AP Gov Unit 3

Republicanism

Power resides within the people and their representatives rather than in just one supreme leader

Bicameral

Two house congress

Enumerated Powers

AKA expressed powers… powers that are expressly given to Congress in Article I section 8 of the US constitution

Implied powers

AKA elastic clause in Article I section 8 (last portion)

Congress is able to do whatever it sees fit in order to carry out its enumerated powers

Naturalization

Process of non-US citizens becoming US citizens

Oversight

Implied constitutional power that allows congress to review, monitor, supervise federal agencies, policies, expenditures

Keeps executive branch accountable

Necessary & proper

Congress can do anything that is “necessary and proper” to carry out enumerated powers (like implied powers)

Committees

There are different committees in congress in both house and senate (and sometimes crossing over between the two) to focus on specific topics

Majority leader

Head of the majority party in either the House or Senate

Act as chief spokesperson

direct party’s legislative agenda

Speaker of the House

Elected by members of the House (usually the most popular member of the majority party, but can’t be the majority leader, basically majority leader = 2nd in command)

Manages floor debates

Determines what legislature going to be discussed

Appoint committee members

Mark ups

Congressional committees debate, amend, rewrite proposed legislation before moving to full house/senate for vote

Revenue Bills

Only the House can write revenue bills, although senate can propose amendments

Rules committee

House committee

Responsible for the rules on how bills are presented (determines if and how legislation is presented to the floor)

Committee of the Whole

entire House is on this, but not everybody needs to be present in order to make stuff happen (only 100 members as opposed to 218)

More relaxed rules; allows for longer debates + faster voting process because everybody acts as one committee

= faster debate, faster amendment process

Discharge petition

House can vote to get a bill out of a committee and onto floor for consideration to prevent a reluctant committee from gatekeeping it

Unanimous consent

A motion or procedure is considered passed considered no member objects; used to expedite the process

Filibuster

US senate procedure that allows for a senators to talk for as long as they want to try to kill a bill (can’t take ANY breaks)

Cloture

Supermajority of senate can vote to stop a debate (filibuster)

Conference committee

Temporary committee of people from both senate and house when trying to smooth out differences when trying to pass the same bill

Mandatory spending

All the spending spent on programs such as medicare, medicaid, federal employee/military retirement (MUST spend this money)

Discretionary spending

What congress spends a lot of time arguing about; it’s up to them to decide where money is being spent

Entitlement programs

Guaranteed benefits to individuals who meet certain criteria; fall under mandatory spending category

Deficit spending

The difference between expenditures and revenue

Pork-barrel

When legislators try to appropriate funds to their own districts to boost their chances of reelection

Logrolling

Supporting each other’s legislation that might not pass on their own; connected to pork-barrel spending, where legislators trade votes to support others’ pork-barrel spending so that others will support their own

Ideological division

Different members of congress are into different parties, this determines a lot of leadership positions + how congress votes/operates

Partisanship

Being very “for” one party

Polarization

Being on an extreme end of a party

Gridlock

Party division makes it hard to get any work done because parties are opposing each other

Gerrymandering

Redistricting so one party gets the majority of the votes

Redistricting

Redrawing the lines of how votes are counted

Divided government

idk but probably has something to do with the fact that the party system is weak and is really making our government divided upon itself (ex. two sides of the aisle, blah blah blah, parties = gridlock = bad)

Constituents

The people that the congressperson is supposed to be representing

Trustee

The congressperson uses their own best judgment, not necessarily the will of the people that voted for them

Politico

Mix between trustee + delegate

Delegate

The congressperson votes according to how the people that voted for them expect them to vote

Shaw v. Reno

Established that redistricting based primarily on race is subject to STRICT SCRUTINY under the 14th amendment’s “equal protection clause”

Baker v. Carr

Established that the court system DOES have jurisdiction over redistricting; allows for future cases to be presented to the court on redistricting and later established that districts must be created equally

Cabinet

The president chooses the members of their cabinet, who helps the president make decisions

Executive Office

Members of the president’s executive branch, mainly the president + their staff + agencies + advisors

Formal powers

Formal powers of the president include:

• Negotiate treaties (must be confirmed by the senate)

• Presidential appointments for all federal judges

• Veto a bill

• Chief ambassador

• Commander in Chief

• Pardons

Informal powers

Informal powers include:

• Bargaining/persuasion (bully pulpit)

• Executive orders

• Signing statements

• Executive agreements

Pocket veto

Veto if sits on presidents desk for 10 days + session of congress is in recess

Vesting clause

“The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.”

BASICally, all the power is going to be given to ONE person. THEY will be the final say in making the executive decisions.

Senate confirmation

The president is going to appoint someone, an ambassador, but most of the scrutiny is when a JUDGE is being appointment. The senate has to confirm this nomination with a majority vote.

Ambassadors

People that the president appoints to attend to / keep good relations with other countries. Might just be somebody famous to wow the other country.

22nd amendment

The president can serve a maximum of two terms, or 10 years if they took over a presidency from being vice president.

Federalist 70

Hamilton argues that we need an executive position because we need to act fast and we need to not have any arguments. If we are going to get anything done, this great power must be granted to one person.

“energetic” executive is necessary to government function

('executive’ = president)

Bully pulpit

The president has a great position in order to tell the people about their views + ideals. Can basically “preach” to them about what they want the US to be like.

Article iii

Creates the judicial branch, life tenure for federal judges, vests power in the SC but congress has the power to ordain lower court

Federalist 78

Hamilton argues that they need the SC to have lifetime appointments, independent, and have judicial review

Marbury v. Madison

Established this principle of judicial review

Judicial review

Review government action, see if it was constitutional or not, can strike down/overturn stuff

Stare decisis

“to stand by things decided”, follow past precedent in cases to ensure consistency

Lower courts must follow higher courts ruling

Courts try to stay consistent with how they ruled in the past

Tenure

The SC justices have lifetime tenures on the SC

Judicial activism

“legislating from the bench”

Judges interpret the constitution to affect public policy

EITHER PARTY DOES THIS

Judicial review

Avoiding policymaking, very strict interpretation of the constitution, prioritizes “stare decisis”