AP GOV
Sovereignty
Supreme or ultimate political authority
Devolution
The transition of federal powers to states
unfunded mandate
states must do this and states must pay
patient protection and affordable care act 2010
(Obama-care) aimed primarily at decreasing the number of uninsured Americans and reducing the overall costs of health care. It provides a number of mechanisms—including mandates, subsidies, and tax credits—to employers and individuals in order to increase the coverage rate. PPACA requires insurance companies to cover all applicants and offer the same rates regardless of pre-existing conditions or gender.
Kelo v. City of New London (2005)
2005 Supreme Court decision that said that the Constitution allows the government to seize property, not only for "public use" but also to "promote economic development" in a "distressed" community
Gibbons vs. Ogden (1824)
A New York state law gave two individuals the exclusive right to operate steamboats on waters within state jurisdiction. Laws like this one were duplicated elsewhere which led to friction as some states would require foreign (out-of-state) boats to pay substantial fees for navigation privileges. In this case a steamboat owner who did business between New York and New Jersey challenged the monopoly that New York had granted, which forced him to obtain a special operating permit from the state to navigate on its waters. (Unanimous, 6 votes for Gibbons) *Conducting interstate commerce was a power reserved to and exercised by Congress
Revenue Sharing grants
A law providing for the distribution of a fixed amount or share of federal tax revenues to the states for spending almost any government purpose; ended in 1986
Dual Federalism
A system of government in which both the states and the national government remain supreme within their own spheres, each responsible for some policies
Unitary System
A way of organizing a nation so that all power resides in the central government.
Federalism
A way of organizing a nation so that two levels(national and state) have formal authority over the same land and people. It is a system of shared power between units of government
United States v. Lopez (1995)
Alfonzo Lopez, a 12th grade high school student, carried a concealed weapon into his San Antonio, Texas high school. He was charged under Texas law with firearm possession on school premises. The next day, the state charges were dismissed after federal agents charged Lopez with violating a federal criminal statute, the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990. The act forbids "any individual knowingly to possess a firearm at a place that [he] knows...is a school zone." Lopez was found guilty following a bench trial and sentenced to six months' imprisonment and two years' supervised release. Question : Is the 1990 Gun-Free School Zones Act, forbidding individuals from knowingly carrying a gun in a school zone, unconstitutional because it exceeds the power of Congress to legislate under the Commerce Clause? Answer: Yes. The possession of a gun in a local school zone is not an economic activity that might, through repetition elsewhere, have a substantial effect on interstate commerce. The law is a criminal statute that has nothing to do with "commerce" or any sort of economic activity. *Congress had exceeded its commerce clause power by prohibiting guns in a school zone
Commerce Clause
Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3, of the Constitution empowers Congress "to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among several States, and with the Indian Tribes."
Supremacy Clause (article VI)
Article IV of the Constitution, which makes the Constitution, national laws, and treaties supreme over state laws when the national government is acting within its constitutional limits
Conditions of Aid
Conditions specified by the federal government to fund a specified program
Block Grants
Federal Grants given more or less automatically to sates or communities to support broad programs in areas such as community development and social services
Categorical Grants
Federal Grants that can be used only for specific purposes, or "categories", of state and local spending. They come with strings attached, such as nondiscrimination provisions.
Grants-in-aid
Federal funds provided to states and localities, category made up of block grants and categorical grants
Marble cake federalism
Federalism in which all levels of government are involved in a variety of issues and programs with fixed divisions between layers or levels of government.
Wickard v. Filburn (1942)
Filburn was a small farmer in Ohio. He was given a wheat acreage allotment of 11.1 acres under a Department of Agriculture directive which authorized the government to set production quotas for wheat. Filburn harvested nearly 12 acres of wheat above his allotment. He claimed that he wanted the wheat for use on his farm, including feed for his poultry and livestock. Fiburn was penalized. He argued that the excess wheat was unrelated to commerce since he grew it for his own use. Question: Is the amendment subjecting Filburn to acreage restrictions in violation of the Constitution because Congress has no power to regulate activities local in nature? Answer: (8:0) According to Filburn, the act regulated production and consumption, which are local in character. The rule laid down by Justice Jackson is that even if an activity is local and not regarded as commerce, "it may still, whatever its nature, be reached by Congress if it exerts a substantial economic effect on interstate commerce, and this irrespective of whether such effect is what might at some earlier time have been defined as 'direct' or 'indirect.'"
