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PO/IR > PO MIDTERM 2 > Flashcards

PO MIDTERM 2 Flashcards

1
Q

Law Making

Step 1: Member introduces bill on the floor

A
  • Write by MCs, staffers, lobbyists
  • MC may find cosponsors
    -Shows level of suppose for the bill
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2
Q

Law Making

Step 2: Speaker refers the bill to committee (determines where bills go as multiple committees can receive a bill)

A
  • “Congress at work is Congress in committee”
  • Committee refers to appropriate subcommittees, hold hearings, amends bull (markup), or ignores the bill
    -Committee chair can assign a bill to a sub committee, determine how long bill is reviewed, schedules vote (voice or numerated = called reporting out), schedule agenda for their committee
    -Committee votes approve bill and send it to the floor
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3
Q

Law Making

Step 3: Leadership decides if/when the bill will be considered

A
  • House: Rules committee dedicates if bill will be hears, set rules for debate
    -Bills constrained in the House
    -Rules committee Open Rule or Closed Rule
    –>Open rule: changes can be made to the text of the bIll
    –>Closed rule: No amendments can be made
    -Rules committee sets time limits of bill hitting the floor
  • Senate: Majority leader chooses if and when to schedule debate
    -Bills flourish in the Senate
    -Has to have a supermajority vote to have bill hit the floor
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4
Q

Law Making

Step 4: Floor Debate

A
  • House: Closed versus open rule determines debate
    -Requirement to have bill open: 100 members must be present
    -Bill is read section by section
  • Senate: No restrictions on the length of debate
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5
Q

Law Making

Step 5: Vote

A
  • Voice vote (consent vote) OR Roll call vote (every individual member is called upon to give their vote)
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6
Q

Law Making

Step 6: Send to other chamber

A

Either House/Senate

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7
Q

Law Making

Step 7: Other Chmaber repeats steps 2-5

A

May Amend the bill

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8
Q

Law Making

Step 8: If both chambers pass different versions, a conference is required

A
  • Conference committee are ad hoc committees and made up of members from both chambers
  • Resolve differences between the two bills to create a compromise that will pass in both chambers
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9
Q

Law Making

Step 9: Both chambers must approve the conference committee bill

A

Conference report cannot be amended by either chamber

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10
Q

Law Making

Step 10: Bill send to the president

A

President Signs→ Success! New law

President vetoes → Congress can try to override

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11
Q

Law Making

Step 11: Veto Override

A
  • Each chamber must pass the bill after with ⅔ vote
    -⅔ vote in each chamber —> Success! New Law
    -Vote fails in one or both chamber → Process ends with no new law
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12
Q

Senete debate/delay

What is Cloture vote?

A
  • Cloture vote= Motion to end a debate
  • Cannot end a vote without 60 votes (Supermajority)
    -If no supermajority, then any senator can keep debate open
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13
Q

Sentate debate/delay

What is a Filibuster?

A
  • Filibuster: refusing to yield the floor by talking continuously to prevent a vote
  • Coordinated filibuster: Multiple senators witch between talking; preventing from anything happening in the Senate and never ending the debate
  • Ending debate requires cloture, a vote of ⅗ the Senate
  • Senators can often prevent vote and kill bills just by threatening to filibuster
  • Senators can talk about whatever they want during debate ( no germane)
  • No limit to amendments that can be offered on bills
  • Anything about the bill can be changed (Unlike in the House)
    -Senators can delay bills by offering endless amendments
  • Anonymous holds: Senators can place holds on bills and nominations to prevent votes and delay debate
  • Culture was unanimity until 1917, until it was changed to 2/3, than in 1975 it changed to current rule which is 3/5th of chamber
  • Created to prevent simple majority from winning, must reach consensus
  • No official filibuster in the House, but Minority leader is essentially allowed to filibuster-can speak for as long as they can
    *
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14
Q

Challenges for Legislating

A
  • Influence versus interests- MC only have one vote but need to bet bills passed
  • Information– MCs don’t vote for outcomes, they vote for instruments. Also, MCs are usually generalists. Not specialists
  • Compliance– MCs need judges, executives, and bureaucrats to implement
    -Congress doesn’t have much power to enforce, must rely on other branches
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15
Q

Other powers of Congress

A
  • Nominations
    -Senate’s “Advice and Consent”
    –>Treaties ( Trade, Military, environmental, IOs)
    –>Appointments (judicial, Executive, Ambassadors, Federal Reserve)
  • Hearings & Investigations
    -Mostly happen in committees (House & Senate)
  • Impeachments and Trials
    -Impeachment ( happen in the House)
    -Trials (happen in the Senate)
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16
Q

Checks and Blanaces

& Seperation of Powers

A

Legislative over Executive
Executive over legislative
Veto power
Legislative over judicial
Judicial over Legislative

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17
Q

The Median Voter Theorem

A

(used to make predictions→ comes from economics)

  • How will the committee decide which bills to send to the floor?
  • Who will be decisive?
  • Lost of applications– legislative voting, party competition in elections, etc

Median Voter Theorem- Assumptions and Result :
* Policy alternative can be represented as points on a line (one dimension)
* Each voter has a most-preferred policy
* Each voter is less happy with policy as it move away from their preferred policy

