Government and Politics Unit 2

What are the requirements to be a Senator?

At least 30, U.S citizen for at least 9 years, live in the state you want to represent

how many members of congress are there?

535

what is the current minimum and maximum number of US representatives?

1-52

What are the requirements to be a representative?

have to be 25 years old, have been a citizen for 7 years, and have to be an inhabitant of that state in which he/she was elected

How many years is a senator's term for?

6 years

How many years is a representative's term for?

2 years

what is descriptive representation?

the idea that an elected body should mirror demographically the population it represents (the reps LOOK like the people

What is substantive representation?

representation of the interests of groups of which they themselves are not members (they have the same values and substance as the people)

does congress look like the rest of America?

No, there is lack of diversity: race, ethnicity, gender

most of congress are still white males

what does apportionment mean?

apportionment (redistribute the number of seats in the HoR based on population)

What does reapportionment mean?

Counting everyone for the purpose of distributing the seats in the House

How often do we do reapportionment?

every 10 years with the census

What is redistricting?

The redrawing of the boundaries of the congressional districts within each state.

have to do this after reapportionment; ensures each district is approximately the same amount of people

What is gerrymandering?

manipulate the boundaries of (an electoral constituency) so as to favor one party or class over the other

What is a filibuster?

talking to prevent a bill from passing

How many powers does Congress have?

17

What are the powers of Congress?

Regulate trade, raise and support a military, declare war, establish a post office.

What are implied powers?

Powers given to Congress that aren't in the constitution. Gives Congress the power to do whatever is 'necessary & proper' to carry out expressed powers

What are enumerated powers?

Powers of the federal government that are specifically stated in the constitution

what is the congressional roles of representation?

- Congress members acting as voices for their constituents.

- Purpose: Representation is about serving and advocating for constituents

- Scope: Representation is often local and constituency-focused

-Process: Representation involves casework, constituent engagement, and local advocacy

- Evaluation: Representation is judged by breadth of constituent interests considered

What is the congressional role of lawmaking?

- Congress's formal legislative function — the process of drafting, debating, and passing laws

- Purpose: lawmaking is about creating and enacting laws

- Scope: lawmaking is national and policy-focused

- process: lawmaking involves committee work, floor votes, and legislative bargaining

- lawmaking is judged by efficiency and alignment with electoral mandates

What is the incumbency advantage?

The distinct advantage that people who already hold office have over their challengers

what are the steps for a bill becoming a law? (11)

1. Sponsor Introduces a Bill

2. Referred to a committee

3. Subcommittee Hearings

4. Mark Up

5. Full Committee Vote

6. Rules Committee Determines Rules

7. Roll Call Vote

8. Conference Committee

9. Vote Again

10. Presidential Approval

11. In case of a veto, it goes to congress for a chance of overriding it

Define partisanship

strong support, or even blind allegiance, for a particular political party

define hyperpartisanship

being extremely biased to one party

Define polarization

Political polarization occurs when political attitudes and beliefs diverge toward ideological extremes, creating sharp divisions between groups and weakening the political center.

What is congressional oversight?

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

What are the congressional checks and balances?

Checks over Executive-override veto, Impeach and convict a president, approve the budget, ratify treaties

Checks over Judicial-confirm or refuse to confirm federal judges/justices, impeach and convict judges/justices.

What are the 4 main types of congressional committees?

1. standing

2. select

3. joint

4. conference

What does the standing committee do?

permanent committee that deals with a reoccurring topic

What is a select committee?

A temporary, small congressional committee created for a specific purpose and disbanded after that purpose is fulfilled.

What is a joint committee?

a committee made up of members of both the House and the Senate

What is a conference committee?

a committee that meets to work out differences between House and Senate versions of a bill

What is an executive order?

A non-legislative directive by the president that has the force of law

- president's version of a law

What is an executive agreement?

an agreement between the president and the leader of another country which can be overrode by the next president;

- the president's version of a treatie

What is a veto?

Executive (president) rejection of a bill

What is divided government?

one party controls the White House and another party controls one or both houses of Congress

What are the constitutional requirements for the president? (3)

Has to be 35 years old

A natural born citizen

and lived in the US for at least 14 years prior

How long can a president serve and which amendment gave the limit?

They can serve 2, 4-year terms as stated in the 22nd amendment

What is the president's role in the lawmaking process?

He is the chief executive, chief of state, chief legislator, chief diplomate, and commander-in cheif

What are the requirements to override a presidential veto?

2/3 vote from both houses of congress

Why is it difficult for Presidents to maintain popularity while in office?

popularity can be based on how well everything is going,

Their decline in popularity may relate to their partisanship and the power of the office. As candidates, our presidents promise to carry out policies that appeal to their base, as opposed to independent voters, let alone members of the other party.

What does the Chief Executive do?

Makes sure people are following the laws and protects the country from our enemies

What does the Chief Diplomat do?

he represents us to the rest of the world and works with the other countries of the world

What does the Chief Legislator do?

he can veto acts of congress, there is no limit on how much he can veto. sometimes this is just the president working with congress and trying to get them to represent the people more

What does the Commander in Chief do?

Lead the military

What does the Chief of State do?

Stands for the highest values of the country. He is a living symbol of the nation. He Leads the nation in times of crisis

What is the job of the Vice President?

Advise the president, help the president with whatever they need, and to break ties in the Senate.

What factors affect how well congress and the president work together?

Whether they are all the same party or not, and how polarized the parties are

What is the patronage system?

a hiring and promotion system based on knowing the right people, working in an election campaign, making large political donations, and/or having the right connections.