United States v Morrison (2000)
Hazel Morrison was indicted for distributing heroine and obtained private counsel for her defense. Without her counsel's knowledge two agents of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) conversed with her regarding a related investigation. During this conversation the agents advised that she have a public defender represent her instead of her private counsel. They also told her that the severity of her punishment would depend on how well she cooperated with them. Morrison notified her counselor immediately and did not speak to the agents about the investigation. She unsuccessfully petitioned the District Court to dismiss her indictment on the ground that the agents had violated her Sixth Amendment right to counsel. Morrison then entered a guilty plea to one count of the indictment. On appeal the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit found that Morrison's Sixth Amendment rights had been violated and ruled to drop all charges against her. Question : Did the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit wrongfully dismiss criminal charges on the ground that the defendant's Sixth Amendment right to counsel was violated in a way that had no tangible effect upon court proceedings? Answer: 9:0, Yes. Justice Byron White authored the opinion for the Court unanimously reversing the Third Circuit's decision. For sake of argument, the Court granted that Morrison's Sixth Amendment right to counsel had been violated, but held that this did not merit the dismissal of all charges since the conduct of the agents did not prejudice the outcome of the trial. The Court maintained that Sixth Amendment violations should not be remedied beyond the scope of the harm they inflicted upon the defendant
South Dakota vs. Dole (1987)
In 1984, Congress enacted legislation ordering the Secretary of Transportation to withhold five percent of federal highway funds from states that did not adopt a 21-year-old minimum drinking age. South Dakota, a state that permitted persons 19 years of age to purchase alcohol, challenged the law. Question: Did Congress exceed its spending powers, or violate the Twenty-first Amendment, by passing legislation conditioning the award of federal highway funds on the states' adoption of a uniform minimum drinking age? Answer: (7:2) No. Court held that Congress, acting indirectly to encourage uniformity in states' drinking ages, was within constitutional bounds. The Court found that the legislation was in pursuit of "the general welfare," and that the means chosen to do so were reasonable. The Court also held that the Twenty-first Amendment's limitations on spending power were not prohibitions on congressional attempts to achieve federal objectives indirectly. The five percent loss of highway funds was not unduly coercive.
McCulloch V. Maryland (1819)
James McCulloch, the cashier of the Baltimore branch of the Bank of the US, which had been created by Congress, refused to pay a tax levied on thank bank by the state of Maryland. Two questions asked in case: 1) Did congress have the right to set up a bank? and 2) Could a state tax a bank? (Unanimous decision) *Answers: 1) yes, "necessary and proper" clause, and 2) no, "power to tax is the power to destroy"
John Marshall
John James Marshall (September 24, 1755 - July 6, 1835) was the fourth Chief Justice of the United States (1801-1835). His court opinions helped lay the basis for United States constitutional law and made the Supreme Court of the United States a coequal branch of government along with the legislative and executive branches.
reserved powers
Powers not specifically granted to the federal government or denied to the states belong to the states and the people
Enumerated powers
Powers of the federal government that are specifically addressed in the constitution ; for Congress, these powers are listed in Article I, Section 8, and include the power to coin money, regulate its value, and impose taxes.
Implied Powers
Powers of the federal government that go beyond those enumerated in the Constitution. The Constitution states that congress has the power to "make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution" the powers enumerated in Article I. Many federal policies are justified on the basis of implied powers.
Initiative
Procedure whereby a certain number of voters may, by petition, propose a law or constitutional amendment and have it submitted to the voters
Mandates
Rules imposed by the federal government on the states as conditions for obtaining federal grants or requirements that the states pay the cost of certain programs
Tenth Amendment
The Constitutional amendment stating that "The powers not delegated by it to the states are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."
