FSOT US Government

antitrust legislation

federal laws that try to prevent a monopoly from dominating an industry and restraining trade (examples: Sherman Act of 1890)

Abbington Vs. Schempp

prohibited devotional bible reading in schools

3rd Ammendment of the US Constitution?

Protection from quartering of troops.

4th Ammendment of the US Constitution?

Protection from unreasonable search and seizure.

amendment

Addition to the Constitution. Amendments require approval by two-thirds of both houses of Congress and three-quarters of the states.

A man’s home is his castle

"A proverbial expression that illustrates the principle of individual privacy, which is fundamental to the American system of government. In this regard, the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitutionâ€"part of the Bill of Rightsâ€"prohibits “unreasonable searches and seizures.â€

AFL-CIO

"Abbreviation for the American Federation of Laborâ€"Congress of Industrial Organizations, two groups that merged in 1955 to become the largest federation of labor unions in the United States. Member unions, including a variety of workers from machinists to musicians, make up over seventy percent of the unionized labor force in the United States.

amicus curiae

"Friend of the Court"; a third party to a lawsuit who files a legal brief for the purpose of raising additional points of view in an attempt to influence a court's decision.

Alaskan pipeline

"An oil pipeline that runs eight hundred miles from oil reserves in Prudhoe Bay, on the northern coast of Alaska, to the port of Valdez, on Alaska’s southern coast, from which the oil can be shipped to markets. Also called the Trans-Alaska pipeline.

11th Ammendment of the US Constitution?

(1795): Clarifies judicial power over foreign nationals, and limits ability of citizens to sue states in federal courts and under federal law.

12th Ammendment of the US Constitution?

(1804): Changes the method of presidential elections so that members of the electoral college cast separate ballots for president and vice president.

13th Ammendment of the US Constitution?

(1865): Abolishes slavery and grants Congress power to enforce abolition.

14th Ammendment of the US Constitution?

(1868): Defines United States citizenship; prohibits states from abridging citizens' privileges or immunities and right to due process and the equal protection of the law; repeals the three-fifths compromise.

15th Ammendment of the US Constitution?

(1870): Prohibits the federal government and the states from using a citizen's race, color, or previous status as a slave as a qualification for voting.

16th Ammendment of the US Constitution?

(1913): Authorizes unapportioned federal taxes on income.

17th Ammendment of the US Constitution?

(1913): Establishes direct election of senators.

18th Ammendment of the US Constitution?

(1919): Prohibited the manufacturing, importing, and exporting of beverage alcohol. Repealed by the Twenty-First Amendment.

19th Ammendment of the US Constitution?

(1920): Prohibits the federal government and the states from using a citizen's sex as a qualification for voting.

20th Ammendment of the US Constitution?

(1933): Changes details of Congressional and presidential terms and of presidential succession. (lame duck ammendment)

21st Ammendment of the US Constitution?

(1933): Repeals Eighteenth Amendment but permits states to retain prohibition and ban the importation of alcohol.

22nd Ammendment of the US Constitution?

(1951): Limits president to two terms.

23rd Ammendment of the US Constitution?

(1961): Grants presidential electors to the District of Columbia.

24th Ammendment of the US Constitution?

(1964): Prohibits the federal government and the states from requiring the payment of a tax as a qualification for voting for federal officials. (poll taxes)

25th Ammendment of the US Constitution?

(1967): Changes details of presidential succession, provides for temporary removal of president, and provides for replacement of the vice president.

26th Ammendment of the US Constitution?

(1971): Prohibits the federal government and the states from using an age greater than 18 as a qualification to vote.

27th Ammendment of the US Constitution?

(1992): Limits congressional pay raises. Was one of original 12 bill of rights.

alderman

(AWL-duhr-muhn) A member of a city council. Aldermen usually represent city districts, called wards, and work with the mayor to run the city government. Jockeying among aldermen for political influence is often associated with machine politics

Annapolis Convention

A convention held in September 1786 to consider problems of trade and navigation, attended by five states and important because it issued the call to Congress and the states for what became the Constitutional Convention

Ad hoc structure

A method of organizing a president's staff in which several task forces, committees, and informal groups of friends and advisers deal directly with the president. (Ch. 12)

Adversarial press

A national press that is suspicious of officialdom and eager to break an embarrassing story about a public official. (Ch. 10)

Administrative Adjudication

A quasi-judicial process in which a bureaucratic agency settles disputes between two parties in a manner similar to the way courts resolve disputes

Americans with Disabilities Act (1991)

Act that required employers, schools, and public buildings to reasonably accommodate the physical needs of handicapped individuals by providing such things as ramps and elevators with appropriate facilities.

