Political Science Set 2

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Dred Scott v. Sandford: -African Americans are not citizens under the constitution
-Escaped slaves in the North had to be returned to thier owners.
Wilmot Proviso: -Banned slavery in new territories
-Took jobs and money from whites (slaves did)
-Northerners realized they had a chance to win slavery fight
2 Major Obstacles in Securing Rights: -1st:Constitution
-State authority for
voter eligibility
- Power split 3 ways
-2nd: Govn't controlled by
men, not angels
Federalist Number 10: -Madison wrote
-Use govn't authority to gain permanent advantage by stripping adversaries of rights
-A diverse natn'l community would be less likely to engage in tyranny and would put a halt to it.
1807: -Congress passed law ending slave imports
-No one cared
Missouri Compromise: -Missouri wanted to be a slave state
-Matched Maine (free state)
-Made border to which slavery couldn't extend
Racial Profiling: Identifying the suspects of a crime soley on the basis of their race or ethnicity
Civil Rights: The powers or privileges that are conferred on citizens by the Constitution and the courts and that entitle them to make claims upon the government. Civil rights protect individuals from arbitrary or discriminatory treatment at the hands of the government.
Fugitive Slave Law: The 1850 law compelling northeners to honor southerners' property claims to slaves, passed in return for the South's agreeing to admit California as a free state (and hence lose its ability to block legislation in the senate)
Civil Liberties: Constitutional and legal protections from government interference into personal rights and feedoms such as freedom of assembly, speech, and religion.
Constitutional Courts: Category of federal courts vested with the general judicial authority outlined in Article III of the COnstitution. The most important are the SUpreme Court, the courts of appeals, and the ninety-four district courts. Their authority derives from that of the Supreme Court, and they are supposed to conform to its decisions.
Judiciary Act of 1789: Congress can create "inferior" courts as need arises
Court-packing plan: An attempt by pres. Franklin Roosevelt in 1937 to remodel the federal judiciary. Its purpose ostensibly was to alleviate the overcrowding of federal court dockets by allowing the pres. to appoint an additional supr. court just for ever sitting justice over 70. Passed House but not Senate. If passed 6 new justices who support the New Deal.
Lochner v. New York: Restricted Work hours of bakers to max of 10 hours per day or 60 hours per week. (Labor Laws)
Marshall: Ruled that court had authority to rule an act of Congress unconstitutional
Writ of Mandamus: "We command" A court issued writ commanding a public official to carry out a specific act or duty
Stuart v. Laird: Congress got right to reorganize the judiciary
Judiciary Act of 1801: Increased the number of district and appeals courts. (portected constitution and created new judgeships for federalists)
McCulloch v. Maryland: -Rooted in party conflict
-Marshall ruled that state taxation of federal property or its activities was unconstitutional.
Judicial Review: The authority of a court to declare legislative and executive acts unconstitutional and therefore invalid.l
13th Amendment: Emancipated
14th Amendment: Granted citizenships
15th Amendment: Right to Vote
Proportional Representation: gives a party a share of seats in the legislature matching the share of the votes it wins on election day.
Wesberry v. Sanders: Districts must have equal populations.
Thornburg v. GIngles: District lines may not dilute minority representation but they cant be drawn with race as teh predominant consideration.
Gerrymandering: Drawing legislative districts in such a way as to give one political party a disproportionately large share of seats for the share of votes its candidates win.
Davis v. Bandemer: Gerrymander unconstitutional if it were too strongly biased against a partys candidates.
Political Action Committees: Organizations that raise and distribute money for campaigns. (PACs)
Ticket Splitting: Voting for candidates of different parties for different offices
Casework: Requests from constituents for information and help in dealing with government agencies
Presidential coattails: Common metaphor for the capacity of a successful presidential candidate to pull the party's other candidates into office
Pork Barrel Legislation: Legislation that provides members of Congress with federal projects and programs for their individual districts.
Seniority Rule: The congressional practice of appointing as committee or subcommittee chairs the members of the majority with the most years of committee service.
Speaker of the House: The presiding officer of the House of Representatives. The Speaker is elected at the beginning of each congressional session on a party-line vote. As head of the majority party the Speaker has substantial control over the legislative agenda of the House.
Voting Rights Act of 1965: Brought black voters into southern Democratic electorates.
