Unit 2 of AP Government

Flashcards about the three branches of government and how they interact with each other.

Legislative Branch

Congress, the law making body of the government.

Bicameral

Composed of two houses: the House of Representatives and the Senate.

House of Representatives

Representatives are apportioned by the population of each state; serve two-year terms.

Senate

There are 100 Senators with each state getting two; serve for six years.

Enumerated Powers

Powers explicitly listed in Article One, Section Eight of the Constitution.

Implied Powers

Those powers that Congress can pass any law that is required by the enumerated powers.

Necessary and Proper Clause

States that Congress can pass a wide range of legislation addressing economic, environmental, and social issues even if they're not explicitly mentioned in Article one, eight; also known as the Elastic Clause.

Speaker of the House

The only leader for the House mentioned in the Constitution; always a member of the majority party.

Majority and Minority Leaders

Direct debates and guide their members in policymaking issues.

Whips

Render party discipline and make sure members of the party walk in line with the party goals.

President of the Senate

The Vice President of The United States; is a non voting member of the Senate unless there's a tie and then the Vice President can vote.

President Pro Tempore

The most senior member of the majority party and has the authority to act as president of the Senate when the vice president is not present; commonly known as the president pro tem.

Senate Majority Leader

Sets the legislative agenda by determining which bills reach the floor for debate and which ones do not.

Standing Committees

Committees that endure for a long time.

Joint Committees

Groups that have members from both the House and the Senate.

Select Committees

Temporary and created for a specific purpose.

Conference Committees

The Houses must go into this to work out the agreements if a bill is going to become a law and the bill must be passed by both houses in identical form.

Riders

Non relevant additions, which will usually benefit a representative's own agenda, or alternatively it could be something added to help get the bill passed.

Pork Barrel Spending

Funds earmarked for special projects in a representative's district.

Log Rolling

Representatives agree and say to each other, hey, if you vote for my bill, I'll vote for yours.

Mandatory Spending

Spending that is mandatory; payments required by law, especially with respect to entitlement spending.

Discretionary Spending

After mandatory spending is accounted for, everything that's left over.

Deficit

Describes the gap between the budget and the funds available.

Political Polarization

Republicans have become more conservative and Democrats have become more liberal.

Divided Government

The president is from one party and both houses of congress are from another.

Lame Duck President

The president was serving in the last months of his second term which meant that he had very little power to do anything since he was on his way out of office.

Trustee Model

Representatives believe that they have been entrusted with the people's faith to vote according to the representative's best judgment.

Delegate Model

The representative believes that he or she must vote with the will of the people even if it goes against their own better judgment.

Politico Model

How they vote depends on the situation.

Census

Every ten years, a census must be taken to find out how many people live in The United States and where they live.

Reapportionment

The doling out of representative seats.

Redistricting

The redrawing of boundaries that those folks represent.

Baker v Carr

Districts must be drawn in order to evenly to distribute voting power; also known as one person, one vote principle.

Gerrymandering

A way of drawing districts and it's a little sleazy because districts can be drawn to favor one group over another.

Partisan Gerrymandering

The action of drawing districts in weird shapes which don't correspond at all to the natural features landscape and are drawn that way to ensure that a certain party has the advantage in that district.

Racial Gerrymandering

Districts are drawn so that certain races constitute the majority in those districts.

Executive Branch

President, enforces the laws of the nation.

Formal Powers

Laid out in Article two of the Constitution.

Veto

If a particular law is not in line with the president's policy agenda, then the president can veto it, which means the bill will not become a law.

Informal Veto Process

The President threatens to veto and so that sends a signal to Congress that they have to work the bill into something the president can sign.

Pocket Veto

If a bill shows up that does not align with the president's policy agenda and there are less than ten days left in the congressional session, the president can do nothing with it, let the session expire, and the bill is effectively vetoed.

Foreign Policy

The president can enter into executive agreements with other heads of state.

Executive Agreements

A contract between a president and another president or monarch.