Arms control

Agreements reached by countries with the aim of reducing the proliferation of military weapons such as the Antiballistic Missile Treaty (1972), the first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (1972), the second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (1979), the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (1987), the first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (1991), and the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (1993).

1973 Rehabilitation Act?

An American piece of legislation that guaranteed certain rights to people with disabilities.

American Civil Liberties Union

An organization founded in 1920 in the wake of the red scare to defend civil liberties. The ACLU has often defended the rights of individuals aligned with unpopular causes, including American communists and Nazis.

Arraignment

Court hearing where a person accused of a crime is formally charged.

Appellate court

Court that generally reviews only findings of law made by lower courts

Activist court

Court that makes decisions that forge new ground such as Roe v. Wade or Brown v. Board of Education and establish precedent that often result in some form of legislative action

Appellate jurisdiction

Courts that have the right to review cases from lower courts on appeal. The highest federal court, the Supreme Court, is the final court of appeal.

7th Ammendment of the US Constitution?

Civil trial by jury.

Appropriation bill

Congressional legislation that has spending as a basic characteristic. There are 13 appropriation bills that make up the federal budget.

ADEA

Discrimination in hiring, promotions, wages, or firing/layoffs. Statements or specifications in job notices or advertisements of age preference and limitations. Denial of benefits to older employees. An employer may reduce benefits based on age only if the cost of providing the reduced benefits to older workers is the same as the cost of providing full benefits to younger workers., Since 1978 it has prohibited mandatory retirement in most sectors, with phased elimination of mandatory retirement for tenured workers, such as college professors, in 1993. The ADEA was later amended in 1986 and again in 1991 by the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (Pub. L. 101-433) and the Civil Rights Act of 1991 (P.L. 102-166). The ADEA differs from the Civil Rights Act in that the ADEA applies to firms of 20 or more workers (see 29 U.S.C. § 630(b)) rather than 15 or more workers, thus providing less protection.

5th Ammendment of the US Constitution?

Due process, double jeopardy, self-incrimination, private property.

Article 2 of the US Constitution Cover?

Executive Power

aristocracy

Form of government in which power in concentrated in the hands of the upper social class.

1st Ammendment of the US Constitution?

Freedom of speech, press, religion, peaceable assembly, and to petition the government.

11th amendment "immunity"?

Generally, a state is immune from suit by an individual. However, a state can consent to be sued, or Congress can abrogate a state's immunity, as long as it is within Congress' authority to do so (i.e. constitutional authority).

Activists

Individuals, usually outside of government, who actively promote a political party, philosophy, or issue they care about. (Ch. 6)

Article 3 of the US Constitution Cover?

Judicial Power

Article 1 of the US Constitution Cover?

Legislative Power

9th Ammendment of the US Constitution?

Protection of rights not specifically enumerated in the Bill of Rights.

Affiliates

Local television stations that carry the programming of a national network

Agenda setting

Policy goals typically set by political parties.

American Party/Know-Nothings

Political party of the 1850s. The Know-Nothings (so named becaus of their secretiveness) pursued nativist goals, including severe limitations on immigration.

Anti-federalists

Opponents of a strong central government who campaigned against ratification of the Constitution in favor of a confederation of largely independent states. Antifederalists successfully marshaled public support for a federal bill of rights. After ratification, they formed a political party to support states' rights. See also Federalists (Ch. 2)

Advise and consent

Power of the Senate regarding presidential appointments.

10th Ammendment of the US Constitution?

Powers of states and people. Anything not in the constitution is left to the states.

Acid rain

Precipitation in the form of rain, snow, or dust particles, the increased acidity of which is caused by environmental factors such as pollutants released into the atmosphere. (Ch. 21)

8th Ammendment of the US Constitution?

Prohibition of excessive bail, as well as cruel or unusual punishment.

2nd Ammendment of the US Constitution?

Right to keep and bear arms.

