AP GAPtastic ALL THE THINGS :) !!

Appropriations

money that Congress has allocated to be spent.

Appropriations Committee

congressional committee that deals with federal spending.

Appellate jurisdiction

authority of a court to hear an appeal from a lower court.

Bureaucracy

departments, agencies, bureaus and commissions in the executive branch of government.

Casework

personal work done by a member of Congress for his constituents.

Civil law

concerns non-criminal disputes between private parties; penalty is monetary.

Class action lawsuit

lawsuit brought on behalf of a class of people against a defendant, e.g., lawsuits brought by those who have suffered from smoking against tobacco companies.

Closed rule

Rules Committee rule that bans amendments to a bill.

Cloture

Senate motion to end a filibuster that requires a ⅗ vote.

Concurring opinion

written by a Supreme Court Justice who voted with the majority, but for different reasons.

Conference Committee

works out a compromise between differing House-Senate versions of a bill.

Constituents

the people who are represented by elected officials.

Discharge petition

a motion to force a bill to the House floor that has been bottled up in a committee.

Dissenting opinion

written by a Supreme Court Justice (or Justices) who express a minority viewpoint in a case.

Executive agreement

an agreement between the President and another head of state that, unlike a treaty, does not require Senate consent.

Executive order

presidential rule or regulation that has the force of law.

Executive privilege

the privilege of a President and his staff to withhold their conversations from Congress or the Courts if national security issues are involved..

Filibuster

nonstop Senate debate that prevents a bill from coming to a vote.

Finance Committee

Senate committee that handles tax bills.

Franking privilege

allows members of Congress to send mail postage free.

Gerrymandering

redrawing district lines to favor one party at the expense of the other.

Hold

Senate maneuver that allows a Senator to stop or delay consideration of a bill or presidential appointment.

Impeachment

House action that formally charges an official with wrongdoing. Conviction (the penalty for which is removal from office) requires ⅔ vote from the Senate.

Impoundment

refusal of a President to spend money that has been appropriated by Congress.

Injunction

court order that forbids a party from performing a certain action.

Judicial activism

philosophy that the courts should take an active role in solving problems.

Judicial restraint

philosophy that the courts should defer to elected lawmakers in setting policy, and should instead focus on interpreting law rather than making law.

Legislative oversight

ongoing process of congressional monitoring of the executive branch to ensure that the latter complies with the law.

Legislative veto

process in which Congress overturned rules and regulations proposed by executive branch agencies. Struck down in 1983.

Line item veto

process of most governors (and President Clinton for only a few years) to delete or reduce funding in a bill on a line by line basis.

Logrolling

when two members of Congress agree to vote for each others bill.

Majority opinion

written to express the majority viewpoint in a Supreme Court case.

Markup Session

committee action to amend a proposed bill.

Merit system

system of hiring federal workers based upon competitive exams.

Open rule

House Rules Committee rule that allows amendments to a bill.

Original jurisdiction

authority of a court to first hear a case.

Patronage

power to appoint loyal party members of federal positions.

Pocket veto

presidential killing of a bill by inaction after Congress adjourns.

Political appointees

those who have received presidential appointments to office. Contrast with Civil Service employees, who receive federal jobs by competitive exams.

Pork barrel

wasteful congressional spending, e.g., funding for a Lawrence Welk museum in North Dakota.

Quorum

minimum number of members needed for the House or Senate to meet.

Reapportionment

reallocations of House seats to the states on the basis of changes in state populations, as determined by the census.

Redistricting

redrawing of congressional district boundaries by the party in power of the state legislature.

Red tape

complex rules and procedures required by bureaucratic agencies.

Remand

the Supreme Court's sending of a case back to the original court in which it was heard.

Rider

amendment to a bill that has little to do with that bill. Also known as a non germane amendment.

Rule of Four

the Supreme Court will hear a case if four Justices agree to do so.

Rules Committee

the "traffic cop" of the House that sets the legislative calendar and issues rules for debate on a bill.

Senatorial courtesy

tradition in which the President consults with the senators within a state in which an appointment is to be made.

Seniority system

tradition in which the Senator from the majority party with the most years of service on a committee becomes the chairmen of that committee.

Spoils system

see patronage above.

Standing committee

the permanent congressional committees that handle legislation.

Stare decisis

Latin for "let the decision stand." Supreme Court policy following precedent in deciding cases.

Sunset laws

laws that automatically expire after a given time.

Ways and Means Committee

House committee that handles tax bills.

budget deficit

results when federal expenditures exceed federal revenues for a one-year period

Writ of certiorari

issued by the Supreme Court to a lower court to send up the records of a case so that it can be reviewed by the higher court.

Deficit spending

rhe federal government's practice of spending more money annually than it takes in as revenue

Writ of mandamus

court order directing a party to perform a certain action.

Deregulation

elimination of federal regulations on private companies

Entitlements

federal benefit payments to which recipients have a legal right, e.g., Social Security. Also known as uncontrollables.

Letter from a Birmingham Jail

"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."

Federalist 51

"Ambition must be made to counter ambition...if men were angels, no government would be necessary...You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself."

