US Constituion

Question 1

What are the two main principles of the US constitution ?

Answer 1

-Separation of powers
-Check and balances

Question 2

Define separation of powers ?

Answer 2

The doctrine that requires that the three element of goverment (executive, legislative and judicial) by held by separate branches of goverment in order to avoid tyranny

Question 3

Define checks and balances ?

Answer 3

A crucial features of the constitutions framework in which each branch of government is limited by the other, preventing too much concentration of power in any institution or individual

Question 4

By which political philosopher was the founding father influenced by ?

Answer 4

The founding fathers were influenced by the french political philosopher Montesquieu who in his 1748 work De L’Esprit des Loix (the spirit of the law) argues that the best way to avoid tyranny and absolutism was to divided government into three distinct branches

Question 5

How does the president check congress ?

Answer 5

-presidents veto acts or resolution passed by congress
-president often threaten the veto to dissuade congress from passing an unwelcome measure
-president can issue executive orders to bypass the need for formal legislation
-president can use their commander in chief role to deploy troops overseas, therefore avoiding congressional approval to declare war

Question 6

Name an example when president vetos acts or resolutions passed by congress ?

Answer 6

-president Barack Obama vetoed the Keystone XL pipeline and issues 12 regular vetoes during his two term in office
-president Trump vetoed the resolution revoking his declaration of a national emergency at the US-Mexico border

Question 7

Name an example when a president threaten to veto, to dissuade congress from passing an unwelcoming measure ?

Answer 7

Obama made 4 veto threats in his 2015 states of union address, on topic of stiffer Iran sanctions, diluting or overturning the affordable care act, loosening Wall Street oversight and tightening up immigration controls

Question 8

Name an example when the president issued executive orders to bypass the need for formal legislation ?

Answer 8

In 2017, Trump introduced a travel ban on visitors from several countries, mostly Muslim majority countries

Question 9

Name an example when president can use their commander in chief role to deploy troops overseas, therefore avoiding the congressional approval to declare war ?

Answer 9

In 2001 and 2003 respectively, president George W. Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq

Question 10

How does the president check the court ?

Answer 10

-the president nominates all federal justices including when there is a vacancy to the supreme court
-the president can issue pardons and commutation to those convicted of federal crime

Question 11

Name an example when the president nominated federal judges including when there’s a vacancy in the Supreme Court ?

Answer 11

-Obama appointed Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan
-Trump appointed Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett to the supreme court

Question 12

Name an example when the president can issue pardons and commutation for those convicted of federal crimes ?

Answer 12

-president Gerald Ford pardoned his immediate predecessor Richard Nixon
-Trump pardoned the media mogul Conrad Black in 2019 who had previously written a favorable biography about him
-Obama issues a record of 330 commutation on his final day in office
-Trump on his final days issues 73 pardons and 70 commutations including his former chief strategist Steven Bannon who was facing serious fraud charges

Question 13

How does congress check the president ?

Answer 13

-a presidential veto can be overturned by a supermajority in both houses
-the senate must confirm by a simple majority presidential appointments to the administration including the judiciary
-threat of senate rejection
-power of the purse
-congress can decline to pass legislation desired by the president e.g state of union address
-impeachment
-congress can block treaties negotiated by the president
-congress can launch investigation into presidential action where wrondoing

Question 14

Name an example when the president veto can be overturned by a supermajority in both houses ?

Answer 14

-in 2016, congress overturned Obama veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act
-George W. Bush had 4 out of his 12 regular vetos overridden
-Trump had just one of his ten vetoes overridden, on a defence spending bill in January 2019 during the final days of his presidency

Question 15

Name an example when the senate confirme by a simple majority presidential appointments to the administrations including the judiciary ?

Answer 15

• in 2013 the senate blocked Obama appointment of Robert Wilkins to the district of Colombia court of appeals, the second most important court in the states
  -the last cabinet nominee to be denied confirmed was John Tower as defence secretary in 1989

Question 16

Name an example when there’s been a threat of senate rejection ?

Answer 16

-Biden controversial 2020 pick of Neera Tanden as director of the office of management and budget , when it was clear she would not secure enough senate vote for confirmation her nomination was withdrawn in march 2021

Question 17

Name an example of the power of the purse ?

