APGov - Unit 6

22^nd Amendment

Ratified in 1951, this amendment limits presidents to two terms of office.

25^th Amendment

Ratified in 1967, this amendment permits the vice president to become acting president if the vice president and the president’s cabinet determine that the president is disabled, and it outlines how a recuperated president can reclaim the job.

Impeachment

The political equivalent of an indictment in criminal law, prescribed by the Constitution. The House of Representatives may impeach the president by a majority vote for “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Senate tries, convicts, & impeaches president with 2/3^rds vote.

Executive Orders

Regulations originating with the executive branch. Executive orders are one method presidents can use to control the bureaucracy.

Cabinet

A group of presidential advisers not mentioned in the Constitution, although every president has had one. Today the cabinet is composed of 14 secretaries, the attorney general, and others designated by the president.

Executive Office

Building near the White House that holds certain councils

National Security Council

The committee that links the president’s foreign and military policy advisers. Its formal members are the president, vice president, secretary of state, and secretary of defense, and it is managed by the president’s national security assistant.

Council of Economic Advisers

A three-member body appointed by the president to advise the president on economic policy.

Office of Management & Budget

An office that prepares the president’s budget and also advises presidents on proposals from departments and agencies and helps review their proposed regulations.

White House Staff

Around 600 loyal members today who address both serious and mundane matters inside the office.

The First Lady

Often councils and lobbies for their husbands, many pushed one single-issue that they felt passionate about to be solved, but recently they have started to work on other issues

Vice President

In recent years, presidents like to choose someone with a strong political background while being extremely loyal to them.

Veto

The constitutional power of the president to send a bill back to Congress with reasons for rejecting it. A two-thirds vote in each house can override a veto.

Pocket Veto

A type of veto occurring when Congress adjourns within 10 days of submitting a bill to the president and the president simply lets the bill die by neither signing nor vetoing it.

Presidential Coattails

These occur when voters cast their ballots for congressional candidates of the president’s party because they support the president. Recent studies show that few races are won this way.

Public Support

Public approval & Electoral Mandates

Legislatie Skills

Bargaining, moving fast, & setting priorities

War Power Resolutions

A law passed in 1973, in reaction to American fighting in Vietnam and Cambodia, that requires presidents to consult with Congress whenever possible prior to using military force and to withdraw forces after 60 days unless Congress declares war or grants an extension. However, presidents have viewed the resolution as unconstitutional.

Legislative Veto

A vote in Congress to override a presidential decision. Although the War Powers Resolution asserts this authority, there is reason to believe that, if challenged, the Supreme Court would find the legislative veto in violation of the doctrine of separation of powers.

Crisis

A sudden, unpredictable, and potentially dangerous event requiring the president to play the role of crisis manager.

Standing to Sue

The requirement that plaintiffs have a serious interest in a case, which depends on whether they have sustained or are likely to sustain a direct and substantial injury from another party or from an action of government.

Class Action Suits

Lawsuits in which a small number of people sue on behalf of all people in similar circumstances.

Justiciable Disputes

Issues capable of being settled as a matter of law.

Amicus Curiae Briefs

Legal briefs submitted by a “friend of the court” for the purpose of influencing a court’s decision by raising additional points of view and presenting information not contained in the briefs of the formal parties.

Original Jurisdiction

The jurisdiction of courts that hear a case first, usually in a trial. These are the courts that determine the facts about a case.

Appellate Jurisdiction

The jurisdiction of courts that hear cases brought to them on appeal from lower courts. These courts do not review the factual record, only the legal issues involved.

District Courts

The 91 federal courts of original jurisdiction. They are the only federal courts in which trials are held and in which juries may be impaneled.

Courts of Appeals

Appellate courts empowered to review all final decisions of district courts, except in rare cases. In addition, they also hear appeals to orders of many federal regulatory agencies.

Supreme Court

The pinnacle of the American judicial system. The Court ensures uniformity in interpreting national laws, resolves conflicts among states, and maintains national supremacy in law. It has both original jurisdiction and appellate jurisdiction.

Senatorial Courtesy

An unwritten tradition whereby nominations for state-level federal judicial posts are usually not confirmed if they are opposed by a senator of the president’s party from the state in which the nominee will serve. The tradition also applies to courts of appeals when there is opposition from a senator of the president’s party who is from the nominee’s state.

Solicitor General

A presidential appointee and the third-ranking office in the Department of Justice. The solicitor general is in charge of the appellate court litigation of the federal government.

Opinion

A statement of legal reasoning behind a judicial decision. The content of an opinion may be as important as the decision itself.

Stare Decisis

A Latin phrase meaning “let the decision stand.” Most cases reaching appellate courts are settled on this principle.

Precedent

How similar cases have been decided in the past.

Marbury v. Madison

The 1803 case in which Chief Justice John Marshall and his associates first asserted the right of the Supreme Court to determine the meaning of the U.S. Constitution. The decision established the Court’s power of judicial review over acts of Congress, in this case the Judiciary Act of 1789.

Judicial Review

The power of the courts to determine whether acts of Congress and, by implication, the executive are in accord with the U.S. Constitution. Judicial review was established by John Marshall and his associates in Marbury v. Madison.

Judicial Restraint

An approach to decision making in which judges play minimal policymaking roles and defer to legislatures whenever possible.

Judicial Activism

An approach to decision making in which judges sometimes make bold policy decisions, even charting new constitutional ground.

Political Questions

A doctrine developed by the federal courts and used as a means to avoid deciding some cases, principally those involving conflicts between the president and Congress.

Statutory Construction

The judicial interpretation of an act of Congress. In some cases where statutory construction is an issue, Congress passes new legislation to clarify existing laws.