Chapter 2

Ability to veto legislation.

The president’s advantage over Congress when it comes to developing legislative initiatives on major policy issues includes all but which of the following?

A pocket veto

Which of the following would occur if Congress were to pass legislation and declare a recess, and the president took no action on the bill within ten days of its passage?

Ability to veto legislation.

The president’s advantage over Congress when it comes to developing legislative initiatives on major policy issues includes all but which of the following?

A pocket veto

Which of the following would occur if Congress were to pass legislation and declare a recess, and the president took no action on the bill within ten days of its passage?

President's increased visibility, due to the development of mass media

Which of the following accounts for the fact that the power and prestige of the presidency have grown since 1932?

call special sessions of Congress

The president wishes to influence the legislative process. Which of the following actions can he legally perform?

appoint the head of the agency

Which of the following options would be a tool available to the president to ensure that an independent agency is effectively carrying out its mandate?

Changes in the world and in technology have changed the nature of threats to national security in a way that has favored presidential action.

Over the course of U.S. history, power over war has shifted from Congress to the president. The main reason for this is

whether the president’s party has a congressional majority

Which factor best explains the president’s success with Congress?

Their members sometimes do not share the president's goals.

Which of the following statements about cabinet departments is true?

The proposed federal courts and the Supreme Court will provide national consistency in law.

Which of the following statements best summarizes Hamilton's argument?

If there are such things as political axioms, the propriety of the judicial power of a government being coextensive with its legislative, may be ranked among the number. The mere necessity of uniformity in the interpretation of the national laws, decides the question. Thirteen independent courts of final jurisdiction over the same causes, arising upon the same laws, is a hydra in government, from which nothing but contradiction and confusion can proceed. -Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 80, 1788

Marbury v. Madison

In which of the following cases did the Supreme Court first claim the implied power of judicial review?

judicial restraint

If a judge believes he should ONLY strike down laws that clearly violate the Constitution, he likely believes in which of the following?

Judicial review

Why does a judge swear to discharge his duties agreeably to the Constitution of the United States, if that Constitution forms no rule for his government? If it is closed upon him, and cannot be inspected by him?  If such be the real state of things, this is worse than solemn mockery. To prescribe, or take this oath, becomes equally a crime. It is also not entirely unworthy of observation that, in declaring what shall be the supreme law of the land, the Constitution itself is first mentioned; and not the laws of the United States generally, but those only which shall he made in in pursuance of the Constitution, have that rank.  Thus, the particular phraseology of the Constitution of the United States confirms and strengthens the principle, supposed to be essential to all written constitutions, that a law repugnant to the Constitution is void; and that courts, as well as other departments, are bound by that instrument. -John Marshall, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1801--1835)

It can be inferred from this passage that Marshall was arguing for which legal doctrine?

D

Which of the following is an accurate comparison of Federalist No. 10 and Federalist No. 78?

Griswold v. Connecticut and Roe v. Wade

Which of the following cases focused on the right to privacy for all American citizens?

Appointments to the Supreme Court are a very contentious issue that divides Democrats and Republicans.

What is the message of this political cartoon?

judicial activism

A Supreme Court judge expresses the desire to change public policy and alter judicial precedent. Which of the following terms describes this action?

D

Which of the following is an accurate comparison of judicial activism and judicial restraint?

The national census

Which of the following is specifically mentioned in the U.S. Constitution?

The expressed power to declare war

We have before us one of the most important duties of Congress, and that is to decide whether or not we will be involved in war. I think it is inexcusable that the debate over whether we involve the country in another country's civil war, would be debated as part of a spending bill, and not as part of an independent, free-standing bill. It goes against the history of the country. -Senator Rand Paul Speech, September 18, 2014

Which power of Congress is Senator Paul probably most concerned about based on this passage?

The head of the EPA is forced to testify in front of a congressional committee

Which of the following best exemplifies congressional oversight?

are temporary committees which investigate for the purpose of furthering legislation.

Select committees in the House and Senate

Pork barrel

Legislation that allows representatives to bring money and jobs to their districts is referred to as

Districts must be drawn so that, within a state, every person's vote is roughly equal to every other person's vote.

Which of the following statements about congressional reapportionment and redistricting is true?

The House accuses an official; the Senate judges and decides whether to remove the official.

Which of the following sequences accurately follows the impeachment and removal process as outlined in the Constitution?

It gave citizens greater impact on lawmaking in the Senate

In what way did the Seventeenth Amendment broaden democracy?

The War Powers Act gives the president freedom to act with the military for a limited time.

We have before us one of the most important duties of Congress, and that is to decide whether or not we will be involved in war. I think it is inexcusable that the debate over whether we involve the country in another country's civil war, would be debated as part of a spending bill, and not as part of an independent, free-standing bill. It goes against the history of the country. -Senator Rand Paul, 2014

Which foreign policy reality might limit what the Senate can do in this scenario?

The head of the EPA is forced to testify in front of a congressional committee

Which of the following best exemplifies congressional oversight?

delegate

A senator realizes a vote on an immigration bill is coming up. The senator examines public opinion polls on the issue and carefully reads his inbox for constituents' views on the issue. He votes accordingly. This senator is following which model of representation?

party affiliation

Voting patterns of members of Congress correlate MOST strongly with

increases in entitlement programs

Much of the increase in federal expenditures since 1960 has been caused by

they are not directly accountable to the people.

