Gov Exam three

5.Be familiar with the three main elements of judicial restraint.

A judicial deference to the intent of legislation, strict interpretation of the Constitution, and strict jurisdictional interpretation of the law. Where there are laws, there are often many and varied ways to interpret them. This sometimes comes of a lack of understanding of the intent and planning of the legislative body at the time of the law's creation, and other times from interpretation based on a judge's personal views on the matter.

7.In what specific ways are different kinds of media biased? Be familiar with the elite perspective on the issue of media bias. See your lecture note

ABC, CBS, and NBC coverage of republicans. The way war, healthcare, foreign and inner country conflicts are portrayed in media. Race and gender equality are also bias in the media. The elite perspective is liberal is the left-wing perspective and the conservative is the right wing and it accepts ideological range in the media.

7.What explains the rise of the commercial press?

Advances in printing technology allowed newspapers to be produced at a far cheaper rate (one cent rather than 6 cents). The reduced cost of producing newspapers made news profitable. Papers made money by printing sensationalized accounts of crimes and disasters and scandals.

5.What are the appellate courts?

Any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal.

8.Why do Internet polls tend to oversample the wealthy? See your lecture notes.

Because the rich have greater access to the internet

5.The Supreme Court is usually referred to by the name of which person _______________?

Chief Justice

5.Understand the differences between Chief Justices Marshall and Taney with respect to the relationship between the national and state governments.

Chief Justice Marshall was succeeded by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney. The Taney Court (1836-1864) is remembered mainly for rulings that upheld the powers of the states rather than the national government. So the Marshall Court emphasized national supremacy, and the Taney Court emphasized dual federalism.

7.Know the following terms: citizen journalists, and infotainment. See your lecture notes

Citizen Journalist : Ordinary citizens who collect, report, and analyze new content. They can act as a democratizing force and provide instantaneous coverage, but they often lack journalistic standards Infotainment : also called soft news, is a type of media, usually television, that provides a combination of information and entertainment examples SNL The Colbert Report etc.

5.What is the difference between civil and criminal law?

Civil law deals with the disputes between individuals, organizations, or between the two, in which compensation is awarded to the victim. Criminal law is the body of law that deals with crime and the legal punishment of criminal offenses.

5.What are some of the checks that Congress has over the Supreme Court? See your lecture notes.

Congress can alter the Court's ability to hear certain cases. It can impeach federal judges. It can propose constitutional amendments that can reverse judicial decisions. The Senate's "advise and consent" is required for all federal judge appointments.

5.The U.S. is not a pure democracy. It is a ______________ democracy. What does that mean?

Constitutional The Constitution actually places a number of very important limits on majority rule. In fact, the Constitution (particularly the Bill of Rights) is a counter-majoritarian document. The fact that courts interpret the Constitution means that courts sometimes perform a counter-majoritarian role in the constitutional democracy.

5.Be familiar with three sources (e.g., constitutional) of the Supreme Court's jurisdiction.

Constitutional: Article III provides the judicial power "shall to all Cases....arising under the Constitution, the Law of the United States, and Treaties..." Statutory: Congress has statutory authority to determine the jurisdiction of federal courts. Case Law Precedents: The Supreme Court also has authority to determine the jurisdiction of the federal courts.

5.What is a legislative court? See your lecture notes.

Courts created by Congress for specialized purposes. Examples of legislative courts include the United States Tax Court; the Court of Federal Claims; the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims; and federal district courts in Guam, the Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands.

8.What is coverage bias? Know how this relates to the use of telephone poll.

Coverage bias in survey research means that a research sample is not representative and that a number of people in the population have zero chance of being included in the sample. In most cases, coverage bias results from the method that we use.

8.How do pluralists and "critics of modern democracy" (as the authors put it) differ over the extent to which elites control public opinion?

Critics of modern democracy believe that the elites have such abundant resources that they can change public opinion to shift towards their special interests. Pluralists believe no such elites could possibly control public interest because the power of the elites is too common

5.Know what the rulings in each of the following cases accomplished, and know the specific courts that made these rulings: Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857); Griswold v. Connecticut (1965); Engel v. Vitale (1962), Abington School District v. Schempp (1963); Miranda v. Arizona (1966); Roe v. Wade (1973)

Dred scott v sanford : was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court in which the Court held that the US Constitution was not meant to include American citizenship for black people, regardless of whether they were enslaved or free, and so the rights and privileges that the Constitution confers upon American citizens could not apply to them. Griswold v Connecticut : the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protects the liberty of married couples to buy and use contraceptives without government restriction. Engel v Vitale: the Court ruled that it is unconstitutional for state officials to compose an official school prayer and encourage its recitation in public schools. Engel has been the subject of intense debate. Abington School District: was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court decided 8-1 in favor of the respondent, Edward Schempp on behalf of his son Ellery Schempp, and declared that school-sponsored Bible reading in public schools in the United States was unconstitutional. Miranda v Arizona: was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prevents prosecutors from using a person's statements made in response to interrogation in police custody as evidence at their trial Roe v wade: was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protects a pregnant woman's liberty to choose to have an abortion without excessive government restriction.

