PoliSci exam 2
class-action lawsuit (2)
1. a case brought by a group of individuals on behalf of themselves and others who are in similar circumstances 2. a type of civil suit
supreme court: majority opinion (3)
1. a decision reached by majority of the court 2. lays out a legal argument as to why they ruled a certain way 3. becomes binding on all lower courts
# standing Committees in House
21
defendant
the person or party against whom a case is brought
plaintiff
the person or party who brings a case to court
House rules severely restrain...
the power of the opposition
senatorial courtesy
the president consults with his party's senators from the relevant state in choosing the district court judge nominee
constitutional interpretation
the process of determining whether a piece of legislation or governmental action is supported by the Constitution
The congressional career: increased years because of...
the shift of power and seniority
judicial review
the supreme court's power to strike down a law or executive branch action that it finds unconstitutional
President has a first-mover advantage in...
the treaty-making process
Congress: A lot of conflict between the chambers is driven by...
the urgency for election
Many enter the bureaucracy with...
their own ideas of what government should do and make decisions in line with those goals
Congress considers presidential treaties only after negotiations have ended
there is no way for members of Congress to force president to negotiate a treaty or limit its scope
How supreme court hears cases: Exhaust of the State Judiciary
there must be no remaining remedy on the state level
As long as presidents are careful to limit unilateral power to actions that don't generate intense opposition in Congress...
they can implement a wide range of policy goals without official congressional consent
bureaucracy: regulations are often controversial because...
they involve trade-offs between incompatible goals and decisions made under uncertain circumstances
Impeachment is difficult because members of Congress who are upset about certain presidential actions might nevertheless oppose removing the president from office
they might approve of his other initiatives, want to prevent vice president from becoming president or have concerns about political backlash that impeachment could generate for them or their party
Senators are often less ideological and unyielding than House members because...
they represent entire states
Aside from legislation, the only option for members of Congress to overturn a president's unilateral action is...
to take the president to court
Vetoes are most likely to occur...
under a divided government
red tape
unnecessarily complex regulations imposed by the bureaucracy
Congress: Whips corral...
votes
Federal salaries are supposed to be comparable to...
what people earn in similar private-sector positions
regulatory capture
when bureaucrats favor the interests of the groups or corporations they are supposed to regulate at the expense of the general public
the Constitution framers didn't expect that the Senate would compete with the president over...
whom to nominate, but it was assumed that Senate would exercise independent judgment as to suitability of president's nominees
Salaries are somewhat higher for federal employees who...
work in areas with a high cost of living
Congressional staff: member of Congress personal staff
work in constituency and DC
You can have less bureaucracy only if...
you have less government
House leadership uses a ______________ to limit debate
Rules Committee
the powers of the ______________ evolved over time
Supreme Court
solicitor general
a presidential appointee in the Justice Department who conducts all litigation on behalf of the federal government before the supreme court and supervises litigation in the federal appellate courts
bureaucracy: regulation
a rule that allows the government to exercise control over individuals and corporations by restricting certain behaviors
strict constitution
a way of interpreting the constitution based on its language alone
living constitution
a way of interpreting the constitution that takes into account evolving national attitudes and circumstances rather than the text alone
attitudinalist approach
a way of understanding decisions of the supreme court based on the political ideologies of the justices
The number of opinions issued by the Court has...
fallen by more than half in the past 20 years
Many staff members are not responsible for individual members, but all Congressional staff that work for members...
know their future employment depends on future reelection of that member
common law
law based on the precedent of previous court rulings rather than on legislation
cert pool
law clerks screen cases that come to the court and recommend to the justices which cases should be heard
party voting in Congress: leadership controls political action committees, which have money for elections
leadership wants to spend it on more competitive seats
3 dynamics in presidential history: the changing shape of the political regimes that have organized state-society relations for broad periods of American history
links presidents at parallel junctures in political time
Collusion
litigants in the case cannot want the same outcome and cannot be testing the law without an actual dispute between the 2 parties
Congress: even with one-party control, the vast differences in how the chambers operate...
make policy blowups inevitable
Bureaucrats are an important source of...
new government policies
MO constitution: article 3, section 23
no bill shall contain more than one subject
Much of the turnover in Congress is driven...
not by electoral defeats but by the voluntary decisions of House members and senators to retire
Members love to take positions on issues where...
nothing in particular is going to happen, like constitutional amendments
it's not always clear why certain tasks are handled by an independent agency whereas others fall within the scope of an executive department
organizational decisions like these often reflect elected officials' attempts to shape agency behavior and the extent to which political process matters
fears of expanding the court
packing: tilting the court by overloading it with justices of a particular political persuasion
Congress: In bad years, when fundraising is more difficult and strategic targeting of opportunities is more important...
parties can find their candidates in vacated districts spending more in addition to what the retiring incumbent did in the preceding cycle as spent on average in other districts
House: 2 principles of organization
party and committee
Congress: chamber leaders are selected by...
party meetings at the start of each session
Congressional staff → size of...
personal and committee staff
Congress: we reapportion 435 seats to fit...
population changes in states
Because of America's "leader of the free world" position during Cold War...
postwar presidents like Truman had enormous influence over people's lives
Statutory authority
powers derived from laws enacted by Congress that add to the power given to the president in the Constitution
Constitutional authority
powers derived from the provisions of the Constitution that outline the president's role in the government
Head of state
president represents the country symbolically and politically
going public
president's use of speeches and other public communications to appeal directly to citizens about the issues the president would like Congress to act on
actual controversy
refers to collusion, standing and mootness
the Senate is a more amenable place for __________ to serve
republicans
supremacy clause
requires that Constitution and national laws take precedence over state laws when they conflict
Standard operating procedures (SOPs)
rules that lower-level bureaucrats must follow when implementing policies
House members are often elected from...
safe partisan districts and can afford to be less willing to compromise
judicial branch: antifederalists
said the court would be most powerful and subject to no control
Some bureaucrats may be tempted to favor interest groups or corporations to...
secure a better-paying job after they leave government service
The lawmakers who seem least to understand each other are...
senators and representatives, no matter the party
treaties: the need for Congressional approval often leads presidents to take account of...
senators' preferences when negotiating treaties, which results in compromises between branches
government/bureaucracy: a key to organizational success
strong leaders who are able to command personal loyalty and who define and instill a clear sense of mission
Conference, Ad Hoc and Joint committees are all...
temporary
judicial activism
the Court should assert its interpretation of the law even if it overrules the other branches
judicial restraint
the Court should defer to the executive and legislative branches rather than contradicting existing laws
Constitution specified the kinds of cases over which...
the Court would have original jurisdiction
Majority doesn't always rule in...
the Senate
When a president makes a nomination close to an election and the Senate is controlled by the opposing party...
the Senate will kill the nomination, hoping that its party will win the presidency and nominate a justice more to its liking
Hamilton in Federalist 78
the Supreme Court would be weakest branch
Most of the difficulties we experience in dealing with government agencies arise from...
the agencies being part of a fragmented and open political system
appellate jurisdiction
the authority of a court to hear appeals from
Most of the change in the composition of Congress comes from...
the career decisions of politicians rather than the electoral decisions of voters
Justices may assign opinions to further their own personal policy goals
the chief justice may assign opinions to justices who are closest to his/her position
bureaucracy: in all 3 eras...
the driving force was a combination of citizens' demands for enhanced government services and government officials' desires to either respond to these demands or increase the size and scope of the federal government to be more in line with their own policy goals
the Constitution doesn't specify requirements for serving on...
the federal courts
Cabinet
the group of 15 executive department heads who implement the president's agenda in their respective positions
Unitary executive theory
the idea that the vesting clause gives the president authority to issue policy directives that cannot be undone by Congress
problem of control: principal-agent game
the interaction between a principal, who needs something done, and an agent, who's responsible for carrying out the principal's orders
mootness
the irrelevance of a case by the time it's received by a federal court, causing supreme court to decline to hear it
state capacity
the knowledge, personnel and institutions that the government requires to effectively implement policies
House members think the Senate is able to prevent...