→ If all these assumptions are met: the most preferred point of the group’s median can defeat any other point in a majority vote. (Median voter is decisive → SO they are most powerful)

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18
Q

Polarization

A
  • Policy
    -Extreme views become more common over time
  • Ideological
    -Liberal and conservative ideologies become more common relative to the center
  • Partisan
    -Polarization organized around parties
    -May occur in two ways:
    –>Ideological polarization between liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans
    –>Liberals more to the Democratic party, Conservatives more to Republican
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19
Q

Elite Polarization

A
  • Congressional polarization started in 1970 and has increased almost every term
  • Characterized by voting patterns
  • House and Senate trends are extremely similar
  • Asymmetric- main driver has been increasing conservatism of the Republican Party, Democrats have not moved substantially
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20
Q

Presidency

Big Ideas: The impossible Presidency, The imperial Presidency, The Presidential paradox

A

Competing ideas about the presidency:

The impossible presidency: (reflects the difficulties for the job of the president- successfully doing it would be impossible)

The imperial presidency: ( The presidency is too powerful, has too much control can do whatever it wants, and has too much power over other branches of gov)

Presidential paradox: (Both the president is too powerful and not powerful enough)

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21
Q

Powers of the Presidency: Expressed, Delegated, Inherent

A
  • Expressed powers: (specifically granted by the constitution or by statue)
  • Delegated powers: (granted to the president from Congress)
  • Inherent powers: (Asserted by precedence themselves, or articulated by legal opinions)
    -Some powers exist, not necessity inherent, that belong to the president
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22
Q

powers of Presidency

Constitutional Origins

A
  • Article II : “The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America”
    Perceived advantages:
  • Protect nation’s interest in foreign policy
  • Promote federal government over states
  • Able to take quick, decisive action
    –>Ex: US gon not able to stop shays rebellion
  • Emphasis was on selection, not operation
  • Requirements:
    -Natural born Citizen (Could be born elsewhere, as long as one parent a US citizen)
    -35 years old
    -Resident of the U.S. for 14 years
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23
Q

Electing the President

A
  • Voters in each state elect delegates (electors) to the electoral college
    -One vote for each member
  • Electors are generally winner-take-all (state popular vote winner gets all electors)
  • The Electoral college generally exaggerates winning margins…
    -Biden 51.3% , Trump 46.9%
    -Biden 306 EVs (57%), Trump 232 EVss (43%)
  • But can also reverse the popular vote
    -Trump 46.1% , Clinton 48.2%
    -Trump 304 Evs (57%) , Clinton 227 EVs (43%)
    –>Dahl would say this is unconstitutional
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24
Q

Presidency

Expressed Powers

A
  • Military
  • Judicial
  • Diplomatic
  • Executive
  • Legislative
    *
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25
Q

Presidency

Expressed Powers: Military

A
  • Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the US and of the militia of the several states, when called to the actual service of the US
  • Highest military authority (above all members of the military)
  • Head of intelligence network (CIA, NSA, FBI, etc.)
  • Domestic
    -Deploy federal troops to states
    –>Ex: Eisenhower sending troops to Little Rock HS to help desegregate as ppl were ignoring the initiative
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26
Q

Presidency

Expressed Powers: Judicial

A

President can alter outcomes for people who have committed a federal crime:
Reprieve- Cancelation or proponent of punishment (still have criminal record)
Pardons- Legal forgiveness (no record)
Amnesties- Forgiveness given to a group of people

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27
Q

Presedency

Expressed Powers: Diplomatic

A
  • Head of State: appoint and receive ambassadors
    -Sending Ambassadors to other countries: Symbol of a recognition of a country’s government
  • Make treaties (with advice and consent of the Senate)
    -In order for treaties to have full effect → Senate has to confirm
    -Executive agreements → Go around for a senate confirmation
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28
Q

Expressed Powers: Executive

A
  • President sees that all laws are faithfully executed
    -“Take Care” that the laws be faithfully executed→ Precedence tasked with bringing policies into fruition
  • President appoints, removes, and supervises executive officers
    -Senate confirms presidential appointees
    -Appointments: cabinet officers, judges ambassadors, high-level administrator
  • Theory of the unitary executive: presidents assert full control over the executive branch
    -Implication: Congress has very little control over the bureaucracy
    -Disputed by Congress (and legal scholars)
    -Weakens SOP (separation of powers)
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29
Q

Presedency

Expressed Powers: Legislative

A
  • State of the Union speech: opportunity for President to present an agenda to Congress
    -Every year in January, President addresses a joint sessions of Congress
    -Indented for President to tell Congress what he wants them to do
  • Veto
    -Pocket Veto (SchoolHouse Rock gets wrong!)
    -More than 10 days in line for presidential signature → Bill dies
    –>President ignores the law automatically vetoes bill
    -Line item veto
    –>President scratches out things he wants to change or what he doesn’t like
    –>Supreme Court deems Line item veto unconstitutional → Violated presentment clause (not bill the House and Senate agreed to)
    -Veto bargaining: President can use the threat of a veto (and Congress’s uncertainty about what he will do) to get Congress to change legislation
    –>President doesn’t veto much because of this ^^
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30
Q