Conditional Party Government: The degree of authority delegated to and exercised by congressional leaders; varies with-is conditioned by- the extent of election-driven ideological consensus among members.
Majority Leader: The formal leader of the party controlling a majority of the seats in the House or the Senate. In the Senate the majority leader is the head of the majority party. In the House the majority leader ranks second in the party hierarchy behind the Speaker.
Minority Leader: The formal leader of the party controlling a minority of the seats in the House or the Senate.
Whip: A member of a legislative party who acts as the communicator between the aprty leadership and the rank and finle. The whip polls members on their voting intentions, prepares bill summaries, and assists the leadership in various other tasks.
President pro tempore: In the absence of the vice president, the formal presiding officer of the Senate. The honor is usually conferred on the senior member of the majority party, but the post is sometimes rotated among senators of the majority party.
Unanimous Consent agreements: An unanimous resolution in the Senate restricting debate and limiting amendments to bills on the floor.
Standing Committees: A permanent legislative committee specializing in a particular legislative area. Standing committees have stable memberships and stable jurisdictions.
Special Committees: A temporary legislative committee, usually lacking legislative authority
Select Committees: A temporary committee created for a specific purpose and dissolbed after its tasks are completed.
Joint Committees: Permanent congressional committees made up of members of both the House and the Senate. Joint committees do not have any legislativ authority; the monitor specific activities and compile reports.
Ad hoc committees: A congressional committee appointed for a limited time to design and report a specific piece of legislation.
Conference Committees: A temporary joint committee of the House and Senate appointed to reconcile the differences between the two chambers on a particular pice of legislation.
Multiple Referrals: The act of sending a proposed piece of legislation to more than one committee in the same chamber.
Split Referrals: The act of sending different sections of a bill to different committees in the same chamber.
Entitlements: A benefit that every eligible person has a legal right to receive and that cannot be take away without a change in legislation or due process in court.
Budget and Impoundment Act 1974: Presidential impoundment authority under strict congressional control
Rule: A provision that governs consideration of a bill by the House of Representatives by specifying how the bill is to be debated and amended.
Open Rule: A provison governing debate of a pending bill and permitting any germane amendment to be offered on the floor of the House.
Restricted Rule: A provision that governs consideration of a bill and that specifies and limi\ts the kinds of amendments that may be made on the floor of the House of Representatives
Closed rule: An order from the House Rules committee limiting floor debate on a particular bill and disallwoing or limiting amendment.
Discharge petition: A petition that removes a measure from a committee to which it ahs been referred in order to make it available for floor consideration. In the HOuse a dicharge petition must be signed by a majority of House members
Filibuster: A tactic used in the Senate to ahlt action on a bill. It involves making long speeches until the majority retreats. Senators, once holing the floor, have unlimited time to speak unless a cloture vote is passed by three-fifths or the members
Cloture: A parliamentary procedure used to close debate. Cloture is used in teh Senate to cut off filibusters. Uner the current Senate rules, three-fifths of Senators must vote for cloture to halt the filibuster.
Riders: An amendment to a bill that is not germane to the legislation.
Quorum: The minimum number of congressional members who must be present for the transaction of business. Under the Constitution, a quorum in each house is a majority of its members: 218 for House and 51 in the Senate when there are no vacancies.
Roll-Call Vote: Vote taken by a call of the roll to determine whether a quorum is present, to establish a quorum, or to vote on a question. Usually the House uses its electronic voting system for role call but when the system is malfunctioning teh Speaker directs the clerk to read the names. The Senate does not ahve an electronic voting system; its roll is always called by a clerk.
Pocket Veto: A method in which the president vetoes a bill passed by both houses of Congress by failing to act on it within ten days of COngress's adjournment.
Commander and Chief: The title that is given to the president by the COnstitution and that denotes the president's authority as teh head of teh national military.
Writ of Habeas Corpus: Prevented Union Army from detaining civillians suspected of spying or even just publicly opposing the war effort.
Executive Agreements: An agreement between the president and one or more other countries. An executive agreement is similar to a treaty, but unlike a treaty, it does not require the approval of the Senate.
Executive Privelege: The president's right to withhold information from Congress and the courts. Presidents assert that executive pribilege, nowhere mentioned in teh Cnstitution, is necessary to maintain separation of powers among the branches of government.
