AP Gov. Unit 2

In which year did Congress pass all stand-alone appropriations (spending) bills on time?

A) 1977 The bar graph shows that 100 percent of stand-alone appropriations bills were passed on time in 1977.

Which of the following statements accurately summarizes the reasoning for the decision in Baker v. Carr (1962) ?

A) Because rural districts had fewer people, representation was unevenly distributed; thus, Baker was denied equal protection under the law. In Baker v. Carr, the Supreme Court ruled that states that created districts with unequal populations violated the equal protection clause.

Which of the following categories accounted for the majority of spending in 2017, according to the chart?

A) Mandatory

Which of the following sections of the United States Constitution is most related to the case Marbury v. Madison (1803) ?

B) Article III

Based on the passage above, which of the following constitutional provisions would the author most likely identify as a solution to the problem of the imperial presidency?

B) Congress insisting that it declare war prior to the use of international force Though the president is constitutionally empowered to conduct foreign affairs, Congress retains the power to declare war in an international crisis. Insisting upon this would serve as a constitutional check on the president's ability to act unilaterally on issues of foreign policy.

Which of the following is an accurate comparison of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate?

B) HOR: The Constitution's framers intended it to reflect the will of the people. Senate: The Constitution's framers designed it to represent the interests of the states. The framers designed the House to be more reflective of the people's will and the Senate to be more reflective of states' interests, giving them equal voice in that chamber.

The framers of the Constitution designed which of the following to be LEAST responsive to public opinion?

B) The Courts

Which of the following is most likely an effect of the trend in the line graph?

C) A decrease in congressional oversight as a mechanism to control the bureaucracy

Which of the following is an example of bureaucratic rule making?

B) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) writing a regulation to support a clean water bill

Based on the data in the chart, which of the following is true?

B) The percentage of liberal decisions made by the Supreme Court on civil rights and civil liberties cases decreased between 1964 and 1996.

The data illustrate that most conservatives believe that the United States Constitution

B) outlines a framework for government that the Supreme Court should apply strictly regardless of the political or personal preferences of judges

Which of the following is an accurate comparison of the rules for debate used by the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate?

C) House of Representatives: Debate is limited Senate: Members can filibuster

Which of the following statements about motions for cloture is true?

D) They are used by senators to end a filibuster and bring a bill to a vote

Which of the following factors most likely led to shifts in Supreme Court decision making over time?

A) The ideological composition of the justices on the Supreme Court shifted to become less liberal over time.

Which of the following scenarios is an example of the trustee model of representation?

C) A member of Congress votes to close a popular tax loophole based on the belief that the money would be better spent paying down the national debt. The trustee model of representation involves elected officials voting in whatever manner they feel best serves their constituents, regardless of popular opinion regarding the issue. A member of Congress voting against a tax loophole supported by voters exemplifies this model of representation.

Which of the following best reflects the holding in the case Baker v. Carr (1962) ?

C) Created a one-person, one-vote standard for reviewing congressional districts. Baker v. Carr was a case regarding the application of the Fourteenth Amendment to redistricting. The decision was that the one-person, one-vote standard applied to states' redistricting plans.

Which of the following accurately compares the formal and informal powers of the president?

C) Formal Power: Acting as commander in chief of the military Informal Power: Signing executive agreements with foreign nations The president's role as commander in chief of the armed forces is a formal power explicitly authorized in the Constitution. The signing of executive agreements with foreign nations is not included in the Constitution and is considered to be an informal power of the presidency.

Which of the following best illustrates the point being made in the cartoon above?

C) Presidents can have an influence on public policy far beyond their terms of office.

Which of the following describes the ruling in Shaw v. Reno (1993)

C) Racial gerrymandering was ruled unconstitutional.

In the last years presidential primacy, so indispensable to the political order, has turned into presidential supremacy. The constitutional Presidency—as events so apparently disparate as the Indochina War and the Watergate affair showed, has become the imperial Presidency and threatens to be the revolutionary Presidency. . . . The imperial Presidency was essentially the creation of foreign policy. A combination of doctrines and emotions—belief in the permanent and universal crisis, fear of communism, faith in the duty and right of the United States to intervene swiftly in every part of the world—had brought about the unprecedented centralization of decisions. Prolonged war in Vietnam strengthened the tendencies toward both centralization and exclusion. So the imperial Presidency grew at the expense of the constitutional order. Like the cowbird, it hatched its own eggs and pushed the others out of the nest. And, as it overwhelmed the traditional separation of powers in foreign affairs, it began to aspire toward an equivalent centralization of power in the domestic polity. Which of the following statements is a correct implication of the author's argument?

C) The perception of multiple crises has led to the growth of an executive branch that is undermining the separation of powers in the government. The author of the passage argues that a perception of perpetual crisis in foreign policy has given the presidency undue supremacy over the other branches of government and undermined constitutional separation of powers.

In 1998, Goodyear employee Lilly Ledbetter filed suit against her employer for pay discrimination based on her gender. Though Ledbetter was initially successful, Goodyear appealed the decision and the case went to the Supreme Court. In Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. (2007), the Supreme Court ruled that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires that sex discrimination complaints must be made within 180 days "after the alleged unlawful employment practice occurred," which Ledbetter had failed to do. Which of the following actions could be taken to reverse the impact of the decision?

D) Congress could enact legislation to amend Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

Congress is most likely to exert oversight of the executive bureaucracy in which of the following ways?

D) Controlling an executive agency's annual budget

Which of the following is an accurate comparison of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate?

D) House of Representatives: Debate on bills is limited Senate: Debate on bills can be unlimited

In The Federalist 78, Alexander Hamilton argued that the federal judiciary "is beyond comparison the weakest of the three departments of power." Which of the following statements represents a reason he gave for this argument?

D) It must depend on the executive for enforcement of its decisions.

Which of the following situations is an example of the president using the bully pulpit as a tool for agenda setting?

D) President Reagan delivering a televised address urging a reduction in federal taxes The president addressing the nation to persuade citizens of his policy agenda is an example of the bully pulpit.

During his confirmation hearing, Chief Justice John Roberts stated that Roe v. Wade (1973) "is the settled law of the land." This statement suggests that in a future case that challenges the constitutionality of legislation restricting privacy and reproductive rights, which of the following should be a key factor in the court's ruling?

D) Reliance on legal precedent

In Worcester v. Georgia (1832), the Supreme Court used the power of judicial review established in Marbury v. Madison (1803) to strike down a Georgia state law that regulated the relationship between citizens of Georgia and members of the Cherokee Nation. President Andrew Jackson opposed the decision and famously challenged the Supreme Court to enforce it. As the Supreme Court was not able to enforce the decision, the other branches of government ignored it. This example illustrates which of the following?

D) Unpopular Supreme Court decisions can be avoided or ignored if other branches refuse to cooperate with the outcomes of those decisions.

When independent regulatory agencies make rules, enforce those rules, and adjudicate disputes arising under those rules, they risk violating the constitutional concept of

D) separation of powers

Which of the following best defines the term "judicial activism"?

E) The tendency of judges to interpret the Constitution according to their own views

Congress adopted the War Powers Resolution to

E) limit the president's authority to commit troops overseas