AP Review

Start Studying!

Review Flash cards

Terms

undefined, object

copy deck

Palko v Connecticut (1937: Ruled a harsher sentence as a result of a new trial won on appeal does not violate double jeopardy.
Implied Powers: powers claimed by Congress which are not specifically enumerated in the Constitution, but are implied in its necessary and proper clause (Article I, Section 8).
Unicameral: "one room." The term refers to a legislature that has only one body, such as the Israeli Knesset or the German Bundestag.
malapportionment: Characterized by an inappropriate or unfair proportional distribution of representatives to a legislative body
Census: A recount of the population every ten years for purposes of reapportionment of the Congress
Domestic Policy: decisions, laws, and programs made by the government which are directly related to issues in the United States. Sometimes domestic and foreign policies influence each other.
Miler v. California: 1973 ruling that determined the obscenity clause to related to works that lack literary, artisitic, political or scientific value. (LAPS test)
Civil Liberties: personal freedoms, most of which are protected by the Bill of Rights from government interference.
Enumerated Powers: powers specifically listed in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution as being granted to the Congress.
Duncan v. Louisiana: 1968 guarantees the right to a trial by jury where a sentence of at least two years is involved.
Logrolling: exchanging political support for political favors, especially by members of Congress and other legislatures
impoundment of funds: when Congress takes money from a bill that the president has vetoed and places it into bills he has not vetoed
Select Committee: groups appointed for a limited purpose and usually lasting for only a few congresses
Judicial review: power of a court to refuse to enforce a law or government regulation which it believes to be unconstitutional. Chief Justice John Marshall articulated this right in the decision of Marbury v. Madison (1803). So far, the Supreme Court has ruled about 1500 congressional acts or parts of acts unconstitutional.
Concurrent powers: powers granted to the national government by the Constitution, but not denied to the states. One example is the right to lay and collect taxes.
Unitary system: a system of government in which constitutional authority lies in the hands of the national government. In such a system, political subdivisions created by the central government take responsibility for much of the everyday administration of the government. Great Britain is an example of a country with a unitary system of government.
Extradition: Process by which governments return fugitives to the jurisdiction from which they have fled.
Privileges and immunities: refers to Article IV, Section 2 of the Constitution, which guarantees that "citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens" in any other state in the United States.
Gramn-Rudman (Balanced Budget Act): The Gramm-Rudman Act required that each year form 1986-1991 the budget would automatically be cut until the federal deficit had disappeared
Shield law: Law guaranteeing news reporters the right to protect the annonymity of their sources. States have passed this--not the federal government.
Judicial Activism: belief that the Supreme Court has the right or obligation to perform judicial review.
Political Culture: basic beliefs, customs and assumptions about government which are shared by the people in a group or nation.
Baker v. Carr (1962): "One man, one vote." Ordered state legislative districts to be as near equal as possible in population; Warren Court's judicial activism.
Senate Minority Leader: the head of the minority party in the Senate. The minority leader represents the interests of the minority party senators by meeting with the majority leader to schedule bills and rules for floor action.
Franchise: the right to vote
Equality of Opportunity: situation in which every person has an equal chance, especially in areas such as education, employment and political participation
U.S. v. Lopez (1995): Gun Free School Zones Act exceeded Congress' authority to regulate interstate commerce.
Supremacy Clause: Article VI, Section 2 of the Constitution, which states that the "Constitution, and the laws of the United States made in pursuance thereof ... shall be the supreme law of the land." Thus, if any state laws come into conflict with the Constitution , then the Constitution must win out.
Grants-in-aid programs: federal funding given to states and local governments to fund policies and programs. The Morrill Act (1862) was the first grant-in-aid program.
Monetary Policy: An attempt to alter the amount of money in circulation and the price of money (the interest rate) to affect the economy.
Appellate court: a court which hears cases which have been decided in lower courts. For cases involving state law, most states provide state appellate courts, while federal circuit courts ("courts of appeal") deal with most appeals related to federal law. The State Supreme Court is the highest appellate court, the "court of last resort," for cases involving state law, while the US Supreme Court is the highest appellate court, the "court of last resort," for cases involving federal law.
Incumbent: a candidate who holds the office for which he or she is running in an election. It is usually difficult for an incumbent candidate to be defeated in an election, unless he or she has had a very poor term in office. Incumbents have the benefit of having
Entitlements: A claim for government funds that cannot be abridged without violating the rights of the claimant; for example, social security benefits or payments on a contract.
Judicial Branch: section of the government that interprets the laws and administers justice. In the federal government, the judicial branch consists of: the Supreme Court, the Circuit Courts of Appeal, District Courts, and several special courts.
appropriations: funding that must be authorized by Congress for any federal spending
Treaty Ratification: power given to the Senate to accept or reject treaties made by the President. A two-thirds majority is needed to ratify a treaty, as stated by the Constitution in Article II, Section 2, clause 2.
Ombudsman: person in a government agency to whom people can go to make complaints or explain problems with the programs or policies of the agency
Caucus: an association of members of congress created to advocate a political ideology or regional economic interest
Civil Rights Laws: laws designed to protect individuals or groups from having their civil rights violated by other individuals, organizations or groups.
Rule of Law: doctrine that no individual stands above the law, and that all rulers are answerable to the law. This is one of the major legacies of the constitutional system. The rule of law can also be understood as the belief that there is a universal standard of justice, equality and impartiality, against which all governments and governmental actions may be measured.
Popular sovereignity: idea that government should reflect the general will of the people, or the interests that all citizens have in common. Political theorist Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-78) described this concept in Du contrat social (The Social Contract), published in 1762.
Federalist Papers: a series of essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison to convince readers to ratify the Constitution in New York State. The essays were later used to promote the ratification of the Constitution in other states. The Federalist Papers stand as a primary on what the writers of the Constitution had in mind when they were creating the document.
North Atlantic Treaty Ogranization (NATO): established by a treaty signed in 1949. The treaty tied the security interested of the United States to those of the nations of Western Europe and other areas. NATO arose out of fear of the military and security threat posed by the Communist Soviet Union, although it still exists even after the fall of the U.S.S.R.
Shaw v. Reno (1993): NO racial gerrymandering; race cannot be the sole or predominant factor in redrawing legislative boundaries; majority-minority districts.
Equality of opportunity: everyone is given the same chance (i.e. job opportunities)
Legislative Power: power to make laws. In the federal government of the United States, the Congress holds most of the legislative power.
Franking privilege: power of members of Congress to send out mail free, without paying postal charges. This is one of the benefits or perquisites of being a House Representative or Senator, since members of Congress can use mailings to cultivate a positive popular image among their constituents.
soft money: political parties can solicit unlimited funds from individuals, corporations, and unions, provided that they spend the money on local party activities such as voter registration campaigns and get-out-the-vote drives and not on behalf of specific candidates
Freedom of Assembly: the right to gather with other people in public. This right is protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
pocket veto: if the president does not sign the bill within ten days and Congress has adjourned within that time, then the bill will not become a law
Gubernatorial: pertaining to a governor
Free Exercise Clause: section of the First Amendment to the US Constitution which forbids the government to make any laws to prohibit the free exercise of religion. This is the basis of the Constitution's protection of the freedom of religion.
Bush v. Gore (2000): Use of 14th Amendment's equal protection clause to stop the Florida recount in the election of 2000.
Bread and Butter issues: Those political issues are specifically directed at the daily concerns of working-class Americans, such as job security, tax rates, wages, and employment benefits.
