Test 3 American Politics
Majority Leader
The legislative leader selected by the majority party who helps plan party strategy, confers with other party leaders, and tries to keep members of party in line.
Office of Management and Budget
The main function of OMB is to produce the President's Budget. OMB also measures the quality of agency programs, policies, and procedures and to see if they comply with the president's policies.
Item Veto
The power of a state governor to veto items in bills without vetoing the entire measure.
Veto Power
The power or right vested in one branch of a government to cancel or postpone the decisions, enactments, etc., of another branch, especially the right of a president, governor, or other chief executive to reject bills passed by the legislature.
Logrolling
The practice of exchanging favors, especially in politics by reciprocal voting for each other's proposed legislation.
Article 2 Section 1 Clause 7
The presidency is a paid position. The president receives a pre-set salary that cannot be changed during the course of his term
Speaker
The presiding officer in the house of representatives, formally elected by the house but selected by the majority party.
Joint Committee
A Committee composed of members of both house of representatives and the senate; such committees oversee the library of congress and conduct investigation.
Signing Statement
A Formal document that explains why a president is sighing a particular bill and promise not to implement key sections.
Nixon V. Fitzgerald
A Supreme Court of the United States court case that dealt with immunity from suit to government officials performing discretionary functions when their action did not violate clearly established law.
Imperial Presidency
A U.S. presidency that is characterized by greater power than the Constitution allows.The constitution and its authors determined that the power to initiate a war belonged to the Congress. The president had the responsibilities to conduct ongoing wars and ongoing foreign relations and to respond to sudden attacks if the Congress was not in session.As the United States became a great world power and then a superpower, the presidency acquired more war powers despite the constitution. That reduced Congress's powers and the separation of powers, which is necessary to avoid the arbitrary use of power.
Unite States V. Curtis Wright 1936
A United States Supreme Court case involving principles of both governmental regulation of business and the supremacy of the executive branch of the federal government to conduct foreign affairs. The Supreme Court concluded not only that foreign affairs power was vested in the national government as a whole but also that the President of the United States had "plenary" powers in the foreign affairs field that was not dependent upon congressional delegation.
Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha
A United States Supreme Court case ruling in 1983 that the one-house legislative veto violated the constitutional separation of powers.
The Ethics in Government Act of 1978
A United States federal law that was passed in the wake of the Nixon Watergate scandal and the Saturday Night Massacre. It created mandatory, public disclosure of financial and employment history of public officials and their immediate family. It also created restrictions on lobbying efforts by public officials for a set period after leaving public office. Last, it created the U.S. Office of Independent Counsel, tasked with investigating government officials
Constituency
A body of voters in a specified area who elect a representative to a legislative body.
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld
A case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that military commissions set up by the Bush administration to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay lack "the power to proceed because its structures and procedures violate both the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the four Geneva Conventions signed in 1949. Specifically, the ruling says that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions was violated.
U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton
A case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that states cannot impose qualifications for prospective members of the U.S. Congress stricter than those specified in the Constitution. The decision invalidated the Congressional term limit provisions of 23 states.
Commander and Chief
A commander-in-chief is the person or body that exercises supreme operational command and control of a nation's military forces or significant elements of those forces. According to Article II, Section 2, Clause I of the Constitution, the President of the United States is commander in chief of the United States Armed Forces
Budget Committees
A committee in a legislature that provides oversight in the preparation of the government budget. Depending on the particular committee, it may directly write the budget, receive expenditure estimates from government agencies and/or draft legislation implementing the budget.
Authorizing Committee
A committee of the House or Senate with legislative jurisdiction over laws that set up or continue the operations of Federal programs and provide the legal basis for making appropriations for those programs. Authorizing committees also have direct control over spending for mandatory programs since the Government's obligation to make payments for such program is contained in the authorizing legislation
Select or Special Committee
A congressional committee created for a specific purpose, sometimes to conduct an investigation.