the majority from working its will
Marbury v. Madison: writ of mandamus
the part of the act that authorizes the appointments of these writs is unconstitutional
The EOP (executive office of the president) (4)
1. 10 agencies 2. Gathering information (NSC, CEA) 3. Budget and policy (OMB, OPD) 4. the OMB is the central office in the EOP; it creates the federal budget
Legal principles: state sovereign immunity (4)
1. 11th amendment 2. State governments can't be sued in federal court against their will 3. Federalism protection 4. Supreme Court has been carving out more spaces for the states to exercise immunity decisions
lecture: federal court of appeals (7)
1. 12 geographic circuits, 13th court of appeals for federal circuit 2. Court of appellate jurisdiction 3. About 50k cases per year 4. No juries; 3 judge panels 5. Written brief 6. Work takes place in offices 7. They review procedure of trial court, not the outcome
How large is the bureaucracy? (6)
1. 2.7 million employees 2. Decreasing in absolute size since the early 1980s 3. Decreasing in per capita size since the end of WW2 4. Growth has been at the state and local level, not the national level 5. The national government is responsible for growth at the state and local level 6. Federal requirements demand that local governments hire people in order to receive federal funds
Judicial nominating commission (3)
1. 29 states use some form of commission to vet potential judges and present the governor with a handful of candidates for each vacancy 2. Commissions don't entirely remove politics from the process 3. A governor's appointees will always attempt to steer the panel toward their judicial philosophy
circuit courts (8)
1. 3 of them under the Judiciary Act; 13 circuits today 2. appellate jurisdiction 3. since circuit courts hear cases on appeal from lower courts, they are now more commonly called appeals courts 4. today, separate judges are appointed to fill the circuit courts 5. based on geography 6. appellates have jurisdiction over cases in their circuit 7. determine what cases the Supreme Court hears 8. when circuits rule differently, they force the supreme court to intervene
appellate circuits of interest (3)
1. 8th includes Missouri 2. 9th western U.S. → very large; viewed as more liberal than others 3. DC circuit
lecture: federal district court (5)
1. 94 courts, 680 judges 2. Original jurisdiction 3. Civil and criminal cases 4. Grand and petite juries 5. About 250k/63k cases per year
Marbury v. Madison: elections of 1800 (6)
1. Adams vs. Jefferson 2. Jefferson elected president; federalists lost power 3. Judiciary Act of 1789 4. James Madison - Sec. of State 5. John Marshall - chief justice, a federalist 6. If Marshall doesn't order the appointments, it looks like the court has caved to the executive branch → court looks weak
How supreme court hears cases: writ of certiorari (2)
1. Agrees by petition to hear a case 2. You have to get 4 justices to agree to hear the case
state sovereign immunity: cases (3)
1. Alden v. Maine (1999) → violation of federal wage laws; Maine couldn't be drawn into federal court over this issue 2. Garrett v. Alabama Board of Trustees (2001) → University violated parts of ADA; supreme court said the state of Alabama has immunity against suit 3. Kimel v. Florida (2002) → the University of Florida denied raises to older faculty
All government organizations seek the stability and comfort that comes from relying on SOPs (standard operating procedures) (4)
1. All complex organizations display bureaucratic problems of confusion, red tape and the avoidance of responsibility 4. These problems are much greater in government bureaucracies because government itself is the institutionalization of confusion, red tape and avoiding responsibility
House: consequences of the reelection motive (8)
1. All politics is local 2. Members of Congress represent local constituencies 3. Policy, pork and constituency service promote policies that are advantageous for their districts 4. Service: helping their constituents with problems dealing with the national government 5. These generate goodwill and are not partisan 6. Every rep. has a field office 7. Think about districts before the nation 8. Behaviors: advertising, credit claiming, position taking
Polk (4)
1. Annexation of Texas (1844) and Manifest Destiny 2. One-term bid for party unity and maintenance 3. Wilmot Proviso - northern democrats offered to support Polk's effort to buy land but demanded that slavery be prohibited from entering any of the territory that might be acquired 4. Bred sectionalist heresy
Presidents have 2 ways of avoiding a congressional treaty vote
1. Announce that the U.S. will voluntarily abide by a treaty without ratifying it 2. Structure a deal as an executive agreement between the executive branch and a foreign government
emphasis on loyalty in presidential appointments has drawbacks (2)
1. Appointees may not know much about the jobs they're given 2. May not be effective at managing the agencies they're supposed to control
presidency: founders and the fear of tyranny (10)
1. Article 2 allowed the presidency to evolve over time and created incentives for presidents to go outside of their constitutional bounds 2. This reflects the uncertainty and conflicting views of the presidency 3. Few express powers 4. Significant legislative checks on the president 5. The major legislative power (the veto) is reactive and defensive 6. Congress has the power of impeachment and the purse to reign in the executive 7. The president doesn't have many devices to get Congress to do things he wants 8. The president cannot introduce legislation into Congress 9. He must convince a member of congress to do that for him 10. Very few formal powers except those that deal with military and foreign policy
Political implications of judicial decisions: reapportionment (7)
1. Baker v. Carr (1962) 2. Until 1960s, districts have disparate populations 3. Political system is disproportionately representing rural constituencies 4. Congress can't fix this problem because members would have to vote themselves out of a job 5. Have to have same populations 6. Shifted the weight from rural to urban/suburban areas 7. More interest in urban areas because the court stepped in
judiciary: 3 tiers (3)
1. Base tier: federal district courts (every state has at least 1, some have more) 2. Circuit courts and district courts → Congress has ability to establish these 3. Supreme court → created under article 3; other courts are created by article 1
Bureaucrats are experts in specific policy areas (4)
1. Bureaucrats can bring expertise to their policy choices only if elected officials allow them to act as they think best 2. When elected officials allow such discretion, they risk losing control over the policy-making process
bureaucracy: schools (9)
1. Bureaucrats often complain of legislative micromanagement 2. Sharp increase in presidential micromanagement 3. White House has feared agency independence more than agency paralysis, so it has multiplied the number of presidential staffers, central management offices and requirements for higher-level reviews 4. As more constraints are imposed, rigidities fixing agencies in their established ways intensify 5. As a result, complaints that they do not respond to controls also intensify 6. Further controls, checkpoints and clearances are therefore introduced 7. Government agencies are far less flexible than formal organizations generally 8. When Congress has been creating new programs, a government agency capable of responding adequately to these endless changes would have to be versatile and adaptable 9. These qualities are rarely found in large formal organizations
Peter Principle (2)
1. Bureaucrats rise to their level of incompetence and stay there 2. Very difficult to demote bureaucrats
Political implications of judicial decisions: political jurisprudence (2)
1. Bush v. Gore (2000) 2. the Florida recount violated equal protection, but there was no time to fix the problem
FDR and Andrew Jackson (4)
1. Came to power upon the displacement of an old ruling coalition 2. Faced the challenge of constructing a new regime 3. Leadership became a matter of securing the political and institutional infrastructure of a new governmental order 4. Each led a movement based on discontent with the previously established order
Carter and Pierce (3)
1. Came to power when the dominant coalition appeared unaffected by the nation's most basic problems 2. Each was a minor local figure, removed from the centers of party strength 3. Neither could reconcile his awkward position in the old order in the nation at large
Advantages of a larger, more diverse court (4)
1. Cases are turning on questions of technology, bioethics and finance 2. We aren't well-served by a court with little training in these fields 3. The justices don't have experience in electoral politics 4. Would allow for shifting coalitions that could break the country out of its left/right stalemate
Committees changed the nature of the congressional career (2)
1. Chairs/senior members are powerful 2. As complexity picked up, members stayed longer
Wilson increased government's role in economy management by supporting the... (4)
1. Clayton Antitrust Act 2. Federal Reserve Act 3. first federal income tax 4. legislation banning child labor
Only 2 presidents have faced an impeachment vote (2)
1. Clinton and Andrew Johnson 2. Both were impeached by the House but were not convicted by Senate
Beginning of America's bureaucracy: the small bureaucracy performed a narrow range of tasks (2)
1. Collected taxes on imports and exports 2. Delivered the mail
Carter's reform program called for governmental reorganization, civil service reform and fiscal retrenchment (2)
1. Coming from an outsider affiliated with the old order, the political force of the program were nullified 2. Translated into an ideologically passionless vision of reorganizing the old order without challenging any of its core concerns
the most powerful people in Congress are the most powerful people on the committees → committee chairs (3)
1. Committee membership is self-selected and partially corresponds to constituency interest or the policy/power goals of the representative 2. Leadership positions on committees accrues to senior members of the political party 3. Policy expertise and influence increases with tenure in the committee
Modern presidency → emerged with FDR (5)
1. Comprehensive legislative program → the New Deal wanted Congress to enact sweeping reforms to social welfare policy 2. Presidents before him reacted to whatever legislation Congress brought them 3. Direct policy making → done through the bureaucracy rather than through legislative authority 4. The president has more control over bureaucracy than legislative process 5. Office of management and budget
bureaucracy: prior to the modern era, presidents have found it difficult to directly influence administrative practices (3)
1. Congress exercises oversight of the bureaucracy 2. Even when the president tries to govern through the bureaucracy, if it's done through orders, Congress still has a say 3. Congress controls the budget, and the bureaucracy is responsive to money
Constitution: Article 1, section 5 (2)
1. Congress is the final arbiter of who sits in Congress 2. each chamber determines the rules of its proceedings
Oversight → a shared role between Congress and the president in overseeing the federal bureaucracy (4)
1. Congress oversees implementation of the law to ensure the bureaucracy applies the law as intended 2. Congress may cut off funding to agencies not properly implementing their programs (power of the purse) 3. Congress may hold hearings investigating the activities of the bureaucracy 4. Congress knows it doesn't know a lot of things that influence how policies are implemented → gives bureaucracy a lot of leeway
20th Amendment: section 2 (2)
1. Congress shall assemble at least once every year 2. Such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3d day of January, unless they appoint a different day
Constitution: Article 1, section 8 (9)
1. Congressional powers 2. federal income tax 3. borrow money 4. regulate commerce 5. establish a uniform rule of naturalization 6. coin money 7. 3-tier court system 8. declare war 9. necessary and proper clause
3 general dynamics are evident in presidential history
1. Constitutional separation of powers 2. Modernization of the nation 3. The changing shape of the political regimes that have organized state-society relations for broad periods of American history
Senate size (100) and structure (4)
1. Constitutionally fixed number 2. More decentralized and less hierarchical 3. Senators are peers; more informal 4. Less structured by rules
Speaker of House (2)
1. Controls the rules committee, which is basically an extension of the speaker 2. If she doesn't support a bill, she can allow an amendment to the bill that's so obnoxious that no one would vote for it, aka a poison pill
Types of federal bureaucracies: cabinet level departments (3)
1. Core of federal bureaucracy 2. Secretaries are members of president's cabinet 3. Doesn't mean size; what they do is a central action
The court is political; how can it be legitimized under democratic theory? (7)
1. Court justices are not elected and serve for life 2. Formally, there's very little participation of citizens in selection of federal judges 3. Power of judicial review makes court final arbiter of Constitution 4. No corresponding power in other countries 5. An unquestioned power since Marbury v. Madison 6. There has to be a branch of government that's not subject to public pressure 7. Court is not democratically accountable
JFK (6)
1. Courted both liberals and conservatives 2. Felt that conflicts could be best avoided by refraining from unnecessarily divisive action 3. Interest balance translated into legislative restraint 4. Liberalized the Civil Rights Commission but refused to withhold federal funds from states that violated the Constitution 5. Executive management allowed him to juggle mutually contradictory expectations for 2 years 6. The intensified action of the civil rights movement forced him to shift his course from interest balancing to moral choice
supreme court: retiring justices are seen as an issue (2)
1. Curb this practice: drop life tenure and put term limits in place 2. Most commonly discussed plan would have justices serve staggered, 18-year terms, with each president guaranteed two picks per term — perhaps one in the first year and another in the third
Democrats and Republicans tend to leave the House for different reasons (4)
1. Democrats want to stay in the House longer 2. The opposite is true for Republicans 3. Not only are Republicans members of Congress more likely to retire from public life than are Democrats, they are also more likely to engage in progressive ambition, that is to relinquish seats in the House to pursue other office 4. Democrats view themselves as career legislators, Republicans as aspirant executives
Constitutional continuity and change: 17th amendment (1913) (5)
1. Direct election of U.S. senators 2. The U.S. senate was not directly elected under the constitution 4. This made the selection of Senators roughly identical to selection of House reps., except senators are elected statewide 5. Enhanced power of national government in relation to states
the process for overriding committee jurisdiction on bills (3)
1. Discharge petition → an assignment of a committee to a bill is challenged 2. Forces the removal of a bill from a committee; very rare 3. If you sign one, they'll just do it to your committee
Supreme Court: In 1941, Harlan Fiske Stone became chief justice and changed the culture (2)
1. Dissent was encouraged 2. Over time, partisanship took hold
lecture: how cases are heard by federal courts (4)
1. District courts have original jurisdiction 2. Appellate courts hear cases that are appealed from the district courts 3. Supreme court has original jurisdiction in disputes between the states 4. Can bypass the appellate system
After opinions are assigned, justices work on writing a draft opinion (2)
1. Drafts are circulated to other justices for comments and reactions 2. Justices may join the majority opinion, write a separate concurring opinion or dissent
Bureaucrats take account of pressures from elected officials for 2 reasons (2)
1. The bureaucrats' policy-making power may derive from a statute that members of Congress could overturn 2. Bureaucrats need congressional support to get larger budgets and to expand their agency's mission
FDR's presidency (5)
1. Early policies of New Deal did not present a challenge to long-established political and economic interests 2. Bipartisan role 3. American Liberty League mounted an aggressive assault on New Deal 4. FDR turned his administration toward structural reform to secure the interests of a political majority within the new governmental order 5. Congress recognized the new governing demands presented by the large federal programs and bureaucratic apparatus FDR had forged