U.S. v. Nixon: President couldn't use exec. privelege to impede criminal investigations.
Executive Orders: A presidential directive to an executive agency establishing new policies or indicatineg how an existing poicy is to be carried out.
"Take Care" Clause: The provision in Artice II, Section 3, of the Constitution instructing the president to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed."
State of the Union Address: A presidential message to Congress under the constitutional directive that he shall "from time to time give to Congress Infromation of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient."
Line-Item Veto: A procedure, available in 1997 for the first time, permitting a president to cancel amounts of enw discretionary appororiations (budget authority), as well as new items of direct spending (entitlements) and ceratin limited tax benefits, unless Congress disapproves by law within a limited period of time. It was declared unconstitutional in 1998.
Gag Rule: An executive order prohibiting all federal employees from communicating directly with Congress.
Central Clearance: A presidential directive requiring that all executive agency proposals, reports, and recommendations to Congress-mostly in the form of annyal reports and testimony at authorization and appropriations hearing- be certified by the Office of Management and Budget as consistent with thw president's policy.
Divided Government: A term used to describe government when one political party controls the executive branch and the other political party controls one or both houses of the legislature.
Gridlock: A legislative "traffic jam" often precipitated by divided government. Gridlock occurs when presidents confront opposition-controlled Congresses with policy preferences and political stakes that are in direct competition withe their own and those of their party. Neither side is willing to compromise, the government accomplishes little, and federal operations may even come to a halt.
Going Public: Presidents "go public" when they engage in extensive public relations to promote their policies to the voters and thereby induce cooperation from other elected officeholders in Washington.
Executive Office of the President (EOP): Collection of agencies that help the president oversee department and agencey activities, formulate budgets and monitor spending, craft legislation, and lobby Congress. The major components or teh EOP established in 1939 by President Roosevelt include teh WHite House Office, Office of Management and Budget, National Security Council and Council of Economic Advisors among other agencies.
Office of Management and Budget: Previously known as the Bureau of the Budget, OMB is the most important agency in the Executive Office of the President. Teh budget bureau, created iin 1921 to act as a central clearing house for all budget requests, was renamed and given increased reponsibilities in 1970. OMB advises the president on fiscal and economic policies, creates the annual federal budget, and monitors agency performance, among other duties.
White House Office: Agency in teh EOP that serves as the president's personal staff system. Although the entire EOP does the president's business the White House staff consists of the president's personal advisers, who oversee the political and policy interests of the administration.
National Security Council (NSC): The highest advisory body to the president on military and diplomatic issues. Established in 1947, the agency in teh EOP helps the president coordinate the actions of government agencies, including the State adn Defense Departments and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, into a single cohesive policyfor dealing with other nations.
Marbury v. Madison: Judicial Review
MucCulloch v. Maryland: State taxation of federal property is unconstitutional and if the Constitution did not specifically prohibit a power to Congress then it was constitutional.
Courts of Appeals: The second tier of courts in the federal judicial system (between the Supreme Ct. and the district courts). One court of appeals serves each of eleven regions, or circuits, plus one for the District of Columbia.
District Courts: The trial courts of original jurisdiction in the federal judicial system. The niney-four district courts are the third tier of the fed. jud. system, below the Sup. Ct. and the Ct. of Appeals.
Writ of Certiorari: An order that is given by a superior court to an appellate court and that directs the lower court to send up a case the superior court has chosen to review. This is the central means by which the Supreme Court determines what cases it will hear.
Amicus Curiae: "Friend of the Court" A brief filed in a lawsuit by and individual or froup that is not party to the lawsuit but that has an interest in the outcome.
Solicitor General: The official responsible for representing the U.S. government before the Supreme Court. The solicitor general is a ranking member of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Judicial Doctrine: The practice of prescribing in a decision a set of rules that are to guide future decisions on similar cases. Used by the Supreme Court to guide the lower Courts in making decisions.
Procedural Doctrine: Principle of law that governs how the lower courts do their work.
Substantive Doctrine: principle that guides judges on which party in a case should prevail-akin to policymaking.
Stare Decisis: "Let the decision stand" In court rulings, a reliance on precedents or previous rulings in formulating decisions in new cases.
