Test #3
A U.S. senator has a ________-year term.
6
How many justices currently serve on the Supreme Court?
9
________ powers are specifically established by the language of the Constitution.
Expressed
Which of the following describes the realist view of foreign policy?
Foreign policies should be guided by the national interest, even if, from the outside, the leaders of the nation appear cold and ruthless.
________ is when bureaucrats attempt to translate laws into specific rules and actions.
Implementation
Which of the following is the best definition of a constituent?
It is a person who lives in the district represented by a member of the legislature.
What is a government corporation?
It is an agency that performs and charges for services usually provided by the private sector.
Which of the following is NOT a component of American foreign policy?
Social Security
Which of the following statements about the presidential veto is most accurate?
Use of the veto varies considerably across presidential administrations, and vetoes are seldom overridden.
The ________ asserted that the president could send American troops into action abroad only in the event of a declaration of war or other statutory authorization by Congress, or if American troops were attacked or directly endangered.
War Powers Resolution of 1973
An executive order is
a rule or regulation issued unilaterally by the president that has the status of a law.
The process of allocating congressional seats among the fifty states is called ________.
apportionment
A proposed piece of legislation is called a ________.
bill
What is an independent agency?
both c and d
When a private individual brings a suit against a company for breaking a contract, this is an example of ________ law.
civil
Executive privilege refers to the
claim that confidential communications between a president and close advisers should not be revealed without the consent of the president.
Which of the following is the most constitutionally essential way to make the bureaucracy responsible?
congressional oversight
The representation of a government to other foreign governments is called ________.
diplomacy
Executive agreements differ from formal treaties in that they
do not have to be approved by the Senate.
An agreement between the president and another country that has the force of a treaty but does not require the Senate's "advice and consent" is called an ________.
executive agreement
Richard Nixon claimed ________ when he refused to turn over secret White House tapes to congressional investigators.
executive privilege
Activist judges believe that federal judges should
go beyond the words of a constitution or statute to consider the broader societal implications of their decisions.
If someone is an advocate of the philosophy of judicial restraint, he or she believes
in looking only at the words of the Constitution in order to understand its meaning.
When did the Cold War begin?
in the 1940s, soon after World War II
One reason some people support the establishment of term limits in the House and Senate is that it will
increase turnover and get new faces into Congress.
A senator or representative running for re-election is called the ________.
incumbent
When the president infers powers from the "rights, duties, and obligations" of the presidency, these are called ________ powers.
inherent
The nineteenth-century policy of ________ was based on the geographic distance of the United States from other countries.
isolationism
Through the exercise of ________, the Supreme Court has held actions or laws of the executive and legislative branches unconstitutional.
judicial review
The area of authority possessed by a court, in terms of either subject area or geography, is called its ________.
jurisdiction
What is common law?
law made by judges through their decisions, not through specific statutes
The goal of the War Powers Resolution was to
limit the power of the president to commit American troops to military action without authorization from Congress.
Gerrymandering refers to the
manipulation of electoral districts to serve the interests of a particular group.
The policy of deterrence and containment pursued by the United States during the Cold War can be viewed as
midway between preventive war and appeasement.
In the sphere of foreign policy, which of the following is NOT a constitutional power possessed by Congress?
negotiating treaties on behalf of the United States
The president's expressed powers include all of the following categories EXCEPT ________.
partisan
Prior cases whose principles are used by judges to decide current cases are called ________.
precedents
A filibuster allows members of the Senate to
prevent a vote on a bill by speaking continuously on the floor.
The policy of striking a nation that you fear might be contemplating hostile actions is called ________.
prevention
Privatization is a way to
reduce government costs by relocating government programs to private groups or corporations.
Bureaucracy literally means ________.
rule by offices and desks
Who has authority to set interest rates and lending activities for the nation's banks?
the Federal Reserve System
If a man is arrested because his home was searched by police without a legal warrant, he could argue in court that he had been denied ________.
the due process of law
Devolution describes a process through which
the federal government is downsized by delegating the implementation of programs to state and local governments.
A writ of habeas corpus declares that
the government must show a legal cause for holding someone in detention.
Which of the following is the most important actor in the foreign policy establishment?
the president
Cloture is
the process by which three-fifths of the Senate can end a filibuster.
A bicameral legislature is one that has ________.
two chambers or houses
What is required for Congress to override a presidential veto?
two-thirds of both houses of Congress
The most visible indication of oversight is the
use of public hearings before congressional committees and subcommittees.