Types of federal bureaucracies: independent regulatory agencies (3)
1. Established to regulate particular sectors of economy 2. Example: interstate commerce commission 3. Can be large or small
Types of federal bureaucracies: government institutions, labs, etc. (2)
1. Example: Smithsonian 2. Government research facilities that exist under the federal government
Types of federal bureaucracies: government corporations (2)
1. Example: US postal service 2. Government-controlled and operated but are expected to operate on their own dime for certain privileges
Parkinson's Law (3)
1. Expenses always rise to meet budget 2. Bureaucracies always spend all of their money in order to get more 3. Work expands to fill the time available to complete it
history/formation of federal bureaucracy (3)
1. Federal government agencies tend to come in waves 2. Created at distinct points in time 3. Not a function of size
bureaucracy: 1960s (The Great Society) (2)
1. Federal programs enacted by LBJ that further expanded size and activities of the bureaucracy 2. Mixed success: many anti-poverty programs failed
party voting in Congress (7)
1. Few resources (carrots and sticks) for the leadership 2. The extent of party voting in the U.S. is significantly less in the legislature than other Western democracies 3. Leadership controls political action committees, which have money for elections 4. Leadership wants to spend it on more competitive seats 5. Relatively few punishments on members for not voting with their party 6. Parties are relatively polarized in the chambers 7. Congress parties are voting more and more together
presidential strengths (6)
1. Focal point of government → the president can get messages out easily 2. Coordination → through the office of management and budget, the president creates a budget and transmits it to Congress 3. A president's budget deals with all the trade-offs on things we spend money on 4. If all comes together, he presents a coherent national agenda to Congress 5. Foreign affairs → president is the preeminent actor 6. As foreign affairs became more important to US, the presidency became the more important office
Consequences of the law making process for policy (5)
1. Fragmented → policies are crafted in isolation without reference to other policies 2. Laws are sometimes conflictual 3. Distributive policy → if it's hard to legislate, legislators start looking for devices to increase support and get their bills through 4. ^This encourages crafting legislation that distributes goods and services to lots of constituencies 5. Legislators tack things onto the bill to get others to vote for it (riders)
House: policy expertise and influence increases with tenure in the committee (3)
1. Freshman members of prestige committees don't know what they're talking about 2. Influence follows knowledge; it just takes time 3. Huge incentive to reelect your member of Congress because they're only going to become more influential
political control of the bureaucracy: presidential oversight (2)
1. Going native 2. Money (OMB)
Presidential actions defined the government's response to the... (2)
1. Great Depression 2. FDR's New Deal
Political implications of judicial decisions: privacy and abortion (6)
1. Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) 2. No explicit guarantee of privacy in the Constitution 3. Right to artificial birth control 4. A lot of states wanted to know for which women doctors were writing prescriptions for birth control 5. Roe v. Wade (1973) 6. Casey v. Planned Parenthood → explores the limit to the right to abortion
growth of the bureaucracy (2)
1. Growth of government is measured by the people who work for it 2. Real growth occurred in the 20th century
lecture: exercise of judicial review (5)
1. Hardly ever happens 2. Most cases don't raise constitutional questions 3. Bill of rights didn't apply to the states until the 20th century 4. Lots of state laws weren't considered unconstitutional until this period 5. Then the court used the 14th amendment to apply the bill of rights to the states
Office of Management and Budget and the bureaucracy (2)
1. Has the authority to bring in relevant bureaucrats to address bad agency practices 2. Administering central clearance → the OMB decides when a bureaucrat goes to Congress and what the parameters are for what they can talk about
During his campaign, Kennedy developed a posture of inoffensive support on civil rights (4)
1. He held back from leadership and avoided pressing the cause on southern conservatives 2. But the democratic platform tied Kennedy to the cause 3. Offered his vice-presidential position to LBJ 4. Both balanced a bold Democratic commitment on civil rights with determination not to lose the support of its opponents
presidential roles (4)
1. Head of state and government 2. We combine these 2 roles in one positions; most countries don't 3. Tends to complicate and confuse American politics 4. The approval rating is patriotism
JFK's prospects in the White House hinged on the ability to vindicate the promise of vigorous national leadership without undermining the established foundations of national political power (3)
1. His "New Frontier" was eminently suited to the demands of aggressive maintenance 2. Leadership in the international arena would bring the nation together behind demonstrations of American power 3. In the domestic arena, it would contain party conflict through presidential management and executive-controlled initiatives
Pierce (4)
1. His campaign was a simple declaration of support for the Compromise of 1850 and a pledge to resist any further agitation on slavery 2. No interest of any significance depended on his success 3. He exhausted his party's legitimacy by letting party leaders elect him 4. He was at the mercy of the Senate
Many scholars say a constitutional amendment would be required to institute term limits, though some argue Congress could take action on its own (2)
1. Hope is that regular appointments and shorter terms would drain some of the sturm und drang out of the process 2. Bring ancillary benefits as well
Bicameral legislature → clearest example of checks and balances (3)
1. House is directly elected; Senate indirectly elected 2. House is closest to the people 3. taxation bills can only originate in the House because only the House is directly elected
party voting in Congress: Congress is voting more and more together as party blocks against each other (2)
1. Housekeeping measures → everyone's in favor of it 2. Vanity legislation → everyone votes together
it's almost impossible to successfully legislate in U.S. government (2)
1. Housekeeping measures → routine legislation nobody objects to 2. Partisan legislation that makes it through is very small
Founders' problem: defining the presidency (4)
1. How much power to grant to the executive 2. Article 1 vs. article 2: one is vague; the other is detailed 3. Assumption that the presidency would evolve 4. No clear idea of what the president would be or how much power he'd have
20th Amendment: section 3 (3)
1. If the President elect dies, the Vice President elect becomes President 2. If a President isn't chosen by the beginning of his term, or if the President elect fails to qualify, then the Vice President elect acts as President until a President qualifies 3. If neither a President elect nor a Vice President qualifies, Congress decides who acts as President
In defining a core mission, executives must be aware of their many rivals for the right to define it (2)
1. If the organization must perform a diverse set of tasks, those tasks that are not part of the core mission will need special protection 2. This requires giving autonomy to the subordinate tasks subunit and creating a career track
bill becoming a law: the committee votes on whether or not to refer bill to the chamber as a whole (3)
1. If there's an affirmative vote from the House committee, the bill gets sent to the Rules Committee 2. The Rules Committee decides whether to allow amending on the floor or not 3. The speaker tries to create an environment that bridges the gap between bill committee and other chamber members
Congress: executive and judicial functions (2)
1. Impeachment → judicial; trial takes place in the Senate 2. the Senate has a role in treaty making → executive
differences between civil and criminal cases (5)
1. In civil cases, the jury has to determine whether the "preponderance of evidence" — a majority of the evidence — proves that the plaintiff wins 2. In criminal cases, the defendant must be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt 3. In criminal cases, there is a presumption of innocent until proven guilty 4. In civil cases the burden of proof may be on either the plaintiff or the defendant, depending on the law that governs the case 5. the plaintiff may have to prove certain points and the defendant other points
presidency: more resources are required to lead/influence (2)
1. Inside strategies → talking to the relevant legislators, persuading people to do things 2. "Going public" → talking to people publicly about issues to bring pressure to Congress
the Court's term extends from the first Monday in October through the end of June (4)
1. It hears cases on Mondays through Wednesdays in alternating two-week cycles 2. In the two weeks of the cycle when it is not in session, justices review briefs, write opinions and sift through the next batch of petitions 3. On most Fridays during the Court's term, the justices meet in conference to discuss cases that have been argued and decide which cases they will hear 4. Opinions are released throughout the term, but the bulk of them come in May and June
the Court has discretion in defining "standing" (3)
1. It may hear cases that it thinks are important even when the plaintiff may not have standing as traditionally understood 2. It may avoid hearing cases that may be politically sensitive on the grounds that there's no standing 3. The court often avoids hearing a controversial case based on a threshold issue like standing and then doesn't have to decide on the merits of the case
New banking structure → Panic Session of Congress (1833-1834) (2)
1. Jackson solidified democratic support in the house 2. Secured a loyal democratic majority in the chamber
Characteristics of bureaucracies (6)
1. Large → enough people work there that you don't know them all 2. Specialized division of labor 3. Fixed rules of procedure 4. Written records 5. Hierarchical 6. Relatively autonomous
the judicial branch may be simultaneously seen as the most and least democratic branch (2)
1. Least: judges are unelected and not accountable to voters 2. Most: cases are brought by the people
bill becoming a law: bill death (3)
1. Legislation dies in mark-up, conference and final debate 2. Article 1 → expectations of the founders are reversed 3. Senate tends to add stuff to bills with money
3 dynamics in presidential history: constitutional separation of powers (2)
1. Links all presidents in a constant struggle over the definition of their institutional prerogatives 2. Suggests that the basic structure of presidential action has remained essentially the same
3 dynamics in presidential history: modernization of the nation (3)
1. Links presidents in the expanded powers and governing responsibilities of the modern presidency 2. Suggests that post-World War II incumbents stand apart 3. Their shared leadership situation is distinguished from that of earlier presidents by the scope of governmental concerns, the complexity of national and international issues and the sheer size of the institutional apparatus
Kennedy and James K. Polk (7)
1. Managing an established regime in changing times 2. The regime manager is constrained on one side by the political imperatives of coalition maintenance and on the other by deepening divisions within the ranks 3. Leadership does not penetrate to the basics of political and institutional reconstruction 4. It is caught up in the difficulties of satisfying regime commitments while stemming the tide of internal disaffection 5. The president is challenged at the level of interest control and conflict manipulation 6. An initial upheaval, the ensuing political confusion and the widespread support for a decisive break from the institutional structures of the past 7. Neither could claim the leadership of any major party faction
problems with bureaucracies: it's nearly impossible to kill a bureaucracy (5)
1. Mission evolution and expanding responsibilities 2. Bureaucracies are created to solve particular problems, but they tend to grow 3. To grow, they must expand their responsibilities 4. Bureaucracies fight for turf 5. When agencies have nearly overlapping interests, it creates tension because they want to expand responsibilities and get more resources
bureaucracy: 1930s (3)
1. New Deal reforms resulted in an increase in the size and responsibilities of the bureaucracy, as well as a large transfer of power to bureaucrats and the president 2. broadened the range of bureaucratic policy areas 3. increased regulations on many industries
Jackson's 1824 election (2)
1. New economic and social conflicts had been festering since the financial panic of 1819 2. The republican party disintegrated into warring factions
22nd Amendment (2)
1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice 2. No person who has held the office of President for more than 2 years of a term shall be elected as President more than once
supreme court processes: solicitor general (3)
1. Noel Francisco 2. argues cases on behalf of the U.S. 3. petitioners on the other side generally have their own attorneys
judicial politics (4)
1. Nomination and confirmation process is partisan 2. Senate behaves accordingly 3. About 900 federal judges 4. Considerable aging and workload problems for the courts
House size (435) and structure (4)
1. Not a constitutionally fixed number; fixed by statute 2. Greater need for structure, organization and leadership 3. More rules-based 4. Not all members are created equal in how they influence the chamber
2 offices of the EOP (2)
1. Office of Management and Budget 2. Office of the United States Trade Representative → negotiates trade agreements with other nations
bill becoming a law: referral to a committee/subcommittee (2)
1. One bill could fall into more than one policy area 2. If not clear what the committee is → multiple or sequential referral
Why do regulatory agencies that are created to promote the public good seem to work instead for the benefit of regulated industries? (5)
1. Oversight hearings → unity between parties in grilling the regulatory agency 2. Revolving door 3. Expertise lies in the regulated industries, so it makes sense to bring people in from there 4. Tends to be cost effective 5. No right or wrong side; this is just how it works
House Standing Committees: membership tends to be collective (2)
1. People who prefer to be on prestige committees desire a higher party standing 2. They can collect a lot of favors from other members
political control of the bureaucracy: congressional oversight (4)
1. Police patrols or fire alarms 2. Congress is like police department looking for problems 3. Congress is more like a fire alarm and responds when something goes wrong 4. Limited control through appropriations
Judicial decision-making: political factors (5)
1. Political ideology and attitudes 2. Other justices' and politicians' preferences 3. Separation of powers 4. Outside influences: interest groups and public opinion 5. When the public has a clear position on an issue that is before the Court, the Court tends to agree with the public
FDR and Jackson: leadership challenges (4)
1. President as regime builder grapples with institutional reconstruction and party building 2. Destroying residual institutional support for opposition interests 3. Securing the dominant position of a new political coalition 4. Neither could keep party building and institutional reconstruction moving in tandem long enough to complete them both
Jackson's presidency: he was determined to ferret out the political and institutional corruption that he believed had befallen the Jeffersonian regime (3)
1. Purging incompetence and profligacy from the civil service 2. Initiating fiscal retrenchment in national projects 3. Reviving federalism as a system of vigorous state-based government
Types of federal bureaucracies: independent agencies (4)
1. Rank below cabinet 2. Headed by directors 3. Provide info to other cabinet-level departments and the president 4. Lots of autonomy; relatively independent of political influence because what they do transcends the govt.
