Exam #4 Flashcards
How does a bill become a law?
1) Introduced buy mom. of Congress
2) Referred to Standing Committees & Subcommittees (hold hearings & do markups)
3) Floor Debate in both chambers (House much more strict, determined by rules committee)
4) If the SAME BILL passes both H. & Sen. THEN it lands on the Pres.’s desk to be signed or vetoed
How is the presidency organized?
- White House Office (WHO); managed by Chief of Staff, very close to the Press, lots of advisors
- Executive Office of the President (EOP); permanent agencies to perform management tasks
- includes Office of Management & Budget (OMB), National Security Council (NSC), etc
What are the sources of federal court power?
- lifetime appointments
- judicial review (framers intention, Marbury v. Madison)
- vague constitutional principles and laws
What is the federal court structure and jurisdiction?
Structure:
1) SCOTUS - 9 justices, hears cases as a group, majority rules
2) U.S. Court of Appeals (or Circuit) - 13 courts, 200 (or so) judges, panels of 3
3) District Courts - 94 courts, 700 (or so) judges, solo judges w/ jury
Jurisdiction:
- district court (civil and criminal cases) has original jurisdiction MOST of the time
- SCOTUS only has O.J. when there’s dispute between states or high-ranking government officials
How do members of Congress represent constituents?
1) Define Constituency (reelection constituency, geographic constituency); essentially who are the people they care about
2) Model of Representation
- Trustee: follow your own judgement
- Delegate: follows the wishes of the constituents
- Politico: based off of the situation, switches between Trustee & Politico
3) Provide for Constituents
- constituency service (casework)
- pork/earmarks (getting money for projects in your disctrict/st. into fed. legis.)
What are the president’s informal and formal powers?
Formal:
- military/commander-in-chief: conduct war declared by Congress
- diplomatic: making treaties with other nations or executive agreements
- executive: appoint/remove/supervise exec. officials, appoint all fed. justices & judges
How and why are justices and judges selected?
Pres. nominates, Senate Confirms
Define pork barrel (Chp. 12)
the use of gov. funds for projects designed to please Congress mess. constituents and win votes
What’s a standing committee? (Chp. 12)
permanent committees established under the standing rules of the Senate and specialize in the consideration of particular subject areas
What are hearings and markups? (Chp. 12)
hearing: think open forum, basically meant to obtain information and opinions from the public & other gov officials
markups: occur after hearings, taking gathered information and amend the bill if they so wish
What’s a cloture? (Chp. 12)
a 2/3 majority vote to end a filibuster
What’s a conference committee? (Chp. 12)
temporary, joint (H. & Sen. mems) formed to create a compromise bill when each chamber has passed a different version of a bill
What do the Senate majority and minority leaders do? (Chp. 12)
serve as the spokesperson for their party’s positions and coordinate legislative strategies
- Majority Whip or Leader is actually in charge (I can’t figure out which, so just try your best!)
What’s the role and structure of the Executive Office of the President (EOP)? (Chp. 13)
it’s role ranges from communicating the Pres.’s message to the American people to promoting trade interests abroad
ESSENTIALLY manage POTUS’s day to day work
What’s the role and structure of the White House Office (WHO)? (Chp. 13)
official communication point between the POTUS and everyone else, makes sure he doesn’t day cause THEORETICALLY that would be bad
What’s the National Security Council (NSC)? (Chp. 13)
advises POTUS on national security and foreign policy
What’s the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)? (Chp. 13)
oversees the performance of fed agencies and administers the fed budget
What are the expressed and inherent powers of the POTUS? (Chp. 13)
expressed: power to make treaties, grant pardons, nominate judges
inherent essentially allow a president to respond to a crisis; ex’s include regulating immigration, ending a labor strike, acquiring territory
Define bully pulpit (Chp. 13)
the power and influence POTUS has to communicate and persuade with the public
Describe the Bureaucratic Structure (Chp. 14)
1) rationality
2) hierarchy
3) expertise
4) rules-based decision making
5) formalization
6) specialization.
What’s Merit-Based civil service? (Chp. 14)
people hired based on principles of competence, open competition, and political neutrality (VERY good job protection)
What are Independent Regulatory Commissions? (Chp. 14)
Ex. FTC (Fed. Trade Commission)
What’s the Doctrine of State Decisis? (Chp. 15)
Court case PRECEDENT
Mandatory vs. Discretionary Jurisdiction (Chp. 15)
Dis.: the power to decide whether to act on the power granted in one’s jurisdiction
- ex. a lower court ruling that a defendant is not guilty in a case of SA
Man.: a court/gov body MUST act on cases within their jurisdiction
What’s the Writ of Certiorari? (Chp. 15)
Rule of 4 (at least 4 SCOTUS justices need to say they want to hear the case in order for it to come before the court)
Judicial Activism v. Judicial Restraint (Chp. 15)
Activism: much more wiling to use judicial review, and does not adhere to previous decisions
Restraint: not willing to use judicial review, adhere’s to precedents
Concurring vs. Dissenting Opinions (Chp. 15)
Concurring: agrees with the majority opinion but does NOT agree with the rationale
Dissenting: disagrees with everything the majority opinion says
What’s Senatorial Courtesy? (Chp. 15)
refers to a tacit agreement among senators not to vote for a Pres. nominee wo is opposed by the Sens. from the nominee’s home st