Presidency

Asserting Inherent Powers

A
  • Military Action
    -Only Congress may declare war
    -President regularly commits military action (yet not declare war)
    –>Authorization of military action by Congress (not a declaration of war)
    -War Powers Resolution (1973)
    –>President has to get Congress permission or the troops have to be withdrawn
    –>Nixon vetoes → Congress vetoes his veto and passes the Resolution anyway
    –>Congress ties to control military thorough spending (**most effective check on president war powers) **
  • Legislative initiative
    -Trying to set the agenda
    -Executive orders: rules or regulations issued by the president and the effect and status of legislative statue
    –>Congress can overrule executive orders (they don’t do this regularly)
    –>What president can’t do though Congress they do through executive orders
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31
Q

Presidential gov

Pre-Moder Presidency

A
  • Congressional government: legislative supremacy; relatively weak president
    -Exceptions: Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln
    –>Andrew Jackson- White man’s suffrage
    –>Lincoln- Usher of new political movement, first republican president. The Union was already falling apart pre-civil war. Lincoln president during the Civil war, a new type of war, as it was against home territory. New technology outpacing strategies.
    –>Grew Power of the presidency during era of Civil War
  • Small national government
  • Presidents are relatively weak
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32
Q

Presidential gov

The New Deal & The Great Depression

A
  • Response to the depression: huge expansion of federal power
  • Congress delegates power to executive branch to oversee new programs (administration of food aid, or works programs– All that address economic hardship)
    -Constitutionality of new programs was disputed (NLRB v Jones & Laughlin Steel 1937)
    -SCOTUS affirmed role of federal government in regulating national economy
  • Government closely involved with the economy
  • Executive branch takes on regulatory role
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33
Q

What is Presidential Government?

A
  • Successor to congressional government, president is center of power
  • Formal resources
    -Cabinet and executive branch agencies, Vice President
    -White House Staff, EOP
  • Informal resources
    -Own political Party, Public Appeals, Persuasion
  • President faces huge management challenges
    -Recall principal-agent theory
    -Centralization and politicization

Politicization: trying to overcome the issue of non-clones, bringing in close members to the Executive office for loyalty……? Look up def

Centralization: Change internal structure of agencies, that have major decisions vetted to the Executive office→ Aim to bring decisions to the Executive office

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34
Q

Presidential gov

The Cabinet

A
  • The secretaries and directors of the major departments of the federal government
  • Initially served as advisors
  • Now: Supervise huge federal agencies (Proxy for president for their specific jurisdiction)
  • Appointments themselves are politically important (President can diversify the cabinet how they want -i.e. More POC, LGBT+)
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35
Q

Presidential gov

White House Staff

A
  • Analysts and advisors to the president
  • Post FDR: opportunities to centralize
  • Key staff :
    -Chief of Staff
    -Press Secretary
    -Special Assistants
    -Senior Advisors
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36
Q

Presidential gov

The Executive Office of the President

A
  • Permanent agencies that help manage executive branch
  • Office of Management and Budget (OMB) : prepares budget, oversees regulation, reports on executive agencies
  • Council of Economic Advisors (CEA): Assists president with economic policy, analyze economic trends
  • National Security Council (NSC) : Assist with national security and intelligence
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37
Q

Presidential gov

Vice Presidency

A
  • Official Powers: succeed the president in case of death, incapacitation, resignation; preside over Senate and break ties
  • Main purpose for president: help win the election and reelection
  • “Balancing the ticket” : region, ideology, expertise
  • Other powers: depends on the president, some delegate more than others
    -Gore, Cheney, Biden (all given lots of authority)
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38
Q

Presidental gov

Engaging the Public

A
  • The President is in a unique position to command the public’s attention
  • Speeches, public appearances, national addresses can enable president to affect national policy agenda
  • The State of the Union
    -Annual speech before bother chambers of Congress
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39
Q

Presidential gov

Power without Persuasion

A
  • Appointment sand regulatory review
    -Office if Management and Budget reviews regulations and rules made by other agencies before they can become policy
  • Executive orders
    -Executive decrees that set policy and instrict government officials
    -Can be revoked/altered by future presidents
    -Power can be checked by Congress and the courts
  • Signing Statement
    -A statement made by the president when signing a bill into law
    -Can only be made to government officials
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40
Q

Presidential gov

Party as a Source of Power

A
  • President is the leader if their party
  • Unified government: president coordinates co-partisans in House and Senate to pass policy agenda
  • Divided government: president must bargain with other party to reach compromises
    -Gridlock is common
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41
Q

Presidential gov

President and the Public

A
  • Expectations are high and sometimes contradictory
  • May want to lead or change public opinion
  • Reelection
  • Legacy
  • Policy change
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42
Q

Presidential gov

Presidential Approval

A
  • “Do you approve or disapprove of the way [president’s name] is hadeling his job as president?
  • Leader versus follower
    -Presidents have tried and failed to change public attitudes
    -Bust some have had success in raising salience (salience=importance)
    -Some success with framing (new policies, old policies, self)
43
Q

Defining Bureaucracy

(does not have to be government)

A
  • “Rule by Desks”
  • Offices, tasks, rules, and principles of organization that allows for coordination of personnel
  • Hierarchical organization that employs a division of labor and specialization of functions
  • Work is professional, formal, and impersonal
  • Advantages?
44
Q

Bureaucracy in a Democracy

(the red tape, barriers)

A
  • Executive branch implements policies (largest Bureaucracy in federal gov)
  • The executive branch is a bureaucracy
    -Specialization of functions
    -Adherence to fixed rules
    -Hierarchy of authority
  • Employed for efficiency, speed, and equity
    -Division of labor
    -Expertise
    -Large scale coordination of individual effort
45
Q

What do Bureaucracts do?