Committee System
A congressional committee is a legislative sub-organization in the United States Congress that handles a specific duty (rather than the general duties of Congress)
Senatorial Courtesy
A custom whereby presidential appointments are confirmed only if there is no objection to them by the senators from the appointee's state, especially from the senior senator of the president's party from that state
Discharge petition
A discharge petition is a petition signed by the members of the House of Representatives to bring a bill from committee to the floor for consideration. A discharge petition requires the signature of an absolute majority of the members which is signature of 218 members. Discharge petitions are moved when the committees delays the reporting of bills thus making it not possible to discuss in the legislature. A successful moving of a discharge petition discharges the bill without a report from a Committee. Some state legislatures also provide for discharge petitions.
Congressional Budget Office
A federal agency within the legislative branch of the United States government that provides budget and economic information to Congress.The CBO was created as a nonpartisan agency by the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
The Budget Control Act of 2011
A federal statute in the United States that was signed into law by President Barack Obama on August 2, 2011. The Act brought conclusion to the United States debt-ceiling crisis of 2011, which had threatened to lead the United States into sovereign default on or around August 3, 2011.The law involves the introduction of several complex mechanisms, such as creation of the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (sometimes called the "super committee"),[1] options for a balanced budget amendment and automatic budget sequestration.
Davis V. Bandemer 1986
A group of Democrats challenged Indiana's 1981 state apportionment scheme on the ground of political gerrymandering. The Democrats argued that the apportionment unconstitutionally diluted their votes in important districts, violating their rights. A three-judge District Court sustained the Democrats' challenge. The Court held that while the apportionment law may have had a discriminatory effect on the Democrats, that effect was not "sufficiently adverse" to violate the Equal Protection Clause. The mere lack of proportional representation did not unconstitutionally diminish the Democrats' electoral power. The Court also ruled that political gerrymandering claims were properly justiciable under the Equal Protection Clause, noting that judicially manageable standards could be discerned and applied in such cases.
Clinton V. Jones
A landmark United States Supreme Court case establishing that a sitting President of the United States has no immunity from civil law litigation against him or her, for acts done before taking office and unrelated to the office.
Earmarks
A legislative (especially congressional) provision that directs approved funds to be spent on specific projects, or that directs specific exemptions from taxes or mandated fees
Seniority System
A legislative practice that assigns the chair of a committee or subcommittee to the member of the majority party with the longest continuous service on the committee.
Executive Memorandum
A less powerful formal order to an agency or agencies, that does not carry the force of law, to undertake a particular form of action (Mexico Border Agreement)
Party Caucus
A meeting of the local members of a political party especially to select delegates to a convention or register preferences for candidates running for office.
Ways and Means Committee
A permanent committee of the House of Representatives, which makes recommendations to the House on all bills for raising revenue. The committee is the principal source of legislation concerning issues such as taxation, customs duties, and international trade agreements.
Open Rule
A procedure rule in the house of representatives permits floor amendments within the overall time allocated to the bill.
Closed Rule
A procedure rule in the house of representatives that prohibits any amendments to bills or provides that only members of the committee reporting the bill may offer amendment.
Prerogative Theory
A right or privilege exclusive to a particular individual or class.
Executive Order
A rule or order issued by the president to an executive branch of the government and having the force of law.
Politico
A seeker or holder of public office, who is more concerned about winning favor or retaining power than about maintaining principles. (politican)
Conference Committee
A special committee of members from each chamber that settles the difference between versions.Both parties are represented on conference committees, but the majority party is given more slots to fill. The two party leaders make the final choice of their separate slates of committee members.
Sequestration
A term adopted by Congress to describe a fiscal policy process that automatically reduces the federal budget across most departments and agencies. Sequestration, or "the sequester," is a procedure by which across-the-board spending cuts go into effect if Congress fails to agree on a deficit-reducing budget before a specified date.
Federalist 51
Addresses means by which appropriate checks and balances can be created in government and also advocates a separation of powers within the national government. One of its most important ideas is the often quoted phrase, "Ambition must be made to counteract ambition"
Victh V. Jubelirer 2003
After the 2000 census reduced the size of the Pennsylvania Congressional delegation by two members, the Republican-controlled state legislature passed a redistricting plan that clearly benefitted Republican candidates. Several members of the Democratic party sued in federal court, claiming that the plan was unconstitutional because it violated the one-person, one-vote principle of Article I, Section 2 of Constitution, the Equal Protection clause, the Privileges and Immunities clause, and the freedom of association. In a split decision that had no majority opinion, the Court decided not to intervene in this case because no appropriate judicial solution could be found. Justice Antonin Scalia, for a four-member plurality, wrote that the Court should declare all claims related to political (but not racial) gerrymandering nonjusticiable, meaning that courts could not hear them.
