US Chapter 3

Diffusion

policy decisions in one political jurisdiction are influenced by choices made in another jurisdiction

An example of ________ is when federal officials force state officials to implement more stringent national water pollution regulations.

preemption

The Supreme Court used which constitutional amendment as the basis for striking down the 1875 Civil Rights Act?

Fourteenth Amendment

The ________ and the ________ clauses of the U.S. Constitution involve the relationships between and among the various states.

Full faith and credit; Privileges and immunities

Categorical Grant

Funds provided for a specific and clearly defined purpose

The form of federal assistance called ________ provides money to state governments with no strings attached.

General Revenue Sharing

"Commerce among the several states" was first defined in which Supreme Court case?

Gibbons v Ogden

Unfunded mandates are unpopular among those who want to

Increase the scope of federal regulations

What is one of the biggest problems with federal block grants?

There is a need for greater accountability in how the funds are actually spent by the states.

Most state governments are different from the federal government in that

They are required to have their proposed budgets balance and are prohibited from carrying deficits into the next fiscal year

Economic policies that attempt to benefit the poor through taxing and spending are referred to as

redistributive programs

he best example of a concurrent power under the U.S. Constitution is the power to

regulate commercial activity

The 2001 No Child Left Behind Act

expanded the federal government's authority over public education.

Which of the following is a good example of how state governments use their "police power"?

filing a lawsuit against the federal government for violating the Constitution (WRONG)

Programs through which Congress provides money to state and local governments on the condition that the funds be employed for purposes defined by the federal government are called

grants-in-aid

Federalism is best defined as a system of government

in which power is divided between a national government and lower-level governments

The Secure Communities program

required state and local authorities to check the fingerprints of people being booked into jail against a Homeland Security database

Under the traditional system of American federalism, most of the fundamental governing in the United States was done by

state governments

The doctrine of nullification asserted that

states were not bound by federal laws that they considered unconstitutional

Which level of government writes the majority of criminal laws?

the national/federal government (WRONG)

The era of dual federalism was from the ________ until ________.

Founding; The New Deal

State governments are often called the "laboratories of democracy" because they

Allow governments to experiment with many different policies

Suppose the government wanted to develop a national high-speed rail network. The federal government supplies states with the money to do so, but imposes very strict laws on how it will be spent. This type of funding is most likely to come from

Categorical Grant

________ powers exist when both the state and national governments share authority in certain domains.

Concurrent

________ is evidenced when national officials fund a project that is actually implemented by state governments.

Cooperative Federalism

Unfunded mandates were primarily the result of tension between a

Democratic Congress that wanted to achieve liberal social objectives and Republican presidents who opposed increased social spending. (WRONG)

_______ delegates authority to a lower level of government.

Devolution

________ delegates authority to a lower level of government.

Devolution

Medicaid is

Federal program that provides medical benefits for low-income persons

Which of the following is a good example of how state governments use their "police power"?

Filing a lawsuit against the federal government for violating the Constitution

During the first 150 years under the Constitution, the federal government was

Focused narrowly on taking actions to assist commerce and encourage economic development

The Supreme Court's decision in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius is important for American federalism because it

Limits the federal government's ability to impose conditions on states receiving federal funding

Which of the following statements about the relationship between state and local governments is NOT accurate?

Local governments can legally dissolve the government of the state in which they reside if every local government votes to do so.

Block Grants

Money from the national government that states can spend within broad guidelines determined by Washington

Block Grant

Money given to states for general programs within a broad category

Attempts by Congress to regulate child labor and factory conditions in local workplaces were struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional in the late nineteenth century because regulating local workplaces was

Perceived as beyond the scope of interstate commerce at the time

A state government's authority to regulate the safety, health, and morals of its citizens is called a(n) ________ power.

Police

Suppose a state passed a law that gave state residents preference over nonresidents in obtaining work in that state. This law would violate the ________ clause of the Constitution.

Privileges and Immunities

Who was the first president to promote New Federalism?

Richard Nixon

In a decision on the Affordable Care Act, the Supreme Court ruled that

State governments could decline to expand Medicaid coverage without losing their existing Medicaid funds from the federal government

The principle that the states should oppose the increasing authority of the national government is referred to as

States' Rights

A major reason that the slogan "states' rights" became tarnished in the 1950s and 1960s was that it had been used by

Supporters of the civil rights movement to oppose racial segregation

The ________ clause in the U.S. Constitution affirms that national laws and treaties are "the supreme Law of the Land."

Supremacy

The best example of a concurrent power under the U.S. Constitution is the power to

Tax imports and exports

What was the overall importance of McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)?

The Court allowed Congress to use the necessary and proper clause to broadly interpret its delegated powers

Which statement best describes the Supreme Court's decisions about federalism during the 1990s?

The Court limited the power of the national government over the state governments

If you advocated limiting the powers of the national government, which part of the Constitution would justify your position?

The Tenth Amendment

Which statement best describes the Supreme Court's decisions about federalism during the 1990s?

The court limited the power of the national government over the state governments

Which of the following statements best describes the 2005 Supreme Court's ruling on medicinal marijuana?

The federal government has the power to regulate use of medical marijuana under the commerce clause

Which of the following statements best describes the 2005 Supreme Court's ruling on medicinal marijuana?

The federal government has the power to regulate use of medicinal marijuana under the commerce clause

The "traditional system" of American federalism refers to a period when

The national government was quite small and carried out only a narrow and very specialized set of responsibilities

What happened in 1937 that decisively ended the era of dual federalism?

The supreme court issued a series of decisions throwing out the old distinction between interstate and intrastate commerceThe era of dual federalism was from the ________ until ________.

________ compels state governments to obey costly federal regulations but does not reimburse those costs.

an unfunded mandate

In Printz v. United States, the Supreme Court struck down a law that required state and local law enforcement officials to conduct background checks on handgun purchasers because the law

Violated the Tenth Amendment's guarantee of state soverignty

The ability to charter banks is an example of a ________ power.

concurrent

The fact that 44 states and the District of Columbia have followed in Minnesota's original policy decision and allowed charter schools is an example of

diffusion

Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)

established the supremacy of the national government in all matters affecting interstate commerce

The purpose of the Tenth Amendment is to

to limit the powers of the federal government by reserving certain powers to the states and to the people