AP Gov 40 MC
According to James Madison, in Federalist Paper number 10, which of the following best controls the effects of faction?***
A large republic
(3.11) The Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause declares that "No State shall . . . deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." In which of the following scenarios is this clause most likely to be used by the Supreme Court in its decision?
A local school district mandates racially segregated schools.
(3.13) Which of the following applications of affirmative action would the United States Supreme Court likely consider unconstitutional?
A state university refuses acceptance of any new applicants from a specific race.
(3.2) Which of the following illustrates a situation that would not be protected by the First Amendment due to time, place, and manner restrictions?
Antibusiness protestors are arrested and prosecuted for shutting down major intersections in New York City's Times Square during rush hour.
Which of the following statements accurately summarizes the reasoning for the decision in Baker v. Carr (1962) ?
Because rural districts had fewer people, representation was unevenly distributed; thus, Baker was denied equal protection under the law.
(3.10) "...If we resort to violence then one of two things will happen: either the violence will be escalated and there will be many injuries and perhaps deaths on both sides, or there will be total demoralization of the workers. Nonviolence has exactly the opposite effect. If, for every violent act committed against us, we respond with nonviolence, we attract people's support. We can gather the support of millions who have a conscience and would rather see a nonviolent resolution to problems. We are convinced that when people are faced with a direct appeal from the poor struggling nonviolently against great odds, they will react positively. The American people and people everywhere still yearn for justice. It is to that yearning that we appeal. ...When victory comes through violence, it is a victory with strings attached. If we beat the growers at the expense of violence, victory would come at the expense of injury and perhaps death. Such a thing would have a tremendous impact on us. We would lose regard for human beings. Then the struggle would become a mechanical thing. When you lose your sense of life and justice, you lose your strength...." César Chávez, "He Showed Us the Way," 1978 Which of the following is a similarity between the views expressed in the excerpt above and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail"?
Both César Chávez and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. argued for the continued use of nonviolence to further their causes.
(3.12) In the case Boynton v. Virginia (1960), the Supreme Court ruled that segregation at a bus stop restaurant was illegal based on the Interstate Commerce Act. Which of the following explains how this case is similar to Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) ?***
Both cases struck down local ordinances that prescribed segregation.
(3.8) Which of the following principles protects a citizen from imprisonment without trial?
Due process
(3.4) The president privately discusses with his staff a decision to increase economic sanctions on Iran. Before a final decision is made, a draft of the proposal is leaked to a reporter. The president orders the reporter and her newspaper to suspend publication of the plan, citing issues of national and economic security. Which of the following best indicates how a court would rule in this case if the Supreme Court's ruling in New York Times Co. v. United States (1971) was used as a precedent?***
Freedom of the press includes a heavy presumption against government censorship, and the documents can be published by the press.
(3.4) A classified Department of Defense study on the effectiveness of the United States involvement in the Afghanistan War is obtained by a newspaper. The president seeks to block the publication of the document. The court rules in favor of the newspaper, citing as precedent the Supreme Court's decision in New York Times Co. v. United States (1971). Based on the ruling in the Supreme Court's decision, which of the following lines of reasoning does the court most likely use?
Freedom of the press requires that the government show a significant danger to national security in order to stop publication.
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?
House of Representatives Debate is limited. Senate Members can filibuster.
(3.3) Which of the following is true about the right of free speech, as currently interpreted by the Supreme Court?***
It protects the right to express opinions even without the actual use of words.
Which of the following categories accounted for the majority of spending in 2017, according to the chart?
Mandatory
In The Federalist 78, Alexander Hamilton states, "A constitution is, in fact, and must be regarded by the judges, as a fundamental law. It therefore belongs to them to ascertain its meaning." Which of the following Supreme Court cases is most relevant to this statement?***
Marbury v. Madison (1803)
(3.5) "The original understanding of the Second Amendment was neither an individual right to self-defense nor a collective right of the states, but rather a civic right that guaranteed that citizens would be able to keep and bear those arms needed to meet their legal obligation to participate in a well-regulated militia. Nothing better captured this constitutional ideal than the minuteman. Citizens had a legal obligation to outfit themselves with a musket at their own expense and were expected to turn out at a minute's notice to defend their community, state, and eventually their nation. Although each side in the modern debate claims to be faithful to the historical Second Amendment, a restoration of its original meaning, re-creating the world of the minuteman, would be a nightmare that neither side would welcome. It would certainly involve more intrusive gun regulation, not less. . . . Gun control advocates might blanch at the notion that all Americans would be required to receive firearms training and would certainly look askance at the idea of requiring all able-bodied citizens to purchase their own military-style assault weapons." Saul Cornell, A Well-Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America, Oxford University Press, 2006 Which of the following Supreme Court cases is most relevant to the topic of the article?