Public policy: actions which the government takes to address problems and issues raised in society and introduced through the political system.
Articles of Confederation: pre-Constitution document, ratified in 1781, creating the first government of the United States. The Confederation, established by the Articles, was a loose union of states with a weak Congress and no executive or judicial branch.
Senatorial courtesy: A check placed on the presidency whereby candidates for the federal bureaucracy must first be approved by the Senate.
Korematsu v. U. S.: 1941--The court upheld the constitutionality of detention camps for Japanese-Americans during World War 2.
Civil Disobedience: the refusal to obey certain laws, in order to influence those with power to have them changed. Civil disobedience is characterized by the use of nonviolent techniques, such as boycotting, picketing, and the refusal to pay taxes. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was one of the most famous American proponents of civil disobedience as a way to make laws more just.
Marshall Plan: a set of foreign policies adopted by the United States after World War II. Named after Secretary of State George C. Marshall, the policies provided substantial aid to European countries to help them rebuild their countries, economies and democracies, many of which had been destroyed or severely damaged during the war.
Boy Scouts of America v. Dale: The boy scouts were allowed to dismiss a leader after learning that he was gay, holding that freedom of association outweighed the New Jersey anti-discrimination statute.
Human Rights: idea that humanaity has certain rights including that of security of person
Amendment: an alteration or addition to a document. Although over 6,000 constitutional amendments to the US Constitution have been proposed in Congress, only 27 have been adopted, the most recent having been ratified in 1992. According to the Constitution, there are four ways in which it can be amended. An amendment can be proposed to the states either after a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress, or by a vote in two-thirds of the state legislatures. Once it has been proposed to the states, it can be ratified either by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states or by conventions in three-fourths of the states. All 27 amendments, except the 21st Amendment, were proposed by a two-thirds majority of Congress and ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states.
Gideon v. Wainwright: 1963 ruling that a defendant in a felony trial must be provided a lawyer free of charge if the defendant cannot afford one.
Equality of results: everyone receives the same in the end (i.e. salaries)
Plessy v. Ferguson: 1896 ruling that separate but equal facilities for different races were not unconstitutional.
Senate Majority Leader: first-ranking party position, held by a distinguished senior member of the majority party in the Senate. The Senate majority leader schedules floor actions on bills, and helps guide the majority party's legislative program through the Senate.
Constitutional Courts: federal courts formed by Congress under the authority of Article III of the Constitution, to exercise "the judicial power of the United States." They include the US Supreme Court, the Courts of Appeals, the District Courts, and the Court of International Trade.
Lame Duck: person holding office after his or her replacement has been elected to the office, but before the current term has ended. In the American presidency, the period after election day in November and the swearing-in of the new President in January is known as the lame duck period.
Petit Jury: a trial jury, which weighs the evidence against someone accused of a crime, and determines his or her guilt or lack of guilt under the law. Trial or petit juries traditionally have 12 people, although several states have juries with only 6 people. In most states, all the members of the jury must make their decision on the person's guilt or lack of guilt (verdict) unanimously. Some states, however, only require a majority which is greater than a simple majority. If a jury cannot agree on verdict, it is declared a "hung jury," and the matter is either dropped or brought to another trial with a new jury.
Candidate: person who declares that he or she wants to be elected to a position, such as President, Senator, Governor, or Mayor. Candidates use campaigns to let voters know that they are running for office, and to convince people to vote for them.
Majority Leader: in the Senate, this is the first-ranking party position, held by a distinguished senior member of the majority party in the Senate. The Senate majority leader schedules floor actions on bills, and helps guide the majority party's legislative program through the Senate. In the House, the majority leader stands second to the Speaker of the House in party authority. Like the Senate majority leader, the House majority leader helps promote the legislative agenda of the party in the House.
Search warrant: a court order that allows the person holding the order, generally a law enforcement officer, to search areas specified in the order for items specified in the order.
Initative: Process through which voters may propose new laws.
Human Rights: idea that humanaity has certain rights including that of security of person
Checks and Balances: principle used in the Constitution and developed through precedent that allows the three branches of government to share some responsibilities, and allows each branch some authority over the activities of the other branches. Some examples of checks are: the President's veto power, which is a check on Congress; Congress' power to override a veto; which is a check on the President's power and the Supreme Court's right of judicial review, which is a check on Congress.
Palko v. Connecticut (1937): Provided test for determining which parts of Bill of Rights should be federalized - those which are implicitly or explicitly necessary for liberty to exist.
Election: process by which people choose the candidate they want to become a public official. Many positions in government are elected positions, which means that many voters have to decide on a person to fill each job. Elections are held for positions like City Council person, Mayor, State Representative, Governor, Congressperson, and President of the United States. Some positions are not elected, but appointed.
Brandenburg v. Ohio: 1969--Determined that a law that proscribes advocacy of violence for political reform is constitutional if applied to speech that is not directed toward producing imminent lawlessness and is not likely to produce such action is not constitutional.
Balance of trade: the net difference between the value of American exports and imports. If the country has exported more than it has imported, then the United States has a positive or favorable balance of trade. If the country has imported more than it has exported, then it has a negative or unfavorable balance of trade.
gerrymandering: To divide (a geographic area) into voting districts so as to give unfair advantage to one party in elections
Proportional representation: system of electing members of the legislature, in which the number of seats given to a particular party is determined by the percentage of the popular vote which goes to that party. This system is used in many countries, including most European nations.
majoritarian foreign policy: includes those decisions that are perceived to confer widely distributed benefits and impose widely distributed costs
Bill of Rights: another name for the first ten amendments to the US Constitution. These ten amendments protect the fundamental freedoms of Americans from any infringement by the government.
Equal Protection Clause: provision in the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution which prohibits states from discriminating against people arbitrarily. All Americans are, thus, guaranteed "equal protection of the laws." This amendment was passed in 1868, mainly to protect African-Americans, many of whom had previously lived under slavery, from discrimination on the basis of race.
Special Courts: federal courts which were created by Congress to hear specific types of cases. Sometimes called "legislative courts," they include: the Court of Military Appeals, the Claims Court, the Tax Court, territorial courts, and the courts of the District of Columbia.
Mapp v. Ohio (1961): Established exclusionary rule; illegally obtained evidence cannot be used in court; Warren Court's judicial activism.
Full faith and credit: first words of Article IV, Section 1 of the Constitution, which requires states to respect the "public acts, records, and judicial proceedings" of all the other states.
Government: institutions and officials which enact laws and execute and enforce public programs. Government in the United States is made up of executive, legislative and judicial branches at federal, state, and local levels.
Parker v. Gladden: Right to an impartial jury
Ethnicity: a set of characteristics which result in a distinctive culture, in which a group of people share. In the United States, ethnicity is a term that is somewhat flexible in meaning, but generally refers to a subset of the national culture in which people share one of more of the following characteristics: race, nationality, religion, ancestry, or language. Ethnicity sometimes refers to the group of people, as well as the culture itself
Line-Item Veto: power given to the president allowing him or her to veto specific provisions of appropriations and tax bills. Congress passed a limited line-item veto in 1995, but a federal judge struck it down in 1997. The Supreme Court recently refused to rule on the law claiming that those suing( a group of Congressmen) had not been harmed by the law and thus did not have standing to sue.
