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
