Fed Gov Lesson 1 MCQs

Covers Chapters 1-5 of Federal Government

What are the divisions of power? (Unitary, Federal, & Confederal)

Unitary - System of power where the National Government is sovereign.

Federal - System of power where sovereignty is shared between the National Government and States.

Confederal - System of power where the State Governments are sovereign.

What are the 5 freedoms in the 1st Amendment?

The 5 freedoms in the 1st Amendment are:

1. The freedom of Expression

2. The freedom of Speech

3. The freedom of Assembly

4. The freedom of Press

5. The freedom of Religion

What are Enumerated, Implied, and Reserved powers?

Enumerated - 17 Powers specifically mentioned inside of the constitution. (e.g. nat. defense, foreign affairs, currency, post office, & interstate commerce) (National)

Implied - Powers reasonably suggested by the expressed powers & allowed by Necessary & Proper Clause under the constitution. (National)

Reserved - Powers not granted to the National Government and are not also denied to the states are reserved to the states / people under the 10th Amendment. (State)

What are the New Jersey and Virginia Plans?

New Jersey Plan (Statist) - The plan favored small states, proposed a unicameral system, and proposed additions to the AOC.

Virginia Plan (Nationalist) - The plan favored large states, proposed a bicameral legislature, and proposed judicial and executive branches.

What is the Great Compromise / Connecticut Plan?

Great Compromise / Connecticut Plan - The plan proposed a bicameral legislature with the House of Representatives based off of population and the Senate based off of equal # (2) senators from each state and executive and judicial branches.

How does the constitution address slavery?

The constitution had the:

3/5ths compromise, where slaves counted as 3/5ths a person of a white

1808 slave prohibition, where the import of slaves was prohibited after 1808

Decreasing federal and export taxes because of slaves counting as tax deductions.

Fugitive Slave Clause, where escaped slaves are required to be returned as property.

What is federalism?

Federalism - The constitutional division of sovereignty (supreme and final governing authority) between the National Government and States.

Federalist argued that it would correct the defects in the AoC (like no ability to tax, weak central gov., etc.) Anti-federalists argued that the states would eventually lose all the power that they have.

Plessy v. Ferguson 1896

A legal case in witch the Supreme Court upheld racial segregation laws for public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal."

Tinker v. Des Moines 1969

A landmark Supreme Court case that ruled students do not lose their First Amendment rights to free speech when they enter a school environment, establishing the "substantial disruption" standard.

Selective incorporation - Schenck v. United States 1919

A legal doctrine that refers to the use of the Fourteenth Amendment to apply selected provisions of the Bill of Rights to the states, illustrated by the Supreme Court's ruling in Schenck v. United States, which limited free speech under certain circumstances.

Brandenburg v. Ohio 1969

A Supreme Court case that established the "imminent lawless action" standard, protecting free speech unless it incites or produces immediate violence.

McCullough v. Maryland 1819

A landmark Supreme Court case that established the principle of national supremacy and affirmed the implied powers of Congress under the Necessary and Proper Clause, allowing for expansive federal authority. Federal Banks

United States v. Lopez 1995

A Supreme Court case that ruled the Gun-Free School Zones Act exceeded Congress's authority under the Commerce Clause, marking a limit on federal power.

Miranda Warning

A requirement that law enforcement informs a detained suspect of their rights to remain silence and legal counsel before questioning, established by the supreme court in Miranda v. Arizona 1966.

Constituional Basis

Specific articles, sections, or amendments in the U.S. Constitution that grant legal authority and backing for a law.

An example of this would be the 14th Amendment. Gives Congress the "power to enforce, by appropriate legislation," the amendment's guarantees of due process and equal protection under the law.

McDonald v. Chicago 2010

This is a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that ruled the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for self-defense applies to state and local governments.

Difference between the 5th and 14th Amendment Due Process Clause

The main difference between the Fifth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clauses is who they restrict: the Fifth Amendment applies to the federal government, while the Fourteenth Amendment applies to state and local governments.

New York Times v. The United States 1971

This case ruled that the government cannot stop the press from publishing classified material unless it provides the publication causes grave and immediate danger to national security.

What is Dual and Cooperative Federalism?

Cooperative federalism - “Marble-cake federalism,” where national, state, and local govs. work together in their powers to solve issues.

Dual federalism - “Layer-cake federalism,” where national and state authority is precisely separated based on the constitution.

What are the checks and balances of the legislative branch?

Executive - Can veto acts of congress, recommend legislation, call special sessions, and interpret the laws that congress makes through the power to execute.

Judiciary - Can interpret acts of congress disputed in legal cases and can nullify laws of congress if it violates the constitution.

In addition, passing of congressional laws/acts require a majority of both chambers, adding another check.

What are the checks and balances for the executive branch?

Legislative - Can approve president’s actions & powers, impeach / remove the president from office, and, using its lawmaking and appropriations powers, check the executive branch so that it cannot act without laws/money that authorize/fund its activities.

Judiciary - Can declare executive actions unlawful.

What are the checks and balances for the judicial branch?

Legislative - Establishes the size of the federal court system, restricts the USSC’s jurisdiction in some circumstances, impeach / remove federal judges from office, rewrite legislation that the courts misinterpreted, and initiate amendments when it disagrees with court rulings on constitutional issues.

Executive - Appoints federal judges with the consent of the Senate, can pardon persons convicted in the courts, can execute court decisions, which influences how rulings are carried out.