A
  • Implementation
    -Implementations of Congress’s wishes
  • Rule Making
  • Creates regulations
  • Administrative adjudication
46
Q

Types of Federal Bureaucratic Organizations

A
  • Cabinet departments (such as the Department of Homeland Security)
  • Independent agencies: agencies that provide public services that are too important or expensive to entrust to private initiatives (such as NASA)
  • Government corporations: government agencies that operate more like businesses (such as Amtrak)
    -Provide service or good
  • Independent regulatory commissions: rule-making bodies at least somewhat insulated from politics (such as the Federal Election Commission)
  • Too sensitive to leave to the public
47
Q

Types of Agencies

(designed to serve a particular clientele)

A
  • Clientele agencies
    -Department, bureau
    -Department of Agriculture –farmers
    -Department of Labor-workers and labor unions
    -Field offices local to clientele
  • Agencies for maintenance of the Union
    -Core functions for keeping government running
    –>Collecting money through IRS–internal revenue service (tax agency)
    –>Agency for internal security (domestic law enforcement, DOJ, FBI)
    –>Agency for external security (department of State, DOD)
  • Regulatory agencies
    Ex- food and drug administration
  • Redistributive agencies
    -Fiscal and monetary policy
    –>Department of treasury
    –>Federal Reserve
    -Agencies involved in the transfer of wealth
48
Q

Problems with Bureaucratic control

A
  • Motivation
    -Bureaucrats try to maximize their budgets
    -Congress & the president might have difficulty distinguishing “need” and “want”
  • Iron Triangles
    -Hard to break these relationships
  • Principal-agent problems
    -Bureaucratic drift (agent focused)
    –>Opposing interest of agent from Principal
    -Coalitional drift (principal focused)
    –>Agency that created the initial coalition no longer exists
49
Q

Bureaucratic Oversight-The President

A
  • “Manager in chief”
  • Before-the-fact controls (ex ante)
    -choosing ppl that will agree with the president
    -Appointment of sympathetic agency heads
    -Regulatory review prior to rule enactment
  • After-the-fact controls (ex-post)
    -Executive orders
    -Changes in budget
    –>President can lower budgets of agencies he doesn’t like
    -Bureaucratic reorganization
50
Q

Bureaucratic Oversight- Congress

A
  • (Ex-ante = before agency established) Hearings, investigations, casework, etc. to exercise control over activities of executive agencies
  • (Ex-Post = after agency established) Most effective mechanism for ex-post control is often budgeting
  • Criticism of perceived abdication
    -Police patrol vs fire alarm oversight
  • Fire alarm more effective for Congress → Congress waits for a complaint when something goes wrong in a bureaucracy, and then they investigate
    -Congress doesn’t patrol like the police
    -Reactive system, not a proactive system
51
Q

Bureaugratic Reform

Termination

A
  • Elimination of programs or agencies
  • Hard to do
52
Q

Bureaucratic Reform

Deregulation

A
  • Reducing the number or rules/legal institutions that the bureaucrat can enforces
  • Gives them less enforcement power
  • Limits its scope and purview
53
Q

Bureaucratic Reform

Devolution

A
  • Moving a program/agency from one level in a hierarchy to another level
  • Backwards step, or downsizing
  • Taking something out of the federal scope of influence to state level, or moving something from cabinet scope to another executive branch agency level
  • Lots of this currently in US → led to significant increase in local number of purview increasing as things were moved from Fed to local level
54
Q

Bureaucratic Reform

Privatization

A
  • Movement from public sector to private sector
  • Air traffic control → government to private
  • Medical care
  • (Opposite to → Fire department from private sector to public)
  • Some services are privatized more easily than others
  • Privatization is increasingly popular
55
Q

Modern Foreign Policy- Major events

A
  • Cold War
    -Ideological struggles between the US and the USSR (Soviet Union) form the end ofWWI I to 1991
    -United States used a policy of “containment”
    -Unlike “hot” wars, the US and the Soviet Union never directly engaged each other in military conflict
    –>Berlin
    –>Cuban Missile Crisis
    –>Vietnam
    –>Latin America
  • “War on Terror”
    -Begins with 9/11 terrorist attack
    -2001 –> US and NATO invade Afghanistan
    -2003–> US =-led coalition invaded Iraq
    -Shift to focus on ISIS in 2014
    -2021-2022 Withdrawal from Afghanistan
56
Q

Foreign Policy

A
  • Foreign policy includes the programs and policies that determine America’s relations with other nations and froeign entities
  • The nation’s chief foreign policy actors are:
    -The President
    -Congress
    -The Bureaucracy
  • Foreign policy can include diplomacy, military actions, human rights policy, economic policy and more
57
Q

Foreign Policy goals

A
  • Promoting domestic and international security
    -Most important goal
    -Includes physical security as well as protection of food supply, infrastructure, energy
  • Increasing economic prosperity
  • Humanitarianism (aimed at improving the lives of other people in other nations)
58
Q