Impeachment (3)
1. Removing a president is much more difficult than passing a law to undo a unilateral action 2. House members must impeach (indict) the president by majority vote, which accuses him of a crime or breach of his sworn duties 3. Then senators hold a trial, followed by a vote in which a ⅔ majority is required to remove president from office
the Constitution gives presidents only a modest role (formal powers) in the legislative arena (4)
1. Report to Congress on the State of the Union (Article 2, section 3) 2. May call Congress into special session (Article 2, section 3) 3. Veto power (Article 1, section 7) 4. Vice president serves as presiding officer of Senate but has no vote unless Senate is tied (Article 1, section 2)
Jackson's presidency (5)
1. Republican renewal was the keynote of Jackson's first term 2. Used the initial upheaval in governmental control to cultivate a position as the nation's crusader in reform 3. Deposit Act of 1836 → Congress explicitly limited executive discretion in controlling state depositories 4. Jackson merely substituted one uncontrollable financial system for another 5. Institutional ties between state and society were weak
FDR restructured institutional relations between state and society by offering Congress coherence and direction (2)
1. Resulted in a second wave of New Deal legislation 2. He simultaneously pressed for tighter business regulation and graduated taxation
Retirements can unleash a good deal of pent-up aspirations among party elites in a district (2)
1. Retirement loosens the floodgates and sees significantly larger numbers of candidacies 2. Retirements can cost a party many hundreds of thousands of additional dollars in campaign expenditures to replace the retiring MC with a co-partisan
Jackson's presidency: he vetoed the bank recharter bill (6)
1. Said his stand would extricate the federal government from the interests of the privilege and protect the states from federal domination 2. Challenged the assumption of executive deference to the Court and asserted presidential authority to make an independent judgement about judicial decisions 3. Challenged executive deference to Congress 4. Appealed directly to the interests of laborers 5. Call to the "common man" for a defense of the republic 6. Asserted the president's authority to make an independent evaluation of social, economic and political implications of congressional action
Why do we hate Congress and love our representative? (7)
1. Senate races attract more money and stronger challengers 2. You can't gerrymander a Senate constituency 3. For members of Congress, all politics is local 4. Problem: every member sees the world from the perspective of their home district 5. Checks and balances → it's hard to legislate in the U.S. 6. No single locus of power, so it's hard to get things done 7. We started hating James Madison
bureaucracy: late 1890s and early 1900s (Progressive Era) (4)
1. Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906 2. increased the government's regulatory power 3. the government had an indirect impact on several aspects of people's lives 4. Federal civil service system
How do presidents exert leadership with relatively few formal tools to do so? (3)
1. Skilled leadership → presidential power is the power to persuade 2. He persuades cabinet officials, staffs and those who report to him to do what he wants 3. Marching orders don't work; convincing others to do what he wants does
The US vs. other Western bureaucracies (10)
1. Smaller as measured by percentage employment but considerable regulatory authority 2. More rule-making authority 3. Shared control between executive and legislature 4. Both have ability to exercise control over bureaucracy 5. Executive: OMB and oversight 6. Congress: oversight and budgetary authority 7. Federal structure → US has a federal system 8. At the state level, bureaucracy will often have discretion 9. Discretionary authority likely to be challenged 10. Congress tends to leave residual authority with the bureaucracy to figure out how it will implement policies; things change
supreme court processes: oral and written arguments (3)
1. Spoken presentations made in person by the lawyers of each party to a judge or an appellate court outlining the legal reasons their side should prevail 2. 30 minutes per side for oral arguments 3. Amicus briefs → other parties submit briefs to the court arguing one position or the other in respect to the case
Ways to cope with ambiguous products in government (3)
1. Supply the product in a marketlike environment 2. Client is able to choose from rival suppliers 3. The client is an individual citizen or government agency
the Senate's job was to check the house under the original constitution (3)
1. Supposed to be the cooler, more collected deliberate body 2. Federalists believed the president should be aligned with the Senate to slow down the house 3. First check on government-promulgated tyranny
judiciary: 3 levels
1. Supreme Court 2. appellate courts 3. trial courts
Throughout the 19th century, the Senate was very willing to turn down... (2)
1. Supreme Court nominations for political reasons 2. a rethinking of this passive role occurred in late 1960s with Nixon
One can distinguish different political contexts for presidential leadership within a given historical period (3)
1. The "greatest" presidents all came to power in an abrupt break from a long-established political-institutional regime 2. Each led a movement of new political forces into control of the federal government 3. After the initial break with the past and the consolidation of a new system of government control, a general decline in the political effectiveness of regime insiders is notable
FDR's election (3)
1. The collapse of the old ruling party was overshadowed by the Great Depression 2. His candidacy found special meeting in spite of his conservative campaign rhetoric 3. His appeal was grounded in a widespread perception of Republican incompetence
Bureaucracy and the American Regime (5)
1. The constitution is virtually silent on what kind of administration we should have 2. US governments were designed to be malleable, not efficient or powerful 3. America has a unique paradoxical bureaucracy 4. The multiplication of rules and the opportunity for access 5. It's rule-bound without being overpowering and participatory without being corrupt
FDR called for an increase in the size of the Court to allegedly increase efficiency (3)
1. The court accepted the policies of the New Deal 2. Justices eliminated FDR's proposed judicial reforms 3. Congress didn't challenge the court
If a case does not involve a "substantial federal question," it will not be heard (2)
1. The court doesn't have to hear a case if justices don't think it's important enough 2. If a case is governed by state law rather than by federal law, court will decline to hear the case unless there are constitutional implications
contemporary presidency (2)
1. The irony of winning the Cold War and having to bargain abroad 2. The president could make demands of our allies more easily
20th Amendment: section 1 (3)
1. The terms of the President and the Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January 2. The terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January 3. The terms of their successors shall then begin
party voting in Congress: the extent of party voting in the U.S. is significantly less in the legislature than other Western democracies (6)
1. They have control over the fortunes of legislators 2. There's very little Congress can do to affect prospects of candidates for elections 3. Candidates must negotiate with party members in Congress for support 4. In most western democracies, party leadership has control over whether people can run for office, as well as resources they have to run for office 5. ^This controls whether or not people make it into the legislature 6. Most legislators in other democracies vote the way the party tells them to vote
problems with bureaucracies: they have constituencies (4)
1. They have supporters because bureaucracies facilitate those supporters 2. When it comes to reigning in the bureaucracy, politicians must remember the supporters 3. Bureaucracies try desperately to increase their supporters so they have a political constituency to count on 4. Politicians take this into consideration when creating legislation
On the federal level → a commission composed of the Senate majority and minority leaders, and the chair and ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee (3)
1. Together, they could recommend 3 to 5 candidates for each Supreme Court vacancy to the president 2. Making that list binding would probably require a constitutional amendment since the legislative branch would be placing a substantial limit on executive power 3. But Senate's constitutional duty to provide advice and consent on judicial nominations would almost certainly allow for a non-binding list
Carter (3)
1. Treated his remoteness from his party as an asset rather than a liability 2. Took away the regime outsider's freedom to oppose established interests and the insider's license to support them 3. It wasn't the system that was at fault but the way it was run
How powerful are the US federal courts? (3)
1. US court system has powers that don't exist in most other western judiciaries 2. Weakest branch of government 3. Courts rely on other branches to enforce its rules
Many of the limits to presidential powers are not well defined (3)
1. Unclear which executive actions require congressional approval and which ones can be reversed by Congress 2. The very ambiguity of the Constitution and most statutes creates opportunities for the exercise of presidential power 3. At least part of presidential authority must be derived or assumed from what the Constitution and statutes do not say
Resources for presidential bargaining (all of these major powers are informal) (6)
1. Vantage points → see the perspective from their bureaucracy 2. Washington reputation 3. Difficult to pass legislation if Congress doesn't like the president 4. Popular prestige → broad-based and significant levels of popular support, especially in the district 5. Legislators are more supportive of him if he has popular support 6. Presidents try to get as much done as they can right after election because of high approval ratings; get the most done in first 2 years
party voting in Congress: relatively few punishments on members for not voting with their party (2)
1. Violating seniority rule 2. If you press that too hard, you run risk of a revolt of your own members
Standing committees: 3 "prestige" committees (3)
1. Ways and means 2. Appropriations 3. Rules
Downside of American exceptionalism and our reverence for the constitution (4)
1. We assume decisions made in 1787 are just controlling 2. Changing this perspective may require a true crisis 3. We may have to get to the point where the appointment is so politicized that it's completely broken 4. Maybe then the country could look more closely at state-level models
Firemen First Principle (2)
1. When bureaucracies face budget cuts, they always offer to cut the most essential services first 2. Strategy to reduce likelihood of budget cuts
bill becoming a law: the bill is debated and passed by each chamber (3)
1. You can amend in the Senate from the floor no matter what 2. You can't amend it in the house 3. The bill comes out of each chamber different
the government needs to emulate methods that work in the better parts of the private sector (3)
1. a bias toward action 2. small staffs 3. a high level of delegation based on trust
problem of control (2)
1. a difficulty elected officials face in ensuring that when bureaucrats implement policies, they follow these officials' intentions but still have enough discretion to use their expertise 2. Despite bureaucrats' policy expertise, their decisions often appear to take too much time, rely on arbitrary judgments of what is important and have unintended consequences
Presidential power grew as U.S. became more involved in international relations (2)
1. a key player in allied coalition against Germany and Japan in WW2 2. FDR led the establishment of the United Nations
precedent (4)
1. a legal norm established in court cases that is then applied to future cases dealing with the same legal questions 2. lower courts are bound by Supreme Court decisions when there is a clear precedent that is relevant for a given case 3. following precedent is not clear-cut because several precedents may seem relevant 4. lower courts have considerable discretion in sorting out which precedents are the most important
MO constitution: article 3, section 20 (3)
1. a majority of the elected members of each house shall constitute a quorum to do business 2. the regular session of the General Assembly starts in early January and ends on May 30 3. the governor and a supermajority (3/4) of each chamber may call special legislative sessions
lecture: supreme court (2)
1. about 80 cases per year 2. CJ John Roberts Jr.
