AP Government Unit 2 (2.1-2.11)

Congress: structure

Bicameral legislature (House of Representatives and Senate)

Senate: features

Each state represented equally (2 representatives); Must be at least 30 years old; 6 year terms; less connected to the people they represent

House of Representatives: features

Each state represented by population (guaranteed end at least 1 representative); number of representatives capped at 435; must be at least 25 years old; 2 year terms; closer to issues of people in their districts; less likely to form bipartisan coalitions

Census

Measures how many people are in the U.S. and where they live, every 10 years

How laws are made

Both houses of congress have to agree by vote on identical versions of the bill; if they do, it gets passed to the president for signing

Debate time: Senate v. HOR

Senate has unlimited debate (due to smaller amount) while the house has so many members so there's a restriction of an hour per member

Article 1, Section 8

Enumerated powers of congress, constitution makes a list of exactly what powers belong to to congress which enables them to do the work of passing legislation

5 Enumerated powers of Congress

1. Power to pass a federal budget (power of the purse)

2. Power to raise revenue (taxes, tariffs, etc)

3. Power to coin money (uniform currency)

4. Power to declare war

5. Power to raise and maintain the armed forces

Implied powers

Powers that belong to congress but aren't actually written in article 1 section 8 (got these powers from the necessary and proper clause

Necessary and Proper Clause

Congress has the power to pass any law which may be deemed necessary and proper to the carrying out of the enumerated powers

HOR: Speaker of the House

House members will choose this leader, speaker will always be a member of the majority party

HOR: Majority and Minority Leaders

Guide their party members in policy making issues; direct debates

HOR: Majority and Minority Whips

Render party discipline, make sure party members stay in line with party goals

Senate: President of the Senate

Vice President of the U.S., non voting member of the senate, votes to break a tie

Senate: President pro tempore

Member of the majority party, leads the senate when the Vp is not present

Senate: majority and minority leaders

Majority leaders set legislative agenda, controls calendar assignments of bills

Committees

Smaller groups of legislators who debate and draft precise legislation that would otherwise be impossible in the large group setting of the house or the senate

4 types of committees

standing, joint, select, conference

standing committee

remains from session to session, deals with issues that are always present; (ex:appropriations committee (senate), ways and means committee (house))

Joint committee

involves members from both the house and the senate

(ex: joint committee on the library, joint committee on printing)

Select committee

Temporary committee that is formed for a specific purpose

Conference committee

Formed if both houses can't agree on an identical version of a bill

House rules committee

Gatekeeper for all legislation, Decides when votes take place and assigns bills to various committees for debate and revision

Committee of the whole

consists of all members of the House and meets in the House chamber but is governed by different rules, making it easier to consider complex and controversial legislation

Discharge petition

a device by which any member of the House, after a committee has had the bill for 30 days, may petition to have it brought to the floor

Filibuster

Attempt to stall or kill a bill by talking for a long time

cloture rule

Move to end a filibuster by means of a 3/5ths vote (currently, 60 senators)

Unanimous consent

an agreement by every senator to the terms of debate on a given piece of legislation

How a bill becomes law

A bill can be sponsored by a member from either the house or the senate, As that bill is considered and debated, it often changes, Once the bill is assigned to a committee, it can be further debated and changed

Once it comes out of the committee it goes to the floor for a vote, If the bill passes both houses, it goes to the president for signing

nongermane riders

additions to a bill that are irrelevant

pork barrel spending

legislation that directs specific funds to projects within districts or states

Logrolling

An agreement by two or more lawmakers to support each other's bills

Federal budget

a plan for the federal government's revenues and spending for the coming year, mandatory and discretionary spending

Mandatory spending

Required govt spending by permanent laws

Discretionary spending

spending for programs and policies at the discretion of Congress and the president

Deficit spending

Government practice of spending more than it takes in from taxes

Ideological divisions

liberals and conservatives represent two different ideologies

Gridlock

the inability of the government to act because rival parties control different parts of the government

Divided government

Opposing parties hold majorities in both houses or when the president is from one party and the majority in congress is from another

Lame duck president

Less incentive for congress to work with president on agenda ideas

Models of Representation

delegate, trustee, politico

Delegate model

believes he or she must vote with the will of the people, believes he or she is there to represent the people's beliefs and desires, not their own

Trustee model

believes he or she has been entrusted with the people's faith and therefore must vote according to his or her conscience; can vote against the will of the people if he or she believes it to be the right thing to do

Politico model

hybrid of the other two models, acts like a delegate when it's clear that his or her constituents feel strongly about an issue; acts like a trustee if his or her constituents do not feel strongly about an issue

Redistricting

The redrawing of congressional and other legislative district lines following the census, to accommodate population shifts and keep districts as equal as possible in population.

