AP Government and Politics Terms

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Coattail Effect

Hugh Jass wasn't the world's greatest candidate, but when Libertarian presidential candidate Pepperpot won the popular vote by 19 percentage points, all kinds of unpopular Libertarians road his coattails and were elected to Congress.

Preemption

The right of a federal law or regulation to preclude enforcement of a state or local law of regulation. Under the doctrine of preemption, which is based on the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution, federal law preempts state law, even when the law conflict. Thus, a federal court may require a state to stop certain behaviour it believes interferes with, or is in conflict with, federal law.

Preemption

When you see a boy talking to your shorty at her locker and you yell out, "Hey there's a fax in the office for a big loser from his Mama!" And while he runs off to the office to get his fax you go and talk to your shorty and BOOM!

Preemption

The new federal EPA regulations are going to preempt California's more strenuous guidelines for regulating the environment.

Federalism

The distribution of power in an organization (as a government) between a central authority and the constituent units (states, provinces).

Federalism

Unlike America's federal government where power is shared between states and the national government, China's unitary government controls most every aspect of Chinese life from education, to taxation, to the capturing and return of underwater drones.

National Supremacy

A constitutional doctrine (Article VI, Clause 2) that whenever conflict occurs between the constitutionally authorized actions of the national government and those of a state or local government, the actions of the federal government prevail.

National Supremacy

Because of this, the federal Clean Water Act overrules Colorado's water quality statute.

Full Faith and Credit Clause

Article IV, Section 1 of the United States Constitution addresses the duties that states within the United States have to respect the "public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state."

Full Faith and Credit Clause

New Hampshire must recognize a motor vehicle license from Virginia, even though everybody knows Virginians can't drive! This term is NEVER abbreviated to FF and CC because that would be silly and sounds like the initials of a really boring couple. This is also not the name of Santa's off-season accounting firm.

Full Faith and Credit Clause

If it weren't for this, you'd have to get married again each time you and your spouse moved to a new state. That could be very expensive and time consuming, but you'd get tons of cool wedding presents!

Judicial Review

The power of a court to refuse to enforce a law or a government regulation that in the opinion of the judges conflicts with the U.S. Constitution, or in a state court, the state constitution.

Judicial Review

Without this the U.S. Congress and President would be greatly empowered and the Supreme Court would be vastly diminished.

Popular Sovereignty

A belief that ultimate power resides in the people (rule by the people). Without popular sovereignty there is no democracy. In the Federalist Papers, James Madison referred to the people as the "fountain of authority," the root of all governmental power.

Popular Sovereignty

Where there is a dictator or unelected ruler there is a lack of popular sovereignty, but there is probably no shortage of statues of the leader. Despots tend to like to put up lots of statues of themselves.

Eminent Domain

The power of the government to take private property for public use; the U.S. Constitution gives national and state governments this power and requires them to provide just compensation for property so taken.

Eminent Domain

Although the nation can exercise this and take a person's farmland to build an interstate highway, they still have to pay her fair value for her land.

Double Jeopardy

Trial or punishment for the same crime by the same government; forbidden by the Constitution.

Double Jeopardy

If you are tried by the US government for a crime, acquitted, and then tried by the US government again on the same charge, that is a violation of your 5th Amendment protection.

Concurrent Powers

Concurrent powers are powers that the Constitution grants to both state and federal governments. These powers may be exercised simultaneously within the same territory and in relation to the same body of citizens. These concurrent powers including regulating elections, taxing, borrowing money and establishing courts.

Concurrent Powers

Coining money is not this power because in the United States only the national government has the power to coin money, not the states.

Commerce Clause

The clause in the Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 1) that gives Congress the power to regulate all business activities that cross state lines or affect more than one state or other nation.

Commerce Clause

During the Civil Rights movement, the United States Congress used the power of this to pass laws such as the Civil Rights Act that fought discrimination.

Autocracy

A system of government by one person with absolute power.

Autocracy

An enlightened, educated, and active public is the best challenge to an autocracy. Yikes.

Necessary and Proper Clause

A clause in the Constitution (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3) setting forth the implied powers of Congress. It states that Congress, in addition to its express powers, has the right to make all laws necessary and proper to carry out all powers the Constitution vests in the national government.

Necessary and Proper Clause

If it weren't for this, the powers of the federal government would be very limited. The correct interpretation of the this might be the single most important question of American constitutional law.

Refugee

Someone who has fled from his or her home country and cannot return because he or she has a well-founded fear of persecution based on religion, race, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.

Refugee

President Trump recently signed an executive order banning them from 7 Muslim-majority-nations.

Impeachment

A formal accusation of wrongdoing against a public official. According to the United States Constitution, the House of Representatives can vote to impeach an official, but the Senate actually tries the case.