Slander: the use of spoken words to harm someone's reputation.
elite public opinion: more liberal and internationalist outlook
Jim Crow Laws: laws which promoted segregation, or the separation of people based on race. These laws worked primarily to restricted the rights of African Americans to use certain schools and public facilities, usually the good ones; to vote; find decent employment and associate with anyone of their own choosing. These laws did not make life "separate but equal," but only served to exclude African Americans and others from exercising their rights as American citizens. In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), the US Supreme Court ruled that Jim Crow laws were unconstitutional. It took many years and much effort, however, before Jim Crow laws would be overturned across the country.
Containment: Post WWII built a network of defensive alliances in Europe and Asia during the late 1940s and 50s
Progressive: People who think that personal freedom is as important as, or more important than, certain traditional moral rules and that those rules must be evaluated in light of the circumstances of modern life.
Criminal law: set of laws which deal with actions which are considered dangerous to the public welfare or morals, or to the interests of the state. Laws which are not criminal laws are civil laws.
Tax Reform Act (1986): Instead of high rates with big deductions, we got low rates with much smaller deductions. The big gainers were individuals; the big losers were businesses.
Dissenting Opinion: written explanation of the opinion of one or more judges in a court who disagree with the decision of the majority of the court.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: independent federal agency in the executive branch. Created in 1964, this agency works to eliminate employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, disability, age or other criteria unrelated to job performance. It investigates complaints of discrimination; files lawsuits in cases of discrimination and is responsible for enforcing equal opportunity laws in federal departments, offices and agencies.
Civil Rights Movements: organized efforts to get laws passed and enforced which protect people and groups from having their constitutional rights violated.
Primaries: used to select a party's candidate for and elective office, though in fact those who vote in a primary election may not consider themselves party members
Buckley v. Valeo (1976): 1st Amendment protects campaign spending; legislatures can limit contributions, but not how much one spends of his own money on campaigns.
Open Meeting Law: every part of every agency meeting must be open to the public unless certain matters are being discussed
Industrial policy: Would have the government planning or subsidizing investments in industries that need to recover or in new industries that could replace them.
Containment: Post WWII built a network of defensive alliances in Europe and Asia during the late 1940s and 50s
Budget Enforcement Act (1990): It imposed a cap on discretionary (that is, non-entitlement) spending. As long as the president and Congress stay under that cap, they can change the amount of money they spend
Judicial Restraint: belief that the Supreme Court should not exercise judicial review often. People who support this view feel that justices, who are appointed, should not use much power to overturn the decisions of Congress, which is elected.
Executive Branch: section of the government which is responsible for executing laws. In the federal government, the executive branch consists of: the President, the Vice President, the Cabinet, all the executive departments, and several administrative agencies.
Ethnic Group: group of people who are part of a common and distinctive culture. An ethnic group can be determined on the basis of a complex set of characteristics, including race, nationality, religion, ancestry, and language.
Citizenship: status that requires the individual to pledge allegiance to the government and entitles that individual to the rights and protections provided by the government.
Mandate: Level of support for an elected official as perceived through election results.
Covenant: agreement between two or more individual people or groups, to which all parties are bound.
Writ of Habeas Corpus: court order which requires that individuals who have been arrested or detained be physically brought before the court to determine whether they are being held on legal grounds. This helps protect people from being arbitrary arrested and/or held in custody for excessive periods unnecessarily. "Habeas corpus" means "you must have the body."
veto message: a statement that the president sends to Congress accompanying the bill, within ten days after the bill has been passed
Speaker of the House: leading member of the house of Representatives. Third in line to the presidency.
Equal Protection of the Law: idea that all citizens should be treated equally under the law, and that no state has the right to grant privileges or discriminated against any individual or group. This idea is embodied in the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution.
Referendum: a direct vote by the people on an issue of public policy.
Legislation: laws
Freedom of religion: the right to worship according to one's own beliefs. This freedom is guaranteed in the First Amendment to the US Constitution, although the Supreme Court has ruled that this freedom is not absolute.
Hatch Act: formally known as the "Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities," called the "Hatch Act" after Senator Carl Hatch of New Mexico, who was its major sponsor. The purpose of the law was to calm fears that federal civil service employees might be able to wield extraordinary influence on the election of the President and members of Congress. As a result of the Hatch Act, federal employees may vote, but may not take an active part in partisan politics.
Freedom of expression: right to express oneself and one's views in spoken words, actions, printed materials, assemblies or gatherings and petitions submitted to the government. It refers to the collective rights guaranteed in the First Amendment to the US Constitution: religion, speech, press, assembly and petition.
Unenumerated rights: rights not listed in the Constitution or constitutional amendments; but either implied or, for some other reason, recognized and protected by the Supreme Court.
Necessary and Proper Clause: clause 18 of Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution. This clause establishes the "implied powers," by which Congress has authority to pass legislation in areas not specifically listed in the Constitution.
Ideology: set of beliefs and goals of a social or political group that explain or justify the group's decisions and behavior.
Tinker v. Des Moines (1969): Guaranteed a student's right to protest (wearing armbands).
John Locke: British political theorist of the Enlightenment who argued that government should be based on the consent of the governed, and that people had the right to revolt against ineffective or unfair government. His most famous work, Two Treatises on Government, was published in 1690.
Brown v. Board of Education: 1954 case that overturned Separate but Equal standard of discrimination in education.
Campaign: effort to get a person elected to an office, usually a political office. Candidates running for office use commercials and advertisements, as well as personal appearances and speeches to help get themselves elected. Often, candidates will choose a campaign manager to coordinate their campaign.
Hate Speech: type of speech which is used to deliberately offend an individual; or racial, ethnic, religious or other group. Such speech generally seeks to condemn or dehumanize the individual or group; or express anger, hatred, violence or contempt toward them.
Wall of separation: term for the separation of church and state, coined by Thomas Jefferson. According to Jefferson, the freedom of religion articulated in the First Amendment to the Constitution could best be articulated with the image of a "wall of separation" between the state and the church. This view of the First Amendment has been criticized by some.
Progressive Tax: The wealthiest individuals paid at a higher rate than the less affluent.
Briefs: documents given to a court by the attorneys trying a case. These documents contain summaries of the issues in the case, the laws relevant to the case, and the arguments which support the position taken by the attorney on behalf of his or her client.
fiscal Year: The period from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30 for which government appropriations are made and federal books are kept.
Precinct: smallest, most local unit in the typical structure of political parties at the local level. Precincts act as voting districts, and cover an area of several blocks.
Budget deficit: Condition that arise when federal expenditures exceed revenues.
U. S. v. Richard Nixon: 1974--The court rejected Richard Nixon's claim to an absolutely unqualified privilege against any judicial process.
Natural Law: set of principles which govern human interactions, which are built into the structure of the universe, as opposed to being imposed by human beings.
Lemon v. Kurtzman: 1971 defining government actionsin dealing with religion--must not inhibit or advance religion and does not entangle the goverment with religion.
Reserved Powers: powers given to the states that are not enumerated in the US Constitution. According to the Tenth Amendment, "powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
Indictment: Written statement of criminal charges brought against a defendant.
imperialism: - the tendency of agencies to grow without regard to the benefits that their programs confer or the costs that they entail
Filibuster: a tactic in which a Senator holds the floor for a long time in order to delay or prevent a vote on an issue. Filibusters cannot occur in the House of Representatives, since speaking time is limited.
Pardon: legal forgiveness for a crime. Governors can issue pardons for state crimes, and the President can issue pardons for federal crimes.