Impoundment
An act by a President of the United States of not spending money that has been appropriated by the U.S. Congress. The power was available to all presidents up to and including Richard Nixon, and was regarded as a power inherent to the office. The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 was passed in response to perceived abuse of the power under President Nixon
Filibuster
An action such as a prolonged speech that obstructs progress in a legislative assembly while not technically contravening the required procedures.
Partisan
An adherent or supporter of a person, group, party, or cause, especially a person who shows a biased, emotional allegiance.
Pocket Veto
An indirect veto of a legislative bill by the president or a governor by retaining the bill unsigned until it is too late for it to be dealt with during the legislative session.
Executive Agreement
An international agreement, usually regarding routine administrative matters not warranting a formal treaty, made by the executive branch of the US government without ratification by the Senate. (NAFTA)
President Pro Tempore
An officer of the senate selected by the majority party to act as chair in the absence of the vice president. Usually the most senior member of the majority party.
Whip
An official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy.
Delegate
An official who is expected to represent the views of is or her constitutes even when personal holding different views
Trustee
An official who is expected to vote independently based on his or her judgement of the circumstances
U.S. Constitution Article 1 Section 2
Article I, Section 2, specifies that the House of Representatives be composed of members who are chosen every two years by the people of the states. There are only three qualifications: a representative must be at least 25 years old, have been a citizen of the United States for at least seven years, and must live in the state from which he or she is chosen. Efforts in Congress and the states to add requirements for office, such as durational residency rules or loyalty oaths, have been rejected by Congress and the courts.
Artcile 1 Secction 5 Clause 3
Both chambers of Congress must publish an official record of their proceedings. The Congressional Record is published daily while either house is in session, documenting all official activity on the floor of either house.
Article 2 Section 1 Clause 1
By granting the president a sweeping "executive power"—a power not carefully defined in the Constitution— Article II establishes the presidency as a strong office within the American government. That broad executive power gives the president a strong mandate to enforce the country's laws and administer the country's public policies. This clause also indicates that the president's (and vice president's) term of office lasts four years.
Colegrove V. Green 1946
Colegrove arose from the failure of Illinois to redistrict its Congressional delegation since 1901, despite internal migration that had left wide population disparities between various districts. Writing for a 4-3 plurality, Justice Felix Frankfurter held that the federal judiciary had no power to interfere with issues regarding apportionment of state legislatures. The Court held that Article I, section IV of the U.S. Constitution left to the legislature of each state the authority to establish the time, place, and manner of holding elections for representatives, and that only Congress could determine whether individual state legislatures had fulfilled their responsibility to secure fair representation for citizens.
Article 2 Section 1 Clause 4
Congress gets to set the date for presidential elections. Since the mid-nineteenth century, Congress has always chosen to hold presidential elections on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November.
Revenue Committees
Deal with raising the money appropriating committees spend. Because it exist to raise revenues through taxes, the house ways and means committee is one of the most powerful committees in congress,for it raises and authorize spending.
Imperial Congress
Describes a Congress that succeeds in establishing itself as dominant in legislative and foreign policy.
Easley V. Cromartic 2001
Easley v. Cromartie, 532 US 234 (2001), also known as Hunt v. Cromartie, was a U.S. Supreme Court case. The court's ruling on April 18, 2001 stated that redistricting for political reasons did not violate Federal Civil Rights Law banning race-based gerrymandering. The Supreme Court held in the case that as Southern blacks tend to vote for the Democratic Party, North Carolina's 12th congressional district was drawn based upon voting behavior, instead of upon racial characteristics. The allegedly odd-shaped district was allowed to stand. Critics of this ruling found this to be a case of judicial nitpicking and that the Court had in essence allowed the previously-banned practice of concentrating a racial group into a single district.
