History quiz on branches of government Flashcards
Checks and Balances
Each branch has certain ways to check or limit the power of the others to prevent any abuse of government power.
Federalism
Power is divided between the federal (national) government and state / local governments.
Limited Government
Government powers are restricted by a written constitution.
Republicanism (Representative Democracy)
The people vote to elect leaders to represent their interests.
Separation of Powers
Powers and responsibilities are divided between three government branches to prevent any one person or group from having too much power.
Identify at least one way each branch of government can check or limit another branch of government
Judicial can check the Legislative by ruling a law unconstitutional.
Legislative can check the Executive by impeaching the President.
Executive can check the Judicial by nominating Justices.
Congress
The House and Senate combined is called Congress
Fillibuster
It is when a Senator delays the voting through speaking for extended periods of time, preventing voting from occurring. However, this can be overruled by 60 votes from the Senators. From there, it goes to the voting section.
House of Reps
A section of the Legislative Branch that is comprised of 435 reps, with a few from each state, and proportional representation. These representatives are elected, with the states with more pop having more reps, and vice versa. Texas has more than MA for example because of this.
Senate
The upper section of the Legislative Branch, and the more powerful one. This section is comprised of 100 Senators, two from each state. They discuss a wide variety of topics, such as making bills into laws and impeaching the President.
Political Parties
Groups of people who share similar beliefs about how the government should be run and how the country’s issues should be solved.
Veto
This is an ability that the President has which allows him or her to stop, or veto a law from being passed. This can be overruled by a 2/3 majority vote in Congress.
Identify the main function of the Legislative Branch
The main function of the Legislative Branch is to pass, or create laws. Other functions include declaring war and impeaching the President.
Identify the three major powers/responsibilities of Congress
- Passing laws
- Impeaching the President
3.
Describe the process of creating a law
To create a law, a Senator or House of reps member has to present it in the form of a bill to the House of Reps. From there, Committees related to the bill will review it. If the committees approve it, then the whole House will vote on it. If it passes, then the committees in the Senate will review it, then send it to the Senate to vote. If it passes, it goes back to the House to be voted on because of the changes and if the House passes it, then the President needs to sign off on it. He can either veto it, killing the bill, or he can approve it, at which point, it will become a law.
Cabinet
A group of people who advise the President on issues related tot ehir areas of expertise.
Electoral College
Each state has a number of votes, equal to their combined representatives in Congress (2 Senators and how many ever House of Reps members that state has).
Executive Order
An order that is passed by the President without the approval of Congress. A president can issue how ever many he wants, but they can be overruled if the Supreme Court votes that they are unconstitutional.
President
The head of the Executive Branch. The President has limited power, but is still powerful, and can veto bills and appoint judges, among other things. He is elected through the people, and has to get at least 270 Electoral votes to become president.
Safe State
A state that traditionally favors one party, or consistently votes for one party.
Swing state
A state that is unpredictable, and can go to either party.
Vice President
Serves under the president, and is the tie braking vote in the Senate, as well as the acting president if the current president dies.
Winner-Take-All
The candidate who wins the popular vote wins all of the Electoral votes from that state. With a total of 538 Electoral votes, a candidate needs to win more than half, or at least 270 to win the presidency. The two exceptions to this are Nebraska and Maine, which do not have winner-take-all, and instead, are divided into sections. The winner of that section get the votes from just that section, meaning both candidates can get Electoral votes from one state.
Identify the main function of the Executive Branch
The main function of the Executive Branch is to carry out the laws. Other functions include negotiating with other countries and being the heads of different departments.
Identify three of the major powers/responsibilities of the president
- Propose Legislation
- Veto bills/sign bills into law
- Issuing Executive Orders
Describe the process of becoming the president of the U.S.
First, the president needs to become the official candidate of their party by beating the other party’s candidates in pre-election rounds. If they win those, then they go on to become the party’s candidate, at which they then have to fight the other party’s candidate for electoral seats. If they win 270 or more electoral seats, then the candidate becomes the president of the U.S.
Supreme Court
The head of the Judaical Branch, which is also the supreme law of the land, and they traditionally accept about 80 cases per year. They will usually take the cases that relate to, or object, the Constitution.
Trial Courts
Called a District court in the federal system. A jury or judge hears the case and reviews evidence to decide who is right. If the losing side believes there has been an error, they can make an appeal - requesting a higher court to review the verdict (decision).
Appellate Courts
The second layer is called the Court of Appeals (or Appellate Courts) which reviews the trial court decision and determines if a legal error was made. Most Court of Appeals cases are heard by a panel of three judges (instead of one), and there is no jury. Lower courts must follow their decision.
Judicial Review
The ability for the Supreme Court to review a case, and then state it as either Constitutional, or unconstitutional.
Identify the main functions of the Judicial Branch
- Interprets the law
- Judicial review
- Decides whether a law or executive order is Constitutional or not
Explain how the appeals process works in the three-layered court system
At the bottom court, if a side loses the case and decides to appeal, that means that they this the lower(or state) court made a decision that was wrong, and the case will be sent to the a State Appellate Court or the U.S. Courts of Appeals. From there, if they would like, they can file a writ of certiorari, asking the Supreme Court or review their case. Or in the case of State Courts, it would go to a State Supreme Court, and then the US Supreme Court.
Explain how Marbury Vs. Madison case established Judicial Review.
Marbury Vs. Madison was a case that went like this. A new president (Thomas Jefferson) just took office and the previous president had asked him to hand over these papers to the next people who would become judges in the Judicial Branch. Jefferson did not want to do this because the future judges were not apart of his party, so he never sent the letters. Marbury, one of the future judges, was mad about this, so he went to the Supreme Court and told them to make Jefferson hand over the papers. The Supreme Court said that they agree that Jefferson SHOULD hand over the papers, but they did not actually have the ability to make him. So because of this case, Judical Review was created. This case created it because from this point on, the Court would decide whether a law is constitutional, or unconstitutional. In other words, he ruled that whenever a law was in conflict with the Constitution, the Constitution must be upheld. This was the first time the Supreme Court declared an act of Congress unconstitutional, establishing the power of judicial review.
Describe the two parts of the Supreme Court ruling (decision and opinion).
The decision and the opinion. A decision is reached by the majority vote of the nine justices. The opinion is a published written document that explains the reasoning for their decision.