Answer 17

-congress on several occasion, frustrated trump attempt to get full funding for his Mexican border wall

Question 18

Name an example when congress has rejected to pass legislation desired by the president ?

Answer 18

-in the aftermath of several mass shooting, most notable at Sandy Hooks school in 2012, Obama requested congress to pass several gun control measure but nothing was passed despite proposal being drawn up
-Trump experienced similar frustrations when he tried to get his own version of healthcare reform passed

Question 19

Name an example of impachement ?

Answer 19

-in 2019, the house voted to proceed with an impeachment trial against Trump, however the republican senate did not convict him following the trial
-uniquely in the final days of his presidency the house voted to impeach him a second time on 13th January 2021

Question 20

Name an examples where congress has the power to block treaties negotiated by the president ?

Answer 20

• a two thirds vote in the senate is required to ratify treaties, in 2012 the senate failed to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
  -although it passed by 61-38, it needed five more votes to get ratified

Question 21

Name an example when congress can launch investigations into president action where wrongdoing ?

Answer 21

-in 2019 the house oversight and reform committees launched an inquiry into a potential conflict of interest over increase spending by the US air forces on refuelling at a struggling Scottish airport near a resort owned by Trump
-the airport was seen as integral to the viability of Trump Turnberry golf resort

Question 22

How can congress check on the court ?

Answer 22

-congress can impeach federal justices and remove them from office
-constitutional amendments can be initiated to overturn Supreme Court verdicts

Question 23

Name an example when congress has impeached federal justices and removed them from office ?

Answer 23

• in 2020, a Louisiana federal judge, Thomas Porteous, was successfully impeached and removed from office for corruption in a near unanimous vote

Question 24

Name an example when constitutional amendments can be initiated to overturn a Supreme Court verdict ?

Answer 24

-in1896, the court found a national income tax to be unconstitutional, this was reversed by the ratification of the 13th amendment in 1913
-subsequently there have been attempts in congress to pass amendments banning flags burning and prayer in public schools, although theses have been unsuccessful.

Question 25

How can the court check on the president ?

Answer 25

The court can rule presidential actions unconstitutional and therefore illegal

Question 26

Name an example when the court can name presidential action unconstitutional therefore illegal ?

Answer 26

-in Hamdan v Rumsfeld 2006, the court ruled against special military commission set up by George W. Bush to try suspected members of the terrorist group al Queda -in 2020 in two cases involving the tax and financial records of president Trump, Trump v Mazar and Trump v Vance, the court ruled that president do not enjoy absolute immunity from state criminal subpoenas. In other words the president is not above the law even when in office

Question 27

How does the court check on the president ?

Answer 27

-the court can declare acts of congress to be unconstitutional and therefore effectively require them to be repealed

Question 28

Name an example when the court declare acts of congress unconstitutional and therefore effectively repealed ?

Answer 28

- in 2013, the defence and marriage act was ruled unconstitutional in the United States v Windsor, which marked a major advance for the legislation of same-sex marriage across the USA

Question 29

Explain why check and balance are significant ?

Answer 29

-it encourages the political players, above all congress and the president to deploy other tactics to get around the constraints, hence many president prefer to negotiate executive agreement over full treaties with international powers

Question 30

Name an example when president used executive agreement over full treaties with international power ?

Answer 30

-Obama nuclear deal with Iran -the call of a national emergency to secure additional funding without the express approval of congress, as Trump did over the USA-Mexico border

Question 32

Why is the president subject to most checks out of all three ?

Answer 32

-this is a clear indication of the framers fear, because in their view the main threat to good government was laying too much power in the hands of a single person

Question 33

Why does check and balance affect the timing of presidential initiative ?

Answer 33

-president face particular problems getting legislation thorough when their party does not control congress, a situation that is known as divided government -president often lose popularity midway through a 4 year term leading to their party performing poorly in the midterm congressional elections and perhaps losing control of one or both chamber

Question 34

Name an example when party has loosed midterms ?

Answer 34

-Trumps Republican Party lost control of the house in 2018 midterms -Obama Democratic Party lost control of the senate in 2014 midterms

Question 35

Due to midterm failure what do president usually do in their first 2 years after getting elected ?

