pol p3 fun facts (fave egs)

the us con is.. (4 things)

entrenched, codified, supreme and judiciable

SC power est by:

madison v marbury (supreme over exec)
mcculloch v maryland (supreme over states)

cooercive fed: 2 egs

BUSH \= no child left behind (skls get money if use standardised testing + takes students from range social bgrounds), even thos edu state issue
OBAMA \= threats of lawsuits against bathroom bill states (discrim contre trans ppl) - soft power!!

us v lopez ('95)

limited congressional use of the commerce clause
barely used since, BUT, n+p clause still used lots

5 franchise expanding amends

15th - AA men given vote
17th - directly elected senators
19th - women given vote
23rd - DC ec votes (3)
26th - age lowered to 18

establishment clause

in 1st amend, says x state religion

texas v johnson + us v eichmann

flag burning was banned in many states + under fed law, but then..
t v j - overturned state law u v e - overturned fed law
\= flag burning proetcted under 1st amend now

us v miller

used commerce clause to allow c to ban sawn off shotguns

dc v heller ('08)

protected 2nd amend, dc x ban having functional gun in house

there x be outrigh ban on guns bc..

2nd amend
proportionate ownership of firearms is constitutional

but some cases of fed gun bans:

• banning sawn off shotguns (us v miller)

• c banned assault weapons '94-'04

• bump stocks banned since 2017

furman v georgia ('72)

• at time, death penalty was uncon bc applied disproportionately (violated 8th amend)

• led to moratorium on death penalty

gregg v georgia ('76)

• ended moratorium on death penalty

• as long as it's a jury decision and defendant given chance to appeal

2 cases re. proportionality of death penalty

coker v georgia - removed rape, just child rape or murder
kennedy v louisiana ('07) - removed child rape, just murder of crimes against state

bucklew v precythe ('19)

8th amend x give right to painless death (re death penalty), just minimise drawn out pain

terry v ohio

• police can search and seize with probable cause

• the terry stop

• need specific articulable reason

• re 4th amend

miranda v arizona

• accused must be notified of their rights before being questioned by the police

• miranda rights

• affirm that they understand!!

• re 5th amend

gideon v wainwright

• est right to attorney even if x afford (for crim cases)

• re 6th amend

us v windsor

- struck down dont ask dont tell (prevented gay ppl serving military) using due process

current make up of the us sc (ideology, gender, race)

• 6.3 con maj

• 4 women!! (6 ever)

• 3 poc (clarence thomas = aa, sonia sotamayor = hispanic, ketanji brown jackson = aa) - only 4 ever...(them + thurgood marshall)

warren court

• 50s and 60s

• famously liberal

• brown v board

• loving v virginia

burger court

• '69-'86

• roe v wade

• furman v georgia

court since '05?

the roberts court

egs of liberal roberts court decisions

• obergefell

• bostock v clayton county

egs of con roberts court decisions

• bucklew v precythe

• dobbs

• dc v heller

last failed nom for sc?

• robert bork

• defeated in s in '87

sc appoint. of merrick garland vs of A C-B + meaning....

• s said x hold hearing for garland bc too close end of obamas term (1yr ish), but then held for ACB just weeks before end of trumps term

• s was GOP controlled for both, so shows increased polarisation of politics and extreme senate partisanship

2 egs of pg influence on sc

• NRA sponsor dc v heller

• NAACP sponsor brown v board

2 ways p influences sc

• appoint justices, pick ppl who agree w them ideologically

• endorse a view, bc large public mandate (eg obama amicus brief for obergefell + lit WH w rainbow)

amicus curaie means.. + amicus briefs are...

• friend of the court

• letter stating argument for or against case, submitted for court to read

rising no. of amicus briefs: stats (then v now)

• in 50s, less than 1/4 had one, even Brown v Board only had 6

• in 2012, 96% cases had 1

eg of lobbying in sc appoint process

• us chamber of commerce lobbying for amy c-b

• issued 'key-vote letter' to capitol hill

• set up social media campaign

burwell v hobby lobby

exemptions for 'closely held' corporations regarding denial of health coverage for contraception - was part of ACA (bc hobby lobby were pro-life
- undermines c as they passed the ACA

least productive C? + why?

