Test 1 Flashcards
Equal Access Act
ensures that noncurricular student groups are afforded the same access to public secondary school facilities as other, similarly situated student groups.
Board of Education of Westside Community Schools vs. Mergens
Mergens wanted to start a bible study club, school wouldn’t let her, she appealed using the Equal Access Act and won
Declaration of Independence
Our breakup letter to Britain, Gov is given power by the people, they have fundamental rights
a. Natural Rights
b. Social Contract
a. rights everyone has, they cannot be taken away
b. when a group of people agree to give up certain rights and accept a central authority in order to protect their other rights
Second Treatise of Civil Government
by Locke, natural rights, social contract
argues for individual rights, limited government, and the social contract as key elements of political power.
a. Participatory Government
b. civil society groups
a. citizens participate individually and directly in political decisions and policies that affect their lives, rather than through elected representatives.
b. independent associations outside the governments control
a. pluralist theory
b. elitist theory
a. a theory of democracy that emphasizes the role of groups in the policy making process
b. a theory of democracy that the elites have a disproportionate amount of influence in the policymaking process
a. political institutions
b. constitutional republic
a. the structure of government including the executive, legislature, and judiciary
b. a democratic system with elected representatives in which the constitution is the supreme law
unicameral vs. bicameral legislature
A bicameral legislature is a legislative body made up of two (bi) chambers (camera). It is distinguished from a unicameral legislature in which all members of the legislature belong to and vote in one house.
a. Writ of Habeas Corpus
b. Bills of Attainder
a. a fundamental right in the Constitution that protects against unlawful and indefinite imprisonment.
b. Legislation that imposes punishment on a specific person or group of people without a judicial trial.
a. Virginia Plan
b. New Jersey Plan
c. Great Compromise (Connecticut Compromise)
a. a plan of gov calling for a 3 branch gov with a bicameral legislature where more populous states would have more representation
b. A plan of gov that provided for a unicameral legislature with equal votes from each state
c. an agreement for a plan of gov: house of rep apportioned proportionally, and Senate equally
a. Federalist 10
b. Letter from the federal farmer
a. deals with the danger of “faction” in a democratic government and argues that the federal system that the Constitution created was the best solution to this problem.
b. The Farmer suggests that a truly federal system of government would give more power to the States; states should have more power national gov less
a. Federalism
b. Legislative branch
c. Executive branch
d. Judicial branch
a. the sharing of power between the national government and the states
b. the institution responsible for making laws
c. the institution responsible for carrying out laws passed by the legislative branch
d. the institution responsible for hearing and deciding court cases through federal courts
a. expressed or enumerated powers
b. implied powers
c. exclusive powers
a. authority specifically granted to a branch of the government in the constitution
b. authority of the federal government that goes beyond its expressed powers
c. powers only the national government may exercise
a. necessary or proper clause
b. supremacy clause
c. commerce clause
a. language in Article I, Section, granting Congress the powers necessary to carry out its enumerated powers
b. constitutional provision declaring that the Constitution and all national laws and treaties are the supreme law of the land
c. grants Congress the authority to regulate interstate business and commercial activity
a. Federalists
b. Anti-Federalists
a. supporters of the proposed Constitution, who called for strong national government
b. those opposed to the proposed Constitution, who favored stronger state governments
Federalist Papers
a series of eighty-five essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay and published between 1787 and 1788 that lay out the theory behind the Constitution
a. Federalist #51
b. Brutus #1
a. an essay in which Madison argues that the separation of powers and federalism will prevent tyranny
b. an AntiFederalist paper arguing that the country was too large to be governed as a republic and that the Constitution gave too much power to the national government
a. Federalist #10
b. faction
a. an essay in which Madison argues that the dangers of faction can be mitigated by a large republic and a republican government
b. a group of self-interested people who use the government to get what they want, trampling the rights of others in the process
a. Unitary system
b. Confederal system
c. Federal system
a. a system where the central government has all of the power over the subnational governments
b. a system where the subnational governments have most of the power
c. a system where the power is divided between the national and state governments
a. reserved powers
b. concurrent powers
a. powers not given to the national government, which are retained by the states and the people
b. powers granted to both states and the federal government in the Constitution
a. full faith and credit clause
b. privileges and immunities clause
c. extradition
a. constitutional clause requiring states to recognize the public acts, records, and civil court proceedings from another state
b. constitutional clause that prevents states from discrimination against people from out of state
c. the requirement that officials in one state return a defendant to another state where a crime was committed
a. 13th ammendement
b. 14th ammendement
c. 15th ammendement
a. outlaws slavery
b. people born in the US are citizens, states can’t deny someone due process or equal protection under the law
c. African American men can vote
a. selective incorporation
b. cooperative federalism
a. the process through which the Supreme Court applies the fundamental rights in the Bill of Rights on a case-by-case basis
b. a form of American federalism in which the states and national government work together to shape public policy
Gibbons vs. Ogden
Gibbons was sued by Ogden for violating the monopoly given to him. Gibbons appealed to the US Supreme Court when New York’s state court found in Ogden’s favor. In a unanimous decision, the Court ruled that where state and federal laws on interstate commerce conflict, federal laws are superior.
it was about steamboat routes
McCulloch vs. Maryland
The court decided that the Federal Government had the right and power to set up a Federal bank and that states did not have the power to tax the Federal Government.
Maryland tried to tax the bank, Feds said no
Plessy vs. Fergusson
essentially established the constitutionality of racial segregation.
segregation did not in itself constitute unlawful discrimination
basically said separate but equal was lawfully okay
Gitlaw vs. New York
Gitlow was crazy liberal and said lots of stuff about storming the capital and overthrowing gov ect.
New York arrested him, he said but I have free speech, it went to SC, SC said NY was right and Gitlow was arrested
a. grant-in-aid
b. fiscal federalism
a. federal money provided to states to implement public policy objectives (policy that national gov decides)
b. the federal government’s use of grants-in-aid to influence the policies in states
a. categorical grants
b. unfunded mandate
c. block grant
a. grants-in-aid provided to states with specific provisions on their use
b. federal requirements that states must follow without being provided with funding
c. a type of grant-in-aid that gives state officials more authority in the disbursement of federal funds
a. revenue sharing
b. devolution
a. when the federal government apportions tax money to the states with no strings attached
b. returning more authority to state or local governments
United States vs. Lopez
Lopez brought gun to school, gov prosecuted under Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990, SC decided the act was unconstitutional because Gun possession is not an economic activity that has any impact on interstate commerce, whether direct or indirect, so the federal government cannot base a law prohibiting gun possession near schools on the Commerce Clause.
so lopez won and then congress rewrote the law so it worked
United States vs. Windsor
DOMA, the federal law did not recognize same sex marriage. Windsor who was married to Spyer in Ontario and whose marriage was recognized by NYC, sued contending that DOMA violates the guarantee of equal protection, as applied to the Federal Government through the 5th Ammendament
Obergefell vs. Hodges
14 same sex couples sued for validity of their marriages to be upheld across state lines, SC ruled in their favor. Obergefell was married, his partner died in Ohio and Obergefell was not listed as his husband on the death certificate, he sued so his name could be on their
Gonzalez vs. Raich
Congress may criminalize the production of homegrown cannabis even if a state law protects its growth and consumption for medical purposes.
a group of medical marijuana users brought the suit to federal cour, they lost