Making Foreign Policy- The President

A
  • As head of state and commander-in-chief the President is able to exercise substantial control over diplomacy and military institutions
  • Growth in powers post -WWII - why?
  • Times of crisis tend to concentrate power in the hands of the president
  • Wildavsky “The Two Presidents”
59
Q

Making Foreign Policy- The Bureaucracy

A
  • Numerous agencies exist to implement foreign policy
    -Notably: diplomacy, which is mostly handling by the Department of State
  • These agencies might have conflict and comete
  • Effective policy required coordination
60
Q

Making Foreign Policy- Congress

A
  • Constitutional power to declare war
  • Approves presidential appointments
  • Ratifies treaties
  • Power of the purse
  • Power to regulate commerce with foreign nations
  • Investigation and Oversight
61
Q

Making Foreign Policy- Interest Groups

A
  • Economic interest groups
  • Ethnic lobbying groups
  • Human Rights groups
62
Q

Foreign Policy

International cooperations

A
  • The US is a member of many international organizations
    -The United Nations (founding member)
    -NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
    -International Trade Organization
  • Multilateral and bilateral agreements
    -NAFTA (repealed by USMCA) & CAFTA
63
Q

Economic Aid and Sanctions

A
  • Aid is the “carrot” of foreign policy
    -The US provides nearly $50 billion in assistance to other countries
  • Sanctions are the “stick” of foreign policy
    -Trade embargoes
    -Bans on investment
    -Efforts to prevent other institutions from extending credit
64
Q

Judges constraints:

A
  • Constraints include:
  • The Constitution
  • Laws passed by Congress
  • Common law
  • Legal precedents
  • Judicial process and procedures
65
Q

3 Types of Cases

A
  • Criminal Law: Disputed or actions involving criminal penalties (US v Jones; Commonwealth of Massachusetts v Smith)
    -Cases that arise out of laws designed to protect health, safety, and morality
    -Gov is always the plaintiff
    -Accused is always the defendant
    -Burden of proof is beyond a reasonable doubt
  • Civil Law: A system of jurisprudence for settling disputed that does not involve criminal penalties (Jones v Smith)
    -Two private entities (usually with a last name)
    -Disputes that often arise over contracts (violations)
    -Torts - disputes that arise out of an obligations in a social light
    -Only requires the plaintiff show responsibility based on preponderance of evidence (lower standard than criminal law)
    -Nobody goes to jail in civil cases
  • Public Law: Cases involve the action of public agencies or officials (Jones v Buttigieg; Smith v EPA). Includes administrative law and constitutional law
    -Public agencies
    -Rights of citizens
    -Civil rights and liberties cases
66
Q

The Judicial Process- Precedent

A
  • In addition to statues, courts can apply the rulings from previous cases. These are called legal precedent
  • Stare decisis
    -Latin for “let the decision stand”
    -Judicial doctrine that previous decision by a court should apply the rulings in previous, similar cases until that decision is overruled
    -They do this because it’s a practical way to order lives with an expectation of what is going to happen if they go to court.
    -Less cases go to court, as people can predict what the court ruling would be
    -Supports that Judges are not arbitrary, that if presented with a new set of facts, that judges will not negate a previous precedent
67
Q

Accessing Courts

A
  • To file a case a few criteria must be met. A case must:
    -Involve an actual case of controversy, not a hypothetical (ripeness)
    -Be initiated by someone with a take in the case’s outcome (standing)
    –>The person who’s filing the case has a vested interest in the case outcome
    -Not already be resolved or no longer requiring resolution (non-moot)
    –>Moot - decision either does not require a resolution or it has already been resolved
    –>Ex: Roe vs Wade because Roe already had birth
68
Q

Organization of Judiciary

3 Types of Courts

A
  • Generally there are 3 types of courts:
    -Trial Court: The first court to hear a criminal or civil case
    –>Finders of fact
    –>This is where the jury trial will be

-Appellate courts: A court that hears the appeals of trial-court decisions
–>Reviews the trial court mistakes
–>Determines errors of Trial court

-Supreme Court: The highest court in a state or nation, which primarily hears cases on appeal (Court of last Resort)
–>Interpret Law

**These are functionally different and hierarchically organized **

69
Q

Orgnaization of Judiciary

Federal Courts

A
  • Most cases are heard in state court
  • Cases are heard in federal court if they involve federal laws, treaties, or the constitution
  • Article III of the constitution give the US Supreme Court appellate jurisdiction in most federal cases and gives the Congress power to create lower federal court
    -Congress assigned original and appellate jurisdiction to federal courts based on a geographic basic
    -94 judicial districts
    -11 region appellate circuits + DC (1 federal circuit)
    -+ Specialized federal courts for certain kinds of cases (patents, bankruptcy, etc.)
70
Q

Supreme Court

A
  • Article III of the Constitution states, “The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court”
  • By law, the Supreme Court has one chief justice and eight associate justices
  • The Chief Justice presides over the Court’s public sessions, gets to speak first during deliberations, and gets to vote last
  • Congress has the authority to change the Court’s size. The constitution does not specify how many justices should sit on the Supreme Court.
71
Q