A3, Section 1 Constitution

Section 1 establishes the Supreme Court, the highest court in the United States. It also sets the terms of judges, of both the Supreme Court and lower courts: that they serve as long as they are on "good behavior," which usually means for life (no Justice and only a few judges have ever been impeached). It also requires that judges shall be paid.

A1, Section 1 Constitution

Section 1 establishes the name of the Legislature to be The Congress, a bicameral, or two-part, body.

A2, Section 1 Constitution

Section 1 establishes the office of the President and the Vice-President, and sets their terms to be four years. Presidents are elected by the Electoral College, whereby each state has one vote for each member of Congress. Originally, the President was the person with the most votes and the Vice-President was the person with the second most, though this is later changed. Certain minimum requirements are established again, such as a 35-year minimum age. Presidents must also be a natural-born citizen of the United States. The President is to be paid a salary, which cannot change, up or down, as long as he in is office.

A4, Section 1 Constitution

Section 1 mandates that all states will honor the laws of all other states; this ensures, for example, that a couple married in Florida is also considered married by Arizona, or that someone convicted of a crime in Virginia is considered guilty by Wyoming.

A1, Section 10 Constitution

Section 10, finally, prohibits the states from several things. They cannot make their own money, or declare war, or do most of the other things prohibited Congress in Section 9. They cannot tax goods from other states, nor can they have navies.

A1, Section 2 Constitution

Section 2 defines the House of Representatives, known as the lower house of Congress. It establishes a few minimum requirements, like a 25-year-old age limit, and establishes that the people themselves will elect the members for two years each. The members of the House are divided among the states proportionally, or according to size, giving more populous states more representatives in the House. The leader of the House is the Speaker of the House, chosen by the members.

A2, Section 2 Constitution

Section 2 gives the President some important powers. He is commander-in-chief of the armed forces and of the militia (National Guard) of all the states; he has a Cabinet to aid him, and can pardon criminals. He makes treaties with other nations, and picks many of the judges and other members of the government (all with the approval of the Senate).

A4, Section 2 Constitution

Section 2 guarantees that citizens of one state be treated equally and fairly like all citizens of another. It also says that if a person accused of a crime in one state flees to another, they will be returned to the state they fled from. This section also has a clause dealing with fugitive slaves that no longer applies.

A3, Section 2 Constitution

Section 2 sets the kinds of cases that may be heard by the federal judiciary, which cases the Supreme Court may hear first (called original jurisdiction), and that all other cases heard by the Supreme Court are by appeal. It also guarantees trial by jury in criminal court.

A4, Section 3 Constitution

Section 3 concerns the admittance of new states and the control of federal lands.

A1, Section 3 Constitution

Section 3 defines the upper house of Congress, the Senate. Again, it establishes some minimum requirements, such as a 30-year-old age limit. Senators were originally appointed by the legislatures of the individual states, though this later changed. They serve for six years each. Each state has equal suffrage in the Senate, meaning that each state has the exact same number of Senators, two each, regardless of the population. This Section introduces the Vice-President, who is the leader of the Senate (called the President of the Senate); the Vice-President does not vote unless there is a tie.

A3, Section 3 Constitution

Section 3 defines, without any question, what the crime of treason is.

A2, Section 3 Constitution

Section 3 establishes the duties of the President: to give a state of the union address, to make suggestions to Congress, to act as head of state by receiving ambassadors and other heads of state, and to be sure the laws of the United States are carried out.

A2, Section 4 Constitution

Section 4 briefly discusses the removal of the President, called impeachment.

A4, Section 4 Constitution

Section 4 ensures a republican form of government (which, in this case, is synonymous with "representative democracy," and both of which are opposed to a monarchical or aristocratic scheme - the state derives its power from the people, not from a king or gentry) and guarantees that the federal government will protect the states against invasion and insurrection.

A1, Section 4 Constitution

Section 4 says that each state may establish its own methods for electing members of the Congress, and mandates, or requires, that Congress must meet at least once per year.

Administrative Discretion

The ability of bureaucrats to make choices concerning the best way to implement congressional intentions

6th Ammendment of the US Constitution?

Trial by jury, speedy trial, and other rights of the accused.

A1, Section 5 Constitution

Section 5 says that Congress must have a minimum number of members present in order to meet, and that it may set fines for members who do not show up. It says that members may be expelled, that each house must keep a journal to record proceedings and votes, and that neither house can adjourn without the permission of the other.