What is the merit system?

hiring people into government jobs on the basis of their qualifications

What is merit-based civil service?

A personnel system in which bureaucrats are hired on the basis of the principles of competence, equal opportunity (open competition), and political neutrality; once hired, these public servants have job protection.

What was the Pendleton Civil Service Act?

A commission would appoint to federal jobs through a merit system based on performance on an exam; hired and fired based on merit and performance and not political affiliation

What is an iron triangle?

3 way relationship involving legislative committee, executive agency, and interest group.

What is a civil servant?

a person who works for a government

What is bureaucratic discretion?

the ability of bureaucrats to use their own judgment to determine the best ways to implement laws

What is the Hatch Act?

a federal law prohibit government employees from active participation in political parties

what is the civil service reform act?

reorganized the U.S. federal civil service to promote merit-based hiring, due process, and efficient personnel management

What are the roles of the federal bureaucracy?

•Bureaucracy as administrator:Implements laws passed by Congress

•Bureaucracy as rule maker:Congress relies on bureaucratic discretion to fill in details about otherwise vague policies

•Bureaucracy as judge: Interprets laws within department or agency and determines whether the rules are being met or not

•"Most representative" "branch" of government

Who controls the bureaucracy?

President controls and directs, but congress oversees

What is congressional oversight?

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

What are the different types of federal agencies? (4)

Cabinet departments, independent regulatory commissions, independent executive agencies, and government corporations.

What are cabinet departments?

Departments set up to help the President make decisions

What are independent regulatory commissions? give 3 examples

Independent agencies created by Congress, designed to regulate important aspects of the nation's economy, largely beyond the reach of presidential control.

SEC: Securities and exchange commission

FEC: Federal Election Commission

Fed: Federal Reserve Board

What are independent executive agencies? and give 2 examples.

A federal agency that is not part of a cabinet department but reports directly to the president.

CIA and NASA

What are government corporations? and give 2 examples

Businesses that are run by the National Government

US Postal service, AMTRAK

what is a primary election?

primary election is a preliminary voting process used by political parties to select their nominees for official offices

What is a caucus?

a meeting of a group of people who have common political goals or interests

party convention

A meeting of party delegates to vote on matters of policy and in some cases to select party candidates for public office.

What is a general election?

a regular election of candidates for office, as opposed to a primary election.

The election in which one candidate from each political party faces off against each other

What is a primary election?

a preliminary election to appoint delegates to a party conference or to select the candidates for a principal, especially presidential, election.

Used to narrow down the field of candidates to 1 per political party

what is the role of the Electoral College?

a body of people representing the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president.

What is a faithless elector?

An elector who votes for someone other than the candidate who won the most votes in the state.

Elector who does not vote for the candidate they promised to vote for.

What is civil law?

the system of law concerned with private relations between members of a community rather than criminal, military, or religious affairs.

What is criminal law?

Criminal law seeks to establish guilt and mete out punishment for violation of government rules. The plaintiff in a criminal law case is a governmental body.

What is a precedent?

an action or decision that later serves as an example

what is a judge?

judge - oversees the court case at the lowest level but then as you move up the judges actually interpret and make decisions on what happened

what is a jury?

jury - hears and determines guilt or innocence

What is a litigant?

litigants - people involved in the court cases often between a plantiff and defendant

What is a plantiff?

a person who brings a case against another in a court of law.

What is a defendant?

person being sued; the person defending

What is judicial activism?

Judges should decide cases based on the on-going changes in society.

What is originalism? (also known as original intent and original interpretation)

Interpreting the constitution based on what its writers intended

what is the writ of certiorari?

An order by a higher court directing a lower court to send up a case for review

amicus curiae brief

A Latin term meaning "friend of the court." Refers to interested groups or individuals, not directly involved in a suit, who may file legal briefs or oral arguments in support of one side.

What is senatorial courtesy?

the process by which presidents generally allow senators from the state where there is a vacancy to block potential judicial nominees

(generally when a judgeship opens up in a state, pres would ask senate for possible names)

What is judicial review?

Allows the court to determine the constitutionality of laws

what is the Solicitor General?

A presidential appointee and the third-ranking office in the Department of Justice.

What does the solicitor general do?

Decides which cases the government will appeal from lower courts. The solicitor general is in charge of the appellate court litigation of the federal government.

what checks does the legislative branch have?

Checks over Executive-override veto, Impeach and convict a president, approve the budget, ratify treatiesChecks over Judicial-confirm or refuse to confirm federal judges/justices, impeach and convict judges/justices.

What checks does the judicial branch have?

Checks over Legislative- judges/justices declare laws of Congress to be unconstitutional

Checks over Judicial- judges/justices declare executive actions to be unconstitutional

what is the process for how a case gets before the supreme court?

has to have a writ of certiorari (formal document that calls up the case from the local court to be heard) then with the "rule of four" at least 4 judges out of 9 have to want to hear the case (doesn't have to be for the same reasons)

What are the constitutional responsibilities of congress / legislative branch?

Pass legislation (laws), Declare war, Regulate trade, Regulate money, Impeach federal officials, Override presidential vetoes (2/3 vote in each house)

What does impeachment mean?

To be formally accused of unconstitutional activity

What does the impeachment process look like?

Impeachment is a constitutional process in which the U.S. House of Representatives brings charges against a federal official for treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors, followed by a trial in the Senate where a two‑thirds vote is required for conviction and removal.

What powers of congress are exclusive to the HoR?

House: vote to impeach with a simple majority AND origination of all revenue/apportionment bills

What powers of congress are exclusive to the senate?

Senate: Nominations and confirmations AND hold the trail to impeach AND ratify all treaties