How House members are elected (5)
1. age/seniority is primary attribute members need 2. elected for 2 year terms from Single Member Districts using the plurality rule 3. every congressional district elects one person 4. statute, not constitution 5. most candidates run in districts that are relatively homogenous
25th Amendment: section 4 (3)
1. allows the Vice President and the Cabinet to agree that the president is unable to serve 2. designed to deal with a situation where an incapacitated president couldn't tell Congress that the vice president needed to act as president 3. also allows the president to protest such a decision, and for 2/3 of Congress to decide in the end if the President is unable to serve due to a perceived condition
elements of the judicial system (3)
1. an adversarial system in which lawyers on both sides have an opportunity to present their case, challenge the testimony of the opposing side, and try to convince the court that their version of the events is true 2. the process of discovery, in which both sides share the information that will be presented in court before the trial begins, ensures a fair process 3. 49 of the 50 states and the federal courts operate under a system of common law
Executive agreement (2)
1. an agreement between the president and the leader of another country 2. acts as a treaty but doesn't require Senate approval
amicus curiae (3)
1. an interested group or person who shares information about a case to help the court reach a decision 2. submitted by interest groups 3. those filed early in the process increase the chances that the case will be heard
vesting clause (6)
1. article 2, section 1 2. the executive power shall be vested in a President, making him the head of government and state 3. presidents and their supporters argue for an expansive meaning 4. opponents counter that the clause is so vague as to be meaningless 5. presidential power is only partially due to specific constitutional grants of authority 6. some of it comes from how each president interprets less concrete statements
4 paths a case may take to get to supreme court (5)
1. article 3 of the Constitution says the supreme court has original jurisdiction in cases involving foreign countries or cases in which a state is a party 2. ^the supreme court shares jurisdiction with lower courts on these issues 3. As a matter of right → "on appeal" 4. Through certification 5. Through a writ of certiorari
supreme court cases: through a writ of certiorari (2)
1. at least 4 of the 9 justices agree to hear a case that has reached them via an appeal from the losing party in a lower court's ruling 2. the most common way for a case to reach the supreme court
Committee chairs determine the... (2)
1. bill calendar 2. bills die if the committee can't hear them
federal civil service (4)
1. bureaucrats are hired on the basis of merit rather than political connections 2. sets out job descriptions and pay ranges for all federal jobs 3. government employees are insulated from day-to-day political pressure 4. gained steam during Progressive Era
bureaucratic drift (2)
1. bureaucrats' tendency to implement policies in a way that favors their own political objectives rather than following the original intentions of the legislation 2. two strategies: agency organization and monitoring
supreme court cases: on appeal (3)
1. cases that Congress has determined to be so important that the court must hear them 2. a lower court declared a state or federal law unconstitutional 3. a state court upheld a state law that had been challenged as unconstitutional under the U.S. constitution
Standing committees: ad hoc committees (2)
1. comprised for special purposes 2. transitory; only last to answer a specific question
Standing committees: conference committees (3)
1. created to bridge a gap in a piece of legislation that's been approved by both chambers so the chambers can revote 2. consists of members from both chambers 3. sometimes they can't bridge the gaps in conference, and the bill dies
Constitution: Article 1, section 2 (6)
1. determines how many representatives each state gets 2. Congress determines its own size 3. House is composed of members who are directly elected every two years 4. creates the divisions for congressional districts 5. House chooses its own speaker 6. only the House can impeach
Legal principles: stare decisis (5)
1. doctrine of precedent 2. decisions reached by upper courts are binding in lower courts 3. these decisions guide legal reasoning in all similar cases 4. supreme court rarely reverses itself, but it has in some instances 5. undermines legitimacy of the court
signing statements (2)
1. documents that explain the president's interpretation of a new law 2. issued when the president approves of a bill but disagrees with the way supporters of the bill in Congress interpret the legislation
political control of the bureaucracy: the courts (2)
1. due process 2. administrative laws
a strong executive (5)
1. efficiency and decisiveness 2. the idea of a plural executive was kicked down because of the fear that it would make the presidency a decisive office and wouldn't allow president to act quickly 3. ^the president would create his own constituency, which would divide Americans 4. the president must be a rallying symbol, which is easier with one person 5. Hamilton, Fed. #70 → ability to get things done
12th Amendment (2)
1. election of the president and vice president by the electoral college 2. if there's no majority vote, the House chooses the president, and the Senate chooses the vice president.
MO constitution: article 5, section 25 (6)
1. establishes the MO plan for judicial selection 2. 25a: nonpartisan selection of judge appointments to fill vacancies 3. 25b: adoption of the plan in other circuits; the form of petition ballots 4. 25c1: tenure of judges; declaration of candidacy; rejection and retention 5. the MO plan, or merit selection plan, has a hybrid process for selecting judges 6. retention elections are special: there can be no competing candidate
MO constitution: article 3, section 31 (2)
1. every bill that passes both chambers shall be considered by the governor 2. if he approves it, the bill becomes a law
Federal regulations affect most aspects of... (2)
1. everyday life 2. they shape contribution limits and spending decisions in political campaigns
Filibusters can be broken only by... (2)
1. fatigue 2. invoking cloture, which requires a supermajority of 60 senators
Constitution gives power to pardon people convicted of... (2)
1. federal crimes or reduce their sentences 2. the president cannot pardon anyone who has been impeached/convicted by Congress
executive orders (6)
1. formal presidential instructions that have the force of law 2. most arise from the authority delegated to the president by law 3. Congress often provides the framework for them 4. not frequently used 5. Congress acknowledges that the president has preeminence in foreign affairs 6. Congress is tighter when it comes to domestic policy
Because power is dispersed in Congress, presidents can leverage... (3)
1. fragmented Congress 2. relatively weak parties 3. aggressive media
Relations with the other branches of government may become strained when the Court rules on... (2)
1. fundamental questions about institutional power 2. in some cases, the other branches may fight back; in others, the Court may exercise self-restraint and not get involved
Marbury v. Madison (1803) (4)
1. gave the supreme court the power of judicial review 2. Marshall's reasoning: the court couldn't give Marbury his job because the part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 that gave it the power to do so was unconstitutional 3. the portion of act in question gave the court the power to issue writs of mandamus to anyone holding federal office 4. because this section expanded the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, Marshall ruled that Congress had overstepped its boundaries in passing it
bill becoming a law: mark-up (5)
1. happens after a bill is sent to a committee 2. the vast majority of bills never make it to this stage 3. bills die in committee → the committee kills it by not putting it on the calendar 4. the heart of the legislative process: the committee re-writes, changes and modifies the bill 5. if the member who introduced the bill is not a member of the mark-up committee, he/she has lost control of it
As a result of the growth of government, staff support for members of Congress... (2)
1. has exploded 2. one contributing factor of high reelection rates of Congress members
House Standing Committees (6)
1. have rights to legislation in their domain of authority 2. chair leaders control the process 3. normal legislation has to go through one of these committees 4. parties assign members to committees 5. membership tends to be collective
After justices indicate how they're likely to vote on a case... (2)
1. if the chief justice is in the majority, the chief justice decides who will write the majority opinion 2. otherwise, most senior justice assigns the opinion
what bureaucracies do (3)
1. implement policy 2. provide expert advice and resolve disputes 3. the vast majority of federal bureaucrats don't work in Washington DC
the Court often exercises self-imposed restraint and refuses to act on political questions (2)
1. issues that are outside the judicial domain and should be decided by elected officials 2. the Court reserves the right to decide what a political question is
Politicians like when courts intervene on controversial issues (2)
1. it takes the pressure off of them 2. it's easy to take a position on something when you know you're not going to have to vote on it
To gain compliance with its decisions, the Court can rely only on... (3)
1. its reputation and on the actions of Congress and the president to back them up 2. if the other branches don't support the Court, there isn't much it can do 3. the Court's lack of enforcement power is especially evident when a ruling applies broadly to millions of people who care deeply about the issue
Many details about the Supreme Court were left up to Congress, including... (3)
1. its size 2. the time and place it would meet 3. its internal organization
judiciary: Judges differ in politics, and judicial decisions have huge political implications, but... (2)
1. judges want you to think they're above politics 2. cannot bring cameras into federal courts to remove justices from the appearance of being in the trenches
article 3 (3)
1. judicial branch 2. created one Supreme Court 3. gave the courts independence by providing federal judges with lifetime terms
MO constitution: article 5 (7)
1. judicial department 2. Missouri's list of articles is much longer than that of the U.S. 3. separate geographical districts are called circuits 4. each circuit contains municipal courts established by municipalities 5. the legislature has divided MO into 45 judicial circuits 6. vertical jurisdiction has to do with the distinctions among trial courts and courts that hear appeals from trial courts 7. appellate courts are higher courts; trial courts are lower
John Marshall (3)
1. justice in 1801 2. court started to gain more power 3. single-handedly transformed the court into an equal partner in checks and balances
Constitution: Article 1, section 7 (4)
1. law-making 2. all bills for raising revenues shall originate in the House of Representatives because it's the only directly-elected element of government 3. if a bill is approved by 2/3 of the House of Reps., it becomes a law 4. doesn't address the actual law-making process in Congress
riders (2)
1. legislation tacked onto bills that has nothing to do with a bill itself 2. allows amendments to bills to make them more likely to pass
Presidents and their legislative staff work with Congress to develop ___________ proposals (2)
1. legislative 2. they lobby members of Congress to support their proposals
MO constitution: article 3, section 1 (3)
1. legislative department 2. states exercise general legislative power whereas the federal government only exercises limited, enumerated powers 3. the MO constitution vests the legislative power in the General Assembly, while the U.S. constitution vests only legislative powers herein granted
standing (2)
1. legitimate justification for bringing a civil case to court 2. easy to establish for private parties
Senate members (6)
1. longer office terms (6 years) 2. share significant executive functions with the president 3. show great deference to the minority 4. any individual senator can bring the chamber to a standstill by engaging in extended debate 5. rules permit senators to speak on any topic 6. elected in state-wide elections using the plurality rule
district courts (4)
1. lower-level trial courts that handle most U.S. federal cases 2. each had one judge 3. 89 districts in the 50 states, with at least 1 district court for each state 4. limited jurisdiction courts
Congress members started changing the institution to... (2)
1. make age more valuable 2. ^this made subcommittees more important
advance warning (3)
1. members of Congress, the president and members of his staff gain advance knowledge of planned bureaucratic actions through notice-and-comment 2. gives opponents the opportunity to register complaints with their congressional representatives 3. allows legislators time either to pressure the agency to revise the regulation or to enact another law undoing or modifying the agency action
statutory interpretation (3)
1. methods used by the courts for determining the meaning of a law and applying it to specific situations 2. Congress may overturn the courts' interpretation by writing a new law 3. thus, it also engages in statutory interpretation
Standing committees: ways and means (2)
1. money and tax laws 2. extremely important
district courts: the U.S. court of federal claims handles... (3)
1. most claims for money damages against the U.S. 2. disputes over federal contracts 3. unlawful takings of private property by the federal government and other claims against the U.S.