Griswold v. Conneticut: American's rights not limited to Bill of Rights
Roe v. Wade: Legalized Abortion
Wyatt v. Stickney: Mental Heath care institution requirements
Pennsylvania v. Muniz: Police interrogate Drunk without reading Miranda rights. Self Incrimination?
Standing: The right to bring legal action
Brown v. Board of Education: Unanimous court decision prohibiting segregation in schools.
Dissenting Opinion: The written opinion of one or more Supreme Court justices who disagree with the ruling of the Court's majority. The opinion outlines the rationale for their disagreement
Concurring Opinion: A written opinion by a Supreme Court Justice who agrees with the decision of the Court but disagrees with the rationale for reaching that decision.
Judiciary Act of 1925: Gave Supreme court greater control over caseload.
Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha: One-House legislative veto unconstitutional.
Attorney General: The head of the Justice Department. As the nation's chief legal officer the attorney general of the U.S. represents the federal government's interests in law courts throughout the nation. The attorney general is also the chief law enforcement officer.
Senatorial Courtesy: An informal practice in which senators are given veto power over federal judicial appoinments in their home states.
Jim Crow Laws: A series of laws enacted in the late nineteenth century by southern states to institute segregation. These laws created "whites only" public accomodations such as schools, hotels, and restaurants.
White Primary: A practice that permitted political parties to exclude African Americans from voting in primary elections. Because historically in the South winning the Democratic primary was tantamount to winning the general election, this law in effect disenfranchised black voters in southern states.
Grandfather Clauses: A statute stating that only those people whose grandfather had voted before Reconstrucion could vote, unless they passed a literacy or wealth test. After the Civil War this mechanism was used to disenfranchise the African Americans.
Plessy v. Fergusson: Blessed Jim Crow laws and declared segregation laws constitutional.
Separate but Equal Doctrine: The supreme Court initiated doctrine that separate but equivelent facilities for African Americans and whites are constitutional under the equal protection clause and teh Fourteenth Amendment.
Smith v. Allwright: Threw out White Primaries. Violated 15th amendment
Sweatt v. Painter: University of Texas could not stave off desegregation at its law school by instantly creating a black-only facility.
1957 Civil Rights Act: Any Af. Am. who felt they had been denied the right to vote could sue thier state.
1964 Civil Rights Act: Authorized National government to end segregation in public education and public accommadations.
1964 Voting Rights Act: Let the Department of Justice send federal officers into uncooperative communities to register voters directly
De Facto Segregation: Segregation that results from practice rather than from law
De Jure Segregation: Segregation enacted into law and imposed by teh government.
Affirmative Action: Policies or programs designed to expand opportunitites for minorities and women and usually requiring that an organization take measures to increas the number or proportion of minorities and women in ints membership or employment.
Quotas: Specific shares of college admissions, government contracts, and jobs set aside for population groups that have suffered from past discrimination. The Supreme Court has rejected the use of quotas wherever it has encountered them.
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke: Violated whites rights because of affirmative action.
Johnson v. Transportation Agency of Santa Clara County: Sex considered among other criteria in promotion decisions.
Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena: Affirmative action policies must be narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling government interest.
Alexander v. Sandoval: an individual could not challenge Alabama's regulaton that all driver's license tests and applications be written in English.
Suffragists: Women who campaigned in the early twentieth century for the right of women to vote.
Restoration of Civil Rights Act of 1988: Took away federal funding to schools that discriminated against women.
Romer v. Evans: Made group eligiable for protections if state and local jurisdictions deemed them appropriate.
Americans with Disabilities Act: Prohibited Discrimination in employment transportation public accomidations and telecommunications.
Incorporation: The Supreme Court's extension of the guarantees of the BIll of Rights to state and local governments throught its various interpretations of the 14th amendment
Barron v. Baltimore: 5th amendment violation. Repair of public roads damaged barrons warf.
Due Process Clause: A clause found in both the Fifth and the fourteenth amendmens to teh Constitution protecting citizens from arbitrart action by the national and state governments.
Equal Protection Clause: a 14th amendment clause guaranteeing all citizens equal protection of the laws. The courts have interpreted the clasue to bar discrimination against minoriteis and women.
Privileges and Immunities Clause: The clause in Section one of the Fourteenth Amendment stipulating that no State shall make of enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of teh United States.