Supreme Court Procedure

A
  • Request for review is made by a writ of certiorari
  • Case must meet requirements of access (ripeness, standing, non-moot)
  • Clerks read all requests for review, write and calculate a memo about each case
  • Chief Justice complies “discuss list”
    -Any justice can request that a case be considered for a hearing
    -Four justices must agree for a case to have oral argument
  • If granted review: parties (and possibly “friends of the court”) file briefs

Supreme Court Procedure cont.
* Conference (preliminary vote)
* Opinion writing
-Majority opinion explains the Court’s decision in a case
-Drafts are circulated and edited
-Justices in the minority cay write dissenting opinions, justices in the majority using a different rationale may write a concurring opinion

72
Q

Judicial Independence

A
  • Courts serve the essential functions of settling disputes, coordinating behavior, and interpreting law
  • The most distinctive feature is its independence: separate from other branches and judges are appointed for life
  • Commonly articulated (but incorrect) view: judges are politically neutral actors
  • Judicial decision Making
    -Institutions & Rules
    -Judicial Ideology
    -Policy preferences
    -Social Factors
    -Legitimacy concerns
    -Identity & Background
73
Q

Judicial Ideology

A

**Ideology: (perceptual screen to make sense of information)
**

  • Restraint
    -Courts shouldn;t go beyond the text of the Constitution in interpreting its meaning
  • Activism
    -Courts should see beyond text to consider broader social implications
74
Q

Judges are Political Actors

A
  • Because judges have preferences about what government should do, courts are fundamentally political
  • Judges bring their own preferences, ideologies, and identifications to the bench
  • Judges make decisions with important political outcomes
    -Bush v Gore (2000)
    -Citizens United v FEC (2010)
    -NFIB v Sebelius (2012) and King v Burwell (2015)
    -US v Windsor (2013) and Obergefell v Hodges (2013)
    -Shelby County v Holder (2013)
75
Q

Judiciary is a Political Institution

A
  • Recall the definition of politics!
  • The power of the courts is checked by the powers of Congress and the president
    -When courts and Congress disagree about the interpretation of a federal law, Congress can pass a new law
    -When there is divided government, it is harder for Congress and the president to pass new laws in response to court decisions. This makes the courts more powerful.
76
Q

Judicial Appointment

A

**Federal judges are nominated by the president, Senate must confirm
-Senatorial courtesy: before nominating a district court judge, the president finds out whether the home-state senators support the nomination
-Since 1950s, nominees have been questioned by the Senate Judiciary committee
-Recent nominations have been intensely ideological

77
Q

Appointment Politics

A
  • Presidents attempt to appoint someone who is highly qualified and shares their political preferences/ideology
  • Opponents try to defeat nominees who do not share their preferences
  • Unlimited terms make judicial appointments more significant than other executive appointments
78
Q

What are Right and Liberties?

A

Liberties: protections from improper government action

Rights: legal or moral claims individuals may make on government

79
Q

Bill of Rights

A
  • To secure ratification, federalists pledged to amend the Constitution by adding a Bill of Rights
  • Adopted in 1791: ten amendments to the Constitution
  • Bill of Rights includes substantive and procedural restraints on government power
    -Substantive- the type of activity that the government can’t restrict
    -Procedural- gov cant do something is the procedure uses are unconstitutional or unfair (steps have to be taken and they have to be fair)
80
Q

Dual Citizenship

A

** (Rights given from Fed gov v rights given from state gov) **

  • First amendment specifically addressed Congress
  • Fifth amendment simply says “no person shall be denied due process of law”
  • So, what governments does the Bill of Rights restrict?
  • Barron v Baltimore (1833)
    -Confirmed the idea of dual citizenship
    -Rights confirmed by one (fed gov) are not the same as rights confirmed by the other (state gov)
    -14th Amendment counters logic on Barron v Baltimore
81
Q

Selective incorperation

A
  • Court rules that the 14th amendment did not apply the Bill of Rights to the States
  • But, begins gradually incorporating from 1897-present
  • This process is allied selective incorporation– the application of the liberties in the Bill of Rights, one by one, to state governments
82
Q

Nationalizing the Bill of Rights (selective incorporation)

A
  • Pre- 1961, only parts of the first amendment are fully incorporated
  • Post- 1961 :

Mapp v Ohio (1961) :
-What incorporated 4th amendment against search and seizure
→gov has to have a warrant

Gideon v Wainwright (1963) :
-Gideon was denied council when put in jail, wanted his conviction overturned, court agreed
→States had to supply attorneys at trial stage

Miranda v Arizona (1966) :
→Police have to apprise you of your rights when you are arrested, and have council during your interrogation

**Some parts of the Bill of Rights are still not incorporated **

83
Q

First Amendment: Freedom of Speech

A
  • What counts as speech?
  • If there are some limitations on speech, which ones?
  • “As a nation we have chosen to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate.” -John roberts
  • Freedom of speech is not absolute
    -Clear and Present Danger (Schenck v US)
    -Slander, Libel (saying untrue things that are damaging in print or spoken)
    -Commercial speech, etc.
    -Reveal state secrets (less protected as you present threat to national security)
84
Q

First Amendment: Freedom of Religion

A
  • “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
  • Cases/claims are organized by which part of the Amendment is invoked
    -Establishment Clause: separation of Church and State
    -Free Exercise Clause: protect a citizen’s right to believe and practice whatever religion she chooses
85
Q

