American Government Exam 3: Bureaucracy, Presidency, and Judiciary Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards defining fundamental concepts, executive agencies, presidential powers, legislative committees, and judicial terms for Exam 3 review.

Bureaucracy

The complex structure of offices, tasks, rules, and principles of organization that is employed by all large-scale institutions to coordinate the work of their personnel.

Federalism

A principle or system of government in which several states form a unity but remain independent in internal affairs.

Implementation

The efforts of departments and agencies to translate laws into specific bureaucratic rules and actions.

Oversight

The effort by Congress, through hearings, investigations, and other techniques, to exercise control over the activities of executive agencies.

Whistleblowing

Employees who report wrongdoing in public or private organizations, including federal agencies.

Implementing laws

The efforts of departments and agencies to translate laws into specific bureaucratic rules and actions through policies, regulations, and administrative action.

Enforcing laws

Compelling compliance with legal rules through policing and penalties.

Executive department

The 15 departments in the executive branch headed by cabinet secretaries and constituting the majority of the federal bureaucracy.

Independent regulatory commission

A government agency outside the executive department usually headed by commissioners.

Political Appointee

The presidentially appointed layer of the bureaucracy on top of the civil service.

Inspector general

An independent audit organization located in most federal agencies.

Career civil servants

Senior executive services representing the top appointed management rank for career civil servants (CCS).

Logrolling

The practice of exchanging favors, especially in politics by reciprocal voting for other's proposed legislation.

Regulatory Capture

A form of government failure in which regulatory agencies become too sympathetic to interests or businesses they are supposed to regulate.

Civil law

The branch of law that deals with disputes that do not involve criminal penalties, involving disputes amongst individuals, groups, corporations, and other private entities.

Criminal law

The branch of law that regulates the conduct of individuals, defines crimes, and specifies punishment for proscribed conduct, wherein the government charges an individual with violating a statute enacted to protect the public.

Felony

A crime typically involving violence, treated as more serious than a misdemeanor, and usually punishable by imprisonment for more than one year or by death.

Misdemeanor

A nonindictable offense regarded in the U.S. as less serious than a felony.

Chief Justice

Justice on the Supreme Court who presides over the court's public sessions and whose official title is “Chief Justice of the U.S.”

Bicameral legislature

A legislature that has two chambers or houses.

Executive order

A rule or regulation issued by the president that has the effect and formal status of legislation.

Joint committee

Legislative committees formed of members of both the House and Senate.

Select committee

Temporary legislative committees set up to highlight or investigate a particular issue or address an issue not within the jurisdiction of existing committees.

Standing committee

A permanent committee with the power to propose and write legislation that covers a particular subject, such as finance or agriculture.

Conference committee

Joint committees created to work out a compromise on House and Senate versions of a piece of legislation.

Expressed power

Powers granted by the Constitution to Congress (Article I, Section 8) and to the president (Article II).

Inherent power

Powers claimed by a president that are not directly stated in the Constitution but are inferred from it—stemming from the rights, duties, and obligations of the presidency—which can change over time.

Implied power

Powers derived from the Necessary and Proper Clause of Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, which are not specifically expressed but are implied through expansive interpretation, or powers necessary to allow presidents to exercise their expressed powers.

Delegated power

Constitutional powers that are assigned to one governmental agency but are exercised by another agency with the express permission of the first.

Class action suit

A legal action by which a group or class of individuals with common interests can file a suit on behalf of everyone who shares that interest.

Judicial Review

The power of courts to review actions of the legislative and executive branches and, if needed, declare them invalid or unconstitutional.

Supremacy Clause

Article VI of the Constitution, which states that laws passed by the national government and all treaties are the supreme law of the land and superior to all laws adopted by any state or subdivision.

Opinion (in a court case)

The written explanation of the Supreme Court decision in a particular case.

Briefs (in a court case)

Written documents in which attorneys explain, using case precedents, why the court should find in favor of their client.

Defendant

The person the complaint is against in a criminal or civil case.

Plaintiff

The person or organization that brings a complaint to court.

Tort case

A case in which one individual charges suffering an injury caused by another's negligence or bad conduct (such as a drunk driver accident).

Precedents (in a court case)

A prior case whose principles are used by judges as the basis for their decision in a present case.

Department of State

An executive agency responsible for diplomacy that also staffs U.S. embassies.

Department of Defense

Provides military forces to deter war and protect the nation; includes the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army, Navy, Air Force, and six regional unified combatant commands.

Homeland Security

Executive department responsible for maintaining domestic security, created in response to 9/11.

Office of Management and Budget

An agency that controls the federal budget and regulations.

Cabinet

The body composed of the secretaries (heads) of the 15 executive departments, along with the vice president and the attorney general.

Judicial Restraint

A judicial philosophy holding that the exercise of judicial review should be limited and that deference should be given to established precedent and the elected branches.