7.Twenty-four hour a day news reporting, internet news sources, and the increasing availability of news sources to match political ideologies were said to have three consequences. What were they?

First, scholars have found that as competition between news sources increases, the quality and in-depth coverage of news declines. Second, fragmentation may also lead to a decline in the ability of political leaders to hold the attention of the public. Third, the increased number of news outlets results in people seeking out news that reinforces their views. This makes people less open to alternative viewpoints, and more set in beliefs that may or may not be true.

8.Generally speaking, where do people in the Northeast and the West stand on the issue of abortion rights and same-sex marriage? What about those in the Midwest and South?

Generally, people in the Northeast and the West are more likely to support abortion rights, while those in the Midwest and South are more likely to favor restricting access to abortions. As the figure here shows, these regional trends are echoed in the support for gay marriage.

5.How was the Rehnquist Court (1986-2005) described ideologically?

Ideologically, Chief Justice Rehnquist was known for a view of federalism that emphasized states' rights. His was the first Court since the 1930s to strike down an act of Congress as exceeding its power under the Commerce Clause.

5.What would happen if Roe v. Wade were overturned? See your lecture notes.

If the Supreme Court does overturn Roe, the issue of abortion will go back to the states.Seven states passed "trigger laws" after Roe was decided, which would automatically make abortion illegal as soon as the decision is overturned. But nine states have pre-Roe abortion bans or restrictions still on their books that are currently un-enforceable because they violate Roe.

7.In what sense has information technology empowered individuals and fostered the trend toward "de-intermediation"?

Information technology is making this traditional "mediating" role less important. But eliminating the mediating institutions leaves the individual citizen or consumer with more responsibility for determining the accuracy of the electronic information that is now so widely available and either free or cheap

5.What is interposition?

Interposition is a claimed right of a U.S. state to oppose actions of the federal government that the state deems unconstitutional.

8.In what sense does constitutional democracy combine two conflicting goals?

It is one which combines two conflicting goals: democracy suggests that the people can do as they will. Democracy suggests pure majority rule. Constitutional suggests limits on the power of a majority to do as it wills. It cannot do whatever it wants. This is one of the tensions in the U.S. system of government. Each generation must strive to achieve "that delicate balance" between granting the majority power to do what it wants and limiting majority rule to protect minorities. The Bill of Rights, for example, places limits on the power of the people as expressed in laws passed by Congress

7.Why is freedom of the press considered vital for democracy?

It is vital for democracy because self-government requires an informed and educated citizenry.

5.When does the annual term of the Supreme Court end?

It starts on the first Monday on October and ends around the following June or July.

8.What have public opinions revealed regarding Americans' level of civic knowledge? What is this attributed to?

It was revealed that the American public is not well informed about public affairs, candidates or issues, and civics knowledge is rather low. This is because more attention is paid in other places besides politics.

7.In what sense did the press become more professional at around 1900?

Joseph Pulitzer started a school of journalism at Columbia University. Journalism schools trained journalists to be objective, to separate facts from of opinion, to avoid biased coverage of public affairs.

5.What is judicial review, and in what case was this power established? How did the Federalists and anti-Federalists feel about judicial review, and why?

Judicial review is the power of courts to review the actions of government officials to determine whether they are constitutional. In fact, the Supreme Court took a side in the debates between the Federalists, who supported the national government, and the Anti-federalists, who supported state governments, by broadly reading the powers of the national government.

5.What does stare decisis mean?

Latin for "let the previous decision stand". It is a legal doctrine that obligates courts to follow historical cases when making a ruling on a similar case. Stare decisis ensures that cases with similar scenarios and facts are approached in the same way. Simply put, it binds courts to follow legal precedents set by previous decisions.

7.What different kinds of media regulation do liberals and conservatives favor? What specific impact on media regulation did the liberal justices of the 1960s and1970s make.

Liberals are generally more concerned about violence while conservatives are more concerned about sex. During the 1960s and 1970s, the liberals on the Supreme Court generally supported civil libertarian claims that the First Amendment freedom of expression limited the government's power to restrict access to sexually explicit materials.

8.What is nonresponse bias? What is response bias?

NONRESPONSE: A bias that occurs due to systematic differences between responders and non-responders. RESPONSE: Response bias (also called survey bias) is the tendency of a person to answer questions on a survey untruthfully or misleadingly

8.What is one of the most frequently used survey mechanism(even though response rates have been declining)? See your lecture notes.

