Key Concepts (1994, 1999, 2002, 2009) Flashcards
Points to know about the 14th Amendment
(1) All persons born in the U.S. are citizens; (2) no person can be deprived of life, liberty or property without DUE PROCESS OF LAW; (3) no state can deprive a person of EQUAL PROTECTION of the laws. Second of three “Reconstruction Amendments” passed after Civil War.
Ways to amend the Constitution
- 2/3 vote from both the House and the Senate
- 3/4 vote of all states
What is the American With Disabilities Act?
Federal mandate that requires employers and public facilities to make “reasonable accommodations” for the disabled and prohibits discrimination against the disabled in employment.
Define “amicus curiae briefs.”
Latin for “friend of the court.” Frequently, a person or group who is not a party to a lawsuit but has a strong interest in the matter (ex. interest groups), will petition the court for permission to submit a brief in the action with the intent of influencing the court’s decision.
Articles of Confederation vs. Constitution
The Articles of Confederation established a system of great state sovereignty and a weak central government while the Constitution created a strong central government with a decreased degree of state sovereignty. For example, under the Article of Confederation, the federal government could not levy taxes, while the Constitution granted the federal government the power of taxation as a means to pay the debts of the United States and provide for “common defense and general welfare” of the United States.
Define “block grant.”
A grant from a central government that a local authority can allocate to a wide range of services within a specific policy sector (ex. education).
Define “federalism.”
Division of power between the federal government and the states.
Explain the implications of “Brown v. Board of Education.”
A landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and reversed the “separate but equal” doctrine.
Define “candidate centered campaigns.”
Election campaigns and other political processes in which candidates, not political parties, have most of the initiative and influence; the parties’ major role in campaigns is the raising and spending of money.
Define “categorical grants.”
Grants that allocate federal funds to states for a specific purpose; subject to detailed conditions imposed by the national government often on a matching basis (states must contribute money to match federal funds). Many of Lyndon B. Johnson’s programs apart of the “Great Society” were founded under categorical grants.
Define “checks and balances.”
A constitutionally mandated structure that gives each of the three branches of government some degree of oversight and control over the actions of the others. An example of this would be the Supreme Court’s power of judicial review.
What are the six major provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
1) Made racial discrimination illegal in hotels, motels, restaurants, and other places of accommodation.
2) Forbade discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, or gender.
3) Created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to maintain and enforce protections against job discrimination.
4) Provided for withholding federal grants for state and local governments and other institutions that practiced racial discrimination.
5) Strengthened voting rights legislation.
6) Authorized the US Justice Department to initiate lawsuits to desegregate public schools and facilities.
What is the importance of the “clear and present danger” doctrine?
Clear and present danger was a doctrine adopted by the Supreme Court of the United States to determine under what circumstances limits can be placed on First Amendment freedoms of speech, press, or assembly. If the speech in question indicates a “clear and present danger” that causes disorder, such as screaming “FIRE!” in a crowded theater when there is no fire, that speech is not protected. This test was first established in the 1919 case Schneck vs. United States.
What does “cloture” mean?
Mechanism to end filibusters in the Senate, requiring 60 senators to vote to cut off the debate.
What is the commerce clause?
The Commerce Clause gives Congress the power “to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes.” Has historically been viewed as both a grant of congressional authority and as a restriction on states’ powers to regulate. Cases regarding the commerce clause include Wickard v. Filburn and Gibbons v. Ogden.
What are the powers of the committee chair?
- Select all subcommittee chairs
- Call meetings (and opt to kill bills by refusing to schedule hearings)
- Recommend majority members to sit on conference committees
What is the most powerful predictor of vote choice?
Party Identification
What is a conference committee?
Special joint committee created to reconcile differences in bills passed by the House and the Senate.
How does the congressional committee system work?
Members of Congress are assigned to committees to investigate the merits and problems with suggested bills, sometimes holding public hearings to learn more before sending it to the full House or Senate for debate and a vote.
What are the major types of committees?
Conference, joint, standing, and select
What is the difference between a congressional caucus and a political caucus?
A congressional caucus is a group of members of the US Congress that meets to pursue common legislative objectives. A political caucus is the meeting of members of a political party or subgroup to coordinate members’ actions, choose group policy, or nominate candidates for various offices.
Describe the congressional incumbency advantage.
People in office tend to remain in office. This is largely due to three main reasons:
1) Staff Support - Members of the House and Senate have many aides and interns whose activities directly or indirectly promote the legislator through constituency services. If a House incumbent’s staff help solve a problem for a constituent, that constituent is more likely to rate the incumbent more favorably than the constituents who weren’t helped by the incumbent.
2) Visibility - Incumbents are highly visible in their districts. They give speeches, cut ribbons and have easy access to local media.