The Second Amendment

A
  • “A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
  • 18th century: civilian militias were seen as an alternative to standing militaries (and better for freedom)
  • Anti-Federalists worried that establishing an army would cause state militias to suffer – the 2nd amendment is designed to prevent
  • Debates focus on who the 2nd amendment protects
  • Groups – states to have their own militias
    -Individuals – to arm themselves
  • District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) – law strictly regulating gun ownership was unconstitutional
  • McDonald v. Chicago (2010) – state level statute specifically home rule, that Illinois had granted Chicago to create their own gun regulations
    –>States can’t restrict individual gun ownership
  • Now often brought up as why we have the protections of gun ownerships that we do now
    -Background checks, gun training,
    –>Deeply opposed by many Americans (ex. National Rifle Association (NRA))
    -Concern with mass shootings
    –>Legal or illegal obtainment of guns
  • Focuses on individual rights
    o Recent development as of 2008
86
Q

Rights of the accused

Fourth Amendmet

A

Fourth amendment: searches and seizures
o Exclusionary rule
o Probable cause to search
o Mapp v. Ohio (1961)

87
Q

Rights of the accused

Fifth Amendment

A

Fifth amendment: self-incrimination, double jeopardy, grand jury indictment
o Barron v. Baltimore
o Cannot be compelled in a criminal case to be a witness against yourself
o Miranda v. Arizona (1968)

88
Q

Rights of the accused

Sixth Amendment

A

Sixth amendment: counsel, confrontation of witnesses

o Trial must be: public, impartial, speedy
o Process of criminal trial
o Procedural privileges/protections
–> Liberty can’t be taken away unless state follows very specific procedure
o Brady v. Maryland (1963) – prosecutors must share evidence with defense
–> State has to share exonerating evidence with the defense
o Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

89
Q

Eighth Amendment

A

-“Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”
- Capital punishment (death penalty)

  • Furman v. Georgia (1972) – way the state was applying the death penalty was unfair
    o Accidental burglary death – Georgia finds Furman guilty and sentences him to death
    o Arbitrary nature of death penalty followed a racial bias
    o Between 1972-1976 – nationwide stop of using death penalty
    o Death penalty legal in 30 states
    o Gregg v. Georgia (1976)
  • What constitutes cruel and unusual punishment?
    o Initially cruel and unusual methods – hanging
    o Electric chair considered unconstitutional, switch to gas chambers
    o Gas chambers not popular after WWII
    o Switch to lethal injection
    o Who is being executed, and for what?
    –> Atkins v. Virginia (2002) – mentally disabled can be executed? – NO
    –> Roper v. Simmons (2005) – individuals committing instigating crime before 18 can be executed? – NO
    –> Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008) – can’t be put on death row for non-homicide crimes
    o Incarceration
    –>Ewing v. California (2003)
    –> Blakely v. Washington (2004)
    –> Incarcerations of individuals
    –> 3 strikes law
90
Q

Right to privacy

A
  • No federally recognized right to privacy in the Constitution
  • Historically, the right to be left alone
91
Q

Origins and development of the right to privacy

A
  • Related to reproduction and sexuality
  • Evolved and evolving concept – not specifically mentioned in the Constitution or its amendments
  • Fourth amendment – warrants
    -What constitutes a search and what is considered unreasonable?
92
Q

Origins and development of right to privacy

Some other Sources

A
  • “Penumbra of the Constitution”
    -Penumbra – Group of rights derived, by implication, from other rights explicitly protected in the Bill of Rights
    -Griswold v. Connecticut
  • 14th Amendment – substantive due process
    -Different from procedural due process
    -Right of freedom you enjoy can’t be infringed upon
  • Statutes (HIPPA, FERPA, etc.)
  • Torts – civil rights of action
    -Sue another individual for invading your right of privacy
    -Claims against other individuals, not government
  • Right to privacy also considers things intangible (thoughts, conversations, etc.)
    -Olmstead v. US
    –>Government wiretaps Olmstead’s house (he smuggled alcohol during Prohibition)
    –> Privacy violated, but seizure of his conversations wasn’t covered by privacy
    –>Neither 4th or 5th amendment violated
93
Q

Privacy rights -abortion

Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)

A

Griswold – director for Planned Parenthood in Connecticut
§ Arrested for sharing contraceptive methods to a married couple
–> Violation of decency policy
§ Argues this is unconstitutional because violates right of substantive due process under 14th amendment
–> 14th amendment says nothing about privacy
§ Umbra vs. penumbra
–>Umbra – dark part (full coverage)
–>Penumbra – somewhat shaded, somewhat not (nearly covered)
–>Constitution is the planet – it covers the umbra (shaded region – things explicitly stated in the Constitution)
–> Penumbra – rights created in virtue of the rights of the umbra
–> Privacy is in the penumbra
§ Bullshit mental gymnastics LOL
§ Does this extend to other things? – contraceptive methods for nonmarried couples

94
Q

Privacy rights- Abortion

Roe v. Wade (1973)

