US Constitution and Federalism Flashcards
What is the nature of the US constitution?
- Codified constitution
- Provisions are entrenched (hard to change)
- It is a blend of specificity and vagueness
What does a codified constitution entail?
- Systematic and authoritative collection of rules written in a single document
- Supremacy clause means the constitution is the supreme law of the land and takes precedent over any other laws
- Constitution will delegate powers to different parts of government
What is the amendment process?
An amendment needs to be proposed by 2/3 of both Houses of Congress.
It then needs to be ratified (agreed) by 3/4 of state legislatures
What are the advantages of the amendment process?
- Super majorities mean that the amendments need overwhelming support, so you don’t get things through the whim of a small minority of people
- Lengthy and complicated process so unlikely to be used over short term issues
- Both Federal and State governments must both be in favour.
What are the disadvantages of the amendment process?
- Overly difficult to change meaning the bad as well as the good is entrenched, constitution is 200+ years old and US society has changed, but its difficult to get wide support to make necessary changes EG: electoral college allows someone to win without the popular support like Trump in 2016
- The amendment process is undemocratic as smaller states are overrepresented in the process (Alaska has the same say as California)
- Difficulty of amendments gives the Supreme Court excessive power to have the final say on issues, they use their own personal biases.
What is the constitutional framework of the US branches of government?
President: can check Congress by vetoing bills they pass. Can check the Supreme Court by nominating judges and issuing pardons.
Congress/legislature : can check president by amending / delaying / rejecting their proposal. Can override presidents veto if they have a 2/3 majority in both houses. Have power of the purse. Senate has power to confirm/reject Presidential appointments and have power to impeach president and judges. They can propose constitutional amendments.
Supreme Court: can check Congress by declaring law unconstitutional. Can check President by ruling their actions unconstitutional.
Explain what limited government means (key feature of US constitution) ?
Power of federal government is subject to constitutional limitations so it can’t impose policy on the state and its citizens.
Popular sovereignty- power ultimately rests with people.
Explain what bipartisanship means (key feature of the US Constitution)
Two main parties working together to ensure that government operate.
When divided government occurs (when House, Senate and President are not all controlled by one party) parties have to work together to pass policy.
How is divided government effective?
- There is a better scrutiny of Bills and the President’s actions
- Cooperation and compromise can be achieved
EG: Bush worked with Democrats like Edward Kennedy to achieve education reforms in 2001, such as No Child Left Behind Act.
Violence Against Women Act reauthorisation was achieved through bipartisanship compromise.
How is divided government less effective?
- When the other party controls Congress the President is attacked and blocked (not scrutinised) with highly partisan politics.
EG: the attempted impeachment of Trump.
EG: Highly conservative Robert Borks’ nomination to the SC was blocked by a Democrat senate.
What are the failures of bipartisanship in relation to budgets?
-Obama’s budget was rejected by Congress in 2013 and failure to reach a compromise led to a 16 day shut down of Federal Gov. This was due to disagreement over Patient Protection and the Affordable Care Act.
What is federalism?
Government power is divided between national and state governments, who each have their own substantive areas of jurisdiction.
What does the constitution say about federalism?
- Articles of the constitution set out enumerate powers of the branches of federal government, the president is the commander in chief
- ‘Elastic Clause’ of the Constitution gives federal government implied powers ‘necessary and proper laws’ Article 1 Section 8
- The 10th amendment falls down on the side of state power ‘the powers not delegated to the US by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the States..’
- The concurrent powers are shared by federal and state government- road building, taxes, making and enforcing laws, having courts.
What are the consequences of federalism?
- Legally there is huge variation in laws such as driving age, drug legality and use of death penalty
- Elections as they are all state-based and states make the rules on how they’re carried out
- Huge variation in ideology as there’s no real national control
- Regionalism means that policies that are popular in the North won’t be as popular in the South as they have very different cultures.
How is the US constitution democratic?
- Elections are frequent (House every 2 years, President every 4, 1/3 Senate every 2 years) which creates a highly representative gov.
- Checks and balances ensure branches work together, prevents tryanny and means policy is based on compromise.
- Bill of Rights offers strong system of rights protection, 14th amendment gives legal protection to citizens, SC acts to protect these rights
- Amendment process stops politicians changing rules for their own benefit.
- Vagueness allows gov to operate effectively and make changes according to needs of society.