Article 1, section 10: In some areas... (3)
1. national government is preeminent: foreign and defense policy 2. states are preeminent: education 3. the national government and states share responsibilities: law enforcement
plea bargaining (3)
1. negotiating an agreement between a plaintiff and a defendant to settle a case before it goes to trial or a verdict is decided 2. in a civil case, this usually involves an admission of guilt and an agreement on monetary damages 3. in a criminal case, this often involves an admission of guilt in return for a reduced charge or sentence
MO constitution: article 3, section 21 (3)
1. no law shall be passed except by bill 2. no bill shall be so amended in its passage as to change its original purpose 3. bills may originate in either house and may be amended or rejected by the other
Standing committees: rules committee (3)
1. only exists in the House 2. determines the process under which legislation can be heard by the chamber 3. makes sure House business takes place in a timely manner
civil law tradition (2)
1. only practiced in Louisiana 2. based on a detailed codification of the law that is applied to each specific case
bureaucratic drift: monitoring (3)
1. oversight 2. advance warning 3. investigation
political appointees (2)
1. people selected by an elected leader to hold a government position 2. hold short-term, usually senior positions
bureaucracy: the election of Andrew Jackson in 1828 brought the first large-scale use of the spoils system (4)
1. people who had worked for Jackson's campaign were rewarded with new positions in the federal government 2. the spoils system gave parties incentive with which to convince people to work for the party 3. the challenge facing the spoils system was ensuring that government employees, who often lacked experience in their new fields, could actually carry out their jobs 4. the solution was to develop procedures that guided them on what to do even if they had no experience/training
Standing committees: joint committees (2)
1. permanently staffed by members from both chambers 2. not a chamber committee; it's a congressional committee
the task of the bureaucracy is to develop and implement... (2)
1. policies established by congressional acts or presidential decisions 2. legislation usually provides general guidelines for meeting governmental goals
bureaucratic drift: agency organization (2)
1. political officials determine where the agency is located within the federal government structure and who runs it 2. may occur solely within Congress, may involve both Congress and the president or may be arranged by presidential actions
Constitution: Article 1, section 9 (3)
1. powers denied to Congress 2. no bill of attainer or ex post facto law, which keeps Congress from acting like the courts 3. per capita tax, meaning taxes must be uniform across the states
Constitution: Article 1, section 10 (2)
1. powers denied to the states 2. foreign affairs belong to the national government
traditional presidency (2)
1. presidents didn't have a huge effect 2. exceptions: Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, T. Roosevelt
The Hatch Act (1939) (4)
1. prohibited federal employees from engaging in organized political activities 2. employees could vote and contribute to candidates but could not work for candidates or political parties 3. only restricts activities that directly help a particular political candidate 4. limits partisan political activities of federal bureaucrats
notice-and-comment procedure (5)
1. proposed rules are established in the Federal Register and made available for public debate 2. individuals and companies potentially affected by the regulation can respond to the agency that proposed it 3. they can appeal to members of Congress or the president's staff for help in lobbying bureaucrats to revise the proposal 4. the agency then issues a final regulation that incorporates changes based on the comments 5. this final regulation is also published in the Federal Register and then put into effect
what bureaucracies do: implement policy (3)
1. putting federal law into practice through rule-making or spending 2. rules: how laws will be interpreted and executed 3. extensive rule-making authority for the implementation of government laws
MO constitution: article 4, section 3 (2)
1. qualifications of governor 2. durational qualification - the requirement for a residency of 10 years
how the supreme court hears cases: major constitutional or legal principles (3)
1. ramifications beyond the immediate case 2. supreme court will hear a case because the other court's process was wrong, and it'll affect other people 3. circuits are ruling differently in similar cases
Justices prepare for a case by... (3)
1. reading the briefs submitted by both parties 2. because the Supreme Court hears only appeals, it does not call witnesses or gather new evidence 3. amicus curiae
bill becoming a law: conference committee (3)
1. reconciles differences between House & Senate versions of legislation 2. both chambers are represented on the committee 3. if they create such a bill, it gets sent back to each chamber for debate and passage
Standing committees: appropriations (5)
1. responsible for spending money 2. constitution requires that every US dollar spent is appropriated 3. two-step spending process 4. authorization - a bill may authorize the expenditure of an amount of money on something 5. appropriation - money can't be spent until committee appropriates it
Recess appointment (2)
1. selection by the president of a person to be an ambassador or head of a department while Senate is not in session, thereby bypassing Senate approval 2. unless approved by a subsequent Senate vote, recess appointees serve only to the end of the congressional term
bill becoming a law: bill goes to the president for signature (4 options)
1. sign in to law 2. not sign but allow to become a law 3. pocket veto (Congress adjourns for 10 days; may not be overridden) 4. veto
oral arguments (4)
1. spoken presentations made in person by the lawyers of each party to a judge or an appellate court outlining the legal reasons their side should prevail 2. each case gets 1 hour divide evenly between both parties 3. the Court is strict about its time limits and uses a system of 3 lights to show lawyers how much of their allotted time is left 4. after oral arguments, justices meet in conference to discuss and then vote on the cases
the Senate has more continuity than the House (term lengths), so there's more... (2)
1. stability in upper chamber 2. this results in few rule changes year to year
the person bringing the case must have _________ to sue in a civil case (2)
1. standing 2. usually means that the individual has suffered some direct and personal harm from the action addressed in the court case
MO constitution: article 4, section 4 (3)
1. tenure of appointees 2. in Missouri, the conflict between the spoils and merit systems played out much later than at the federal level 3. patronage practices have faded
MO constitution: article 3, section 8
1. term limitations for members of the general assembly 2. no one can serve more than 8 years in any one house of the General Assembly or 16 years in both houses 3. in contrast, the U.S. constitution doesn't limit the number of Congress terms people can serve
judiciary: the framers could not agree on judicial review so... (2)
1. the Constitution remained silent on the matter 2. whether to give the judiciary revisionary power over Congress
President controls day-to-day military operations through... (2)
1. the Department of Defense 2. has the power to order troops into action without explicit congressional approval
the president appoints federal judges with the advice and consent of the Senate (3)
1. the Senate must approve nominees with a majority vote 2. the president has broad discretion over who to nominate 3. the Senate rarely rejects nominees because of their qualifications; rather, it tends to reject them for political reasons
When a member of Congress retires, her party surrenders... (3)
1. the advantages of incumbency in that district, including having an experienced candidate already well known to the voters 2. it's more difficult for a party to retain a seat made open by retirement than it is to reelect an incumbent 3. it cost more to retain an open seat than it had cost to win it with the incumbent in the preceding election
original jurisdiction (2)
1. the authority of a court to handle a case first 2. original jurisdiction for the supreme court is not exclusive and may assign a case to a lower court
the House used to be where the action was (2)
1. the balance of power changed with the rising emphasis on slavery issues in 19th century 2. with the Senate split between slave states and free states, politicians realized that one lawmaker in the Senate could wield significant power
the transformation of Jackson's presidency from a moral crusade into a radical program of political reconstruction was instigated by the Bank of the United States (2)
1. the bank embodied all the problems of institutional corruption toward which Jackson addressed his administration 2. the bank was a concentration of political and economic power able to tyrannize people and control the will of their elected reps.
