PCS WEEK 3 QUIZ CHAPTER 14 & 15

There are ________ circuits in the U.S. Court of Appeals.

12

How many justices currently serve on the Supreme Court?

9

There are ________ U.S. district courts.

94

________ is when bureaucrats attempt to translate laws into specific rules and actions.

Adjudication

What is the origin of most federal bureaus?

Congress passes laws creating and funding most federal bureaus.

The size of the U.S. Supreme Court is set by

Congress.

Though the responsibility for making fiscal policy lies with ________, the administration of fiscal policy occurs primarily in the ________.

Congress; Treasury Department

________ is the primary mission of the State Department.

Diplomacy

Which of the following is an independent agency?

Environmental Protection Agency

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 cases would always be heard in federal court?

a case involving the state of New York suing the state of New Hampshire over state highway maintenance

The Department of Health and Human Services

administers the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program.

Cases in which the U.S. government is a party are

always heard in a federal court.

One of the primary purposes of the Federal Reserve System (the Fed) is to guard against

bank failures during a sudden economic scare by making sure that banks do not overextend themselves.

The Forest Service is an example of a(n) ________, while NASA is an example of a(n) ________.

bureau-level agency; independent agency

In ________ cases, the losers cannot be fined or incarcerated by the state.

civil law

The government is always the plaintiff in ________ law.

criminal

The Civil Division of the Justice Department

deals with litigation in which the United States is the defendant being sued for injury and damages allegedly inflicted by a government official or agency.

Trial courts in the federal judicial system are called

district courts.

Appeals courts

do not hear witnesses or examine additional evidence before reaching their decisions.

The use of taxing and spending powers to shape the economy is part of ________ policy.

fiscal

The jurisdiction of the federal courts is determined

for the most part by geography.

Since 1950, compared with the entire workforce, the number of federal employees has

gradually declined.

The number of state and local government employees has

increased since 1950.

Public bureaucracies are powerful because

legislatures, chief executives, and the people delegate vast power to them to make sure a particular job is done.

The Freedom of Information Act is designed to

make more national security documents available to the public.

Civil cases involving the citizens of more than one state and in which more than $75,000 is at stake

may be heard in either the federal or the state courts, usually depending on the preference of the plaintiff.

The increasing levels of spending by the federal government in recent years are due primarily to the growing

number of payments to individuals for social programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

Proposed rules to implement a law are

open to comment by anyone who wishes to weigh in.

If a defendant is charged with burglary but admits to a lesser charge of trespassing in exchange for the prosecution dismissing the burglary charge and forgoing the criminal trial, it is an example of a(n)

plea bargain.

Prior cases whose principles are used by judges to decide current cases are called

precedents.

An iron triangle is the

stable relationship between a bureaucratic agency, a clientele group, and a legislative committee.

The doctrine of ________ requires courts to follow authoritative prior decisions when ruling on a case.

stare decisis

Which government agencies designed a $700-billion bailout package and convinced Congress that a rapid response was needed to avert a worldwide depression in 2008?

the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve System

The internet was created by

the U.S. Department of Defense.

A writ of habeas corpus declares that

the government must show a legal cause for holding someone in detention.

The first court to hear a criminal case involving a violation of state law is called a(n) ________ court.

trial