AP Gov Unit 3

imperial presidency

a U.S. presidency that is characterized by greater power than the Constitution allows ex. powers the president sometimes uses in executive orders

cabinet

a body of advisers to the president, composed of the heads of the executive departments of the government ex. department of education, department of agriculture, etc.

issue network

a coalition of interest groups, committees, and executive entities who all have a say in advancing policy making for their specific single issue ex. more advanced form of iron triangle

conference committee

a committee of the Congress appointed by the House of Representatives and Senate to resolve disagreements on a particular bill ex. usually composed of the senior Members of the standing committees of each House that originally considered the legislation

veto (& pocket veto)

a constitutional right to reject a decision or proposal made by a law-making body a pocket veto is a legislative maneuver that allows a president or other official with veto power to exercise that power over a bill by taking no action versus affirmatively vetoing it ex. if a president does not agree with a bill he can veto it or pocket veto it by purposely not responding to it

impeachment

a formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity, the outcome of which, depending on the country, may include the removal of that official from office as well as criminal or civil punishment ex. Article One of the United States Constitution gives the House of Representatives the sole power of impeachment and the Senate the sole power to try impeachments

safe district

a legislative district in which the likely voters support one political party or the other by an overwhelmingly large margin ex. makes incumbent representatives for those regions very difficult to beat in elections

opinion of the court/majority opinion

a majority opinion is a judicial opinion agreed to by more than half of the members of a court ex. sets forth the decision of the court and an explanation of the rationale behind the court's decision. Not all cases have a majority opinion

incumbent

a person who holds a particular office or position ex. in the 2012 United States presidential election, Barack Obama was the incumbent, because he had been the president in the previous term while the election sought to determine the president for the current term.

concurring opinion

a written opinion by one or more judges of a court which agrees with the decision made by the majority of the court, but states different reasons as the basis for his or her decision ex. when no absolute majority of the court can agree on the basis for deciding the case, the decision of the court may be contained in a number of concurring opinions, and the concurring opinion joined by the greatest number of judges is referred to as the plurality opinion

franking privelege

all postal services are paid for by taxpayer dollars ex. don't have to pay for postal services, in pursuance of personal or official privelege

filibuster

an action such as a prolonged speech that obstructs progress in a legislative assembly while not technically contravening the required procedures ex. the most common form of filibuster occurs when a senator attempts to delay or entirely prevent a vote on a bill by extending the debate on the measure

bully pulpit

an important public position that allows a person to express beliefs and opinions to many people ex. term was coined by President Theodore Roosevelt, who referred to the White House as a "bully pulpit", by which he meant a terrific platform from which to advocate an agenda

Marbury v Madison

an obscure Federalist, William Marbury, was designated as a justice of the peace in the District of Columbia. Marbury and several others were appointed to government posts created by Congress in the last days of John Adams's presidency, but these last-minute appointments were never fully finalized. The disgruntled appointees invoked an act of Congress and sued for their jobs in the Supreme Court. the court ruled for Madison, saying that when the Constitution--the nation's highest law--conflicts with an act of the legislature, that act is invalid. ex. the Court formed the basis for the exercise of judicial review in the United States under Article III of the Constitution

lame duck

an official (especially the president) in the final period of office, after the election of a successor ex. the official is often seen as having less influence with other politicians due to their limited time left in office

consituent

being a voting member of a community or organization and having the power to appoint or elect ex. All citizens in Michigan would be considered constituents of the Governor

iron triangle

describes the policy-making relationship between interest groups, congressional committees, and executive departments/regulatory agencies ex. Congress, bureaucracy, and interest groups

divided vs unified gov't

divided government occurs when different branches of the federal government are controlled by different political parties. This is possible due to the separation of powers between the executive (or presidential) and legislative (or congressional) branches. Unified government is when one party controls the White House and both houses of Congress, and it's theoretically easy to pass and enact legislation because of the shared goals held by members of the same party. Ex. the differences between the two are that divided is where one party controls the White House (presidency) while a different party controls the other houses and Congress.

pork-barrel legislation

federal money for local projects in a representative's district ex. sought because they pump money and resources into the local districts of the legislators

bicameral

having two branches or chambers ex. legislative branch consisting of the House of Representatives and Congress

line-item veto

in United States government, the line-item veto, or partial veto, is the power of an executive authority to nullify or cancel specific provisions of a bill, usually a budget appropriations bill, without vetoing the entire legislative package ex. if the president does not like certain aspects to a bill, he can veto that part of the bill

minority leader/whip

in both the House and the Senate, the minority whip is the second highest-ranking individual in the minority party, outranked only by the minority whip ex. the party with the lesser number of legislators in a legislative body

executive order

official statement issued by a president to "manage the operations of the federal government" ex. has "the full force of the law"

