Inquizitive chap. 3: Texas in The Federal Government

The use of the Tenth Amendment as protection for the rights of states was resurrected by which of the following?

A more conservative majority that emerged on the Supreme Court.

Which of the following statements best describes the cause of the shift from dual federalism to cooperative federalism?

A public outcry for greater government action to deal with crises.

Under the _____, Congress lacked the power to fund the government and had to rely on support from _____.

Articles of Confederation. States.

Which of the following is a factor that shifted national and state governments toward cooperative federalism?

As the nation began to face more complex problems in the 1930s and 1940s, multiple levels of government were required to step in.

Contrast the differences between block grants and categorical grants by matching each characteristic to the correct term.

Categorical grants: Offer more power to the federal government. Federal funds to states for a specific purpose. Block grants: Offer more power to states. Federal funds to states for a general policy purpose. Offer more flexibility.

Which of the following statements accurately characterizes the state of federalism during the New Deal period?

Congress regularly invoked the commerce clause to influence state policy.

Which sorts of countries tend to benefit from a federal system?

Correct: Countries that have very wealthy and very poor regions. Countries with strong ethnic, cultural, and geographic divisions. Incorrect: Countries with a strong, shared cultural heritage. Countries that have only one major religious group.

The Social Security Act, created during the Great Depression as part of the New Deal programs of FDR, uses payroll taxes to fund programs that help which groups of people?

Correct: Disabled. Unemployed. Elderly. Incorrect: Food insecure.

In 1990, Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which required states to retrofit public areas to be accessible to individuals with disabilities without offering any federal funds to pay for it. This is an example of which of the following?

Correct: Federal preemption. Coercive federalism. An unfunded mandate. Incorrect: A categorical grant. A block grant.

In the U.S. federal system, which of the following policy areas are typically reserved for the states?

Correct: Highways. Education. Welfare. Incorrect: Immigration. National defense.

The following chart compares the rates of Black and Latino Texans lacking voter ID to the rate of White Texans. It shows that Black Texans are slightly more than twice as likely as White Texans to lack proper voter ID, and Latino Texans are almost twice as likely to lack voter ID.

Correct: If 10 percent of White Texans lack voter ID, it is likely that 20 percent of Black and Latino Texans lack voter ID. Since Black and Latino Texans are more likely to vote for Democratic candidates, voter ID laws will likely affect the share of votes for Democrats in Texas. Incorrect: The impact of voter ID laws would not be disproportionate in terms of race.

What impact did the case of Sweatt v. Painter (Sweatt pictured on the right) have on civil rights?

Correct: It supported the idea that segregation was unequal. It set the precedent for Brown v. Board of Education. Incorrect: It recognized the right of the state of Texas to determine its own education facilities. It overturned Plessy v. Ferguson.

The idea of states having "police powers" does not mean giving more power to the police; rather, it includes multiple aspects of public policy such as which of the following?

Correct: Providing emergency responders. Creating homeless shelters. Inspecting day-care centers. Incorrect: Stationing troops along the Rio Grande.

The rights of states are protected in which of the following ways in the U.S. Constitution?

Correct: Recruitment and maintenance of a militia. Equal Senate representation. Power to tax. Intrastate commerce. Incorrect: Freedom of religion. Proportional representation in the House of Representatives.

Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society programs introduced greater national government intervention into which policy areas?

Correct: Social Security. Health care. Civil rights. Incorrect: Universal basic income. Environment.

Which statements correctly express how the powers to regulate commerce are divided within the U.S. Constitution?

Correct: State governments may regulate commerce within states. Congress may regulate interstate commerce. Incorrect: State governments may regulate interstate commerce. The president may regulate commerce within states.

Which arguments were part of the Supreme Court's rationale for its decision in Shelby County v. Holder?

Correct: States have broad authority over elections under the Tenth Amendment. The data that had originally brought the jurisdictions under preclearance were now outdated. Incorrect: Congress's reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act violated the separation of powers doctrine. Barack Obama's election signaled that the United States had reached a new place in racial equity.

Which examples best demonstrate the concept of federal preemption?

Correct: The federal government forbidding states from establishing their own air pollution standards. The federal government requiring certain subject areas be tested by states to measure achievement. Incorrect: The federal government requiring schools to test students annually but not offering any money to pay for it. The federal government establishing a system of grants for needy families.

Which of the following were characteristics of the era of dual federalism?

Correct: The power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce was narrowly defined. The national government was small and dealt mostly with issues of foreign policy and national security. The states and national government held distinctly separate areas of sovereignty. It defined the time period from Reconstruction to the New Deal. Incorrect: Categorical grants brought federal dollars with national requirements to the states. State governments complained that their ability to regulate was preempted by the national government.

Which of the following are examples of states applying the concept of "independent state grounds"?

Correct: Wyoming granting women's suffrage prior to ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. Texas adopting the Equal Rights Amendment to the Texas Constitution. Texas requiring that the state school funding system be equitable. Incorrect: Louisiana changing its formula for Medicaid support.

During the era of _____, an attempt by Congress to create a national minimum wage would have likely been struck down by the Supreme Court because it would have been outside of the _____ listed in of Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution.

Dual federalism. Enumerated powers.

Which of the following was the primary factor that led to the replacement of the Articles of Confederation?

Economic instability.

The national government was stronger under the Articles of Confederation than it is under the Constitution.

False.

A political scientist or historian reviewing the opinions of Chief Justice John Marshall in cases like McCulloch v. Maryland and Gibbons v. Ogden would be most likely to characterize his judicial philosophy in what way?

Favoring the protections of a strong national government.

If a same-sex couple, John and Jim, got legally married in the state of New York in 2010 and then moved to the state of Texas, which had banned the recognition of same-sex marriages, they could file a suit in federal court for the recognition of their marriage under which part of the Constitution?