McDonald v. Chicago (2010)
(3.11) Which of the following scenarios best explains the inclusion of Title IX as part of the Education Amendments of 1972 ?
Members of Congress added the amendment to the bill in response to social movements seeking to address inequality in education for women.
Which of the following describes the ruling in Shaw v. Reno (1993) ?
Racial gerrymandering was ruled unconstitutional.
(3.7) In the case of McDonald v. Chicago (2010) the Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for self-defense was applicable to the states. This ruling is an example of the application of the doctrine of
Selective incorporation
Too often, we take our form of government for granted, not fully appreciating its unique and exceptional qualities. The framers of our Constitution, having revolted against tyranny, bequeathed to the nation, and to us as its citizens, a form of government with checks and balances intended to assure that we would never, as a nation, be subject to the abuses we experienced as a colony under a monarchy. . . . We should appreciate that the separation of powers enshrined in our Constitution was modeled on the constitutions and declarations of the states, where the separation of powers was equally observed. Mirroring our U.S. Constitution, 40 state constitutions now specify that government is to be divided into three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. The separation of powers at the state level, with an independent executive, legislature, and judiciary, is also one of the fundamental tenets of our democracy. What often gets lost in translation is how dynamic the competition among the branches of government has been, and how much stronger we are as a country because of that ongoing debate. It has been said that the Constitution is not just a historic document, but a living participant in who we are as a nation. Out of the continuing effort to assure the separation of powers, we have built a system of government that functions remarkably well. Although the powers ascribed to each of the three branches may sometimes appear to swing like a pendulum, we have continuously reconsidered and recentered our understanding of the authority and limitation of each of these branches. The author explains that the powers given to each branch "sometimes appear to swing like a pendulum" from one branch to another. Which of the following best describes how these shifts ensure that constitutional government is functional?
Separation of powers divides responsibilities and authority between branches, which allows each branch to be checked by the other two branches to ensure accountability.
(3.8) In Gideon v. Wainwright, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the
Sixth Amendment right-to-counsel provision applies to those accused of major crimes under state laws
(3.12) Which of the following was an argument used by the Supreme Court in upholding federal statutes outlawing segregation in public accommodations?***
Such segregation affected interstate commerce, and Congress therefore had the authority to outlaw it.
To be sure, the President's control over foreign affairs had been growing since the Theodore Roosevelt administration [1901-1909]. . . . [President Roosevelt's] acquisition of the Panama Canal Zone preceded Woodrow Wilson's decision to enter World War I, which was a prelude to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's management of the run-up to the victorious American effort in World War II. In the 1950s, Harry S. Truman's response to the Soviet threat included the decision to fight in Korea without a Congressional declaration of war, and Dwight Eisenhower used the Central Intelligence Agency and brinkmanship to contain Communism. Nineteenth-century presidents had had to contend with Congressional influences in foreign affairs, and particularly with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But by the early 1960s, the president had become the undisputed architect of U.S. foreign policy. One reason for this was the emergence of the United States as a great power with global obligations. Neither Wilson nor FDR could have imagined taking the country to war without a Congressional declaration, but the exigencies of the cold war in the 1950s heightened the country's reliance on the president to defend its interests. Truman could enter the Korean conflict without having to seek Congressional approval simply by describing the deployment of U.S. troops as a police action taken in conjunction with the United Nations. Which of the following explains why the author believes presidential power has expanded?
The United States has emerged as a global power, which has enhanced the power of the president in foreign affairs.