A

§ Abortion felony in 1900 in every state
§ 1962 – some liberalized states
§ Illegal abortions or self-abortions for those who couldn’t travel to liberalized states
§ Court uses term “find yourself pregnant”
§ Roe (pseudonym) – argues her right to terminate pregnancy is covered under the right to privacy
–>Vs. protection for right to life
–> First trimester, state can’t place restrictions on abortion
–>More restriction in 2nd trimester
–> Most ability to restrict in 3rd trimester
§ Created right to abortion
§ Invalidates criminal statutes that make abortion illegal
§ Included in zone of privacy recognized under Griswold

95
Q

Privacy rights- Abortion

Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)

A

§ Restrictions on 2nd and 3rd trimester questioned
§ Much of Roe standard kept
§ Individual has more rights pre-viability
§ State can restrict abortion as long as it’s not undue

96
Q

Privacy rights- Abortion

Whole Women’s Health and Hellerstedt (2016)

A

§ Restricting providers/practitioners rather than individuals

97
Q

Privacy rights- Abortion

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health (2022)

A

§ All previous court cases (above) wrongly decided
§ Major step back
§ Followed Trump’s appointments to Supreme Court
§ Constitutional grounds are nonexistent for the right to abortion
§ Right to privacy is already shaky
§ Federal government can no longer recognize the federal right to seek an abortion
§ Individual states can now restrict abortion rights the way they would like to

98
Q

Sexual Freedom

A
  • When was sodomy legalized? – 2003
    -Illegal sodomy made it illegal to be openly gay

*Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) *– regulation of morality/decency is up to the states
§ Reversed by Lawrence v. Texas (2003)
–>Reconsider the sodomy statute
–>Application is unconstitutional
—> Responding to a reported weapons disturbance in a private residence, Houston police entered John Lawrence’s apartment and saw him and another adult man, Tyron Garner, engaging in a private, consensual sexual act. Lawrence and Garner were arrested and convicted of deviate sexual intercourse in violation of a Texas statute forbidding two persons of the same sex to engage in certain intimate sexual conduct. In affirming, the State Court of Appeals held that the statute was not unconstitutional under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, with Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186 (1986), controlling.

  • Right to privacy covers sexual decisions
99
Q

Civil Rights defined

A

Civil rights: legal or moral claims a citizen is entitled to make on the government
- Who can participate in politics and how much they can participate
- Curbing the power of majorities to exclude or harm minorities
- Answering 3 questions:
1. Who has a right and who does not?
–> Ex. felons
2. A right to what?
3. How much can they exercise that right?

100
Q

The right to vote

A
  • Not included in the Constitution
  • Initially, states restricted access based on property ownership, gender, and race
  • Voting rights have expanded over time
  • 15th amendment (1870) – can’t exclude based on race
    –>Continued to limit voting rights through poll taxes, literacy tests, and registration checks
    –> Access to ballot boxes
    –> Racial gerrymandering
  • 19th amendment (1920) – can’t exclude based on sex
  • 26th amendment (1971) – lowered the voting age from 21 to 18
101
Q

Segregation and “Separate but Equal”

A
  • Courts were slow to apply constitutional grants of rights to the states
  • Even though the right to vote and equal protection existed, state governments and private entities excluded people based on race using the “separate but equal” doctrine
  • Established by Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
    –> Plessy identified himself as 1/8th black and thrown off train because of restrictions for seating based on race
    –> As long as accommodations were equal, race could be segregated
    –> 14th amendment – “The object of the [14th] Amendment was undoubtedly to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law, but in the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political, equality, or a commingling of the two races upon terms unsatisfactory to either.”
    –> Tangible equality, not social equality
102
Q

Small Changes to Seperation but Equal

A
  • Some small changes begin in the 1930s
    o Challenged here
    o Courts become more active in equal protection
    o Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada:
  • Missouri law school accidentally admits black student and Missouri offered to pay out-of-state tuition
  • Court rejected this
  • Brown v. Board of Education (1954):
    -Linda Brown denied access to education to a school close to her house
    –>NAACP
  • Court rules that “in the field of public education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate education facilities are inherently inequal”
  • Gave the Court great moral capital without much initial change
  • 3 problems with effects
    –>Delay in enforcement (in both states and schools)
    –>Massive resistance
    –> Eisenhower says Brown v. Board happened too fast
  • Only concerned de jure segregation, not de facto segregation
    –>Covers legal segregation, not other ways segregation can occur (ex. district boundaries)
    -Only addressed education

* Civil rights movement grew after Brown

103
Q

The Civil Rights Movement

A
  • Brown did not end segregation and discrimination
  • Iconic moment: 1963 March on Washington
  • 1965 Voting Rights Act creates protections for African Americans’ right to vote
  • Should’ve been covered by 15th amendment, but wasn’t
    -Amended to include Hispanics (1975) and language groups (1982)
    -Required coming over a collective action problem
    -Progress had to happen through Courts
  • Watch “Selma 50 years later: remembering Bloody Sunday” video (in slides)
104
Q

The Black Lives Matter movement

A
  • Began in 2014
  • Focus on police misconduct and mass incarceration
    -Has expanded to include larger issues of freedom and voting rights
  • Reinvigorated following the murder of George Floyd by police (2020)
  • High level of media exposure
  • COVID lockdown – spurs major demonstrations in reaction to Floyd’s murder and unfair treatment of black people by police
  • NYT video (last slide posted)

PO/IR (6 decks)

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