War Powers Resolution of 1973

president has to notify Congress within 48 hours of deploying troops. without war declared, troops must return in 60 days + 30 days "return period" ex. intended to check the president's power to commit the United States to an armed conflict without the consent of Congress

pyramid vs. circular cabinet

pyramidal: hierarchy with president on top, chief of staff and other assistants below. clear chain of command and precise channels of communication. specialization at lower levels and control at top. may distort information and problems, agendas may be lost. circular: president acts as chief of staff, makes assignments, receives reports, and determines presidential time allotted among staffers. president is hub of the wheel and obtains information from variety of sources. reduces possibility that voices are lost in the process but may permit too much access to the president.

amicus curiae

someone who is not a party to a case who offers information that bears on the case but who has not been solicited by any of the parties to assist a court ex. translates to "friend of the court", may take the form of legal opinion, testimony or learned treatise (the amicus brief) and is a way to introduce concerns ensuring that the possibly broad legal effects of a court decision will not depend solely on the parties directly involved in the case

quorum

the minimum number of members of an assembly or society that must be present at any of its meetings to make the proceedings of that meeting valid ex. in both the House of Representatives and the Senate a quorum is a simple majority of their respective members

restraint approach

uphold all laws except when in clear violation of the constitution. court should interpret, not interfere. the court's job is not to decide what's best for the country. judges are not elected, so they don't represent the people's will. changing legislation infringes on other branches' constitutional rights ex. aka "strict-constructionist" or "strict-constitutionalist"

appropriation

a sum of money or total of assets devoted to a special purpose ex. appropriations are generally done on an annual basis, although multi-year appropriations are occasionally passed.

bureaucracy

a system of government in which most of the important decisions are made by state officials rather than by elected representatives ex. a chain of command that is hierarchical; the top bureaucrat has ultimate control, and authority flows from the top down executive agencies and "departments of"

writ of certiorari

a writ (order) of a higher court to a lower court to send all the documents in a case to it so the higher court can review the lower court's decision ex. to appeal to the Supreme Court one applies to the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari, which it grants at its discretion and only when at least three members believe that the case involves a sufficiently significant federal question in the public interest

activist approach

judges use their power to correct injustices when other branches do not take action (force the other two branches into action). judges do not create policy, they shape it through interpretation. activist rulings expand civil rights and social policy ex. courts are seen as last resort for those who cannot influence the system elsewhere. typically more liberal

how a bill becomes a law

the bill is a law if a bill has passed in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and has been approved by the President, or if a presidential veto has been overridden, the bill becomes a law and is enforced by the government ex. bill begins, bill is proposed, bill is introduced, bill goes to committee, bill is reported, bill is debated, bill is voted on, bill is referred to the senate, bill is sent to the president, bill is a law.

apportionment

the determination of the proportional number of members each US state sends to the House of Representatives, based on population figures ex. seats in the United States House of Representatives are distributed among the 50 states according to the most recent constitutionally mandated decennial census

judicial review

the doctrine under which legislative and executive actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with judicial review power may invalidate laws and decisions that are incompatible with a higher authority, such as the terms of a written constitution ex. part of the United States' system of checks and balances on government. The Supreme Court has the power to review acts of the Legislative (Congress) and Executive (Presidential) branches to ensure they don't become too powerful or abrogate the Constitutional rights of the country's citizens

stare decisis

the legal principle of determining points in litigation according to precedent ex. essentially the doctrine of precedent. Courts cite to stare decisis when an issue has been previously brought to the court and a ruling already issued. Latin for "to stand by things decided"

majority leader/whip

the majority whip is outranked by the majority leader and, unofficially, the president pro tempore; because the office of president pro tempore is largely honorific and usually given to the longest-serving senator of the majority ex. the majority whip is in reality the second-ranking senator in the majority conference in terms of actual power

United States v Nixon

the special prosecutor appointed by Nixon and the defendants sought audio tapes of conversations recorded by Nixon in the Oval Office. Nixon asserted that he was immune from the subpoena claiming "executive privilege." the Court held that neither the doctrine of separation of powers, nor the generalized need for confidentiality of high-level communications, without more, can sustain an absolute, unqualified, presidential privilege. ex. this ruling made Nixon resign in fear of impeachment

gerrymandering

to manipulate the boundaries of (an electoral constituency) so as to favor one party or class. ex. two main types- packing and cracking gerrymandering

junket

trips paid for by taxpayer dollars ex. a trip by a government official that is used to promote his/her ideals to other districts

bureaucratic pathology

waste: spending more money/resources than necessary red tape: complex rules and procedures that need to be followed to get stuff done conflict: different agencies counteract each other duplication: multiple agencies seem to be doing the same thing imperialism: tendency of agencies to keep growing and growing (without regard to their usefulness) ex. more organization, enforces laws/procedures that are efficient, security, taxes

dissenting/minority opinion

written by one or more judges expressing disagreement with the majority opinion of the court which gives rise to its judgment. when not necessarily referring to a legal decision, this can also be referred to as a minority report ex. are normally written at the same time as the majority opinion and any concurring opinions, and are also delivered and published at the same time