Congress → founders' dilemma (2)
1. the belief in democratic theory and fear of popular government and concentrated powers 2. direct democracy is dangerous → how do we protect political minorities
Marbury v. Madison decision (3)
1. the court has the power to issue writs of mandamus 2. the judiciary act of 1789 is unconstitutional because it permits writ petitions to be heard directly by USSC 3. article 3 defines USSC's original jurisdiction
the structure of the court system is like the rest of the political system (2)
1. the court operates on 2 parallel tracks within the state courts and the federal courts 2. both tracks include courts of original jurisdiction, appeals courts and courts of special jurisdiction
the Constitution did not definitively establish the role of... (2)
1. the courts 2. the Supreme Court's authority as the ultimate interpreter of the Constitution
presidential periods are marked by the rise to power of new political coalitions, one of which comes to exert a dominant influence over the federal government (5)
1. the dominant coalition operates the federal government through the development of a set of institutional arrangements and approaches to public policy questions 2. conflicts among interests within the dominant coalition threaten to cause political disaffection and may weaken regime support 3. as the nation changes, the regime's traditional approach to problems appears increasingly outmoded 4. the longer a regime survives, the more its approach to national affairs becomes encumbered 5. its political energies dissipate, and it becomes less competent in addressing the manifest governing demands of the day
bureaucracy: Reagan Revolution and afterward (2)
1. the election of Reagan and the republican takeover of Congress allowed conservatives to roll back the size and scope of the federal government 2. efforts were largely unsuccessful
the origin of a regulatory agency is the industry it regulates (2)
1. the first regulation it wants is to limit number of competitors in the market 2. licensure
structural differences between the House and Senate (5)
1. the floor process is less structured in the Senate due to its smaller size 2. the House is less individualistic and more majoritarian 3. business takes place in committees 4. more work gets done on the floor for the Senate 5. cloture → requires ⅗ of those present to shut down debate on a bill in the Senate
MO constitution: article 4, sections 1 and 2 (2)
1. the governor and his duties 2. office of the governor mirrors office of the president
Executive Office of the President (EOP) (4)
1. the group of policy-related offices that serve as support staff to the president 2. about one-third of these employees are concentrated in 2 offices 3. help presidents achieve policy goals and get reelected 4. most EOP staff members are presidential appointees who retain their positions only as long as the president who appointed them remains in office
Judiciary Act of 1789 (5)
1. the law in which Congress laid out the organization of the federal judiciary 2. refined and clarified federal court jurisdiction 3. set original number of justices at 6 4. created the office of the attorney general 5. established the lower federal courts
House Standing Committees: parties control and assign members to committees (2)
1. the majority party always has most of the seats on each committee 2. every chair of every committee is a member of the majority party
the Court has reduced the number of summary decisions it issues (2)
1. the number of summary judgments declined when Congress gave the Court more control over its docket and reduced the number of cases it was required to hear on appeal 2. no good reason why other than that chief justices have decided that the Court shouldn't issue so many opinions
Judicial decision-making: legal factors (4)
1. the precedents of earlier cases 2. the language of the Constitution 3. every case has a range of precedents that can serve to justify a decision 4. easy cases are less likely to be heard by the Court
presidential appointments (3)
1. the president appoints ambassadors, senior bureaucrats and members of the federal judiciary, including Supreme Court justices 2. the president can remove them from their positions whenever he/she likes 3. the president nominates individuals to fill federal judgeships, including Supreme Court justices, although these nominations require Senate approval in order to take effect
The Brownlow Report (1937): "The President Needs Help" (4)
1. the president was at a big disadvantage because Congress members had more knowledge of policy than him 2. F.D.R. created a large, professional staff of experts to help the president compete with Congress for legislation 3. created the executive office of the president and the Office of Management/Budget
In part, unilateral actions are the product of... (2)
1. the president's constitutional and statutory authority 2. additional opportunities created by the ambiguities in the president's authority
executive privilege (2)
1. the president's right to keep conversations confidential from the other branches 2. can weaken accountability to the public
Congress: beyond elections and legislating (5)
1. the primary vehicle for constitutional amendments 2. ⅔ of the house and ⅔ of the senate are needed to propose amendment 3. the final judge of qualifications of election candidates 4. final arbiter of who holds office 5. can decide the mechanism by which members are elected
Iron triangle (3)
1. the relevant committee, bureaucracy and interest group are the primary actors in any legislative area 2. hard for outside groups to get involved 3. used to be solid; now they're more permeable due to rise of independent think tanks
jurisdiction (3)
1. the sphere of a court's legal authority to hear and decide cases 2. when bringing a case before the court, you must choose a court that actually has the power to hear your case → venue shopping 3. varies by state
Bureaucracy (2)
1. the system of civil servants and political appointees who implement congressional or presidential decisions 2. a.k.a. the administrative state
original intent (2)
1. the theory that justices should surmise the intentions of the founders when the language of the Constitution is unclear 2. Justice Clarence Thomas
The president and Congress often fight back when they think the Court is exerting too much influence (2)
1. they can limit the Court's power as a policy-making institution 2. Congress can try to control the Court by blocking appointments it disagrees with, limiting the jurisdiction of the federal courts, changing the size of the Court or impeaching a judge
Although justices may pick and choose their cases... (2)
1. they can't completely set their own agenda 2. they can only select from the cases that come to them
Elected officials must figure out how to reap the benefits of bureaucratic expertise without simply giving bureaucrats free rein to do whatever they want (3)
1. they must take away discretion entirely and give bureaucrats simple, direct orders 2. this limits the positive influence of their expertise 3. makes it impossible for bureaucrats to craft policies that take into account new developments or unforeseen circumstances
the aim of civil service regulations (2)
1. to separate politics from policy 2. a set of rules and requirements that made it hard for elected officials to control the hiring and firing of government employees to further their own political goals
The greatest mistake citizens can make when complaining of the bureaucracy is... (2)
1. to suppose that their frustrations arise out of management problems 2. they actually arise out of governance problems
Until 1940, there was a premium placed on... (2)
1. unanimous decisions 2. started by John Marshall
Ambiguities in the Constitution create opportunities for... (2)
1. unilateral presidential action 2. these actions face reversal through legislation, court decisions and impeachment, but members of Congress face costs if they undertake these options
Congress: committee staff (3)
1. work strictly for the committee no matter who's on it 2. not responsible to any particular member 3. chairs have lots of authority over that staff
supreme court: concurring opinion (2)
1. written by justices who agree with the majority but disagree with some of the logic behind it 2. to carve out room for alternative interpretation of the majority decision
supreme court: dissenting opinion (2)
1. written by those not part of the majority to explain why they don't agree with the majority 2. objective is to limit the scope of the majority decision as much as possible
there was an eightfold increase in the bureaucracy between...
1816 and the beginning of the Civil War in 1861
the president is commander in chief of military, but...
Congress has power to declare war
20th Amendment: section 4
Congress may provide for the case of death of any of the persons from whom the House may choose a President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them and for the case of death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them
fire alarm oversight
Congress responds to complaints about the bureaucracy only as they arise rather than exercising constant vigilance
25th Amendment: section 1
In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President
the Court is in recess from...
July through September
the Supreme Court doesn't always have final say out of all the branches
Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
the Constitution places the president in charge of the implementation of laws
More commonly, the president's authority to implement the law requires using judgment to translate legislative goals into programs, budgets and regulations
How supreme court hears cases: Exhaust (almost always) the federal judiciary
On rare occasions, the supreme court will hear cases that don't exhaust the federal judiciary
We don't think Congress works very well
Our dissatisfaction is really with the way framers set up our government
Executives should understand the culture of their organizations and the strengths and limitations of that culture
Permits the executive to economize on scarce incentives, state general objectives and delegate responsibility
Treaty-making power is shared between Congress and the president
Presidents and their staff negotiate treaties, which are then sent to the Senate for approval
the War Powers Resolution has shaped presidential decisions regarding the use of force
Presidents often consult with congressional leaders or try to gain congressional approval before committing troops to battle
_____________ has power of the individual
Senate
________________ can put blind "holds" on legislation and raise procedural obstacles on the floor
Senate members
Vice president's job is to preside over...
Senate proceedings
House members want to show that they've done things; meanwhile...
Senators have more time
Theodore Roosevelt used the...
Sherman Antitrust Act to the Northern Securities Company, a nationwide railroad trust
It takes sustained effort in the form of multiple electoral victories over a long period of time for a party to change the court and upend precedent
That's how it should be → when justices make a decision, it should be hard to change
The president can remove appointees to...
executive departments and the EOP from office at any time
executive branch: no single organization can perform well a wide variety of tasks
The wise executive will arrange to develop the slighted tasks onto another agency or to a new organization devoted to that purpose
23rd Amendment
extends the right to vote in presidential elections to citizens residing in the District of Columbia
25th Amendment: section 2
When there's a vacancy for the Vice President, the President nominates a Vice President who takes office after a favorable majority vote from both Houses of Congress
25th Amendment: section 3
Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.
the framers envisioned the Senate as...
a legislative bulwark against the more populist House
delegate
a member of Congress who loyally represents constituents' direct interests
police patrol oversight
a method of oversight in which Congress members constantly monitor the bureaucracy to make sure laws are implemented correctly
Congressmen must constantly engage in...
activities related to reelection
Bureaucrats gain the authority to write regulations from...
acts passed by Congress
the Constitution limits the supreme court to hearing...
actual cases and controversies, which has been interpreted to mean that the court cannot offer advisory opinions about hypothetical situations but must deal with actual cases
district courts: court of international trade
addresses cases involving international trade and customs issues
turkey farms
agencies to which campaign donors can be appointed in reward for their service because it's unlikely that their lack of qualifications will lead to bad policy
State of the Union
an annual speech in which president addresses Congress to report on condition of the country and recommend policies
Federal Register
an official journal that includes rules, proposed rules and other types of government documents
Unilateral action
any policy decision made and acted upon by the president and presidential staff without explicit consent from Congress
presidential influence is...
at the margins
the president is nominally in charge of the...
bureaucracy but generally shares this power with Congress
Budget maximizers
bureaucrats who seek to increase funding for their agency whether or not that additional spending is worthwhile
franking privilege
campaign documents that make sure you know the name of your representative and things they've done
summary decisions
cases that do not receive a full hearing but on which the Court issues a decision anyway
Congress is organized by...
committees
oversight
congressional efforts to make sure that laws are implemented correctly by the bureaucracy after they've been passed
Congress: support staff
deep historical report writing for members of Congress
In a civil case, the plaintiff sues to...
determine who is right or wrong and to gain something of value
the chief justice decides the ____________ for a given day
discuss list
Congress: compactness
districts should not have extremely bizarre shapes
FDR's party-building initiative failed
division within the majority party became a permanent feature of the new regime
For much of 19th century, the court embraced...
dual federalism
Sometimes red tape and SOPs are the result of...
elected officials' attempts to mitigate the problem of control
Retirements outstrip ____________ as a source of turnover in both chambers
electoral defeats
During the summer, the Court considers...
emergency petitions (such as stays of execution) and occasionally hears important cases
civil servants
employees of bureaucratic agencies within the government
MO constitution: article 3, section 22
every bill shall be referred to a committee of the house in which it is pending
appeals courts
federal courts that hear appeals from district courts *The 94 federal districts are organized into 12 regional circuits, each of which has a court of appeals. The appellate court's task is to determine whether or not the law was applied correctly in the trial court. Appeals courts consist of three judges and do not use a jury.*
earmarks
federally funded local projects attached to bills passed through Congress
Independent agencies are often designed to have more ________________ by the president and Congress
freedom from oversight
Head of government
gives the president authority of the executive branch
independent agencies
government offices or organizations that provide government services and are not part of an executive department
House members seeking other offices almost always sought those with...
greater executive duties
the relevant bureaucracy is the one that...
has authority over corresponding policy jurisdiction
the division of activities among executive departments and independent agencies does not always...
have an obvious logic
the exception to what the Court deals with most of the time
high profile cases
Organizations that fall within an executive department can be controlled by the president through...
his appointees
blue slip process
home-state senators record their support or opposition to nominees on blue slips of paper
the main disagreements about the judiciary had to do with...
how independent the courts should be in relation to the other branches and how much power to give to the courts
MO constitution: article 3, section 32
if 2/3 of house members vote in the affirmative on a vetoed bill, it becomes a law
the courts: petitioner and respondent
if the case is appealed, the petitioner is the person bringing the appeal and the respondent is on the other side of the case
Obama highlights a fundamental limit on presidential power
in many areas, presidents require congressional support in order to achieve policy goals
the average time to confirm nominees has...
increased dramatically
Some bureaucrats are the face of the federal government by...
interacting directly with citizens to provide services and other benefits
Senate routinely engages in...
interminable debates without limits
the Court must be sensitive to how others might respond to its decisions because...
it must rely on other branches of government to enforce them
Faith in the court has tumbled as...
it's grown more partisan
3 ways Congress members promote their chances for reelection
1. Advertising 2. Credit claiming 3. Position taking
Filibuster (2)
1. a tactic used by senators to block a bill by continuing to hold the floor and speak until bill's supporters back down 2. under the Senate rule of unlimited debate
Reconciliation (3)
1. allows for expedited consideration of certain tax and spending legislation 2. not subject to filibusters 3. may be passed with simple majorities in both chambers
Congress: position taking (3)
1. any public statement about a topic of interest to constituents or interest groups 2. the statement may take the form of a roll call vote 3. the most important statements are those prescribing American governmental ends or means
Today, the Senate is still more insulated than the House
Because of the six-year terms of senators, only one-third of the 100 Senate seats are contested in each election, while all 435 House members are elected every two years
Congress: advertising (4)
1. appeals or appearances that get the member's name in the public in a favorable way 2. house incumbents are much better known than their challengers 3. house members are free to blanket their constituencies with mailings for all boxholders; senators are not 4. senators find it easier to appear on national television
Greater cohesiveness within parties and separation across parties means that... (2)
1. conditional party government may be in play 2. strong party leadership is possible in Congress, but it's conditional on the consent of party members
The localized nature of congressional elections and the incumbency advantage promote... (3)
1. congressional stability in the face of presidential change 2. increases the likelihood that different parties will control the presidency and Congress 3. divided government complicates accountability
the Senate was intended to check the more responsive and passionate House
1.