113th congress \= only 96 bills passed
bc increased partisanship, inefficiency (logrolling, pork etc) etc etc

congress approval rate feb '23

18%

sole roles/powers of HoR

• initiate money bills

• impeach

• elect P if deadlocked ec vote (x since 1824)

sole roles/powers of senate

• confirm p appoints (advice + consent clause)

• ratifues treaties

• tries impeachment cases

eg of percieved seniority of senate

48 former reps in S, no former senators in HoR (seen as promotion)

eg of Congressional Oversight (committees)

'87-'88 select committees v involved in unravelling Iran-Contra affair

eg of delegate model

steve cohen - rep from tennessee, tried to join c black caucus bc his district\= maj black

eg of resemblance model

AOC - rep for maj latino district in nyc

3 egs of party line votes

1\= modern SC noms (amy c-b \= all d's voted against, brown jackson \= only 3 gop voted for)
2\= clinton's + trump's (1st) imoeachment
3\= obamacare!!

2 treaties that S refused ratify

1\= treaty of versailles
2\= un convention law of the sea (supported by all P's since '94 - donc shows s power over p)

C's foreign role: re potp (2 egs)

power of the purse = c approves spending

• removed foreign aid from 'south vietnam' in '74 - said to have contributed to end of viet war

• in 2011 tried to revoke $450 mil foreign aid to egypt - obama veto'd tho

hastert rule

speaker will NOT allow a vote on a bill unless a majority of the majority party supports the bill

house rules comittee: what, who picks, makeup of com?

• reviews most bills coming from a House committee before they go to the full house

• speaker picks all members

• 2:1 balance of maj party:minority party

'contract w america'

• '94 newt gingrich's campaign for speaker

• inc. limiting C terms to 6

logrolling: what, +, -

com chairs trade favours to get both bills thru
+ \= get bills thru
- \= awful scrutiny/ legis

eg of com.s being bad

• repeated com.s into Benghazi and H Clinton

• just ab trying to ruin her P election campaign, rather than genuine scrutiny

• so all just to further political agenda

how many us citizens don't have rep + who

around 5 mil ppl from us territories (eg Puerto Rico) + DC (except 3 EC bc 23rd)

non-voting delegates: what, for who, eg

each us territory gets to send n-v d to house
eg DC\= eleanor holmes norton

c is the broken branch bc... (9)

• gridlock, low legis productivity (bc excessive partisanship, polarisation, small majorities)

• low approval rating

• time spent raising money

• lack of descriptive rep

• power of speaker

• unable to check P power

• filibustering (S only)

• pg influence

• role of pork/ear marks

c is NOT the broken branch bc... (6)

• role in line w og intention of con

• laws being passed

• incumbency rates (could suggest successful and pub support)

• incresed descriptive rep

• committees etc fulfill scrutiny function

• representation - focus on 'folks back home'

ted cruz filibuster national budget 2013 led to..

over 2 week long gov shutdown

boston globe D model congressmen schedule contained...

4 hours of calls to donors (biggest chunk of day)
\= pay to play ethos, impact on C porductivity?

pork: byrd

• west virginian senator (1 of poorest states)

• got state mains electricity and water via pork

high C incumbency rates lead to... (+ 2 egs of incumbency rates)

congressional stagnation

• house rate consistently over 80% (94.5 in '22)

• S rate also high(over 80 throughout 21st cent), 100% in '22

enumerated powers of P

• commander in chief

• head of state

• SOTU

• recommendation clause

• pardons

implied powers of P

• veto

• exec order ( + soft power - persuasion and negociation)

2 egs of P pardons

• trump pardoned 45 ppl, inc chrales kushner (son-in-law's dad)

• clinton pardoned marc rich for tax fraud (big D donor)

eg of P signing fed death warrants

Trump signed 10
- x done since '03

3 egs of exec orders

• truman desegregates military ('48)

• obama deferred action for child arrivals=DACA (+ banned fed use torture)

• trump removed all fed subsidies for obamacare (ACA)

5 roles of the p

• national leader

• party leader

• commander in chief

• manager of the economy

• chief diplomat

hw bush vs obama: vetos + overturns

hw bush = 6 vetos, 4 overturned (even tho gop controlled C) obama = 12 vetos, 1 overturned (at end of 2nd term)

eg of failing as nat. leader + manager of econ.