Full faith and credit clause.

In general terms, how did Chief Justice John Marshall treat issues of federalism in his Supreme Court rulings?

He tended to expand the national government's power relative to the states.

Which policy area would suffer the most if the national government were to revert to its practices of dual federalism?

Health and human services.

Why do many scholars insist that the Fourteenth Amendment is the most important amendment added to the Constitution, outside of the amendments in the Bill of Rights?

It allowed the Bill of Rights to be applied to the states as needed.

Match each responsibility with the correct level of government.

National: Regulate interstate commerce. Deliver mail. Protect intellectual property. Oversee foreign relations. Coin money. State: Create standards for professions. Regulate family law. Regulate adoption.

The "elastic clause" is the other name given to the _____, which gives more power to _____ to carry out its responsibilities.

Necessary and proper clause Congress

Which of the following characterizes the system of federalism?

Power is divided between the central and regional governments.

The fact that a state may not set a standard that allows only particular races of individuals to vote in a primary election is an example of which of the following in action?

Preemption.

The authority of states in the area of police powers includes passing laws that promote public health, safety, and welfare. What is the meaning of the term welfare?

Protections against the effects of poverty, disease, and abuse.

President _____ originated the thinking that led to New Federalism, but the most significant changes associated with the era were made under the administration of President _____.

Richard Nixon. Bill Clinton.

Which of the following is a direct result of the division of powers in federalism?

Segregated schools.

Federalism is most closely related to which other constitutional principle?

Separation of powers.

After the Supreme Court decision in _____, Texas no longer had to submit changes to voting procedures or redistricting maps for preclearance to the _____.

Shelby County v Holder Department of Justice

A September 2019 report by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights found that the state of Texas had 750 fewer polling places available to voters in counties with rapidly growing minority populations in 2018 than it had in 2012 and that the state had passed a new voter ID law that had to be reworked after federal courts found that it disproportionately affected voters of color. The changes in the number of voting locations and the new voter ID law are most likely connected to which Supreme Court case?

Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder.

During the Nullification Crisis of 1833, states argued which of the following?

States had the right to veto national legislation passed by congress.

The examples of some cities refusing to hold detained undocumented immigrants because this is a federal responsibility or choosing to enact more powerful environmental laws than those dictated by federal environmental policy show how liberal states and local governments may also make claims using what?

States' rights.

Because of the _____, if the Supreme Court issues an opinion in a case, _____ must also follow its ruling.

Supremacy clause. State courts.

Match each Supreme Court case to the impact it had.

Sweatt v. Painter struck down legal segregation in admission to higher education institutions. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ended the policy of "separate but equal" in public schools. Plessy v. Ferguson gave states constitutional protection to create race-based laws.

The Supreme Court in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius held that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was constitutional because of the _____, but Texas has sought to strike down the ACA in federal courts ever since the 2017 tax cuts eliminated the _____ requirement that had penalized Americans with no insurance coverage.

Taxing power of congress. Individual mandate.

Many Texas leaders often praise the small-government and low-tax values of the state and criticize the federal government for its tax policies and extensive aid programs. Examine the information in the chart to determine which statement best captures the problem with this praise and critique.

Texas relies on federal money for nearly one-third of all the money it spends in the state budget.

The myth that Texas can choose to once again become an independent nation, which is still believed by some Texans, was dispelled by the end of _____ and the decision of the Supreme Court in _____.

The Civil War Texas v. White

Cases like NFIB v. Sebelius and Shelby County v. Holder illustrate what trend that has appeared in Supreme Court decisions since the 1990s regarding the relationship between states and the national government?

The Supreme Court has given more power to states to resist the mandates and regulation of the federal government.

Study the information in the chart to make a decision about what caused the change in polling places in the following states.

The Supreme Court ruling in Shelby County v Holder.

The text of the Tenth Amendment reads: "The 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." Which of the following is most cited as the reason that the Tenth Amendment has been at the center of so much controversy about the division of powers in our federal system?

The amendment is not clear about what the powers of the states are.

Though the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, enjoys generally broad public support, the state of Texas and other states filed suit against the federal government to end its protections by making which claim?

The creation of the program by President Obama was a constitutional overreach.

Which of the following is responsible for border enforcement and development of immigration policies?

The federal government.

If the state of Texas were permitted to tax the land used by the U.S. Army at Fort Hood, it would be inconsistent with which of the following precedents?

The ruling of McCulloch v. Maryland.

What was the purpose of New Federalism as imagined by Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan?

To promote state autonomy.

What was the purpose of the preclearance requirement in the Voting Rights Act of 1965?

To protect voters from voter suppression and racial gerrymandering.

Which of the following best describes the overall trend of the United States federal system?

Toward a stronger national government.

Which argument did states fighting the preclearance requirement of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act make to the Supreme Court?

Voter discrimination was no longer an issue in the states under preclearance.

The Texas state comptroller's office describes the difference in types of grant funding from the federal government, stating that: "_____ such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) have relatively few 'strings' attached, meaning states have _____ in using money; _____ such as those for the Head Start program are _____."

block grants broad latitude categorical grants more restrictive

Read this excerpt from the dissenting opinion of Justice Louis Brandeis in New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann, and select the passage that characterizes how the federal system allows flexibility in dealing with local and regional issues. "[To stay experimentation in things social and economic is a grave responsibility]. [Denial of the right to experiment may be fraught with serious consequences to the nation]. It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous state may, [if its citizens choose], [serve as a laboratory]; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country."

serve as a laboratory

The Tenth Amendment, which reserves powers to the _____, has been a source of _____ over the meaning of federalism.

state governments conflict