United States V. Belmont
Established executive predominance over the states' laws and constitutions in the sphere of foreign policy, as well as it allocated constitutional power to initiate executive agreements solely to the president of the United States
Article 2 Section 1 Clause 5
Formal job requirements for the presidency: he has to have been born in the United States, he has to be at least 35 years old, and he has to been living inside the US for at least 14 years
Gomillion V. Lightfoot 1960
Gomillion v. Lightfoot,, was a United States Supreme Court decision that found an electoral district with boundaries created to disenfranchise blacks violated the Fifteenth Amendment.An act of the Alabama legislature re-drew the electoral district boundaries of Tuskegee, replacing what had been a region with a square shape with a twenty-eight sided figure. The effect of the new district was to exclude essentially all blacks from the city limits of Tuskegee and place them in a district where no whites lived.
Pork-Barrel Legislation
Government funding of something that benefits a particular district, whose legislator thereby wins favor with local voters
Gamma-Rudman Hollings Act
Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act, officially the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, U.S. budget deficit reduction measure. The law provided for automatic spending cuts to take effect if the president and Congress failed to reach established targets; the U.S. comptroller general was given the right to order spending cuts. Because the automatic cuts were declared unconstitutional, a revised version of the act was passed in 1987; it failed to result in reduced deficits. A 1990 revision of the act changed its focus from deficit reduction to spending control.
Bicameralism
Having two branches, chambers, or houses, as a legislative body.
Article 2 Section 1 Clause 2
Here the Framers establish the Electoral College, creating a rather convoluted system for electing the president. Each state gets a number of electoral votes equal to its number of senators plus its number of US representatives; this system splits the difference between allocating electoral votes proportional to population or equally to each state.
Aticle 1 Section 6 Clasue 1
Here we have another odd mash-up of two apparently unrelated points in one clause. First, congressmen get paid by the government, at a salary they set themselves. (The The 27th Amendment, proposed in 1789 and ratified 223 years later (!) in 1992, put some restrictions on congressmen's ability to give themselves pay raises.) Second, congressmen have "legislative immunity"; that is, they cannot be charged with a crime for anything they say in Congress, and they cannot be arrested or harassed by the police unless they have committed treason or other serious crimes. The idea here is to ensure that the president can't abuse his powers by arresting or jailing legislators who disagree with him.
Subcommittee
Holds hearings, debates provisions, and mark up the bill. If the bill is approved, it goes o the full committee.
Reynolds V. Sims
In Reynolds v. Sims (1964), the Supreme Court ruled that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires that the legislative districts across states be equal in population. The case began in 1962, when the Supreme Court ruled that it had authority to review cases brought by individuals harmed by legislative apportionment or redistricting (see Baker v. Carr). With this ruling, more than 30 lawsuits were filed against states claiming legislative apportionment schemes to be unconstitutional. One case challenged the apportionment scheme of Alabama. Alabama's legislative districts still reflected population levels from the 1900 census. The plaintiffs argued that since 1900, urban districts had grown precipitously, thus diluting the votes of urban residents. Because votes from some districts thus carried more weight than votes from others, the plaintiffs claimed, Alabama's apportionment scheme violated the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause. A lower federal court agreed, and Alabama appealed to the Supreme Court in 1964.
Baker V. Carr 1962
In the State legislature of Tennessee, representation was determined by a 1901 law setting the number of legislators for each county. Urban areas, which had grown greatly in population since 1901, were underrepresented. Mayor Baker of Nashville brought suit, saying that the apportionment denied voters of urban areas equal protection of the law as guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. The federal court refused to enter the "political thicket" of State districting, and the case was appealed to the Supreme Court. Baker v. Carr, was a landmark United States Supreme Court case that retreated from the Court's political question doctrine, deciding that redistricting (attempts to change the way voting districts are delineated) issues present justiciable questions, thus enabling federal courts to intervene in and to decide redistricting cases. The defendants unsuccessfully argued that redistricting of legislative districts is a "political question", and hence not a question that may be resolved by federal courts.
United Nations Charter
Is the foundational treaty of the intergovernmental organization; the United Nations.It was signed at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in San Francisco, United States, on 26 June 1945, by 50 of the 51 original member countries. As a charter, it is a constituent treaty, and all members are bound by its articles. Furthermore, Article 103 of the Charter states that obligations to the United Nations prevail over all other treaty obligations.