3) “Scare-off” Effect - Incumbents’ name recognition can intimidate strong opposition candidates.
What are the four major reasons that incumbents lose?
1) Redistricting
2) Scandals
3) Presidential Coattails
4) Midterm Elections
What are examples of congressional oversight?
- Ability to hold committee hearings questioning members of the administration to see if they are enforcing and interpreting the laws as intended by Congress
- Review actions taken by the president (powers granted under the War Powers Act and the Congressional Review Act of 1996)
- Offer advice and consent on executive and judicial nominees
- The power to impeach is Congress’s ultimate oversight power.
How does Congress check the power of the bureaucracy?
- Confirm or reject nominees to top bureaucratic positions
- Possesses the authority to create or abolish departments and agencies
- Conduct program evaluations and hold oversight hearings (investigation)
What are the powers of Congress?
- Article 1, Section 8: To tax, spend, regulate commerce, coin money and make “all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution” those powers
- The Law-Making Function: Only House and Senate members can formally submit a bill for congressional consideration.
- The Budgetary Function: The President must submit a budget to Congress. Congress can alter the allocation of appropriations but cannot increase the total level of spending proposed.
- The Oversight Function: Can hold committee hearings, review actions taken by the President, advice and consent on executive and judicial branch nominees (Senate), power to impeach federal officials
How can Congress respond to Supreme Court rulings?
Congress can initiate Constitutional amendments to undo Supreme Court decisions.
What are standing committees?
Committees with fixed membership and jurisdiction, continuing from Congress to Congress
What is constituent service communication?
How constituents ensure that management takes responsibility for providing citizens the services they rightfully should receive from school board members and district employees.
What is cooperative federalism?
Cooperative federalism (1930s-1970s) is a concept of federalism in which national, state, and local governments interact cooperatively and collectively to solve common problems, rather than making policies separately but more or less equally (such as the dual federalism of the 19th century United States) or clashing over a policy in a system dominated by the national government.
What are core values to political US culture?
- Liberty and Equality: The Framers intended for Americans to be free from governmental infringements and for each citizen to be the same in the eyes of the law.
- Popular Consent, Majority Rule and Popular Sovereignty: The principle that governments must draw their powers from the consent of the governed, the central premise of direct democracy in which only policies that collectively garner the support of a majority will be made into law, and the notion that the ultimate authority in society rests with the people.
- Individualism: All individuals in the U.S. system are deemed rational and fair and endowed with “certain unalienable rights” that are beyond the scope of government intervention.
Who creates new federal courts?
Article I of the Constitution gives Congress the authority to establish “inferior” courts and tribunals below the US Supreme Court.
What are critical elections?
An electoral “earthquake” where new issues emerge, new coalitions replace old ones, and the majority party is often displaced by the minority party. Such periods are sometimes marked by a national crisis and may require more than one election to bring about a new party era.
What are substantial rulings on the death penalty?
In 1976, Gregg v. Georgia dealt with Georgia’s rewritten death penalty statute; though the death penalty was considered unconstitutional at the time due to “arbitrariness,” Georgia’s rewritten law avoided the nature of being arbitrary and was ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court in a 7-2 decision.
The NAACP tried to argue that the death penalty ought to be eliminated as it targeted African Americans disproportionately and thus violated the equal protection clause. The NAACP lost on a 5-4 decision.
In 1991’s McCleskey v. Zant, the Supreme Court produced new standard designed to make it more difficult for death-row inmates to rile repeated appeals.
The Supreme Court currently upholds constitutionality of the death penalty by lethal injection, although the mentally ill and those under the age of 18 are exempt.
Who are the delegates to major party conventions?
Loyal party members. Women and minority participation has increased in recent years.
What are common demographics of Democratic voters?
Women, African American, Hispanic, Asian and Pacific Islanders, young people
What are common demographics of Republican voters?
Men, White, old people
Define “devolution.”
The transfer of certain powers from one entity to another. It’s an effort to reduce federal government powers by transferring some responsibilities to the state governments.
What are the differences between the House and the Senate?
Constitutional Differences:
- The House has 435 members with two-year terms. The Senate has 100 members with six-year terms.
- The House initiates all revenue bills.
- The Senate offers “advice and consent” on many major presidential appointments.
- The House initiates impeachment procedures and passes articles of impeachment while the Senate tries impeached officials.
- The Senate approves treaties.
Differences in Operation:
- The House is more centralized and more formal.
- Committee on Rules is fairly powerful in controlling time and rule of debate in the House, while the Senate has no rules committee – limits on debate come through unanimous consent or cloture of a filibuster.
- Power is distributed more evenly in the Senate.
- House members are highly specialized while Senate members are generalists.
