Test 2

Question 1

What happened in the case of Hamdi v. Rumsfeld

Answer 1

Yaser Hamdi petitioned the court and challenged his sons detention in Guantanamo Bay
The supreme court sided with Yaser and said that a state of war is not a blank check for the President when it comes to the rights of the nations citizens

Question 2

a. federal judiciary
b. supreme court

Answer 2

a. the branch of the federal government that interprets the laws of the nation
b. the highest level of federal judiciary, which was established in Article III of the constitution and serves as the highest court in the nation

Question 3

a. original jurisdiction
b. appellate jurisdiction

Answer 3

a. the authority of a court to act as the first court to hear a case, which includes finding of facts in the case
b. the authority of a court to hear and review decisions made by lower courts in that system

Question 4

Federalist No. 78

Answer 4

argument by Alexander Hamilton that the federal judiciary would be unlikely to infringe upon rights and liberties but would serve as a check on the other two branches

Question 5

a. Marbury vs. Madison
b. judicial review

Answer 5

a. established judicial review (the one with salty john adam’s, petty Jefferson and butt hurt judges)
b. the authority of the supreme court to strike down a law or executive action if it conflicts with the Constitution

Question 6

a. criminal law
b. civil law

Answer 6

a. a category of law covering actions determined to harm the community
b. a category of law covering cases involving private rights and relationships between individuals and groups

Question 7

a. federal district courts
b. federal courts of appeals

Answer 7

a. the lowest level of the federal judiciary; these courts usually have original jurisdiction in cases that start at the federal level
b. the middle level of the federal judiciary; these courts review and hear appeals from the federal district courts

Question 8

a. precedent
b. stare decisis

Answer 8

a. a judicial decision that guides future courts in handling similar cases
b. the practice of letting a previous legal decision stand

Question 9

a. judicial restraint
b. judicial activism

Answer 9

a. a philosophy of constitutional interpretation that justices should be cautious in overturning laws
b. a philosophy of constitutional interpretation that justices should wield the power of judicial review, sometimes creating bold new policies

Question 10

a. political patronage
b. pendelton act

Answer 10

a. filing of administrative positions as a reward for support rather than solely on merit
b. an act of congress that created the first US civil service commission to draw up and enforce rules on hiring, promotion, and tenure of office within the civil service

Question 11

a. iron triangle
b. Issue network

Answer 11

a. coordinated and mutually beneficial activities of the bureaucracy, Congress, and interest groups to achieve shared policy goals
b. webs of influence between interest groups, policymakers, and policy advocates

Question 12

a. pork barrel spending
b. logrolling
c. oversight

Answer 12

a. spending which is intended to benefit constituents of a politician in return for their political support
b. trading of votes on legislation by members of Congress to get their remarks passed into legislation
c. efforts by Congress to ensure that executive branch are acting legally and in accordance with congressional goals

Question 13

a. constituency
b. apportionment

Answer 13

a. a body of voters in a given area who elect a representative or senator
b. the process of determining the number of representatives for each state using census data

Question 14

a. partisan gerrymandering
b. majority-minority district
c. malapportionment

Answer 14

a. drawing of district boundaries into strange shapes to benefit a political party
b. a district in which voters of a minority ethnicity constitute an electoral majority within that electoral district
c. the uneven distribution of the population among legislative districts

Question 15

a. Baker vs. Carr
b. Shaw v. Reno

Answer 15

a. one person one vote, Tennessee had wacky district lines, case got up to supreme court and T had to redraw their lines
b. North Carolina tried to draw districts using race supreme court said no so they had to redraw

Question 16

a. political action committee
b. whip
c. committee chair

Answer 16

a. an organization that raises money for candidates and campaigns
b. a member of Congress, chosen by his or her party members, whose job is to ensure party unity and discipline
c. leader of a congressional committee who has authority over the committees agenda

Question 17

a. discharge petition
b. house rules committee

Answer 17

a. a motion filed by a member of Congress to move a bill out of committee and onto the floor of the House for a vote
b. a powerful committee that determines when a bill will be subject to debate and vote on the House floor, how long the debate will last and whether amendments will be allowed on the floor

Question 18

a. committees of the whole
b. hold
c. cloture

Answer 18

a. consists of all members of the House and meets in the house chambers but is governed by different rules, making it easier to consider complex legislation
b. a delay placed on legislation by a senator who objects to a bill
c. a procedure through which senators can end debate on a bill and proceed to action provided 60 senators agree to it

Question 19

a. entitlement program
b. mandatory spending
c. discretionary spending

Answer 19

a. a program that provides benefits for those who qualify under the law, regardless of income
b. spending required by existing laws that is locked in the budget
c. spending for programs and policies at the discretion of Congress and the president

Question 20

a. delegate role
b. trustee role
c. politico role

Answer 20

a. the idea that the main duty of a member of congress is to carry out constituents wishes
b. making decisions based on their knowledge and judgement
c. balance their choices with the interests of their constituents and parties

Question 21

a. lame duck period

Answer 21

a. period at the end of a presidential term when Congress may block presidential initiatives and nominees

Question 22

Federalist No. 70

Answer 22

Hamilton argues that an energetic single executive will protect against foreign attacks, provide administration of laws, and protect liberty and property

Question 23

executive agreement

Answer 23

an agreement between a president and another nation that does not have the same durability in the American system as a treaty but does not require senate ratification

Question 24

signing statement

Answer 24

written comments issued by presidents while signing a bill into law that usually consists of political statements or reasons for signing the bill but that may also include a presidents interpretation of the law itself

Question 25

a. War Powers Resolution
b. impeachment

Answer 25

a. a law passed over President Nixons veto that restricts the power of the president to maintain troops in combat for more than sixty days without congressional authorization
b. the process of removing a president from office with articles of impeachment by issuing a majority vote in the House followed by a trial in the senate with a two thirds vote necessary to convict and remove

Question 26

United States v. Nixon

Answer 26

affirmed the power of executive privilege, but said in this case Nixon had to hand stuff over

Question 27

a. bargaining and persuasion
b. bully pulpit

Answer 27

a. an informal tool used by the president to persuade members of congress to support their policy initiatives
b. presidential appeals to the public to pressure other branches of government to support their policies

Question 28

going public

Answer 28

a tactic through which presidents reach out directly to the American people with the hope that the people will in turn put pressure upon their representatives and senators to press for a presidents policy goals

Question 29

a. bureaucratic discretion
b. bureaucratic adjudication

Answer 29

a. the power to decide how a law is implemented and to decide what Congress meant when it passed a law
b. settles disputes between parties that happen because of federal laws, and determine whose covered under a program