key terms

Question 1

Bipartisanship

Answer 1

Attempts within the structure of the US Congress to try and ensure that the two main parties must work together in order to fulfil Congressional functions.

Question 2

Checks and balances

Answer 2

each branch of government has a direct ability to prevent action from another branch.

Question 3

Codification

Answer 3

A constitution that is written down in one document.

Question 4

Constitution

Answer 4

A set of rules determining where sovereignty lies in a political system, and establishing the precise relationship between the government and the governed.

Question 5

Entrenchment

Answer 5

• A system by which the US Constitution is protected from change by law
• in this case, by the Amendment Process of Article V.

Question 6

Enumerated powers

Answer 6

Such powers are stated explicitly in the Constitution – for example Article 1, Section 8 provides a list of Congressional powers.

Question 7

Federalism

Answer 7

The US system in which sovereignty is shared between a central government (federal government) and the individual states, with each having their own specific rights.

Question 8

Limited government

Answer 8

The power of the US federal government over its states and citizens is subject to limitations as laid out in the Constitution.

Question 9

‘Principle’

Answer 9

core structural aspects of how the US Constitution was defined by the Founding Fathers

Question 10

Separation of powers

Answer 10

The three key bodies of government, (judiciary, legislature and executive) each have their own powers, personnel and buildings.

Question 11

Congressional caucuses

Answer 11

groups of legislators who share special interests and meet to pursue common legislative objectives,
- e.g. black caucus, women’s caucus, Hispanic caucus

Question 12

Divided government

Answer 12

When the House of Representatives, Senate and presidency are not all controlled by one party.

Question 13

Filibuster

Answer 13

When a senator gives a prolonged speech on the floor of the Senate in order to obstruct legislative progress of a bill or confirmation of appointments to the Executive or judiciary.

Question 14

Gridlock

Answer 14

A situation in US politics where the president and Congress are equally powerful, constantly preventing each other from acting, resulting in difficulty passing legislation.

Question 15

Incumbency

Answer 15

The current holder of a political office re House or Senate seat or presidency.

Question 16

Mid-term elections

Answer 16

Congressional elections held mid-way through a President’s four year term.

Question 17

Oversight

Answer 17

The ability of one branch to supervise the work of another.

Question 18

Partisanship

Answer 18

A situation in which Congressmen/women are incredibly loyal to their party, even when it means that the result is gridlock.

Question 19

Unanimous consent

Answer 19

A senator or Congressman/woman may request unanimous consent on the floor to set aside a specified rule of procedure so as to expedite proceedings.

Question 20

Domestic politics

Answer 20

Issues within the USA that directly concern citizens

Question 21

Electoral mandate

Answer 21

• the permission granted to a political leader or winning party to govern and act on their behalf
• The mandate is more or less in effect for as long as the government is in power.

Question 22

Executive branch

Answer 22

The executive branch, headed by the president, is one of the three branches of government

Question 23

Executive orders

Answer 23

Official documents issued by the executive branch with the force of law, through which the president directs federal officials to take certain actions. Since the 1900s executive orders have been numbered and recorded in the Federal Register

Question 24

Imperial presidency

Answer 24

A dominant presidency with ineffective checks and balances from the other branches.

Question 25

Imperilled presidency

Answer 25

This is the contrasting theory to that of an imperial presidency – it is claimed that the president does not have enough power to be effective.

Question 26

Informal powers

Answer 26

Powers of the president not listed in the Constitution but taken anyway.

Question 27

Powers of persuasion

Answer 27

This is an informal power of the president in which they can use the prestige of their job, and other bargaining methods in order to get people to do as they wish.

Question 28

Unified government

Answer 28

Where both Houses of Congress and the presidency are controlled by people from the same political party.

Question 29

Imperial judiciary

Answer 29

A judiciary that is all powerful and on which checks and balances are weak and ineffective.

Question 29

Conservative justice

Answer 29

* A Justice with a strong belief in 'stare decisis' * with a more narrow view of the Constitution * more likely to believe in a literal interpretation of the wording * believing in a generally smaller government.

Question 30

Judicial activism

Answer 30

An approach to judicial decision making that holds that a Justice should use their position to promote desirable social ends.

Question 31

Judicial restraint

Answer 31

* a Justice should defer to the executive and legislative branches, * which are politically accountable to the people, * and should put great stress on the principle established in previous court decisions.

Question 32

Judicial review

Answer 32

The ability of the Supreme Court to declare acts of Congress, and acts or actions of the presidency, unconstitutional.

Question 33

Liberal Justice

Answer 33

- A Justice who interprets the Constitution more broadly - in order to give the people more freedom and bring about social change.

Question 34

Living Constitution

Answer 34

- The idea that the Constitution is an evolutionary document - that can change over time - through re-interpretation by the Supreme Court - (linked to loose constructionism).

Question 35

Originalism

Answer 35

The idea that the meaning of the US Constitution is fixed and should not be subject to interpretation.

Question 36

Public policy

Answer 36

Legislation and judicial decisions made on any policy that affects the whole of the US population.

Question 37

Stare decisis

Answer 37

- This doctrine is built on the idea of standing by decided cases, upholding precedents and maintaining former adjudications - opposite of the ‘living Constitution’ approach

Question 38

Strict constructionist

Answer 38

a philosophy that favours solely looking at the written text of the law

Question 39

loose constructionist

Answer 39

a legal philosophy that favours a broad interpretation of a document's language.

Question 40

Swing Justice

Answer 40

An informal name for the Justice who falls ideologically in the centre of the nine current Justices.

Question 41

Constitutional rights

Answer 41

The rights specifically outlined for citizens within the US Constitution, Bill of Rights and subsequent Amendments.

Question 42

Racial equality

Answer 42

an equal regard to all races. It can refer to a belief in biological and social equality for people of different races.

Question 43

Affirmative action

Answer 43

A policy of favouring historically disadvantaged members of a community.