Name recognition surveys

7.Many scholars feel that the president does get a lot of attention, but most of it is negative. What is the effect of this negative coverage?

Negative coverage encourages cynicism in the population at large and alienates people from politics.

7.Regarding the FCC's authority, what have interest groups like the Parents Television Council proposed.

Parent Television proposed to give the FCC authority to regulate explicit sex and violence and indecency.

5.Be familiar with the four methods of deciding cases (e.g., interpretation, precedent, etc.).

Plain meaning of the words: Judge reading the law to determine whether case can be decided by the plain meaning of the words. Intentions of the farmers: this method relies on determining the intentions of the frames, what the individual who wrote the law intended the words to mean. Precedent: Judge is expected to decide a current issue the way previous issue was decided. Interpretation: Judge deciding a case based on his/her own understanding of what the law should mean, or modern society's expectations.

8.Why is public opinion considered important in democratic political systems?

Public opinion is important in democratic political systems because democratic self-government is based on the consent of the governed. The democratic theory requires public policies to more or less reflect public opinion.

5. The current court (i.e., the Roberts court) could be described leaning ____________ ideologically.

Roberts court is the time since 2005 during which the Supreme Court of the United States has been led by Chief Justice John Roberts. It is generally considered more conservative than the preceding Rehnquist Court.

8.Before, polling was mainly used to measure what the public was thinking about public affairs. Today, polling is more likely to be conducted for the purpose of _____________)?

SURVEYS/OPINION POLLS

8.What does the term "setting the agenda" describe?

Setting the Agenda or "Agenda setting" is putting an issue, condition, or problem on the government's "agenda" for action. Sort of like a to-do list.

5.Be familiar with the terms slip opinion, concurrence, and dissent. See your lecture notes.

Slip opinion(final draft): one justice is chosen to write the majority opinion. Concurrence: agreement with the majority decision, though for a reason other than the majority reason. Dissent: disagreement with the majority decision.

5.Regarding the previous question, the Marshall court used syllogistic reasoning to explain why it was logical to reach the conclusion that they did. What is syllogistic reasoning?

Syllogistic logic is a form of reasoning that allows inferring true conclusions (the "then" statements) from given premises (the givens or "if" statements).

7.What is narrowcasting? See your lecture note

Targeting media programming at specific populations increases the chance that group members will rely on news that confirms their preexisting views thereby further polarizing public opinion.

7.Regarding media ownership, what did the 1996 Telecommunications Act provide for? What were the consequences of this law?

The 1996 Telecommunication act primary purpose was to deregulate the telecommunication industry. Before this law, a single company cannot own more than 12 television station or 40 radio stations. The 1996 act greatly relaxed this regulations and removed the cop of ownership at 35% of the national market for television and removing the cap entirely for radio ownership. As a result, media company like CBS, Fox etc. greatly increased their shares of the media market.

5.In what sense did the Burger Court (1969-1986) change the Court's ideological direction?

The Burger Court (1969-1986) changed the Court's ideological direction, most immediately in the area of criminal justice where President Nixon's appointment of four get-tough-on-crime Justices had an immediate impact on the Court's rulings.

7.Be familiar with the history of media regulation, starting with the Federal Radio Act. See your lecture note

The Federal Radio Act was signed into law, making radio regulation the responsibility of the independent Federal Radio Commission (FRC). The act gave the FRC the power to deny broadcasting licenses, and to assign frequencies and power levels for each licensee

7.Where in the Constitution is freedom of the press guaranteed?

The First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press.

7.Which war is considered the first press-driven war?

The Spanish-American war

5.In brief, what are the two primary functions of US courts? Which is the more controversial function?

The Supreme Court can also judge the actions of federal, state and local governments. If the Supreme Court feels that another area of government is acting unconstitutionally, they may investigate. Due to the powers of separation in the U.S. government, however, the Supreme Court does not have the ability to act completely on its own

5.What was the Warren Court (1953-1969) remembered for?

The Warren Court's civil law rulings included the landmark school desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education (1954), and landmark right to privacy cases such as Griswold v. Connecticut (1965). -Miranda v. Arizona (1966) may be the most famous of the Warren Court rulings on criminal justice. It required police officers to notify suspect of their constitutional rights before questioning them. These rights include the right to remain silent, the right to have the assistance of counsel, and notified that anything said can be used in a court of law against them.

5.How many Supreme Court justices are there? Who appoints them, and who confirms them? Are rejections of federal judicial appointments relatively common? How can judges be removed?

The current number of SC justices is nine. The President appoints them and the Senate confirms them. Rejections are uncommon and judges can be impeached by an order of the President passed after there is a support in majority of House of Representative and two third majority in the Senate.