Crime: a public wrong. There are two kinds of crimes: felonies and misdemeanors. A felony is the most serious type of crime (e.g., murder), which is punishable by a large fine, imprisonment, or death. A misdemeanor is a relatively less serious crime (e.g., speeding), which is punishable by a small fine or a short jail term.
Circuit Court: part of the federal court system. There are 13 federal circuit courts: one for the District of Columbia, one for patent and trademark cases, and 11 for the rest of the country. Circuit courts, also called "courts of appeal," deal with all appeals of decisions made in district courts, for both civil and criminal cases. In addition, circuits courts may review decisions of independent regulatory agencies and departments, such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
general elections: used to fill an elective office
Charles de Montisquieu: French political theorist who analyzed different government constitutions and developed the theory upon which the separation of powers is based. His most famous work was De l'esprit des lois (The Spirit of the Laws), published in 1748.
Delegated powers: also called "enumerated powers." Delegated powers are those which are specifically listed in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution as being granted to the Congress.
Constituency: group of residents represented by a public official or any elected officer.
Consent of the governed: agreement by the people of a nation to subject themselves to the authority to a government. Natural rights philosophers, such as John Locke, believe that any legitimate government must draw its authority from the consent of the governed.
Engel v. Vitale (1962): Prohibited state-sponsored recitation of prayer in public schools by virtue of 1st Amendment's establishment clause and the 14th Amendment's due process clause; Warren Court's judicial activism.
Miranda v. Arizona: 1966 ruling that upon arrest, a suspect has the right to remain silent and the right to consult with a lawyer.
Suffrage-the right to vote: The Fifteenth Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees suffrage for all Americans, regardless of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." The Nineteenth Amendment guaranteed suffrage for all Americans, regardless of gender.
McCulloch v. Maryland: 1819--The Court ruled that states cannot tax the federal government, i.e. the Bank of the United States; the phrase "the power to tax is the power to destroy"; confirmed the constitutionality of the Bank of the United States.
Ad Hoc Structure: used by Clinton - task forces, committees, and informal groups of friends and advisers deal directly with the president
Budget Deficit vs Surplus: A situation in which the government spends more money than it takes in from taxes and fees. vs A situation in which the government takes in more money than it spends.
Circular Structure: used by Carter - cabinet secretaries and assistants report directly to the president
Disfranchised: having the right to vote taken away. The term is also used to refer to anyone whose rights and privileges of citizenship, including the right to vote, has been taken away.
Gibbons v. Ogden: 1824--Clarified the commerce clause and affirmed Congressional power over interstate commerce.
OMB: (1921)Its chief function is to prepare estimates of the amount that will be spent by federal agencies, to negotiate with other departments over the size of their budget, and to make certain (insofar as it can) that the legislative proposals of these other departments are in accord with the president's program.
disengagement: if a war was thought "immoral" we were reluctant to see American military involvement
Wesberry v. Sanders (1963): Ordered House districts to be as near equal in population as possible (extension of Baker v. Carr to Congressional districts).
hard money: must be reported to the FEC
National Environmental Policy Act: before undertaking any major action affecting the environment, an agency must issue an environmental impact statement
National Security: the condition of the nation, in terms of threats, especially threats from outside. One of the major jobs of the federal government is to ensure the security of the nation.
Near v Minnesota (1925): Case centered on censorship - government cannot censor something (newspapers) because that restricts freedom of the press. Main issue was government officials were being criticized and wanted to censor the criticism.
Criminal case: legal proceedings brought against a person or group accusing that person or group of having committed a public wrong, or crime. A criminal case involves a trial, while, with a civil case, the term "lawsuit" is more generally applied. In a criminal case, the State is always one of the parties - the prosecutor.
Bakke v. Regents of the University of California: 1978--Ambiguous ruling by a badly divided court that dealt with affirmative action programs that used race as a basis of selecting participants. The court general upheld affirmative action, but with a 4/4/1 split, it was a very weak decision.
mass public opinion: generally believes in Americans first
Caste system: manner of organizing society based on the wealth, privilege, profession or inherited rank of individuals.
duplication: occurs when two government agencies seem to be doing the same thing
Furman v. Georgia (1972): State death penalties (as then applied) are arbitrary and violate equal protection of 14th Amendment.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA): created by Congress in 1947. The CIA functions under the direction of the National Security Council. It serves to: coordinate information-gathering activities of all federal agencies, especially those in the Departments of State and Defense; analyze and evaluate information collected; and keep the President and National Security Council updated on all the information obtained. The CIA also conducts intelligence operations across the world, in its efforts to obtain information. It is a very secretive organization, and even Congress is largely uninformed of most of its activities, except for a few key members of Congress.
Appeal: formal request that a higher court hear a case that has been decided in a lower court. State Supreme Courts are the highest courts which can hear appeals for cases involving state law, while the US Supreme Court is the highest court which can hear appeals for cases involving federal or constitutional law. An court appeal to a state appellate court are generally made on procedural grounds, i.e., on the basis that some aspect of proper legal procedure was not observed in the original trial. Anyone can petition the US Supreme Court to take a case under advisement. However, the Court is only likely to accept a case if it involves issues related to the constitutionality of the lower court's decision, or state versus federal powers.
Taxes: money collected by federal, local or state government from individuals or businesses for use in public spending.
Civil case: a lawsuit brought against one person or group to enforce or protect a private right; prevent a private wrong (tort); or obtain compensation for a private wrong (tort). This is different from a criminal case, which involves the committing of a crime, or public wrong.
The Whip: a senator who helps the party leader stay informed about what party leaders are thinking, rounds up members when important votes are to be taken, and attempts to keep a noses count on how the voting on a controversial issue will go
Primary: process by which members of a party elect candidates to run for office as the representative of the party. Primaries are held in national presidential elections, as well as more local elections.
Politics: an area of activity aimed at influencing or controlling the government in order to formulate or guide public policy.
Isolationism: Elite opinion opposed getting involved in European wars; adopted after WWI
Political Action Committee (PAC): an independent organization established by interest groups, political candidates, and people who hold office. PACs serve to raise and contribute money to the political campaigns of individuals whose platforms agree with the aims of the PAC. These organizations were founded because federal laws prohibit most interest groups from contributing money directly to political campaigns.
Objective good faith: Exception to the exclusionary rule that allows the use of illegally obtained evidence at a t trial if the court determines that the police beelived they were within the limits of the law when they obtained the evidence.
Iron triangle (subgovernment): The close working relationship between interest grousp, congressional committees and executive agencies.
Sovereignty: supreme and final authority or power in a government. In the United States, sovereignty rests with the people.
Partisan: partial to a particular party or person, often political in nature. One criticism of federal politics, especially regarding Congress, is that some politicians spend more time and effort trying to promote their party's platform than trying to develop laws and policies which serve the American people.
Social Contract: agreement among all the people in a society to give up part of their freedom to a government in exchange for protection of natural rights. John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau were two European political philosophers who wrote about this concept.
United Nations: international organization established in 1945. The U.N. supports cooperation among nations and the peaceful settlement of debates. The United States is one of the U.N.'s 183 member states.
Senate: independent federal agency in the executive branch. Selective Service works to register all males in the United States, between the ages of 18 1/2 to 26,to make sure that the Armed Forces can be adequately supplied with people in case of a crisis in national security.
cloture rule and Rule 22: the closing or limitation of debate in a legislative body especially by calling for a vote; governs cloture, the procedure used to end a filibuster. Cloture takes 60 votes. If it wins, up to 30 hours of debate may still be held, although this is rarely utilized. Instead, debate usually ends shortly after a cloture vote, followed by an immediate vote on final passage
Class system: manner of organizing society so that people are given certain rights and privileges according to their social class, and people in one class are prevented from moving into other classes.