A1, Section 6 Constitution

Section 6 establishes that members of Congress will be paid, that they cannot be detained while traveling to and from Congress, that they cannot hold any other office in the government while in the Congress.

A1, Section 7 Constitution

Section 7 details how bills become law. First, any bill for raising money (such as by taxes or fees) must start out in the House. All bills must pass both houses of Congress in the exact same form. Bills that pass both houses are sent to the President. He can either sign the bill, in which case it becomes law, or he can veto it. In the case of a veto, the bill is sent back to Congress, and if both houses pass it by a two-thirds majority, the bill becomes law over the President's veto. This is known as overriding a veto. There are a couple more options for the President. First, if he neither vetoes a bill nor signs it, it becomes a law without his signature after 10 days. The second option is called a pocket veto. It occurs if Congress sends the bill to the President and they then adjourn. If the President does not sign the bill within 10 days, it does not become law.

A1, Section 8 Constitution

Section 8 lists specific powers of Congress, including the power to establish and maintain an army and navy, to establish post offices, to create courts, to regulate commerce between the states, to declare war, and to raise money. It also includes a clause known as the Elastic Clause which allows it to pass any law necessary for the carrying out of the previously listed powers.

A1, Section 9 Constitution

Section 9 places certain limits on Congress. Certain legal items, such as suspension of habeas corpus, bills of attainder, and ex post facto laws are prohibited. No law can give preference to one state over another; no money can be taken from the treasury except by duly passed law, and no title of nobility, such as Prince or Marquis, will ever be established by the government.

Article 4 of the US Constitution Cover?

States Powers & Limits

Age Discrimination in Employment Act?

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, prohibits employment discrimination against persons 40 years of age or older. The law also sets standards for pensions and benefits provided by employers and requires that information about the needs of older workers be provided to the general public.

Are GAAPs regulated by law?

The GAAP is not written in law, although the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires that it be followed in financial reporting by publicly traded companies.

apportionment

The allocation of seats in a legislature or of taxes according to a plan. In the United States Congress, for example, the apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives is based on the relative population of each state, whereas the apportionment in the Senate is based on equal representation for every state. (See also gerrymander.)

appropriation

The grant of money by a legislature for some specific purpose. The authority to grant appropriations, popularly known as the power of the purse, gives legislatures a powerful check over executive branches and judicial branches, for no public money can be spent without legislative approval. Congress, for example, can approve or reject the annual budget requests of the executive branch for its agencies and programs, thereby influencing both domestic and foreign policy. (See also checks and balances and pork-barrel legislation.)

American Legion

The largest organization of American veterans, open to those who participated in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, and subsequent conflicts, such as America’s war on terrorism. The American Legion has established an influential political position, gaining support in Congress and the federal executive branch for veterans’ interests; its efforts contributed to the creation of the Veterans Administration, now the Department of Veterans Affairs, which provides medical services and other benefits to veterans and their families. Traditionally conservative, the American Legion promotes patriotism and a strong military defense. (See also Veterans of Foreign Wars.)

academic freedom

The right of teachers and students to express their ideas in the classroom or in writing, free from political, religious, or institutional restrictions, even if these ideas are unpopular.

arbitration

The settling of disputes (especially labor disputes) between two parties by an impartial third party, whose decision the contending parties agree to accept. Arbitration is often used to resolve conflict diplomatically to prevent a more serious confrontation.

Activist approach

The view that judges should discern the general principles underlying the Constitution and its often vague language and assess how best to apply them in contemporary circumstances, in some cases with the guidance of moral or economic philosophy. (Ch. 14)

527 groups

a political group organized under section 527 of the IRS Code that may accept and spend unlimited amounts of money on election activites so long as they are not spent on broadcast ads run in the last 30 days before a primary or 60 days before a general election where a clearly identified candidate is referred to and a relevant electorate is targeted; these groups were important to the 2000 and 2004 elections

adversary system

a system of law where the court is seen as a neutral area where disputants can argue the merits of their cases.

affirmative action

government-mandated programs that seek to create special employment opportunities for african americans, women, and other victims of past discrimination.

American Dream

the widespread belief that the US is a land of opportunity and that individual initiative and hard work can bring economic success