8.Government influence on public opinions is often considered propaganda. What does that term mean? What euphemism for propaganda is used today?

The definition of the term propaganda is using words or speech intended to convince someone of a political position or point of view.

5.How has the Roberts Court interpreted the First Amendment's Establishment Clause? This interpretation has been contrasted with the Wall of Separation reading? What, exactly, is that, and who favors it?

The establishment clause has generally been interpreted to prohibit 1) the establishment of a national religion by Congress, or 2) the preference of one religion over another or the support of a religious idea with no identifiable secular purpose.

5.Why is the judiciary called the third branch of government?

The federal judiciary is arguably the most independent of the three branches of federal government, the one least accountable to the others and the one that always has the last word. The reason for this unique status is judicial review, which is in essence the power to say what the law is.

5.What are court-stripping laws?

The limiting or reducing of a court's jurisdiction by Congress through its constitutional authority to determine the jurisdiction of federal and state courts. Ex: Federal courts are prohibited from cases such as flag burning or school prayer.

8.What are the different ways in which one is politically socialized by his/her family, school (elementary and college), community, and peers. See your lecture notes.

The media Political leadership -Family: one of the most important things learned is party identification -School: influence is greater than that of parents -Community and peers: peers assume a greater impact later in life

7.With the proliferation of media outlets, as the internet joined newspapers and television and radio, worries about media power have changed. In what sense have they changed?

The new media provide more user-generated content. These new media blur the distinction between professional and amateur journalism and change the traditional function of the mass media.

5.What is original jurisdiction? See your lecture notes.

The original jurisdiction of a court is the power to hear a case for the first time as opposed to appellate jurisdiction when a court has the power to review a lower court's decision.

5.What makes the federal judiciary an undemocratic government institution?

The power problem for Congress is effectiveness: the modern Congress is not a particularly effective institution. The power problem for the presidency is accountability: it is difficult to hold presidents legally accountable for their actions. The power problem for the federal courts is legitimacy. Legitimacy has been an issue throughout the nation's history. The problem is that in democratic political systems there is a preference for policy making by elected government officials but federal judges are appointed to life terms. This makes the federal judiciary an undemocratic government institution.

7.What are the pros and cons of online media? See your lecture note

The pros of online media is that it offers great diversity and is cheaper The cons of online media is that its often bias and it lacks traditional filters

5.What side was SCOTUS on during the New Deal Era (until the constitutional revolution of 1937)?

This Supreme Court era is noted for cases challenging the government's power to regulate the economy. The Court did not strike down all of these laws but in 1934 and 1935 it did declare unconstitutional many of the major provisions of the Roosevelt Administration's New Deal.

5.What is a writ of certiorari?

This is Latin for "to make more certain." This order directs a lower court to send its records on a case to the Supreme Court for review. This happens if the losing party files with the S.C. ,asking them to review the decision of lower court.

8.What is the utilitarian philosophy on the public good?

Utilitarian philosophy is that the political and economic calculation of the public good or public interest is the greatest good for the greatest number.

7.Why is the FCC considered one of the independent commissions?

its members serve terms of office, can be removed only through impeachment, and no more than three of its five members can be from one political party.

7.The power problem with the media is that a free press is not necessarily a _____________.

necessarily a fair press

7.Why is the media called the "fourth estate"?

reference to the fact that the press is, along with congress, the president, and the judiciary, one of our political institution

7.What is the mass media?

refers to media that are specifically designed to reach a large (that is, mass) audience such as the entire population of a nation or state.

7.With what responsibility is the FCC entrusted?

the approval of a merger of two telecommunications companies, fining companies for indecency, licensing amateur radio operators, and regulating some aspects of the internet.

7.What was the early press like? Was it non-partisan and professional? Was there more news reporting than editorials (or was it the other way around?)?

the press was both political and partisan. A paper was identified with a particular point of view: it openly and explicitly and strongly either supported or opposed a political party; it took strong stands on political issues, candidates, or government officials. There was less news reporting and more of what we today would call editorial or analysis.

8.Familiarize yourself with the correlations between gender and public opinion. See your lecture notes.

● A person's gender can have a major effect on their political attitudes. During the last thirty years, women have been more likely to support liberal issues and the Democratic Party. The gender difference in party identification is the gender gap. ● Women are more likely to promote equality and identify with the democrats -less supportive of the death penalty - less supportive of a war

8.What is the margin of error (and what is the typical margin of error in a U.S. poll?)? What is the average sample size in a U.S. poll? See your lecture notes.

● Margin Error: a measure of the accuracy of a poll. It is typically 3% in a sample of 1,000 people. ● Sampling error: polls often underrepresent the poor and the homeless ● Polling shortcomings: limited respondent options, lack of information, the difficulty of measuring intensity, lack of interest, etc