Freedom of the press: the right to publish or print without interference from the government, guaranteed in the First Amendment to the US Constitution. This extent of this freedom has been debate by the public, in the legislatures, and in the courts, especially as regard to prior restraint, libel, obscenity and national security.
Texas v. Johnson (1989): Flag-burning is symbolic speech with a political purpose and is protected by 1st Amendment.
Quorum: minimum number of people needed a meeting for the business at hand to take place.
Orthodox: People who believe that morality is as important as, or more important than, self-expression and that moral rules derive from the commands of God or the laws of nature.
Equal Rights Amendment: proposed amendment which states that "equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." This amendment was passed by Congress and was proposed to the states in 1972. It failed to be ratified by enough states in time for its 1982 deadline.
Minority Leader: the head of the minority party in either the House or the Senate. The minority leader represents the interests of the minority party by meeting with the majority leader and, in the case of the House, the House Speaker to schedule bills and rules for floor action.
Confederate system: system of government in which nations or states agree to join together under a central government, to which the nations or states grant certain powers. The United States had a confederate system of government under the Articles of Confederation, from 1781 to 1789.
Libel: use of print or pictures to harm someone's reputation. Until 1964, a person could prove that they had been libeled simply by showing that the statements in question were incorrect. In 1964, the Supreme Court decided that public officials had to prove that the statements in question were made with "actual malice"-for the purpose of harming the person's reputation. As a result of the Supreme Court case, Time, Inc. v. Firestone (1976); private individuals only have to prove negligence, rather than "actual malice," on the part of the press.
Vote: choose. In order to vote in the United States, a person has to be at least 18 years old and a citizen of the United States. People who are eligible to vote must register.
Supply Side economics: An economic philosophy that holds the sharply cutting taxes will increase the incentive people have to work, save, and invest. Greater investments will lead to more jobs, a more productive economy, and more tax revenues for the government.
Concurring Opinion: written explanation of the opinion of one or more judges in a court who support the decision of the majority of the court, but do not agree on the basis for the majority decision.
Civil War Amendments: constitutional amendments passed after the Civil War to free African Americans living under slavery, give them citizenship, and guarantee their rights as citizens. The Thirteenth Amendment was passed in 1865; the Fourteenth Amendment was passed in 1868; and the Fifteenth Amendment was passed in 1870.
Individual Rights: rights claimed by the individual, as opposed to rights claimed by a group.
Merit system: manner of choosing employees that emphasizes their ability, education, experience, and job performance; rather than their connections or other political factors. In 1883, Congress passed the Pendleton Act, which called for reforms to make sure more federal employees were hired by a merit system and fewer by Presidential appointment. Today, almost 95% of federal civilian employees are hired on a merit basis, through civil service examinations and educational and skill qualifications.
Legistlative Branch: section of government that makes laws. In the federal government, the legislative branch consists of: Congress, the Library of Congress, the Congressional Budget Office, and General Accounting Office, and the Government Printing Office. On the state level, the state legislatures make up the legislative branch.
Grounds: rational or factual basis for arguing something. In order to appeal a case, the attorneys must have grounds for appeal. They cannot simply appeal because they are not happy with the decision.
Civil Law: set of laws which deal with private rights of individuals. Laws which are not civil laws are criminal laws.
Unitary government: system of government in which all authority is placed in a central government. Countries with unitary governments, such as Great Britain and France, have regional and local governments which derive their power from the central government.
Keynesianism: Assumes that the market will not automatically operate at a full-employment, low-inflation level. Suggests that the government should intervene to create the right level of demand by pumping more money into the economy (when demand is low) and taking it out (when demand is too great).
Council of Economic Advisors: established by the Employment Act of 1946. It analyzes the national economy in order to advise the President on economic policy. The Council consists of three members, appointed by the President and approved by the Senate, one of whom the President designates as Chairperson.
Common good: the interests of a society as a whole, also called "public good" and "general welfare."
Joint Chiefs of Staff: a group of high-ranking military officers who represent the Navy, Army, Air Force and Marines. They assist the civilian leaders of the Department of Defense in integrating policies and programs, and advise the President and National Security Council when asked. The Joint Chiefs of Staff is headed by a Chairman.
Confirmation: power given to the Senate to approve or disapprove presidential nominees to executive or judicial positions. The Senate needs a simple majority to confirm or reject a nominee, according to Article II, Section 2, clause 2 of the Constitution. The Senate has refused to confirm only about nine Cabinet nominees, although many more nominees have been withdrawn because they were likely to be rejected by the Senate.
House minority leader: the head of the minority party in the House of Representatives. The minority leader represents the interests of the minority party by meeting with the majority leader and, in the case of the House, the House Speaker to schedule bills and rules for floor action.
Amicus curiae: a written brief which is submitted to the Supreme Court by a third party, either an individual or organization. An amicus curiae allows the opinions of the third party, with regards to the case at hand, to be considered by the court. "Amicus curiae" means "friend of the court" in Latin.
Dealignment: the weakening partisan preferences that points to a weakening of the two party system and a rise of independents in politics.
Political Party: organized group of people who want to control or influence government by winning elections, holding public office, and having the government's laws and policies reflect their political beliefs. In the United States, there are two major parties: the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.
Carig v. Boren: 1976 ruling that classification of individuals based on gender must be related to an important government objective; replaced minimum rationality standard.
Legitimacy: the belief among citizens that their government has the right to pass and enforce laws.
Freedom of Information Act: citizens have the right to inspect all government records except those containing military, intelligence, or trade secrets or revealing private personnel actions
Civil rights: constitutional rights and privileges enjoyed by individuals and groups, which the government promises to protect from interference by others.
Monetary Policy: government policies which try to influence the economy by changing the amount of money circulating in the economy (money supply) and the interest rate (rate at which people, companies, or the government can borrow money).
constraints on program planning: length of time; unexpected crisis; nature of federal government
Killer amendment: Amendment to a bill proposed by its opponenets for the specific purpose of decreasing the bill's chance of passage.
Free trade: buying, selling and other financial transactions which are conducted tariffs or other trade barriers.
Shay's Rebellion: incident in western Massachusetts in 1786-1787. Small-farm owners, led by Daniel Shays, rebelled in reaction to the state's failure to address the widespread farm foreclosures and credit difficulties. Although troops were able to calm the rebellion, the rioting convinced many national leaders that the Articles of Confederation were insufficient for national stability, and that a stronger central government was needed. This helped compel leaders to create what would become the US Constitution.
Coalition: A combination of groups of people who work together to acheive a political goal.
Federal Judiciary: consists of the nine justices of the US Supreme Court and hundreds of federal judges, all of whom are appointed by the President and approved by the Senate. Federal judges preside over constitutional courts, which include 94 district courts and 12 courts of appeal; and legislative courts, which consists of special courts like tax and military courts.
Separation of Church and State: idea that the government and religion should be separate, and not interfere in each other's affairs. In the United States, this idea is based on the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which states that the government cannot make any laws to establish a state religion or prohibit the free exercise of religion.
Gerrymandering: drawing the boundaries of an election district so that one party or group has a significant advantage. The strategy generally used is to concentrate opposition votes in a few districts, while spreading out the rest of the opposition over many districts. Gerrymandering is often used to help get candidates of a particular party elected, or to help increase minority representation in government.