Selective Incorporation: The Supreme Court's gradual process of assuming guardianship of civil liberties by applying piecemeal the various provisions of the Bill of Rights to state laws and practices.
Schenk v. United States: Protected Free Speech. Speaking against war, urged draftees to resist.
Clear and Present Danger: A rule used by the Supreme Court to distinguish between speech protected and not protected by the first amendment. Under this rule, the 1st amendment does not protect speech aimed at inciting an illegal action
"Clear and Probable Danger" tests: A rule introduced by Chief Justice Fred Vinson for the courts to enlist in free expression cases: "In each cas (the courts) must aske whether the gravity of 'evil' discounted by its probablility, justifies such invasion of free speech as is necessary to avoid the danger
Texas v. Johnson: Burned American Flag constitutional
Obscenity: Defined as publicly offensive acts or language, usually of a sexual nature, with no redeeming social value. The Supreme Court has offered varying definitions in its rulings over the years
Community standards: A work is obscene if it is utterly without redeeming social improtance and tot eh average person applying contemporary community standards the dominant themem of the materail, taken as a whole, appeals to prurient interests.
Miller v. California: Court shifte primary authority for obscenity policy back to the stat and to local governments.
Prior Restraint: A government agency's act to prohibit the publication of material or speech before the fact. The court forbid prior restraint except under extraordinary conditions
Near v. Minnesota: National security may need government censorship
Libel: A published falsehood or statement resulting in the defamation of someone's character. The 1st amendment doesnt protect this.
Slander: Forms of false and malicious information that damge another person's reputation.
Establishment of religion clause: The first clasue of the first amendment. The establishment clause prohibits the national government from establishing a national religion.
Free Exercise clause: The 2nd clasue to the 1st amendment. It forbids the national government to interfere withe the exercise of religion.
Lemon v. Kurzman: Made the Lemon Test
Lemon Test: 3 conditions every state law must satisfy to avoid running afoul of the establishment prohibition.
1. Statute must have a secular legislative purpose.
2. The statute's Primary effect must be one that neither advances nor inhibits religion
3.The statute must not foster and excessive government entanglement with religion
Neutrality Test: Policy favored by justices in establishment decisions as justices increasingly relied on the test of a policy's neutrality. they used the neutrality tes not so much to prevent favoritism among religious groups as to root out policies that preferred religious groups over non religious groups.
Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet: Breached rule of neutrality. Wanted school for Jewish district for special needs children.
Engel v. Vitale: Ruled New York State prayer unconstitutional
Employment Division v. Smith: Two Native Americans were dismissed from their drug counseling job for ingesting peyote as a religious ceremony. Court agreed with The Employers.
Katz vs. United States: Didnt limit protections to discovery of physical evidence and it indicated that even searches not involving physical penetration of an individuals space illegal. Telephone booth case.
Exclusionary Rule: A judicial rule prohibiting the police from using at a trial evidence obrtained through illegal search and seizure.
Mapp v. Ohio: Extended exclusionary rule to states
Miranda v. Arizona: Protecting suspects from self incrimination
Miranda rule: Requirement that the police inform suspects that they have a right to remain silent and a right to have counsel with being interrogated. Failure to inform suspects of their rights will result in any confession being inadmissable against them at a trial.
Double Jeopordy: Being tried for the same crime twice. 5th amendment
Benton v. Maryland: Double Jepordy
Gideon v. Wainwright: anyone charged with a felony mush be offered legal representation
Cruel and Unusual Punishment: Criminal penalties not considered appropriate by a society, that involve torture, or that could result in death when the death penalty isnt ordered
Furman v. Georgia: Blacks convicted of killing whites got the death penalty more than whites who commited the same crime.
Gregg v. Georgia: Separated conviction from sentencing and made death penalty not a cruel or unusual punishment.
Penumbras: Judicially created rights based on various guarantees of the Bill of Rights. The Right to privacy is not explicitly stated in the COnstitution, but the Supreme Court has argued that this right is implicit in various clauses througout the Bill of Rights
Eisenstadt v. Baird: Free from unwanted governmental intrusion into matters so fundamentallyh affecting a person as the decision to bear or beget a child.
United States v. Miller: Registration of a sawed off shotgun
Takings Clause: The 5th Amendment's provision on property rights: private property shall not be taken for public use, without just compensation
Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy Railroad company v. City of Chicago: Takings clause

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