Bureaucracies are often criticized as being undemocratic because

Call for an oversight hearing to understand the problem

A federal agency has been accused of not enforcing laws it is charged with enforcing. Which is the most likely action the relevant House committee will first take?

Education

Which of the following programs is categorized as discretionary spending under the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990?

requiring agency heads to routinely appear before congressional committees.

An important tool Congress uses to influence the bureaucracy is

The Department of Justice

The attorney general is the head of which of the following entities?

bureaucratic agencies, congressional committees, and interest groups

Iron triangles are made up of which of the following?

The lawmaking process becomes less democratic when bureaucratic agencies can regulate beyond their defined jurisdiction. - Correct

First, is the question of whether Congress has directly spoken to the question at issue. If the intent of Congress is clear that is the end of the matter. The court, as well as the agency, must serve the unambiguously expressed intent of Congress. If, however, the court determines Congress has not directly addressed the question at issue, the Court does not simply impose its own construction on the statute. Rather if the statute is silent or ambiguous with respect to the specific issue, the question for the Court is whether the agency's answer is based on a permissible construction of the statute. -Justice John Paul Stevens, Majority Opinion, Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council (1984)

Those who disagree with the above Supreme Court's opinion would point to which facts?

D

Which of the following is an accurate comparison between laissez-faire economics and supply-side economics?

HINT: If a description doesn't directly apply to the option it's listed under, then that choice can and should be eliminated. "The government should influence wages and prices" refers to Keynesian economics, which isn't even being compared here. This is true also of "Massive deficit spending. Laissez-faire economics is based upon having little government interference in the economy and that supply-side economics revolves around using tax cuts to encourage economic growth.

Overlapping bureaucratic authority can cause wasteful spending and duplication.

Which of the following is a fair criticism of the federal bureaucracy?

furnish attorneys for poor defendants in felony cases.

Gideon v. Wainwright required the states to

Tinker v. Des Moines

A case that expanded the concept of symbolic speech to include wearing armbands in protest was

precedent

A judicial decision that establishes a rule for settling subsequent cases of a similar nature sets a

U.S. v. Lopez

In which of the following court cases did the Supreme Court decide a case in the opposite manner by upholding the rights of states in balancing power between the national and state governments.

determining the size of the Supreme Court

Congress, not the president, has the constitutional power to control the judicial branch by

Rights of the accused

The Gideon and Miranda cases both concerned which of the following issues? 

lower court to send up the record of a case for review.

A writ of certiorari by the Supreme Court orders

speech could be restricted when the nation's security is at stake.

In Schenck v. United States (1919), the Supreme Court ruled that

The justice who sits in the ideological middle of the Court

What does it mean to be the swing justice on the Supreme Court?

criminal proceedings in the states.

In Mapp v. Ohio, the exclusionary rule was extended to include

has been determined to be a legislative veto by the Supreme Court.

The War Powers Act

The power of the President beyond that which the framers intended

The Imperial Presidency refers to

C

Which of the following is an accurate comparison of how the legislative branch and the executive branch can influence the federal courts?

whether the president’s party has a congressional majority

Which factor BEST explains a president’s legislative success with Congress?

George W. Bush’s popularity was boosted following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Which of the following is an example of the rally-round-the-flag effect?

fill federal judicial vacancies without Senate consent.

Recess appointments can be used by Presidents to

Congress

The institution which has the constitutional power to declare war is

omit Congress as a player in foreign policy decisions

Executive agreements

Vice president of the United States

Who is the official head of the Senate?

D

Which of the following is an accurate comparison of the constitutional powers of the House of Representatives and the Senate?

A proposed constitutional amendment must be approved by two-thirds of the delegates in both houses of congress

Which of the following statements about Congress is true?

Which of the following situations is an example of logrolling?

Two congressmen from different parties agree to vote on each other's bills

reapportionment

After a national census has been taken, changes in population distribution cause the changing of congressional seats among the states. This effect is called

A census and the various state legislatures

How do House congressional districts gain their shapes?

The two legislative bodies form a conference committee

Which of the following generally results when the Senate and House of Representatives pass different versions of the same bill?

it is a challenge to majority leadership and informal rules of behavior

A discharge petition is rarely used in the House of Representatives because

It is the responsibility of the whip to keep track of vote counts and pressure members to vote with the party.

Which of the following is true about the officers of the House of Representatives?

A

Which of the following is an accurate comparison of reapportionment and redistricting?

Rep. Munger favored a bill to restore voting rights to formerly convicted felons but voted against it because his constituents opposed the bill.

Which of the following examples is consistent with a Representative embodying the delegate model of representation?

It determines the scheduling of votes and the conditions under which bills are debated and amended.

Which of the following demonstrates why The House Rules Committee is considered one of the most powerful groups in the House of Representatives? 

Committee chair positions are rotated between the parties.

Which statement is not true of congressional parties?

By the president and then confirmed by the Senate

How are cabinet members chosen?