Exam 3

writs of certiorari

Supreme Court orders a case from a lower court to be reviewed

Rule of Four

At least four justices of the Supreme Court must vote to consider a case before it can be heard

Grant petition

means that the court decides in favour of the Petitioner, agree to review the case

How Supreme Court decides to grant petition:

-Does case involve controversial issue of national importance?
-Did lower courts reach different conclusions?
-Did lower court invalidate a law or an executive action?

inviting submission of briefs

documents making legal arguments

Opinion of the Court

One of justices in majority writes this, which explains ruling & reasoning.

DISSENTING OPINIONS

documents written by justices expressing disagreement with the majority ruling

How might Supreme Court justices make decisions?

-How would a ruling affect reputation of Supreme Court
-Will a ruling create significant backlash from public and/or other branches?
-Activism and restraint:
-Political ideology and partisanship:

Activism and restraint

-ACTIVISM is the idea that: Courts could consider how rulings would affect society, Courts should try to create positive change (based on how they view it).
-RESTRAINT is the idea that: Courts don't have obligation to create social change, Courts should avoid challenging other branches of gov't whenever possible

Referendum

state or local elected officials submit proposals to voters

Initiatives

proposed laws or other measures that are placed on ballot by citizen petition

Recall

a procedure that allows citizens to vote elected officials out of office before their terms have expired

Right to vote expanded in 4 phases in U.S. history:

-Elimination of property-owning requirement for white men (1820s-1850s)
-White women (19th amendment, 1920)
-Black Voters, especially in Southern States (Voting Rights Act of 1965)
-18-21-year old's can vote (26th amendment, 1971)

Who Votes?

-Education level is most important factor
-Age is arguably 2nd most important factor
-Racial and ethnic differences

Party identification

an attachment to a political party that has PSYCHOLOGICAL, EMOTIONAL, and RATIONAL elements

How do candidates try to win elections?

Mobilization, Mobilization, Microtargeting

Microtargeting

send specific, individualized messages to voters, Use data, info on voters to decide which messages will be most appealing to each voter

Buckley v. Valeo (1976)

Key idea #1: Candidates allowed to spend as much money as they can possibly raised
Key idea #2: BUT... government can limit how much money can be given directly to candidates

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)

Ruling: there can be no limits of any sort on independent expenditures, caused emergence of super PACS

independent expenditures

Campaign spending aimed to help candidates, but not coordinated w/ them

Super PACs

People, groups can donate unlimited sums (ANY AMOUNT) of money to super PACs, Super PACS can spend unlimited sums of money to help or oppose candidate. Cannot coordinate strategies w/candidates (THE CATCH)

Electoral College

Electoral college = group of people. (Currently 538) who elect presidents.

Electoral college process

electors are "told" how to vote based on popular vote outcome in state. Need at least 270 (majority) electoral votes to win presidential election out of 538 possible.

Each state's # of electoral votes =

number of US House members + number of US Senators, minimum 3

Winner takes all

The candidate that gets the most votes in a state, gets ALL its electoral votes

Swing State

Both parties have a realistic chance to win the state in presidential elections, most states aren't swing.

What if there is a tie or if a candidate fails to achieve a majority vote?

House of Reps decides election
Each state gets one vote
Candidate who gets a majority vote becomes president
Has only happened once = 1824

public opinion

Collections of attitudes and preferences of the population pertaining to: Political issues, Leaders, Institutions, Events

POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION

process by which people acquire their political beliefs and values

AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION

factors that drive political socialization, help shape individuals' political beliefs and values

To measure public opinion

Contacting the entire population is not possible, so need to contact a sample. Goal: get sample of respondents to mirror the population. Use random selection.

SOCIAL DESIRABILITY BIAS

-When people don't want to reveal sensitive info in a survey. -When people give responses based on what they think interviewer wants to hear (instead of truthful answers)

QUESTION WORDING EFFECTS

effects that occur when the wording of survey questions influences respondents' answers to those questions

SELECTION BIAS

Samples are biased when they do not reflect the population

Mass media

Means of conveying info to large public audiences. o Ideally, media will serve three roles: Inform public about political issues, events, Provide forum for debate about policies, issues, Watchdog on actions of politicians, government.

Mass Media Late 1700s through early 1800s

highly partisan press

Mass Media 1880s to early 1920s

Muckraking and golden age of newspapers

Big Three Networks

NBC, CBS, ABC, § Consequences: Hard for people to avoid news, Americans consumed similar news content, TV news had lots of power in influencing publics priorities due to the large audience

Fragmentation

No longer the case that a small number of media options dominates the industry

Mass media 1980s to now

more entertainment options and news sources available

Agenda setting

Power of media to bring increased public attention to issues/problems

The Media Business

Overwhelming, privately owned, for-profit: PROFIT MOTIVE shapes media coverage of politics and government

Decline of Local News

Craigslist, Marketplace, and similar websites
Persuading consumers to pay for digital subscriptions has been difficult
Digital advertising hasn't been as profitable for newspapers as print advertising used to be
Investment firms have purchased many newspapers, then sold the real estate and equipment and cut newsroom staff

NATIONALIZATION of American politics

-people paying more attention to national politics, less attention to state and local politics
-People having easier time becoming informed about national politics, more difficult time becoming informed about state and local issues

Possible psychological mechanisms of agenda-setting:

Issues receiving attention in news are more likely to come to mind more quickly and easily
People view journalists, news companies as credible sources for judging importance of issues