Civil Division: a division of the Department of Justice. The Civil Division deals with most of the civil cases in which the United States is a party, i.e., all civil cases which are not under the jurisdiction of any other division of the Department of Justice.
Political participation: becoming involved in activities such as voting, running for political office, signing petitions and other activities which help citizens make an impact on public or political issues.
Fundamental Rights: rights and privileges considered essential by the general society.
Caucus: meeting of members of a political party to determine the party's official position on issues, and to choose party leadership. In legislative caucuses, or conferences, members of a party in a chamber of legislature meet to choose the party leadership in that chamber and to agree on a party position on upcoming legislation. In local party caucuses, party members in a ward or town meet to choose party officials and candidates for public office, as well as determine the party platform on local issues.
Foreign Service: part of the Department of State. The Foreign Service has thousands of ambassadors and staff members, who are trained to represent the United States in embassies, missions, liaison offices, consulates and other agencies in the United States and throughout the world. Ambassadors report to the President via the Secretary of State. They are responsible for implementing US civilian foreign policy within the countries to which they are assigned.
Escobedo v. Illinois: 1964--Ruled that a defendant must be allowed access to a lawyer before questioning by police.
Open primary: you can decide when you enter the voting both which party's primary you wish to participate in
Jurisdiction: authority of a court to hear a case. A case cannot be tried in a court which does not have jurisdiction over it.
conflict: exists because some agencies seem to be working at cross-purposes with other agencies
Barron v Baltimore (1833): The guarantee in the 5th Amendment that private property shall not be taken "for public use, without just compensation" is not applicable to state governments as well as the federal government.
Ex Post Facto: "after the fact." An ex post facto law is one which makes a particular act illegal, and punishes people who committed that crime before the law was passed, i.e., when the act was legal. "Ex post facto" means "from a thing done afterward" in Latin.
Economic planning: An economic philosophy that assumes that the government should plan, in varying ways, some part of the country's economic activity. For instance, in times of high inflation, it suggest hat the government regulate the maximum prices that can be charged and wages that can be paid, at least in the larger industries.
Budget resolution: Set of budget guidelines that must pass both houses of Congress in identical form by April 15.
Civil Service: system of hiring government employees on the basis of merit, rather than political considerations. The term is also used to refer to government employees outside the military.
Eminent Domain: governmental power to take private property for public use. The Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution requires the government to pay "just compensation" to anyone from whom it takes private property under eminent domain.
Marginal rate: The tax rate in the highest bracket. This is the percentage of the last dollar that you earn that must be paid out in taxes
Epperson v. Arkansas (1968): Prohibited states from banning the teaching of evolution.
Legislature: a group of elected people who create the laws. The national legislature is the Congress, while states and local governments also have legislatures.
Electoral college: a body of individuals which elect the President and Vice President of the United States. The Constitution created this body, which consists of gatherings of state electors in each state to formally cast their ballots for a candidate for whom they have pledged to vote. Today, the Electoral College is basically a formality. In the past, however, on at least two occasions, a president was elected based on the electoral college, even though he lost the popular vote.
Speaker of the House: decides who shall be recognized to speak on the floor of the house; ii. Rules whether a motion is relevant and germane to the business at hand; iii.decides the committees to which new bill shall be assigned; iv. influences what bills are brought up for a vote; v. appoints the members of special and select committees
Reaganomics: The federal economic polices of the Reagan administration, elected in 1981. These policies combined a monetarist fiscal policy, supply-side tax cuts, and domestic budget cutting. Their goal was to reduce the size of the federal government and stimulate economic growth.
Exclusionary Rule: principle that evidence cannot be used against a person if it was obtained illegally. This principle was established by the Supreme Court in the 1967 case, Mapp v. Ohio. In Nix v. Williams (1984), the Supreme Court ruled that evidence that had been illegally obtained could be used against someone in court if the prosecution could prove that the evidence "ultimately or inevitably would have been discovered by lawful means." In the same year, in United States v. Leon, the Court again restricted the exclusionary rule. The Court decided that, "when an officer acting with objective good faith has obtained a search warrant," the evidence obtained should be admissible in court, even if the warrant later proves to be faulty.
Congressional Budget Act of 1974: After the president submits his budget, two budget committees study his overall package and obtain an analysis of it form the Congressional Budget Office
Political Culture: A distinctive and patterned way of thinking about how political and economic life ought to be carried out
Magna Carta: British document, signed by King John, which reaffirmed long-standing rights and responsibilities of the English nobility; limited the powers of the king; and recognized that all people, including the government and monarch, are subject to the law.
Established religion: official religion, sponsored by the government. The First Amendment to the US Constitution forbids the government of the United States from establishing a state-sponsored religion.
disengagement: if a war was thought "immoral" we were reluctant to see American military involvement
Joint Committee: those on which both representatives and senators serve.
red tape: complex rules and procedures that must be followed to get something done
line item veto: the chief executive can approve some provisions of a bill and disapprove others
Anarchy: confused state of society in which there is no government and no laws.
Constitutionalism: idea that the structure and powers of government should be based upon a written or unwritten constitution, which should set limits to the power of the government.
Blanket primaries: in the voting booth you mark a ballot that lists the candidates of all the parties, and thus you can help select the Democratic candidate for one office and the Republican candidate for another
Broad constructionism: Belief that the Constitution should be interpreted loosely concerning the restrictions it places on federal power.
Authority: right to influence, control or direct the actions of other people. Authority can be given ion law, by custom, by understood rules of morality or by consent of the person under authority.
Poll tax: a tax a person is required to pay before he or she is allowed to vote. Poll taxes were used in many southern states after the Reconstruction period to restrict African-American citizens' right to vote.
Administrative Procedure Act: before adopting a new rule or policy, an agency must give notice, solicit comments, and hold hearings
Federalism: system for national government in which some powers are delegated to either national or state government, and other powers are shared between the two levels. This system presented a compromise at the 1787 Constitutional Convention between delegates fighting for a strong central government and delegates concerned about states' rights.
President: Chief Executive of the United States, Head of State and Commander and Chief of the US Armed Forces. The President of the United States is elected every 4 years, by the Electoral College.
Adversary system: A system of law where the court is seen as a nuetral area where disputants can argue the merits of their cases.
Entitlements: payments made to a person or government which meets the requirements enumerated in the law. Social Security benefits, military pensions, and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) are all entitlements
Gregg v. Georgia (1976): Upheld new Georgia death penalty laws requiring dual-phase trial and special circumstances; capital punishment does not constitute cruel & unusual punishment of 8th Amendment.
Naturalization: process by which an alien becomes a citizen
Cabinet: board of advisors to the President, composed of the heads of the executive Cabinet departments and any other officials whom the President chooses. The Constitution does not mention a Cabinet, but Washington created one by meeting with his Secretaries of State, Treasury, and War on a frequent basis. James Madison coined the term "president' cabinet" to describe the meetings. The tradition has been maintained in every subsequent American Presidency. Today, the Cabinet includes: the Secretary of State; the Secretary of the Treasury; the Secretary of Defense; the Attorney General; the Secretary of the Interior; the Secretary of Agriculture; the Secretary of Commerce; the Secretary of Labor; the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; the Secretary of Transportation; the Secretary of Energy; and the Secretary of Health, and Welfare; the Secretary of Health and Human Services; Secretary of Education, and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
Framers: term used to refer to the people who attended the Constitutional Convention in 1787 as delegates, or were involved in the writing of the Bill of Rights.