(3.6) The Supreme Court has ruled which of the following concerning the death penalty?***
The death penalty is not necessarily cruel and unusual punishment.
(3.11) The clause of the United States Constitution that was used in the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) was***
The equal protection clause
Which of the following best defines the constitutional interpretation of federalism?
The federal government and the states have separate but overlapping powers, where these powers conflict the federal government prevails.
(3.1 )Which of the following best defines civil liberties?***
The freedom to refuse to obey laws an individual considers to be immoral violations of civil rights
(3.1) "...If we resort to violence then one of two things will happen: either the violence will be escalated and there will be many injuries and perhaps deaths on both sides, or there will be total demoralization of the workers. Nonviolence has exactly the opposite effect. If, for every violent act committed against us, we respond with nonviolence, we attract people's support. We can gather the support of millions who have a conscience and would rather see a nonviolent resolution to problems. We are convinced that when people are faced with a direct appeal from the poor struggling nonviolently against great odds, they will react positively. The American people and people everywhere still yearn for justice. It is to that yearning that we appeal. ...When victory comes through violence, it is a victory with strings attached. If we beat the growers at the expense of violence, victory would come at the expense of injury and perhaps death. Such a thing would have a tremendous impact on us. We would lose regard for human beings. Then the struggle would become a mechanical thing. When you lose your sense of life and justice, you lose your strength...." Which of the following provisions of the Bill of Rights could support the actions that César Chávez is encouraging the farmworkers to take?
The right to assemble
The debates between Federalists and Anti-Federalists were primarily about which of the following issues?
The scope of power of the national (central) government
Which of the following statements presents the most important limitation of the data in the graph?
There is no information about the total number of state legislators.
(3.3) Which of the following Supreme Court decisions allows public school students to wear T-shirts protesting a school board decision that eliminates funding for high school arts programs?
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969)
A committee chair in the House of Representatives is always
a member of the majority party in the chamber
(3.13) The Supreme Court addressed the admissions policy of the University of Michigan Law School in Grutter v. Bollinger (2003). Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote for the court, "in the context of its individualized inquiry into the possible diversity contributions of all applicants, the Law School's race-conscious admissions program does not unduly harm nonminority applicants." The primary issue of controversy in the Grutter v. Bollinger decision involves
affirmative action
(3.1) According to the data, both gun owners and non-gun owners: (3.1)
chose freedom of speech as most crucial to their own liberty
The reserved powers of the state governments can be best described as those powers
not specifically granted to the national government or denied to the states.
(3.9) The 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that upheld a woman's right to secure an abortion was based on the right to
privacy implied in the Bill of Rights
(3.7) The process of extending the protections of the Bill of Rights by means of the Fourteenth Amendment to apply to the actions of state governments is known as***
selective incorporation
(3.9) In Roe v. Wade, the majority of Supreme Court justices determined that
the United States Constitution implies a right to privacy and thus made abortions legal
(3.10) Civil rights activists, such as those who campaign for gay and lesbian equal rights and those who advocated for racial equality in the 1950s and 1960s, often find the most effective way to secure those rights is
through litigation in the courts to gain legal protections against discrimination
(3.2) The free-exercise clause protects
voluntary prayer by student groups before school
(3.5) "The original understanding of the Second Amendment was neither an individual right to self-defense nor a collective right of the states, but rather a civic right that guaranteed that citizens would be able to keep and bear those arms needed to meet their legal obligation to participate in a well-regulated militia. Nothing better captured this constitutional ideal than the minuteman. Citizens had a legal obligation to outfit themselves with a musket at their own expense and were expected to turn out at a minute's notice to defend their community, state, and eventually their nation. Although each side in the modern debate claims to be faithful to the historical Second Amendment, a restoration of its original meaning, re-creating the world of the minuteman, would be a nightmare that neither side would welcome. It would certainly involve more intrusive gun regulation, not less. . . . Gun control advocates might blanch at the notion that all Americans would be required to receive firearms training and would certainly look askance at the idea of requiring all able-bodied citizens to purchase their own military-style assault weapons." Saul Cornell, A Well-Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America, Oxford University Press, 2006 The author's main argument is that the Second Amendment***
was added to the Constitution to ensure that militias would have arms