Baker v. Carr

Argued that the stipulation violated the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment, supreme court agreed, resulted in one person one vote principle (redistricitng had to be done in such a way that every person's vote was equally powerful)

Gerrymandering

districts are drawn in such a way to benefit one party of group over another

Party gerrymandering

districts are redrawn to favor one party over another

Racial gerrymandering

drawing of legislative boundaries to give electoral advantages to a particular racial group. "Majority-minority" districts include large numbers of racial minorities in order to ensure minority representation in legislatures. (Shaw v Reno)

Shaw v. Reno

court ruled that drawing districts solely based on race was a dangerous practice that could on other occasions be used to disenfranchise minority voters; practice deemed unconstitutional

Policy agenda

Policies that are a president campaigns on informal contract between candidate and the people

Formal powers of president

Powers given to the executive in article II of the constitution, Power of the veto (congress can override veto w 2/3 vote of each house), Power to appoint federal judges, President has 10 days to sign a bill once it arrives on desk

Pocket veto

president's power to kill a bill, if Congress is not in session, by not signing it for 10 days

Commander in chief

term for the president as commander of the nation's armed forces

Informal power of the president

Bargaining and persuasion, executive order, signing statement, executive agreement

bargaining and persuasion

Has the ear of the nation so the president can talk to he people and persuade them to put pressure on their representatives to pass legislation, president can bargain w congress

Executive order

directive from the president that had the force of a federal law but is not actually a law, a way for the president to direct the bureaucracy or move money around to accomplish his or her policy agenda

Signing statement

additional statement the president can offer when signing a bill into law that informs the nation how he or she interprets the law and thus how he or she intends to execute it

Executive agreement

agreement between president and another head of state, not a formal treaty rather an agreement that president makes on his or her own authority, only exists as long as that president is in power

Power of advice and consent

Many presidential appointments have to first be approved by the senate when

Ambassadors

Presidents have the power to appoint ambassadors to other nations, senate easily approves them

White House staff

Need no approval by the senate

Cabinet members

Heads of all the main executive departments, usually approved by the senate when

Federal courts appointments

justices that the president appoints have to be confirmed by the senate (most conflict between president and senate for these appointments)

Federalist 70

Hamilton argues for a single executive

Federalist 70: hamilton's argument

1. A single person can act more decisively when required

2. A single executive will actually be a protection against expansion of executive power (easier to know who's at fault if there's an abuse of power)

- Two checks: impeachment and 22nd amendment (limited 2 terms)

Bully pulpit

When the president speaks, the nation listens

State of the union address

Only constitutional required communciation

Fireside chats

informal talks given by FDR over the radio; sat by White House fireplace; gained the confidence of the people

Technology that affected the bully pulpit

Radio, television, social media

Judicial: Three tier hierarchy

SCOTUS, Court of appeals, district courts

SCOTUS

Supreme Court only court officially established by the Constitution (established in article iii)

Judges of the Supreme Court

appointed by the president, confirmed by the senate, hold lifetime appointments

Has both original and appellate jurisdiction (scope of original is narrow; has original jurisdiction in cases between two states or involving an ambassador or other public official); Majority of cases that appear before the Supreme Court are appeals

Jurisdiction

Extent of the power of the court or what kind of cases this court can hear; 2 types- original and appellate

Original jurisdiction

The court can hear a case for the first time

Appellate jurisdiction

The court can only hear appeals from lower courts

Judicial review

the court has the power to rule on the constitutionality of laws

Federalist 78

the independence of the judicial branch erected a protective wall around its power (achieved in large part by the lifetime appointments of its judges), lifetime appointments insulated the judges from political pressure (can focus on constitutional interpretation of laws)(argues how and for how long justices will be appointed and what kind of power the judicial branch should have)

Marbury v. Madison

Established precedent of judicial review for the Supreme Court

Precedents

Whenever the court rules on a case, it will create a precedent; the decision in question will act like a template for future decisions

Stare decisis

let the decision stand

Loose constructionism

Consider the constitution a living, evolving document

strict constructionism

Interprets the constitution as the words are literally written

Burger court

liberal court (ex: Roe v Wade (repealed all state laws prohibiting abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy); United States v Nixon (restricted executive privilege)

Rehnquist Court

conservative (ex: planned parenthood v casey (restricted abolition rights); District of Columbia v heller (expanded access to gun ownership))

Judicial activism

when a court acts to establish policy and in its deliberative work, considers the broad effects of a decision on society

Judicial activism: Warren court

brown v board of education: led to the integration of schools, overturned the precedent of legal racial segregation

Judicial activism: Roberts court

citizens United v FEC: dealt w campaign finance, gave Republican candidates an edge

Judicial restraint

believes that judges are not appointed to make policy, a law should be struck down only if it violates the actual written word of the constitution

Checking the judicial branch

1. Passing laws the modify the impact of prior decisions

2. Constitutional amendments

3. Passing legislation that impacts the court's jurisdiction

4. Judicial appointments

5. Not enforcing the decision handed down

14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause

provides that no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction "the equal protection of the laws".