The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary
It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, administrative agencies and Federal law enforcement entities. The Judiciary Committee is also the committee responsible for impeachments of federal officials.
James David Barber- Presidential Character
James David Barber James Barber differentiates between four types of presidential character: active-positive; active-negative; passive-positive; and passive-negative. Before voters cast their ballots for president, they should know how active the candidate is and whether or not he or she truly enjoys political life. This allows voters to predict presidential performance before the candidate takes office.
Continuing Resolution
Legislation enacted by Congress to allow government operations to continue until the regular appropriations are enacted: used when action on appropriations is not completed by the beginning of a fiscal year.
Federalist 57
Madison advocates the election of "men who possess most wisdom to discern, and ... pursue, the common good of the society." According to the essay, the representatives will be true to their constituents for the following reasons: 1) the people chose these distinguished men to uphold their engagements, so the representatives have an obligation to stand by their words. 2) The representatives sense a mark of honor and gratitude feel at least the tiniest affection to these constituents. 3) Selfish motives of the human nature bind the representative to his constituents because the delegates hope to seek advancement from his followers rather than the government. 4) Also, frequent elections remind the representatives that they are dependent on the constituents for their loyalty and support. Therefore, the representatives are compelled to remain faithful to their constituents. 5.) The laws created by the legislators will apply to all members of society, including the legislators themselves.
Steering Committee
Mainly makes strategic decisions concerning future realization of a specific plan: e.g. an enterprise's investment projects. It is responsible for the management and monitoring of a long-term plan or project, which means that it controls the realization of the project at the strategic level, verifies the project's coherence with established aims, and keeps established frames such as range, costs and deadline.
Appropriation Committees
Makes Decisions about how much money government can spend on authorized programs.Each appropriation committee has one subcommittee for each of the 13 bills that must be enacted each year to keep congress running.
Article 2 Section 2
More presidential powers: The president has the power to negotiate treaties with foreign governments, although a two-thirds vote of the Senate is required for ratification. He also has the power to nominate all appointed officials of the government, including both officers of the executive branch and judges of the judicial branch, although he needs to receive the "advice and consent" of the Senate in doing so. (In modern practice, that means a majority-vote approval of his nominees.)
20th Amendment
Moved the beginning and ending of the terms of the President and Vice President from March 4 to January 20, and of members of Congress from March 4 to January 3. It also has provisions that determine what is to be done when there is no President-elect
Article 1 Section 5 Clause 4
Neither the House nor the Senate can go out on extended vacation while the other remains in business, unless the other chamber approves. The idea here is to prevent one house from obstructing the other's legislation simply by refusing to show up to work.
Bipartisan
Of or involving the agreement or cooperation of two political parties that usually oppose each other's policies
Boumediene v. Bush
On June 12, 2008, Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion for the 5-4 majority, holding that the prisoners had a right to the habeas corpus under the United States Constitution and that the Military Commissions Act of 2006 was an unconstitutional suspension of that right
Article1 Section 6 Clause 2
People serving in office in either executive or judicial branches of the US government cannot also simultaneously serve in Congress, and vice versa. The idea here is to ensure the separation of powers between the three branches of government. Furthermore, a member of Congress can't resign from his seat in order to take another government job if that job has had its salary increased during his term. That rule is designed to prevent corruption, making it impossible for a congressman to vote in favor of a pay raise for a certain executive office, then move into that office himself.
Inherent Power
Power that grow out of the very existence of government. (Jefferson-Louisiana Purchase)
Franking privilege
Refers to the privilege of sending mail without payment of postage. This privilege is exercised in pursuance of personal or official designations. The members of Congress have the right to send mail to their constituents at the government's expense
Rule 22 - Cloture
Senate's only formal method for ending a filibusterer. Once a motion to end debate is approved by 60 senators , it imposes a strict limit on further debate and prohibits any senator from speaking for more than an hour.
Bowsher v. Synar
Struck down the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act as an unconstitutional usurpation of executive power by Congress because the law empowered Congress to terminate the United States Comptroller General for certain specified reasons, including "inefficiency, 'neglect of duty,' or 'malfeasance.'"