Process of a bill becoming a law (8)
1. A member of Congress introduces the bill 2. A subcommittee and committee craft the bill 3. Floor action on the bill takes place in the first chamber 4. Committee and floor action takes place in the second chamber 5. Conference committee works out any differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill 6. Conference committee version is given final approval on the floor of each chamber 7. President either signs or vetoes the final version 8. If the bill is vetoed, both chambers can attempt to override the veto with a two-thirds vote in both chambers
Presidential power has increased over time because of... (4)
1. America's growth as a nation 2. its emergence as a dominant actor in international politics 3. the expansion of the federal government 4. various acts of legislation that have given new authority to the president
3 general types of House rules
1. Closed rules 2. Open rules 3. Modified rules
Relationships between constituents and their member of Congress can be characterized in 2 basic ways
1. Descriptive representation 2. Substantive representation
2 properties of credit claiming (2)
1. Each benefit is given out to a specific individual, group or geographical constituency, and the recipient unit is of a scale that allows a single congressman to be recognized as the claimant for the benefit 2. each benefit is given out in apparently ad hoc fashion with a congressman apparently having a hand in the allocation
Whips meet regularly to discuss legislative strategy and scheduling (3)
1. Pass along this information to colleagues in their respective parties and indicate the party's position on a given bill 2. Take a headcount of party members in the House on specific votes and communicate this information to the party leaders 3. If a vote looks close, whips try to persuade members to support the party's position
Congress: how districts vary
1. Size - Senate "districts" (states) vary in terms of area and population 2. Who lives there and what they want from government
Costs of Congress members' focus on reelections (4)
1. Some voters question the value of pork-barrel spending, even when it's targeted to their district 2. Members' desire to please means Congress has a difficult time refusing any group's demands, which may lead to contradictory policies 3. Members achieve independence from the party leadership, which contributes to the fragmentation of Congress 4. Campaigning takes time away from enacting laws and overseeing their implementation
Congress: 4 types of committees
1. Standing committees 2. Select committees 3. Joint committees 4. Conference committees
3 central differences in the legislative processes of the House and the Senate (3)
1. The continuity of the membership and the impact this has on the rules 2. The way in which bills get to the floor 3. The structure of the floor process, including debate and amendments
substantive representation (2)
1. a member of Congress serves constituents' interests and shares their policy concerns 2. nearly all members act like trustees in some circumstances and like delegates in others
Congress: credit claiming (3)
1. a member of Congress takes credit for something of value to voters 2. most commonly pork-barrel policies targeted to benefit specific constituents or the district as a whole 3. goods must be specific and small enough in scale that the member of Congress may believably claim credit
Congress: standing committees (4)
1. a permanent part of the congressional structure 2. hold more importance and authority than other committees 3. ongoing membership and jurisdictions 4. where most of Congress's work gets done
Roll call vote (2)
1. a recorded vote on legislation 2. members may vote yes, no, abstain or present
president pro tempore (2)
1. a symbolic position held by the most senior member of the Senate majority party 2. presides over the senate when vice-president is not there
Congress: joint committees (2)
1. contain members of both the House and the Senate but have limited authority 2. four joint committees
In congressional redistricting, a reduction in the number of seats allocated to a state can lead to... (3)
1. districting plans that put 2 incumbents in the same district, forcing them to run against each other 2. incumbents from one party use these opportunities to defeat those from another party 3. both parties use this to gain partisan advantage
Congress: home style (3)
1. how members typically respond to diversity in their districts 2. a way of relating to the district 3. shapes the way members allocate resources, the way incumbents present themselves to their district and the way they explain their policy positions
Before a piece of legislation can become a law, it must be passed in... (2)
1. identical form by both the House and the Senate and signed by the president 2. if the president vetoes the bill, it can still be passed with a 2/3 vote in each chamber
Individual senators have more power than... (3)
1. individual House members due to the Senate's rule of unlimited debate 2. majority and minority leaders are leaders of their respective parties 3. the assistant majority and minority leaders are second in command
Monroe Doctrine (2)
1. issued by President James Monroe in 1823 2. stated that America would remain neutral in wars involving European nations and that these nations must cease attempts to colonize/occupy areas of North and South America
Pork barrel (2)
1. legislative appropriations that benefit specific constituents 2. created with the aim of helping local representatives win reelection
Distributive theory (2)
1. members of Congress will join committees that best serve the interests of their district 2. committee members will support each other's legislation
Congress: campaign fundraising (2)
1. money functions as a deterrent to potential challengers 2. convinces contributors that there's no point in trying to support a challenger
Congress: redistricting (2)
1. redrawing the geographic boundaries of legislative districts 2. occurs every 10 years to ensure that districts are equal in population
Relationships between constituents and their member of Congress: descriptive representation (4)
1. representation in which a member of Congress shares the characteristics of his/her constituents 2. demographic/socioeconomic terms 3. helps create greater trust in the system 4. related to the perceived responsiveness of Congress members
Conference/caucus chair tasks (3)
1. runs party meetings to elect floor leaders 2. make committee assignments 3. set legislative agendas
Differences between the representational roles of House and Senate have become muted as...
1. senators seem to campaign for reelection 365 days a year, every year, just like House members 2. this "permanent campaign" means senators are now less insulated from electoral forces than they were in the past
Constitution amendment 17 (3)
1. the Senate is composed of 2 elected senators from each state 2. each senator shall serve for 6 years and have one vote 3. when vacancies happen for any state in the Senate, said state shall issue writs of election to fill the vacancies
Congress: the speaker is aided by... (3)
1. the majority leader 2. majority whip 3. the conference/caucus chair
Congress: seniority (3)
1. the norm of choosing the Congress member who has served the longest on a particular committee to be the committee chair 2. ensures orderly succession in committee leadership 3. provides a tangible reason why voters should return members to Congress year after year
Congress: apportionment (2)
1. the process of assigning the 435 seats in the House to the states based on changes in state population 2. fast-growing states gain seats
Incumbency advantage (3)
1. the relative infrequency with which members of Congress are defeated in their attempts for reelection 2. if a member is elected with less than 55 percent of the vote, he or she is said to hold a marginal seat 3. since the late 1960s, the number of marginal districts has been declining
If members of Congress think an agency is not properly implementing their programs... (2)
1. they can cut off the funds to that agency 2. rarely used because it often eliminates good aspects of the agency along with the bad
the "first branch" in the early decades of our nation's history
Congress
Founders viewed the Senate as the more likely institution to...
enlarge the debate and speak for the national interests
politico
a member of Congress who acts as a delegate on issues that constituents care about and as a trustee on more complex or less salient issues
trustee
a member of Congress who shares constituents' interests while also taking into account national, collective and moral concerns that sometimes cause the member to vote against the member of a majority of constituents
Cloture
a procedure through which the Senate can limit the amount of time spent debating a bill if a supermajority of 60 senators agree
party vote
a vote in which one party majority opposes the position of the other party majority
gridlock
an inability to enact legislation because of partisan conflict within Congress or between Congress and the president
hold
an objection to considering a measure on the Senate floor
whip system
an organization of House leaders who disseminate information and promote party unity in voting on legislation
Congress: casework
assistance provided by members of Congress to their constituents in solving problems with the federal bureaucracy or addressing other specific concerns
Congress: gerrymandering
attempting to use the redrawing of districts to benefit a political party, protect incumbents or change the proportion of minority voters in a district
Members of Congress must respond to...
both their local constituencies and the nation's interests
Legislators tend to reflect the...
central tendencies of their districts
Congress: select committees
committees in the House or Senate created to address a specific issue for one or two terms
Congress: districts should reflect...
communities of interest by grouping like-minded voters in same district
Presidents are often forced to...
compromise or abandon their plans in the face of public, congressional or foreign opposition
Closed rules
conditions placed by the House Rules Committee prohibiting amendments to a bill
Modified rules
conditions placed on a legislative debate by the House Rules Committee allowing certain amendments to a bill while barring others
Open rules
conditions placed on a legislative debate by the House Rules Committee allowing relevant amendments to a bill
Electoral connection
congressional behavior is centrally motivated by members' desire for reelection
Congress: ____________ is an easy way to make voters happy
constituency service
Congress: Minority whip is...
second in command
the Committee system creates a division of labor that helps members get reelected by...
facilitating specialization and credit claiming
bicarmeralism
having 2 chambers within one legislative body
Informational theory
having committees in Congress made up of experts on specific policy areas helps ensure well-informed policy decisions
Once a bill becomes a law, Congress oversees...
implementation of the law to make sure the bureaucracy interprets it as Congress intended
Congress: because most incumbents can insulate themselves from national forces...
it's more difficult to hold members of Congress accountable
Omnibus legislation
large bills that often cover several topics and may contain pork-barrel projects
Congress: common good may conflict with...
local concerns
logrolling
members of Congress support bills that they otherwise might not vote for in exchange for other members' votes on bills that are important to them
Congress: contiguity
one part of a district cannot be completely separated from the rest
Congress: parties become more important when...
opposing parties control the two chambers
the minority party in the House has a...
parallel structure
presidents during the late 1800s/early 1900s
presidents were instrumental in federal responses to the nation's rapid expansion and industrialization
Constitution amendment 27
prohibits any law that changes the salary of members of Congress until the start of the next office term
Congress: the North Carolina plan and racial redistricting
race cannot be the predominant factor in drawing congressional district lines, but it can be one of the factors
For members of Congress, ___________ comes first
reelection
Congress: Party leaders are always elected on...
straight party-line votes
Congress: conference committees
temporary committees are created to negotiate differences between the House and Senate versions of a piece of legislation that has passed through both chambers
Congress: Becoming an expert on a given issue is stronger in...
the House, whereas senators tend to be policy generalists
Because senators were indirectly elected and served longer terms than House members...
the Senate was more insulated from the people
Pocket veto
the automatic death of a bill when the president fails to sign the bill in the last 10 days of a legislative session
majority leader
the elected head of the party holding the majority of seats in the House or Senate
Minority leader
the elected head of the party holding the minority of seats in the House or Senate
Markup
the final wording of a bill is determined before it becomes a law
Congress: universalism
the norm that when benefits are divided up, they should be awarded to as many districts and states as possible
Congress: third model of representation
the politico
The scope of national policy expanded and politics became more centered in Washington around...
the turn of the 20th century and accelerated with the New Deal
The relatively short two-year House term was intended to...
tie legislators to public sentiment
Congress: voters who are shifted to a new district may be unable to...
vote for the incumbent they've supported for years and may instead get a representative who doesn't share their views
Because congressional politics tends to be local...
voters are not strongly influenced by the president or national parties
Congress: theory --> Without parties, the legislative process...
would be much more fractured and decentralized because members would be autonomous agents in battle with one another
