Legislative Branch quiz Flashcards
Enumerated or expressed powers
- Defend the nation (from invasions’ and insurrections_
- declare war
- maintain armed forces
- Enact /pass laws
- Pass laws: piracy treason and counterfitting
- Finance the national government
- lay and collect taxes
- borrow money - Regulate commerce(with forighn countries and between the states
- Coin money- Establish standards of weight and measure
- issur patents and copyrights
- establish post offices and postal roads
- Establish other federal courts as needed
- naturalization-N (Legal process by which a citizen of one country becomes a citizen of another country)
Implied powers
the “NECESSARY AND PROPER” CLAUSE (ELASTIC CLAUSE) - gives Congress the authority to make laws and do things which are necessary for Congress to carry out the expressed powers assigned by the Constitution
Strict construction
Congress can only exercise the expressed powers and those implied powers absolutely necessary to carry them out •led by Thomas Jefferson and the Anti-Federalists
Loose or liberal constriction
Congress has a broad range of powers to do its job • led by Alexander Hamilton and the Federalists
Muccholloch v maryland 1819
The state of Maryland imposed a tax on the U.S.
bank in Baltimore
• Chief Justice John Marshall wrote the Court’s
opinion establishing two important principles in
constitutional law.
• First, the Constitution grants to Congress
implied powers for implementing the
Constitution’s expressed powers, in order to
create a functional national government.
• Second, state action may not impede valid
constitutional exercises of power by the
Federal government.
inherent powers
exist and belong to the National Government because they are inherent to a sovereign nation- regulate immigration, acquire new territory, grant diplomatic recognition to other countries, protect the nation from rebellion, etc.
house of representatives
Initiate charges of impeachment (like an indictment) •All bills raising money must originate in the House •If needed, elect (by state - one vote per state) the President from top three electoral vote recipients
Senate
Act as a jury for impeachment proceedings • Approve all foreign treaties • Approve presidential appointments • If needed, elect the Vice President from the top two electoral vote recipients
Limits stated in article 1 section 9
- congress cannot “Ex post FACTO laws”- a law that makes illegal an act that was legal when committed
- Congress cannot pass “Bills of Attainder”-any act of a legislative body declaring a person or group of persons guilty of a crime and assessing a punishment without the benifit of trial
- Congress cannot suspend the “Writ of Habeas Corpus”- is used to bring a prisoner or other detainee before the court to detirmine iif the persons imprisonment or detainment is lawful
congress cannot
- tax exports
- favor the trade of one state over another
- withdraw (spend) money from the treasury without a law
- grant titles of nobility
Other limits
- 9th and tenth amendments reserve power to the people
- president may veto a law
- supreme court may declare a law unconstitutional
bicameral
a two-chamber legislature
Qualifications for rep
The Constitution sets the qualifications for election to the House of Representatives. Representatives must be at least 25 years old, be citizens of the United States for at least seven years, and be legal residents of the state that elects them. Traditionally, representatives also live in the district they represent.