Impeachment

The U.S. House of Representatives impeached Bill Clinton in 1998, but the U.S. Senate acquitted him, and he lived happily ever after.

Implied Powers

This "Necessary and Proper Clause" (sometimes also called the "Elastic Clause") grants Congress a set of so-called implied powers—that is, powers not explicitly named in the Constitution but assumed to exist due to their being necessary to implement the expressed powers that are named in Article I.

Implied Powers

If the U.S. Congress did not have the use of implied powers, our government would be much smaller and unable to ride the roller coaster.

Federal Mandate

A requirement the federal government imposes as a condition for receiving federal funds.

Federal Mandate

A federal mandate is not when you go out with a guy who works for the US bureaucracy. A federal mandate is when the federal government orders all states to increase the drinking age to 21 as a condition for receiving federal highway money.

New Jersey Plan

Proposal at the Constitutional Convention made by William Paterson of New Jersey for a central government with a single-house legislature in which each state would be represented equally.

New Jersey Plan

The New Jersey Plan was an attempt by the small states to keep the large states like Virginia from overwhelming them in the new government.

Enumerated Powers

The powers explicitly given to Congress in the Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution.

Enumerated Powers

If it's not in the Constitution, it's not an enumerated power!

Pluralist Democracy

A model of democracy in which no one group dominates politics and organized groups compete with each other to influence policy.

Pluralist Democracy

The most notable example in the American political system is the role that interest groups play in political decisions today.

Elite Democracy

A model of democracy in which a small number of people, usually those who are wealthy and well-educated, influence political decision-making.

Elite Democracy

In this, only a small number of elite individuals with high levels of education and high socioeconomic status have sway in making policy decision.

Participatory Democracy

A model of democracy in which citizens have the power to decide directly on policy and politicians are responsible for implementing those policy decisions.

Participatory Democracy

In this, town hall meetings and referendums are examples of people having the power to make policy decisions. In a pluralist democracy, participation in groups formed around common causes is the chief method to influence policy decisions. In an elite democracy, only a small number of elite individuals have sway in making policy decision.

Federalist No. 70

The Federalist Papers were a series of eighty-five essays urging the citizens of New York to ratify the new United States Constitution. Written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, the essays originally appeared anonymously in New York newspapers in 1787 and 1788 under the pen name "Publius." This written by Alexander Hamilton addresses the necessity of a strong executive to lead the government. The present United States Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation on March 4, 1789.

Federalist No. 70

This argued that under the Articles of Confederation our government had no strong executive and that the Constitution remedied that by creating a strong Presidency in Article II of the Constitution.

Eighth Amendment

"Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." This amendment prohibits the federal government from imposing unduly harsh penalties on criminal defendants, either as the price for obtaining pretrial release or as punishment for crime after conviction.

Eighth Amendment

Because of this, the punishment must fit the crime and the federal government is constitutionally prohibited from imposing overly harsh punishments such as torture or forcing anyone to watch Dirty Grandpa (2016).

Selective incorporation

While the Bill of Rights expressly protects citizens' rights and liberties against infringements by the federal government, it does not explicitly mention infringement or regulation of rights by state governments. Over a succession of rulings, the Supreme Court has established the doctrine of this to limit state regulation of civil rights and liberties, holding that many protections of the Bill of Rights apply to every level of government, not just the federal.

Selective Incorporation

Because the 14th Amendment (1868) guarantees all Americans equal protection under the law, the court ruled that the same rights which the federal government cannot deny us (religion, speech, assembly, etc.) also cannot be denied us by the states.

Expressed Powers

Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution lists the expressed powers of the federal government. Powers explicitly named in the Constitution and granted to the federal government.

Expressed Powers

In Article I, Section 8, the Constitution lists the expressed powers. They're sometimes called delegated powers, sometimes called the enumerated powers. They all mean the same things: powers that are actually put down on paper.

Virginia Plan

At the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, there was a great debate over how representatives to the new government would be selected: the same number per state, or a certain number per state based upon the state's population. This (also known as the Large-State Plan by silly people) was a proposal at the Constitutional Convention by delegates from Virginia. Drafted by James Madison, and presented by Edmund Randolph to the Constitutional Convention on May 29, 1787, this proposed a strong central government composed of three branches: legislative (bicameral), executive, and judicial.

Virginia Plan

This was an attempt by the large states to guarantee that large states like Virginia had political power equal to their large population.

The United States Constitution

Established America's national government and fundamental laws, and guaranteed basic rights for its citizens. It was signed on September 17, 1787, by delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. The present of this replaced the Articles of Confederation on March 4, 1789.

The United States Constitution

An amazing document. A bold experiment in democracy more than 200 years ago, it has proved both stable and flexible enough to survive and remain effective in a world totally different from the one in which it was written.