1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act
The 1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act modified the role of Congress in the federal budgetary process. It created standing budget committees in both the House and the Senate, established the Congressional Budget Office, and moved the beginning of the fiscal year from July 1 to October 1.
Rule and Administration Committee House
The Committee on Rules, or (more commonly) Rules Committee, is a committee of the United States House of Representatives. Rather than being responsible for a specific area of policy, as most other committees are, it is in charge of determining under what rule other bills will come to the floor.
Article 2 Section 1 Clause 8
The Constitution actually spells out the exact language of the presidential oath of office, which must be taken upon the president's inauguration
Role of Vice President
The Constitution limits the formal powers and role of vice president to becoming president, should the president become unable to serve, prompting the well-known expression "only a heartbeat away from the presidency", and to acting as the presiding officer of the U.S. Senate. Other statutorily granted roles include membership of both the National Security Council and the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution.The vice president is also president of the United States Senate. In that capacity, as the Leader of the Senate, he is allowed to vote in the Senate only when necessary to break a tie.
Artcile 1 Secction 5 Clause 2
The House and the Senate have the power to set their own rules of parliamentary procedure. Over the course of 200+ years of American history, those rules have grown quite complex. The House and the Senate also have the power to kick out their own members for bad acts; expulsion requires a two-thirds vote.
The Judiciary Committee
The Judiciary Committee, with 18 members, is in charge of conducting hearings prior to the Senate votes on confirmation of federal judges (including Supreme Court justices) nominated by the president. In recent years, this role has made the committee increasingly a point of contention, with numerous party-line votes and standoffs over which judges should be approved. The committee also has a broad jurisdiction over matters relating to federal criminal law, as well as human rights, immigration law, intellectual property rights, antitrust law, and Internet privacy. It is also Senate procedure that all proposed Constitutional Amendments pass through the Judiciary Committee.
Minority Leader
The Legislative leader selected by the minority party as spokesperson for the opposition.
Standing Committee
The Most Durable and are the source of most bills and are sometimes called full committees.
Vesting Clauses
The President's constitutional authority to control most executive functions.
Article 2 Section 4
The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
Rule and Administration Committee Senate
The Senate Committee on Rules and Administration is responsible for the rules of the United States Senate, administration of congressional buildings, and with credentials and qualifications of members of the Senate, including responsibility for dealing with contested elections.The committee is not as powerful as its House counterpart, the House Committee on Rules as it does not set the terms of debate for individual legislative proposals, since the Senate has a tradition of open debate.
U.S. Constitution Article 1 Section 3
The Senate, which now has 100 members, has two senators from each state. Until 1913, senators were elected by their state legislatures. But since the adoption of Amendment XVII, senators have been elected directly by the voters of their states. To be a senator, a person must be more than 30 years old, must have been an American citizen for at least nine years, and must live in the state he or she represents. Senators may serve for an unlimited number of six-year terms. Senatorial elections are held on a staggered basis so that one-third of the Senate is elected every two years. If a senator leaves office before the end of his or her term, Amendment XVII provides that the governor of his or her state sets the time for an election to replace that person. The state legislature may authorize the governor to temporarily fill the vacant seat.
Take Care Clause
The Take Care Clause (also known as the Faithful Execution Clause) is best read as a duty that qualifies the President's executive power. By virtue of his executive power, the President may execute the lawful and control the lawful execution of others. Under the Take Care Clause, however, the President must exercise his law-execution power to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed."
25th Amendment
The United States Constitution deals with succession to the Presidency and establishes procedures both for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, as well as responding to Presidential disabilities. It supersedes the ambiguous wording of Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution, which does not expressly state whether the Vice President becomes the President or Acting President if the President dies, resigns, is removed from office or is otherwise unable to discharge the powers of the presidency
22nd Amendment
The United States Constitution sets a term limit for election and overall time of service to the office of President of the United States
War Power Resolution
The War Powers Resolution is a federal law intended to check the president's power to commit the United States to an armed conflict without the consent of the U.S. Congress. The Resolution was adopted in the form of a United States Congress joint resolution. It provides that the U.S. President can send U.S. Armed Forces into action abroad only by declaration of war by Congress, "statutory authorization," or in case of "a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces." The War Powers Resolution requires the President to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing armed forces to military action and forbids armed forces from remaining for more than 60 days, with a further 30 day withdrawal period, without an authorization of the use of military force or a declaration of war. The resolution was passed by two-thirds of Congress, overriding a presidential veto.
