decisions when ruling on a case.
stare decisis
Which of the following statements concerning the representation of women and minorities in the U.S. Congress is true?
Representation of women and minorities has increased over the past two decades but is not comparable to their proportions in the general population.
In most circumstances, a supreme court is best described as a(n)________ court.
appellate
The size of the U.S. Supreme Court is set by ________.
Congress
Which of the following statements about the U.S. Courts of Appeals is INCORRECT?
The appeals courts are able to hear all cases involving federal law, but not constitutional law.
The phrase stare decisis means
“let the decision stand.”
How can a president’s veto be overridden by Congress?
by a two-thirds vote in both chambers
When a private individual brings a suit against a company for breaking a contract, this is an example of ________ law.
civil
What is common law?
law made by judges through their decisions, not through specific statutes
Through the exercise of ________, the Supreme Court has held actions or laws of the executive and legislative branches unconstitutional.
judicial review
What is the significance of dissenting opinions?
Dissents are signs that the Court is in disagreement on an issue and could change its ruling.
Aside from the justices themselves, who or what has the greatest power in shaping the flow of cases to the Supreme Court?
the solicitor general
There are approximately ________ federal district court judges in the United States.
679
Following the 2012 elections, there were ________ women serving in the U.S. Senate.
20
The terms of the floor debate on a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives are dictated by the ________.
Rules Committee
A single lawsuit involving thousands of smokers suing a tobacco company would be a good example of ________.
a class-action suit
The right of due process is best described as the right of
every person not to be treated arbitrarily by a government official or agency.
What did the framers call the “least dangerous branch”?
the Supreme Court
In all of American history, the Supreme Court has concluded that fewer than ________ acts of Congress have directly violated the Constitution.
160
Civil cases involving the citizens of more than one state and in which more than $75,000 is at stake
may be heard in either the federal or the state courts, usually depending on the preference of the plaintiff.
More than ____________ percent of all court cases in the United States are heard in state courts.
97
Roe v Wade is a good example of
judicial activism, because it was based on a constitutional right to privacy that is not found in the actual words of the Constitution
medical malpractice suits are good examples of ____ cases
tort