U.S. v. Lopez

A 1995 landmark Supreme Court case that limited the use of the Commerce Clause. The (5-4) verdict ruled that the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 was unconstitutional because the U.S. Congress, in enacting the legislation, had exceeded its authority under the commerce clause.

U.S. v. Lopez

When the Gun-Free School Zone Act was passed in 1990, there were few limits on the Congress's use of the Commerce Clause as the constitutional basis for regulation.

Federalist No. 51

The Federalist Papers were a series of eighty-five essays urging the citizens of New York to ratify the new United States Constitution. Written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, the essays originally appeared anonymously in New York newspapers in 1787 and 1788 under the pen name "Publius." This addresses which appropriate checks and balances can be created in government and also advocates a separation of powers within the national government. This idea of checks and balances became a crucial document in the establishment of the modern U.S. system of checks and balances. The present United States Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation on March 4, 1789.

Federalist No. 51

This laid out arguments as to why we need checks and balances with the famous quotes, "Ambition must be made to counteract ambition," and "If men were angels, no government would be necessary."

Articles of Confederation

The Continental Congress adopted this, the first constitution of the United States, on November 15, 1777. However, ratification of the Articles of Confederation by all thirteen states did not occur until March 1, 1781. The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments. The need for a stronger Federal government soon became apparent and eventually led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The present United States Constitution replaced this on March 4, 1789.

Articles of Confederation

These were great as long as America didn't actually have to do anything.

Extradition

A legal process whereby an alleged criminal offender is surrendered by the officials of one state to officials of the state in which the crime is alleged to have been committed.

Extradition

While imprisoned in Mexico, El Chapo Guzmán was indicted in San Diego on drug-trafficking and money-laundering charged. Apparently fearing extradition, he bribed guards to help him escape in 2001 by hiding in a laundry cart that was rolled out of the prison.

Safe Seat

An electoral district in a legislative body which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combination of both. In this, it is a safe bet that the current office holder will win reelection.

Safe Seat

Swing seats tend to change control from one party to the next, but these stay in the control of one party for the long term.

Congressional Oversight

Refers to the power of the United States Congress to monitor and, if necessary, change the actions of the executive branch, including the many federal agencies. The primary goals of congressional oversight are to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse, and to protect civil liberties and individual rights by ensuring that the executive branch complies with the laws and the Constitution. Derived from its "implied" powers in the U.S. Constitution, public laws, and House and Senate rules, this is one of the key elements of the American system of checks and balances of power.

Congressional Oversight

But this in general is not novel at all. Indeed, the practice of legislative oversight is older than America itself. The British Parliament in the 17th and 18th centuries, regularly engaged in such investigations, and American colonial legislatures followed suit, assuming "usually without question, the right to investigate the conduct of other departments of the government and also other matters of general concern brought to their attention," as written by the legal scholar C.S. Potts in the 1926 University of Pennsylvania Law Review.

Bureaucratic Rule-Making

The federal bureaucracy makes rules that affect how programs operate, and these rules must be obeyed, just as if they were laws. The rule-making process for government agencies occurs in stages. After Congress passes new regulatory laws, the agency charged with implementing the law proposes a series of rules, which are published in the Federal Register. Interested parties can comment on the rules, either at public hearings or by submitting documents to the agency. After the agency publishes the final regulations, it must wait sixty days before enforcing those rules. During that time, Congress can review and change the rules if it desires. If Congress makes no changes, the rules go into effect at the end of sixty days.

Bureaucratic Rule-Making

While bureaucrats writing regulations and rule-making may seem like a violation of the separation of powers fundamental to the American government, federal agencies may enact rules solely within the statutory authority granted to them by Congress. These administrative laws allow regular citizens to have a greater influence on regulations that could directly impact them. Citizens are given opportunities to propose rule language and comment on language agencies propose.

White House Staff

An entity within the Executive Office of the President of the United States. The White House Office is headed by the White House Chief of Staff, who is also the head of the Executive Office of the President. The White House Staff advise the president and help the president carry out his responsibilities.

White House Staff

President Obama continued the 20th century trend of centralizing control in the \_______, ensuring the frustration of cabinet secretaries.

Politico

Elected representatives must make political decisions about how to vote. A politician is called a trustee when they follow their own best judgement, and a delegate when they follow the will of the people. This plays the role of delegate when the people feel strongly about an issue, and plays the role of trustee when public opinion is muted. This representative who combines these two approaches to public office depending upon the circumstance is known as this.

Politico

Senator Slapphappy is such a this. She listens to the people back in Wyoming when they are really concerned about an issue, but when they are not paying attention to a certain issue, she does whatever she wants.