Bargaining and Persuasion

The president has the nation's attention in a way that no other politician does; so the president can use that attention to persuade the people according to the executive policy agenda.

Executive Order

A directive from the president that has the force of federal law, but it's not actually a law.

Signing Statement

Which informs the nation how the executive branch interprets that law and thus how the president intends to execute it, which of course could be different than the congressional version of the bill.

Presidential Cabinet

A team of advisors, which is known as the cabinet; these folks make up the heads of all the different executive agencies.

Federalist 70

Argues that a single executive was necessary because one person is able to act swiftly and decisively on matters that require firm leadership and tactical decision making.

Anti-Federalists Beliefs

That the presidency was nothing less than the fetus of monarchy; worried about expansion of power in the executive branch.

Bully Pulpit

Used to describe the presidential communication from Teddy Roosevelt, who said that the presidency was a bully pulpit; meant excellent.

Franklin Roosevelt Communication

The president could talk directly to the people without any intermediary and he did so in his fireside chats where he explained in simple terms his policy proposals through the radio.

Judicial Branch

Interprets the laws of the nation.

US District Courts

There are 94 of those spread across the nation; these courts have the right to hear a case for the first time.

Original Jurisdiction

Having the right to hear a case for the first time.

US Circuit Court of Appeals

There are 12 of these; they hear appeals from the lower courts.

Appellate Jurisdiction

Where they hear appeals from the lower courts.

Supreme Court

Has both original and appellate jurisdiction depending on the kind of case being heard.

Federalist 78

Independence of the judicial branch acted as a protection for its power.

Judicial Review

It's the Court's job to declare laws constitutional or unconstitutional, and it's through this power that the Supreme Court has the power to check the other branches of government.

Marbury v. Madison in 1803

The Court's ruling in this case that firmly cemented the power of judicial review in the Supreme Court's purview.

Precedent

A decision is handed down, it creates this which means that unless there are some very extreme circumstances, this decision will act as a binding template for future decisions.

Stare Decisis

Which when being translated means let the decision stand.

Judicial Activism

The idea that the court acts to establish policy and considers more than just the constitutionality of a decision, it also considers the decision's broader effects on society.

Judicial Restraint

Judges believe they aren't appointed to make policy, like the elected legislature exists for that.

Dred Scott v. Sanford in 1857

That slavery was permissible in all states.

Federal Bureaucracy

Technically, the bureaucracy falls under the authority of the executive branch and is made up of millions of people who are employed to carry out the responsibilities of the federal government.

Cabinet Secretaries

Are the leaders of the 15 executive departments, like the Department of Energy, the Department of Homeland Security, or the biggest of all, the Department of Defense.

Agencies

The departments are further subdivided into this which all work together to accomplish the goals of the department.

Commissions

These are regulatory groups who operate somewhat independently of the authority of the president but still fall under the executive authority.

Government Corporations

Acquires businesses when they want to offer a public good, but the free market is the best way to offer that service.

Delegated Discretionary Authority

The authority given to the bureaucracy by Congress that gives them the discretion on how to make the rules and carry out the laws.

Compliance Monitoring

The bureaucratic agencies establish rules for certain industries and then have to do the work of making sure those industries are complying with those rules.

Iron Triangle

Bureaucratic agencies, congressional committees, and interest groups; these groups often work together and rely on one another to create policy.

Department of Homeland Security

Protects The US from terrorism and maintains and controls the nation's borders.

Department of Transportation

Which manages all kinds of transportation like highway and air travel.

Department of Veterans Affairs

Manages veterans hospitals and the general welfare of America's Veterans.

Department of Education

Oversees states in their implementation of federal educational standards.

Environmental Protection Agency

Which works to protect the environment and human health through industrial regulations.

Federal Elections Commission

Which administers and enforces campaign finance laws.

Securities and Exchange Commission

Which regulates the stock market and prevents fraud.

Patronage System

People were given bureaucracy jobs based on the patronage system, which means that these jobs were a way for the president to award those who supported his campaign.

Pendleton Civil Service Act in 1883

Which created a merit system for bureaucratic appointments.