- The House emphasizes tax and revenue policy while the Senate emphasizes foreign policy.
What is the difference between a direct primary and a convention system?
In a primary election, registered voters participate in selecting the candidate for the party’s nomination by voting, as in a general election. Once the primaries and caucuses are completed in each state, a national convention is held in which a party’s nomination for president is formally announced to the public. During the convention, the elected delegates cast their vote for a party candidate and the candidate with the most delegates gets the party’s nomination.
What is the difference between a district court and an appellate court?
In a district court (also known as a trial court), cases are heard for the first time and decisions only affect those who are directly involved with the case. An appellate court (also known as a court of appeals) is where a judge simply reviews the case again and decides whether or not the lower court decision was the correct legal choice. These decisions can be further appealed to the Supreme Court.
What is a divided government?
A divided government occurs when one party has control of Congress and another has control of the presidency, or when one party has control of one chamber of Congress and the other party the other.
The impacts of this include decline of trust due to heightened partisanship, decline of moderates, frustration with the governmental process, confirmation process slowed or stopped completely, and gridlock. Also, legislation is much more difficult to enact and pass.
What are the consequences of a divided government?
Divided government is the political condition in which different political parties control the presidency and one or both houses of Congress. Consequences of this include lack of trust and confidence via heightened partisanship, decline of the middle (moderates frozen out/extremes driving legislation), frustration with the governmental process, a slowed or stopped or circumvented confirmation process, and gridlock.
What happens when there’s divided party control of the presidency and Congress?
Control of Congress by one party and control of the presidency by the other party makes it difficult to enact legislation.
Who is in charge of and what is the process of drawing congressional districts?
Redistricting is the process of redrawing congressional districts to reflect increases or decreases in seats allotted to the states, as well as population shifts within a state. In most states, district lines are drawn by partisan state legislatures. This often results in gerrymandering, the drawing of congressional districts to produce a particular electoral outcome without regard to the shape of the district.
Describe electoral behavior in the United States.
- The Majority of the electorate does not vote in most elections.
- The United States has one of the lowest voter turnout rates in all of the industrialized countries.
- When income and education are taken out of consideration, African-Americans vote at a higher rate than Whites.
How does the Electoral College work and why is it important?
Each state is granted a certain number of electoral votes. The winner-takes-all system means that the candidate who wins the majority of votes within a state also achieves all of that state’s votes in the Electoral College. The outcome of the votes from the Electoral College decides who wins the presidency – the magic number is 270. There are 538 total electoral votes.
What is the elite theory of politics?
Theory that political power in USA is held by rich and powerful minority
What is the pluralist theory of politics?
Theory of politics that all interests are free to compete for influence in government
What are Federal Budget Entitlements? What is entitlement spending?
Many entitlement programs cost the U.S. government a lot of money because they are programs that must be funded. Such programs are things like Social Security, Medicare, and Food Stamps.
What is the establishment clause?
The first clause of the First Amendment; it directs the national government not to sanction an official religion.
What is the exclusionary rule?
Judicially created rule that prohibits police from using illegally seized evidence at trial
What is an executive agreement?
A formal agreement between the U.S. president and the leaders of other nations that does not require Senate approval
Points to know about federal election laws
- Federal Election Campaign Act: created the Federal Election Commission, provided public financing for presidential primaries and general elections, limited presidential campaign spending, required disclosure, and attempted to limit contributions.
- Federal Election Commission: A six-member bipartisan agency created by the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974. It administers and enforces campaign finance laws.
- Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act: Eliminated “soft money,” cash contributed to a political party with no limits attached from corporations.
Does the federal government regulate negative advertising?
No
What are federal grants-in-aid?
Money coming from central government for a specific project; an example of this would be how the United States Congress required states to raise the drinking age for alcohol from 18 to 21 in order for the individual states to continue to qualify for federal funds for interstate highways located within each state.
Who nominates federal judges?
The President makes nominations; Congress has to approve of them.
What does a federal system of government look like?
System of government where the national government and state governments share power, derive all authority from the people, and the powers of the government are specified in a constitution
Define federalism.
Constitutional arrangement in which power is distributed between a central government and subdivisional governments, called states in the United States. The national and the subdivisional governments both exercise direct authority over individuals.
What is the importance of Federalist No. 10?
- Written by Madison
- The Union’s best attribute is to control factions
- Factions could be a threat to the gov
- Feared minorities would be overruled by the majority - not everyone is represented - Pure democracy would allow a majority faction to overrun the gov. yet a republic would not because the representatives would not allow that, they would protect the public good.
- Factions will always be there because they represent diversity, so you cannot destroy them – let them check each other.
List the provisions of the First Amendment.
Congress shall make…
- no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof
- or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press
- or the right of the people peaceably to assemble
- and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