What is the exclusionary rule in due process?

The exclusionary rule states that evidence gathered against the defendant’s constitutional rights cannot be used by the gov./courts with the exceptions of:

Good Faith - Evidence is admissible if police believed they were following proper procedures

Inevitable Discovery - Evidence is admissible if other evidence would have led to the same discovery

Plain-View - Evidence is admissible if it is found in plain sight even when it relates to another infraction other than the one for which the individual was stopped.

What is the 10th Amendment?

The 10th Amendment states that any powers not given to the federal government by the constitution, nor blocked from the states, belong to the states / people; Reserved powers. For example, making public school systems and local law enforcement.

What are the Free Exercise & Establishment Clauses?

Both clauses are part of the freedom of religion under the 1st Amendment.

Free Exercise - States that the Government is prohibited from interfering with the practice of religion, with the exception that if the exercise of religious beliefs conflict with otherwise valid law.

Establishment - States that the Government may not favor/support 1 religion over another or none and includes the wall-of-separation doctrine (separation of church and state), and accommodation doctrine (no preference toward aiding a religious activity and that the aid is nonreligious).

What is the supremacy clause?

Part of the Constitution that states that federal laws, are the supreme law of the land and take precedence over state laws; overrides state law.

What are the differences between the Civil Rights Act 1964 & Voting RA 1965?

CRA 1964 - Stated that all persons entitled to equal access to public accommodations and bars discrimination based on race, color, religion, etc. in the hiring, promotion, and wages of employees of medium/large firms.

VRA 1965 - Stated that disenfranchisement was prohibited in voting and registration, empowered federal agents to oversee registration and districts with a history of discrimination, and made criminal penalties to individual violators of such act.

To what extent did the Constitution of 1787 solve the problems of the Articles of Confederation?

The constitution of 1787 solved most of the problems created by the Articles by strengthening the national government.

The Constitution solved the Articles’ issue of debt because of the lack of taxation power by allowing the government to do so.

It also solved the Articles’ issue of a weak central government by forming it to be a stronger central government through federalism.

The constitution resolved the issue of perfectly equal representation by using bicameral legislature based on both equality and population in the 2 chambers.

But, a problem that arose from the constitution was from the abuse of implied powers that the government has through the necessary & proper clause.

Did the founding fathers fear democracy?

Yes, I believe that the founding fathers feared democracy to an extent because of tyranny of the majority.

This is clearly expressed by James Madison inside of Federalist 10 with his alarm about factions effecting the popular government, public good, and private rights that the United States desires.

Inside of Brutus 1, Robert Yates notes that a republic, despite being against it, would operate upon the fear of any faction, not only to prevent opposition to the execution of laws, but also to compel the to aid the government. Nonetheless, Yates presents limitations and warning to the power of a limitless government.

I also think that this fear is shown inside of the great compromise, specifically the bicameral legislature, with the fear of the majority deciding the need of both the equal representation and populous representation, so that democracy can still occur but also be limited that it does not become tyrannical.

To what extent does federalism strengthen democracy?

Federalism strengthens democracy through the separation of powers between National and State governments, that the powers acting upon the people will not be unified in a manner against the people because of the checks resulting from separated powers.

Federalism also does this because, as discussed in class, it allows for the test of new laws & policies on smaller localities before expanding them nationally, which allows the people to have more influence to vote for laws based upon the success of them on the localities.

Federalism splits sovereignty based on the multiple levels of government, and thus, allows democracy to increase because of increased opportunity for citizens to vote across the multiple levels.

What constitutional tools has the federal government used to expand its power? What limits have the courts applied? In your opinion, have they gone too far?

Constitutional tools - The federal government used fiscal federalism, constitutional clauses, and judicial rulings to expand its power into areas traditionally reserved to states. (like McCullough v. Maryland, supremacy clause, necessary & proper clause, etc.)

Limits - Courts limited federal power by ruling restrictions toward the tools used by the federal government. (like limiting the commerce clause to commercial activity in channels, instruments, and activities that effect interstate commerce (United States v. Lopez 1995) or limiting the clause to economic crimes, not non-economic ones (United States v Morrison 2000)).

Opinion - I think that the federal government has not gone too far, I think that there is still some way to go until that they have, but they are approaching it. I think so mainly because of cases like NFIB v. Sebelius 2012, where the government could’ve taxed/fined people to coerce them to purchase insurance.

Cases for the 4th Amendment:

United States v. Olmstead (1928)

United States v. Katz (1967)

Smith v. Maryland (1967)

United States v. Jones (2012)

Ridly v California (2014)

United States v. Olmstead (1928) - Ruled that the 4th amendment applies to the physical examination of a person, not conversations.

United States v. Katz (1967) - Established the reasonable expectation of privacy test (subjective & societal expectation of privacy) & overruled Olmstead to include conversation and physical intrusion under the 4th amendment’s protection.

Smith v. Maryland (1967) - Established the 3rd party doctrine where the 4th amendment cannot protect voluntary conveyed information to a 3rd party.

United States v. Jones (2012) - Ruled that the physical trespass and long-term surveillance of a person violates their reasonable expectation of privacy. There must be privacy w/o physical intrusion.

Riley v California (2014) - Ruled that digital data requires a warrant to search a cell phone seized during an arrest. The data carried in a phone is much greater in information than that of physical property, thus there is a reasonable expectation of privacy over that data.