Printz v. United States (1997)
The Court invalidated a federal law that required local police to conduct background checks on all gun purchasers. The SC ruled that the law violated the 10th Amendment by commanding state governments to carry out a federal regulatory program. (5:4 decision)
Elastic or "necessary and proper" Clause (Art. 1, Section 8, Clause 18)
The final paragraph of Article I, Section 8, of the constitution, which authorizes congress to pass all laws "necessary and proper" to carry out the enumerated powers.
Fiscal Federalism
The pattern of spending, taxing, and providing grants in the federal system; it is the cornerstone of the national governments rations with state and the local governments.
inherent powers
The powers of the national government in foreign affairs that the Supreme Court has declared do not depend on constitutional grants but rather grow out of the very existence of the national government
Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States (1964)
Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbade racial discrimination by places of public accommodation if their operations affected commerce. The Heart of Atlanta Motel in Atlanta, Georgia, refused to accept Black Americans and was charged with violating Title II. Question: Did Congress, in passing Title II of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, exceed its Commerce Clause powers by depriving motels, such as the Heart of Atlanta, of the right to choose their own customers? Answer: (9:0) The Court held that the Commerce Clause allowed Congress to regulate local incidents of commerce, and that the Civil Right Act of 1964 passed constitutional muster. The Court noted that the applicability of Title II was "carefully limited to enterprises having a direct and substantial relation to the interstate flow of goods and people. . ." The Court thus concluded that places of public accommodation had no "right" to select guests as they saw fit, free from governmental regulation.
Layer Cake Federalism
Views the Constitution as giving a limited list of powers—primarily foreign policy and national defense—to the national government, leaving the rest to the sovereign states. Each level of government is dominant within its own sphere. The Supreme Court serves as the umpire between the national government and the states in disputes over which level of government has responsibility for a particular activity.
Competitive federalism
Views the national government, 50 states, and thousands of local governments as competing with each other over ways to put together packages of services and taxes. Applies the analogy of the marketplace: we have some choice about which state and city we want to "use", just as we have choices about what kind of telephone service we use.
civil rights acts of 1964
a landmark piece of legislation in the United States that outlawed major forms of discrimination against African Americans and women, including racial segregation. It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by facilities that served the general public ("public accommodations"). -power to regulate interstate commerce under Article One (section 8), its duty to guarantee all citizens equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment and its duty to protect voting rights under the Fifteenth Amendment.
Referendum
a legislative act is referred for final approval to a popular vote by the electorate
creative federalism
developed during President Lyndon Johnson's administration, it was characterized by the Great Society programs, which placed a major responsibility on federally funded programs.
"Full Faith and Credit" Clause (Art. IV, Sec.1)
first words of Article IV, Section 1 of the Constitution, which requires states to respect the "public acts, records, and judicial proceedings" of all the other states
"privileges and Immunities Clause" Art. IV sec 2.
guarantees that "citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens" in any other state in the United States
clean air act 1970
requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop and enforce regulations to protect the general public from exposure to airborne contaminants that are known to be hazardous to human health. This law is an amendment to the Clean Air Act originally passed in 1963.
no child left behind 2002
supports standards-based education reform, which is based on the belief that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals can improve individual outcomes in education. The Act requires states to develop assessments in basic skills to be given to all students in certain grades, if those states are to receive federal funding for schools. The Act does not assert a national achievement standard; standards are set by each individual state.
Recall
the act of removing an official by petition
Nullification
the states'-rights doctrine that a state can refuse to recognize or to enforce a federal law passed by the United States Congress
National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (2012)
was a landmark United States Supreme Court decision in which the Court upheld Congress' power to enact most provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (HCERA), including a requirement for Americans to have health insurance by 2014. (Determined, under the Commerce Clause, that Congress has the authority to tax for health insurance.)
Americans with disabilities act 1990
wide-ranging civil rights law that prohibits, under certain circumstances, discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which made discrimination based on race, religion, sex, national origin, and other characteristics illegal. Disability is defined by the ADA as "a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity." The determination of whether any particular condition is considered a disability is made on a case by case basis. Certain specific conditions are excluded as disabilities, such as current substance abuse and visual impairment which is correctable by prescription lenses.