Cabinet
The advisory council for the president, consisting of the head of the executive departments, the vice president,and a few other officials selected by the president.
National Security Council
The council, composed of the president, vice president, secretary of state, secretary of defense, director of the Central Intelligence Agency and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that determines means by which domestic, foreign, and military policy can best be integrated for safeguarding the national security.
Chief of staff
The head of the white house staff
General Oversight Committees
There are two major oversight committees in congress: the house oversight and government reform committee and the homeland security and affairs committee. Both committees have wide latitude to investigate the performance of government. They are also free to authorize programs for fixing government-wide management problems.
Artcile 1 Secction 5 Clause 1
This clause has two separate and seemingly unrelated parts. First, the House and the Senate are given the power to judge the qualifications of their own members. In the case of a disputed Senate election, for example, in which both candidates claim to have won the vote, it is ultimately up to the Senate itself to decide which candidate gets the seat. Second, a majority of either chamber's membership is required to be present to constitute a quorum. Congress can continue to conduct business with less than a quorum present, but any member can then issue a "quorum call," requiring either that a majority of the members actually show up or that the house takes a temporary adjournment.
Article 2 Section 1 Clause 6
This clause, which establishes a procedure for what to do if the president (or vice president) kicks the bucket while in office, was modified by the 25th Amendment in 1967.
Federalist 65
This paper is striking in its admission of imperfection. Hamilton acknowledges that having a political body serve as a court creates the possibility of politically motivated trials of public officials. However, he believes the Senate is the best available option for fulfilling this necessary role. This argument serves as a reminder that the defenders of the Constitution did not necessarily consider it a perfect document, but merely the best available and far superior to the Articles. Hamilton expresses frustration with critics who attempt to hold up the ratification of the Constitution on the basis of small imperfections that are inevitably parts of any system of government.
Gerry Mander
To change the boundaries of legislative districts to favor one party over another. Typically, the dominant party in a state legislature (which is responsible for drawing the boundaries of congressional districts) will try to concentrate the opposing party's strength in as few districts as possible, while giving itself likely majorities in as many districts as possible.
Treaty Power
Treaty power refers to the President's constitutional authority to make treaties , with the advice and consent of the senate. Under the US Constitution the President has the power to make treaties, by and with the advice of the Senate. The Senate has the power to approve it with two-third vote. [Article II, Section 2 of the US Constitution] The Supremacy Clause of Article VI says that treaties like the Constitution and laws of the United States shall be supreme law of the land.
Shaw V. Reno 1993
United States Supreme Court case argued on April 20, 1993. The ruling was significant in the area of redistricting and racial gerrymandering. The court ruled in a 5-4 decision that redistricting based on race must be held to a standard of strict scrutiny under the equal protection clause. On the other hand, bodies doing redistricting must be conscious of race to the extent that they must ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965
United States V. Nixon
Was a landmark United States Supreme Court decision. It resulted in a unanimous 8-0 ruling against President Richard Nixon and was important to the late stages of the Watergate scandal. It is considered a crucial precedent limiting the power of any US president.
14th Amendment
Was ratified on July 9, 1868, and granted citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States," which included former slaves recently freed
Wesberry V. Sanders 1964
Wesberry v. Sanders was a U.S. Supreme Court case involving U.S. Congressional districts in the state of Georgia. The Court issued its ruling on February 17, 1964. This decision requires each state to draw its U.S. Congressional districts so that they are approximately equal in population.Nationally, this decision effectively reduced the representation of rural districts in the U.S. Congress. Particularly, the Court held that the population differences among Georgia's congressional districts were so great as to violate the Constitution. In reaching this landmark decision, the Supreme Court asserted that Article I, Section 2 of the United States Constitution.
12th Amendment
the United States Constitution provides the procedure for electing the President and Vice President. It replaced Article II, Section 1, Clause 3, which provided the original procedure by which the Electoral College functioned. The Amendment refined the process whereby a President and a Vice President are elected by the Electoral College.