Representative Democracy: system of government which derives its authority from the people and governs according to the will of the majority, but in which the people elect individuals to represent their will.
Matching Grants: funding strategy in which the donor, whether the government or a private agency, requires the recipient to provide a given percent of the money needed to implement to program.
Writ of certiorari: court order issued by the Supreme Court to order a lower court to send up the record of a case. Supreme Court justices use writs of certiorari to bring cases from lower courts to the Supreme Court for review. "Certiorari" means "to be informed" or "to be made more certain" in Latin.
Tax Loopholes: All manner of special interests can get some special benefit from the tax law that the rest of us must pay for but, given the complexity of the law, rarely notice. Loopholes are client politics par excellence.
Excise taxes: taxes on the manufacture, sale, or consumption of items made within the country which is imposing the tax.
Bill of Attainder: legislative act declaring that a person is guilty of a crime and setting punishment without the benefit of a formal trial. The Constitution forbids the federal government (Article I, Section 9, clause 3) and the state governments (Article I, Section 10, clause 1) from passing bills of attainder.
Original jurisdiction: authority held by a court to be the first court to hear a particular case.
Conservative: A political ideology that tends to favor defense spending and school prayer and disapprove of social programs, abortion, affirmative actions and a large, active government.
Thomas Hobbes: British political theorist who argued that individuals formed governments because of their rational self-interest. One of the major intellectual figures of the Enlightenment, his most famous work is The Leviathan, published in 1651.
CEA: It is an impartial group of experts, composed of 3 professional economists plus a small staff (1946), who are responsible for forecasting economic trends, analyzing economic issues and helping prepare the economic report that the president submits to Congress each year.
Bureaucracy: a large, complex administrative structure. Such structures exist in organizations such as governments and businesses. The executive branch of the federal government has a complex bureaucracy, with a hierarchy of bureaus and agencies.
House majority leader: prominent position in the majority party, second only to the Speaker of the House in party authority. Like the Senate majority leader, the House majority leader helps promote the legislative agenda of the party in the House.
Selective Service System: independent federal agency in the executive branch. Selective Service works to register all males in the United States, between the ages of 18 1/2 to 26,to make sure that the Armed Forces can be adequately supplied with people in case of a crisis in national security.
Closed primary: you must declare in advanced (sometime several weeks in advance) that you are a registered member of the political party in whose primary you wish to vote
Interest Groups: organization of people who share political, social or other goals; and agree to try to influence public policy to achieve those goals.
Supreme Court (also High Court): the highest court in the judicial branch of the United States government, and the only court specifically mentioned in the Constitution. It consists of a Chief Justice and eight other Associate Justices. The Supreme Court is the "court of last resort" for appeals-the final authority on any questions dealing with the Constitution, acts of Congress, and treaties of the United States. The only way to get around a Supreme Court decision is to amend the Constitution or have the Supreme Court itself reverses the decision. If a case is decided by the US Supreme Court, it cannot be appealed anywhere else.
Concurrent Committee: made up of representatives and senators appointed to resolve differences in the senate and house versions of the same piece of legislation before final passage
Shared Powers: powers granted to the national government by the Constitution, but not denied to the states. One example is the right to lay and collect taxes.
Natural Rights: rights, freedoms and privileges which are such a basic part of human nature that they cannot be taken away. These are different from rights which are given to people by the law. According to the Declaration of Independence, these rights include "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Jury: a group of people chosen according to the law, who listen to a case in court and reach a decision on the case. In Article III, Section 2, clause 3, the Constitution guarantees a person's right to a trial by jury. Thus, people have their cases decided by a group of people, and not just one individual. Impeachment cases, cases brought before the Supreme Court, and very minor cases are not brought before a jury.
Republic: form of government based on a constitution, in which decisions are made by elected or appointed officials in a democratic manner.
executive privilege: the privilege to have secrecy between them and their advisors
Prior restraint: blocking a story before it is punished or broadcast
Clear and Present Danger: phrase used in the Supreme Court decision, Schenck v. United States (1919). It refers to the idea that the government has the right to punish individuals who engage in speech or actions which can be shown to present a serious and immediate danger to the nation or the interests of the government. Schenck had been convicted for having distributed leaflets urging people not to register for the draft during World War I. Although such "speech" would have been within his rights in peacetime, the Supreme Court ruled that the fact that he engaged in that activity in a time of war made his actions pose a "clear and present danger" to the nation.
Unalienable rights: fundamental rights belonging to people, which cannot be taken away. The phrase "unalienable rights" was used in the Declaration of Independence (1776).
Marbury v. Madison: 1803 established the principle of judicial review
Majority Leader: schedule the business of the senate usually in consultation with the minority leader
Governor: chief executive of a state
Fiscal Policy: An attempt to use taxes and expenditures to affect the economy.
Bicameral: "two rooms." The term refers to a legislative body, such as the US Congress or the British Parliament, that is divided into two separate houses.
Monetarism: An economic philosophy that assumes inflation occurs when there is too much money chasing too few goods. Suggests that the proper thing for government to do is to have a steady, predictably increase in the money supply at a rate about equal to the growth in the economy's productivity
Executive Power: power of the President of the United States, delegated or implied by the Constitution, to implement and enforce laws.
coattails: any effort to obtain straight-ticket voting
Freedom of petition: the right to present requests to the government without punishment or reprisal. This right is guaranteed in the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
Due Process of Law: proper legal procedure. The Constitution guarantees that every American citizen be protected from arbitrary actions by the government buy requiring the government to follow specific procedures, defined by law, in situations like investigating criminal actions and arresting suspects.
Freedom of speech: the right to express oneself, with words or actions (verbally or symbolically). This freedom is guaranteed in the First Amendment to the US Constitution; although the Supreme Court has ruled that this freedom is not absolute: it should not be applied when it endangers or harms the lives, liberty or property of others.
Affirmative action: Government-mandated programs that seek to create special employment opportunities for blacks, women and other victims of past discrimination.
Warrant: a court order that makes an official action legal, such as a search warrant or an arrest warrant.
Ratification: process by which people or legislatures express their official approval of a proposed document or plan. Amendments to the US Constitution cannot become part of the Constitution until they have been ratified either by two-thirds of the state legislatures or by conventions in two-thirds of the states.
Democracy: rule by the people. In the United States, democracy refers to a system of government which derives its power from the consent of the majority and governs according to the will of the majority.
Public Service: time, effort and energy given to local, state or national communities, generally through opportunities in appointed or elected office.
Majority Rule: idea that all the people in a group or society should be held to the rules and decisions established by more than half of the people.
Criminal Division: a division of the Department of Justice. The Criminal Division handles most of the criminal cases in which the United States is a party, i.e., all criminal cases which are not under the jurisdiction of any other division of the Department of Justice.
position issue: one in which the rival candidates have opposing views on a question that also divides the voters
GAO: General Accounting Office- performs primarily routine financial audits of the money spent by the executive branch departments and investigates agencies and policies and makes recommendations on almost every aspect of government
International Law: laws that govern the interactions and relations between nations, resulting from officials rules, treaties, agreements and customs.
Great Compromise: proposal presented by Connecticut delegates at the 1787 Constitutional Convention to compromise between the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan. The Great Compromise suggested that a bicameral Congress be established, with representation in one house being determined by state population, and the other having equal representation from each state.
Unfunded mandates: actions imposed by the federal or state government on lower levels of government which are not accompanied by the money needed to fund the action required.