george hw bush - 'read my lips, no new taxes'
- new taxes not long after

eg of the media limiting the P

- washington post investigation re watergate led to nixons resignation

2 egs of SC limiting the P

• US v Nixon (C can subpoena the oval office tapes)

• Clinton v City of NY (line item veto act = uncon, power remved)

how can C limit the P

• veto overturn

• potp = control budget

• advice + consent clause (S)

• war powers act

• impeachment

2 egs that criticism no longer stops at the waters edge

• 2015 5 republican's letter to iran promising to scrap iran nuclear treaty when in power

• every P since kennedy told by S that x need S to ratify trade deal, BUT X FOR OBAMA

dual presidency

theory that there are two versions of the American President: one who is concerned with domestic policy and one concerned with foreign policy

dual presidency is less distinct now bc..(explan+eg)

• domestic impact on foreign

• eg afghan war bc 9/11

richard neustadt: power to persuade

- presidents power to persuade is key because constitutional powers alone don't provide modern president with the authority to meet rising public expectations

imperial presidency (schlesinger) + eg

describe the modern presidency of the United States there were two concerns--first that the US Presidency was out of control and second that the Presidency had exceeded the constitutional limits

* eg: Reagan = lots of veto + exec orders, grenada and libya w/o C approval, iran-contra after c said no

imperilled presidency (+ 2 egs and 1 counter)

big events beyond P control make or break the presidency

• Carter iran hostage crisis (although did deal w badly)

• Bush snr 'no new taxes', then econ crashes BUT clinton succeeds despite lweinsky scandal and even impeachment

cyclical presidency (+ egs)

p affected by: elections, public opinion, and the economy (boom+bust)
eg econ boom \= success for reagan and clinton, econ bust \= failure for hw bush and w bush

3 egs of balancing the ticket

1\= obama (harvard, con. lawyer) + biden (middle class, PA and delaware
2\= clinton (charismatic etc) + gore (details guy)
3\= trump (big personality) + pence (traditional gop)

dick cheney as VP

\= unprecendented vp power
\= dominance on policy re war on terror
\= reshaped nat security law

con req.s to run for P

• 'natural born' citizen

• 35+

• resident for 14yrs

extra-con req.s to run for P (4)

• experience

• fundraising

• telegenic + oratorical skills

• major party endorsement

only 1 time when GOP invis primary results x match primary results...

2008
invis \= Guiliani
prim \= McCain

when did ted cruz announce his P cam. for '16?

march 2015 (over 10mths b4)

when did biden announce his P cam.?

10 mths b4 1st primary

mcgovern-fraser commission created the....

new nom process (1972)
\= system of primaries and caucuses!!

open or closed primary meaning

open \= anyone can vote
closed \= only people from that party can vote

1st caucus \= ? 1st primary \= ?

caucus \= iowa
primary \= new hampshire

super tuesday is..

a day when several states hold primary elections

eg of increased participation in P nom process..

1968\= 11.7 mil voters
2016 \= 61 mil

eg of increased choice in P nom process

1968 \= 5 candidates
2016 \= 22 candidates
(good bc plurality of ideology - still just 2 party tho)

how much money did Biden raise in 24hrs after entering P race?

$6.3 mil dollars
PAY TO PLAY ETHOS

when did the DNC intro super-delegates?

1984

eg of plank in 2016 GOP platform..

one on overturning obergefell

electoral college size + how many to win

538 electors, 270 to win

2 egs that show EC leads to over rep for small states, under rep for big states

CA \= 39 mil ppl, 55 EC votes
WY \= 1/2 mil ppl, 3 EC votes

trump '16: pop vote vs EC

• lost pop vote (h clinton = 48%, trump = 46%)

• but trump won 77 more EC votes

2 egs of 3rd party running for P (votes vs EC)

'92 \= perot - 18.9% pop vote
2k \= nader - 3 mil votes
both \= NO EC VOTES

maine/nebraska rule

• split their EC votes proportionally

• 2 EC votes to overall state pop vote, then 1 for each district winner party

presidential incumbent success rate: what and why

67% bc:

• already viewed as P

• bully pulpit (presidency is best platform to campaign from)

• experience

• patriotism

3 types of direct democracy

propositions, referendums, recall elections

how many propositions re abortion in '22

8

who became CA governor via a recall election

Schwarzenegger