Conference Committee

A temporary, ad hoc panel composed of House and Senate conferees which is formed for the purpose of reconciling differences in legislation that has passed both chambers. These are usually convened to resolve bicameral differences on major and controversial legislation.

Conference Committee

When the Senate and the House pass different versions of a bill, Congress must convene this to reconcile the differences.

Docket

The list of potential cases that reach the Supreme Court.

Docket

The Supreme Court thing has been much smaller under the conservative Roberts Court than it was under the activist Warren Court.

Office of Management and Budget

A presidential staff agency that serves as a clearing-house for budgetary requests and management improvements for government agencies. Mick Mulvaney is the current director of \______. This is part of the Executive Office of the President. The OMB should not be confused with the Office of Banishment and Muggles, nor should OMB be confused with OMD, Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark, an 80s band that the mere mention of will make your teacher blush.

Office of Management and Budget

Serves the President of the United States in overseeing the implementation of his vision across the Executive Branch.

Precedent

A decision made by a higher court such as a circuit court of appeals or the Supreme Court that is binding in all other federal courts. A legal decision or form of proceeding serving as an authoritative rule or pattern in future similar or analogous cases. Any act, decision, or case that serves as a guide or justification for subsequent situations.

Precedent

The ruling in Brown v. Board set the \_______ that, legally, schools could no longer be segregated.

Congressional Budget Office

A non-partisan agency of Congress that analyses presidential budget recommendations and estimated the costs of proposed legislation. CBO provides Congress with analysis' for economic and budget decisions and with estimates required for the Congressional budget process.

Congressional Budget

The non-partisan CBO issues a score on major pieces of legislation so that legislators can know the costs of any laws they pass.

Filibuster

A strategy employed in the United States Senate. whereby a minority can delay a vote on proposed legislation by making long speeches or introducing irrelevant issues. A successful \_____ can force withdrawal of a bill. These can be ended only by cloture, which requires 60 votes.

Filibuster

The Senator \______ the environmental bill by reading Oh The Places You'll Go, for over 8 hours.

Civil Service

Federal employees who work for government through a competitive, not political, selection process. The permanent professional branches of a government's administration, excluding military and judicial branches and elected politicians. U.S. state and local government entities often have competitive civil service systems that are modelled on the national system, in varying degrees. According to the Office of Personnel Management, s of December 2011, there were approximately 2.79 million civil servants employed by the U.S. government.

Civil Service

In the 19th century, U.S. civil service positions, through the spoils system, were filled based on party loyalty and political patronage.

Federal Register

An official document, published every weekday, that lists the new and proposed regulations of executive departments and regulatory agencies.

Federal Register

If you formed a watchdog organization to monitor the growth of the federal government, the first thing you'd want to do every morning is get a big hot cup of coffee and read the \________. But be careful not to tell anyone the plot and spoil the ending.

Gerrymander

The dividing of a state, county, etc., into election districts so as to give one political party a majority in many districts while concentrating the voting strength of the other party into as few districts as possible.

Party Caucus

A meeting of members of a party in a legislative chamber to select party leaders and develop party policy. Called a conference by the Republicans. Participants set legislative agendas, select committee members and chairs, and hold elections to choose various Floor leaders. This process takes place for both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Party Caucus

The Democratic \___________ met the other day to strategize about health care policy.

Executive Office of the President

The cluster of presidential staff agencies that help the president carry out his responsibilities. Currently, the office includes the Office of Management and Budget, the Council of Economic Advisers, and several other units. To provide the President with the support that he or she needs to govern effectively, the \____________ (EOP) was created in 1939 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Overseen by the White House Chief of Staff, the EOP has traditionally been home to many of the President's closest advisors.

Executive Office of the President

Every day, the President of the United States is faced with scores of decisions, each with important consequences for America's future. To provide the President with the support that he or she needs to govern effectively, the EOP was created in 1939 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The EOP has responsibility for tasks ranging from communicating the President's message to the American people to promoting our trade interests abroad.

Judicial Review

The power of a court to refuse to enforce a law or a government regulation that in the opinion of the judges conflicts with the U.S. Constitution, or in a state court, the state constitution.

Judicial Review

Without this, the U.S. Congress and the President would be greatly empowered, and the Supreme Court would be vastly diminished.

Gross Domestic Product

One of the primary indicators used to gauge the health of a country's economy. It represents the total dollar value of all goods and services produced over a specific time period; you can think of it as the size of the economy. If your teacher is over 33 years old, under 54, and slightly hip, ask them this, "You down with GDP?" And about they will say, "Yeah, you know me!"

Gross Domestic Product

The current US GDP is approximately $18.9 trillion, which is equal to 18,900,000,000,000. That's 18.9 thousand billion dollars. That's a lot!