Dual federalism: view of federalism that considers the national and state governments equal, but independent partners, with distinct responsibilities. According to this view, the two levels of government should not interfere with the work of the other. The dual federalism approach emerged after the Civil War and until the turn of the century.
Foreign Policy: decisions and programs made by the government which are directly related to issues involving other countries. Sometimes domestic and foreign policies influence each other.
Abbington v. Schempp (1963): Prohibited devotional Bible reading in public schools by virtue of establishment clause and due process clause. Warren Court's judicial activism
Rule of Men: doctrine that an individual or government may stand above the law, and rule according to personal whim or choice. The doctrine reflects the belief that standards of justice, equality and impartiality are subjective, not universal. This is the opposite of the rule of law.
Platform: set of opinions and ideas for policy, upon which the members of a political party decide. Party members often determine their platforms in caucuses.
Everson v Board of Education (1942): A New Jersey law allowing reimbursements of money to parents who sent their children to school (public and private) on buses operated by the public transportation system did not violate the establishment clause or the 1st and 14th Amendments.
Griswold v. Connecticut: 1965 decision that the Constitution implicitily guarantees citizens' right to privacy.
Grand jury: ranges in size from 6 to 23, depending on the state, and functions to determine whether there is enough evidence available against a person accused of a crime to justify a trial.
Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1987): More leeway for states in regulation abortion, though no overturning of Roe v. Wade. Upholds MO law prohibiting abortion in public hospitals; shift in composition of court. (Later cases allow 24-hour waiting periods, parental consent for minors, etc.)
Standing Committee: permanent bodies with specific legislative responsibilities
Front-loading: Because early primaries have grown increasingly important in recent years, many states have pushed forward the date of their primary elections.
filibuster: a prolong speech or series of speeches made to delay action in a legislative assembly
Nepotism: unfair practice in which people in power give positions in a government or organization to their relatives or friends, rather than to any individual who is well-qualified. This can lead to inefficiency in the functioning of the government or organization, since hiring is based on personal connections, rather than ability or merit. In addition, nepotism can cause conflicting loyalties for the person who receives the job: he or she may be more loyal to the person who hired him or her than to the government or organization.
Treaty: official agreement between two or more sovereign nations. Many treaties establish terms of peace after a war or conflict, or determine the rules nations must follow in theory relationship with other nations. A treaty creates rights or responsibilities, or restricts existing rights or responsibilities.
Privacy Act: Government files about individuals, such as Social Security and tax records, must be kept confidential
interest group or client polics: Congress plays a much larger role in foreign policy with this group
Grandfather Clause: clause included in the state constitutions of several southern states after the Civil War placing high literacy and property requirements for voters whose ancestors did not vote before 1867. These clauses were designed to interfere with African-American citizens' right to vote. In 1915, the Supreme Court ruled grandfather clauses unconstitutional.
Citizen: person who is a member of a political society and, thus, owes allegiance to the society's government and is entitled to the rights and protections available from that government. A person who is born in the United States is automatically an American citizen, and eligible people from other countries can apply to become citizens through a process called naturalization.
House of Representatives: one of the two houses of the Congress, created in Article I, Section 1 of the US Constitution. The House of Representatives has 435 members, called Representatives, who serve for 2-year terms. The number of Representatives from each state is determined by the state's population, so that states with large populations have more Representatives in Congress than states with small populations.
Separation of Powers: division of governmental authority among the three branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial branch. The US Constitution uses this principle in setting up the presidency, the Congress, and the courts.
Impeachment: formal charges of "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors" brought against the President, the Vice President, a Supreme Court justice, or any executive and judicial official. Members of Congress and military officers are not subject to impeachment. The House Judiciary Committee investigates the situation and makes a recommendation to the rest of the House on whether the official should be impeached. The rest of the House votes on the issue and, if the official is impeached, the Senate tries the case. If the official is convicted, he or she is removed from office. Since the ratification of the Constitution, the House of Representatives has impeached 16 federal officials, including 13 federal judges, of whom 7 were convicted by the Senate.
Popular vote: vote of the people of a nation or group. In the United States, this contrasts with an electoral vote, which is done by a small group of electors, rather than the general public.
Pyramid Structure: used by Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, and Bush - assistants report through a hierarchy to a chief of staff, who then deals with the president
Party Identification: belief that one belongs to a certain party, and the extent to which that belief affects one's political views and actions.
Double jeopardy: The act of trying an individual a second time after he has been acquitted on the same charges.
Fletcher v. Peck: The decision stems from the Yazoo land cases, 1803, and upholds the sanctity of contracts.
Federal Reserve System: independent agency in the federal executive branch. Established under the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, the Federal Reserve System ("Fed") is the central bank of the United States. One of the most powerful agencies in the government, it makes and administers policy for national credit and monetary policies. The Fed supervises and regulates bank functions across the country, thus maintaining a sound and stable banking industry, able to deal with a wide range of domestic and international financial demands
Gitlow v. New York (1925): Anarchist calling for overthrow of the government. Established precedent of federalizing Bill of Rights (applying them to States); States cannot deny freedom of speech - protected through due process clause of Amendment 14
Roe v. Wade: 1973 ruling that decriminalized abortion.
valance issue: whether a candidate fully supports the public's view on a matter about which nearly everyone agrees
Symbolic Speech: action that is meant to convey a message.
Interstate Commerce: trade that takes places across state lines. This is distinct from intrastate commerce, which takes place within a state, and foreign trade, which takes place between countries. Article I, Section 8, clause 3 of the Constitution gives the Congress the authority to regulate interstate trade, as well as foreign trade.
Tariffs: taxes on goods, often placed on goods being brought into the United States from foreign nations (import tariffs).
Congress: chief legislative body of the United States federal government. The Congress is a bicameral legislature, made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate. It is responsible for making all federal laws. In Article I, Section 8, the US Constitution gives the Congress a number of powers, including collecting taxes, regulating commerce, and providing funding for the military.
mass public opinion: generally believes in Americans first
Dartmouth College v. Woodward: 1819--New Hampshire had attempted to take over Dartmouth College by revising its colonial charter. The Court ruled that the charter was protected under the contract clause of the U. S. Constitution; upholds the sanctity of contracts.
Schenck v. United States: 1919--Case involving limits on free speech. Established the "clear and present danger" principle.
Executive Office of the President: name for the group of agencies, councils, and staff members which advise the president and help run the federal bureaucracy. The EOP was established by an executive order from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1939, and the number and type of agencies included is determined by each president.
Legislative orversight: One of Congress most important tasks--to investigate and evaluate the executive departments and agencies.
Fiscal policy: government policies which seek to influence the economy through tax and spending policies.
Trustee vs Delegate approach: trustee--do what is best regardless of voter opinion; delegate--do what the voters want
Veto: power given the President to refuse to sign a bill that has been passed by Congress, thus blocking its becoming a law. Congress can override a veto with a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate. American presidents have vetoed about 2500 acts of Congress, of which Congress has overridden about 100. "Veto" means "I forbid" in Latin.
Bill: a form or draft of a proposed law presented to a legislature. In the federal government, if a bill is passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate, it is presented to the President. If the president signs it or does nothing for ten days, it becomes a law. If the bill is vetoed, then it cannot become a law unless the Congress overrides the veto.
Pork Barrel legislation: laws that directs funds to local projects in an area which a member of Congress represents.
majority-minority districts: those with a majority of residents who are part of an ethnic minority

Start Studying!

Deck Info

Number of cards 370