Federalist 70

"A feeble executive implies a feeble execution of the government. A feeble execution is but another phrase for bad execution; and a government ill executed, whatever it may be in theory, must be, in practice, a bad government."

The Constitution

"Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State."

The Articles of Confederation

"Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every Power, Jurisdiction, and right, which is not expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled."

The Declaration of Independence

"To secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

Federalist 78

"The standard of good behavior for the continuance in office of the judicial magistry is certainly one of the most valuable of the modern improvements in the practice of government...it is the best expedient which can be devised...to secure a steady, upright, and impartial administration of the laws."

Federalist 10

"The causes of factions cannot be removed; relief is only to be sought in the means of controlling its effects...relief is supplied by the republican principle, which enables the majority to defeat its sinister views, by regular vote."

Brutus No. 1

"When the people once part with power, they can seldom or never resume it again but by force...This is a sufficient reason to induce you to be careful, in the first instance, how you deposit the powers of government."

Citizens United v. FEC

"There is simply no support for the view that the First Amendment, as originally understood, would permit the suppression of political speech by media corporations."

New York Times v. United States

"'Any system of prior restraints of expression comes to this Court bearing a heavy presumption against its constitutional validity.'"

Shaw v. Reno

"A jurisdiction's interest in creating majority minority districts in order to comply with the Voting Rights Act does not give it carte blanche to engage in racial gerrymandering."

Engel v. Vitale

"In this country, it is no part of the business of government to compose official prayers for any group of the American people to recited as part of a religious program carried on by government."

McCulloch v. Maryland

"A government entrusted with great powers...must also be entrusted with ample means for their execution...[the necessary and proper clause is] intended to endure for ages to come and, consequently, to be adapted to the various crises of human affairs."

Gideon v. Wainwright

"In our adversarial system of criminal justice, any person hauled into court, who is too poor to hire a lawyer, cannot be assured a fair trial unless counsel is provided for him. This seems to us to be an obvious truth."

Schenck v. United States

"The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting 'fire' in a theatre and causing a panic."

McDonald v. Chicago

"We hold that the Second Amendment right is fully applicable in the States...it is clear that the Framers and ratifiers of the Fourteenth Amendment counted the right to keep and bear arms among those fundamental rights necessary to our system of ordered liberty."

Wisconsin v. Yoder

"The State's interest in universal education is not totally free from a balancing process when it impingeson other fundamental rights, such as those [sincere religious beliefs] specifically protected by the Free Exercise Clause."

Marbury v. Madison

"It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. Those who apply the rule to particular cases, must of necessity expound and interpret that rule. If two laws conflict with each other the courts must decide on the operation of each."

U.S. v. Lopez

"The possession of a gun in a local school zone is in no sense an economic activity that might, through repetition elsewhere, substantially affect any sort of interstate commerce."

Affirmative action

an action or policy favoring those who tend to suffer from discrimination, especially in relation to employment or education

Civil liberties

constitutionally established guarantees of personal freedoms, e.g., speech, assembly, religion, protecting citizens, opinions, and property against government interference

Civil rights

protections of individuals against discrimination on the basis of characteristics such as race, national origin, religion, and gender; guaranteed under the Due Process clause and Equal Protection Clause, as well as by various acts of Congress.

Clear and present danger doctrine

judicial interpretation of Amendment 1 that government may not ban speech unless such speech poses an imminent threat to society.

Defamatory speech

unprotected speech that is false and reputation-damaging (can come in the form of either libel or slander); defamation is the use of such speech

De facto segregation

segregation "by fact," i.e., segregation that results from such factors as housing patterns rather than law.

De jure segregation

segregation by law, i.e., segregation that is required by government.

Due process clause

prohibits the national government (5th Amendment) and states (14th Amendment) from denying life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

Equal protection clause

14th Amendment clause that prohibits states from denying equal protection under the law, and has been used to combat discrimination.

Establishment clause

provision of Amendment 1 that prohibits Congress from establishing an official state religion. This is the basis for separation of church and state.

Exclusionary rule

Supreme Court guideline that excludes the use of illegally obtained evidence in a criminal trial.

Free exercise clause

provision of Amendment 1 stating that Congress may not prohibit the free exercise of religion.

Grandfather clause

Southern laws that excluded blacks from exercising suffrage by restricting the right to vote only to those whose grandfathers had voted before 1865.

Incorporation

using the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to apply the Bill of Rights to the states. "Total incorporation" would require states to obey all provisions of the Bill of Rights because of the due process clause of the 14th Amendment. "Selective incorporation" dictates that the Bill of Rights be applied in a more gradual manner on a case by case basis, also via the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Jim Crow laws

Southern laws that required racial segregation in places of public accommodations.

Libel

written untruths that damage a reputation.

Literacy test

Southern method of excluding blacks from exercising suffrage by requiring that voters prove their ability to read and write.

Majority-Minority districts

an electoral district (such as a House district) in which the majority of the constituents in the district are members of racial or ethnic minority groups.

Miranda warnings/Miranda Rule

warnings that must be read to suspects prior to a custodial interrogation (when the suspect is not free to leave and is about to be questioned by police). Suspects must be advised that they have the rights of silence and counsel. Established by SCOTUS in Miranda v. Arizona