Answer 35

-therefore president to try to push through mayor chunks of legislation in their first 2 years -this can been seen in Obama securing Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) 2010 -Trump getting his Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed in 2017

Question 36

Due to the tactic and timing, the elaborate system of checks and balances what is the US political at a national level characterised as ?

Answer 36

Gridlock

Question 37

By dispersing power what has the found father ensured ?

Answer 37

That is much easier to stop something happening such as a new law than it is to achieve something positive

Question 38

What has the structure of the system try to promote ?

Answer 38

Bipartisanship and different groups working together

Question 39

What has occurred instead of the found father intentions ?

Answer 39

-the opposite has occurred in a time of bitter bipartisanship the parties show a marked reluctance to cooperate and compromise

Question 40

Name an example when partisanship and lack of cooperation has been seen ?

Answer 40

-during national emergency such as COVID-19 in 2020, took several days of intense an often fraught negotiation to get the original $2.2 trillion stimulus package to pass the Care Act

Question 41

What are the two way in which formal amendment can occur ?

Answer 41

-by a two third majority in both the senate and the house -at a constitutional convention called by two third of state

Question 42

What two way can amendment be ratified ?

Answer 42

-three quarters of state legislatures must then ratify it -three quarter of state legislature must ratify it at special state ratifying convention

Question 43

How many successful amendment have there been ?

Answer 43

27

Question 44

What are the first ten amendment called by ?

Answer 44

Bill of rights 1791

Question 45

What is the 26th amendment ?

Answer 45

Lowered the minimum voting age from 21 to 18

Question 46

Name an example when an amendment was passed in a response to a particular situation ?

Answer 46

-the amendment restricting the president to two terms in office was passed soon after the lengthy presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt who served for an unprecedented 13 years having won four successive election and died in office 1945

Question 47

Name the 1st, 2nd, 8th amendment (key amendment from the bill of right )

Answer 47

1st=introduced freedom of religion, speech, the press and assembly 2nd= introduced the right to bear arms 8th= banned the use of cruel and unusual punishment

Question 48

Name the 13th, 14th, 17th amendment (key amendment after the bill of rights) ?

Answer 48

13th= abolished slavery 1865 14th=gave citizenship to former enslaved people and included the equal protection and due process clauses 1868 17th=introduced the direct election to the senate 1913

Question 49

What was the last amendment ?

Answer 49

-passed in 1992 and specified that any increase to congressional salaries could only take effect after the next election

Question 50

Is the constitution too hard to amend formally ? (Yes)

Answer 50

-very few amendment have been passed recently due to the high threshold required (27 in over 200 years) -the current constitution contains some provision that many consider outdated for example the electoral college and the second amendment act -it prevents the constitution from being updated especially in the areas of rights, while some key projects such as racial minorities other such as women and people with disabilities make this also impossible to achieve -too much informal amendment take place via Supreme Court judgment from individuals who are unelected and unaccountable -although in theory states can intimate the formal amendment process under article V, no national convention has ever been held

Question 52

Is the constitution too hard to amend formally ? (No)

Answer 52

-the high threshold for formal amendment ensure that change only happens when there is a wide consensus and broad agreement -obsolete clauses of the constitution can be repealed, as happened with prohibition, some constitutional problem such as the electoral collage could be reformed without the need for outright abolition -the right of many groups not specifically singled out for protection in the constitution can be equally well defended by federal and state laws -the Supreme Court does often take notes of the direction of public opinion when reaching its conclusions and so informally amending the constitution for example in relations to LGBTQ+ rights -the current amendment procedure in theory at least allows for a federal dimension to be present via a national constitutional convention as it is sate initiated

Question 53

What is the court role and what has it led to ?

Answer 53

The court has a crucial role in interpreting the constitution via judicial review, this has led to judges to discover new meaning and rights within existing clauses

Question 54

What did the District of Columbia v Heller 2008 led to ?

Answer 54

-the explicit right to private gun ownership

Question 55

What are the Miranda rights ?

Answer 55

The right of those stopped by the police to remain silent and avoid self-incrimination

Question 56

What did carpenter v United States lead to in 2018 ?

Answer 56

Extending the right or privacy to mobile phone data