POS 2041 Exam 1 Practice Flashcards

A comprehensive flashcard deck covering key terms, concepts, comparisons, and Supreme Court cases across Chapters 1 through 5 for POS 2041.

What is politics?

Politics is conflict over competing interests, identities, beliefs, values, and preferences.

Why are political fights often fights about process?

Groups may disagree about who should make a decision or what rules should govern the decision, even before debating the actual policy.

What is the Impossibility Theorem?

The idea that no voting system can perfectly translate individual preferences into a completely fair group preference while satisfying all desirable fairness conditions.

Why does your professor say political mandates do not exist?

Voters may support the same candidate for very different reasons, so an election victory does not prove everyone agreed on one policy agenda.

What is Duverger's Law?

The tendency for single-member districts using plurality elections to encourage a two-party system.

What does the phrase 'interest groups traffic in information, not money' mean?

Information and expertise are major resources interest groups use to influence policymakers.

What is a free rider in collective action?

Someone who receives the benefits of collective action without contributing.

What are transaction costs?

The time and effort required to reach an agreement.

What are conformity costs?

The costs of having to accept an outcome you do not prefer.

What is the fundamental trade-off between transaction costs and conformity costs?

Making agreement easier lowers transaction costs but may increase conformity costs; requiring more agreement increases transaction costs but may lower conformity costs.

What core sequence of political development does your professor emphasize?

Liberty -> sovereignty -> equality.

What was the main purpose of the Articles of Confederation?

To preserve state power and create a decentralized government.

What was Madison's solution to factions in Federalist No. 10?

Structure political competition rather than attempting to eliminate factions.

What is the main subject of Federalist No. 51?

Controlling government power through checks and balances.

How did the Great Compromise resolve representation in Congress?

It created a bicameral Congress with population-based representation in the House of Representatives and equal representation (two senators per state) in the Senate.

What is federalism?

Sovereign power divided between national and state governments.

How do unitary, federal, and confederal systems differ in power distribution?

Unitary systems feature central government control over subunits; federal systems share sovereignty between central and subunit governments; confederal systems give most authority to subunits while keeping the central government weak.

What is Dillon's Rule?

The principle that cities and counties are creatures of the state and receive their authority from the state.

What is the difference between dual federalism and cooperative federalism?

Dual federalism (layer cake) is a system where federal and state responsibilities are relatively separate, whereas cooperative federalism (marble cake) is a system where federal and state responsibilities overlap and interact.

What did the 17th Amendment change about US Senators?

Senators became directly elected by voters rather than being selected by state legislatures.

What was the key ruling in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)?

Congress has implied powers under the Necessary and Proper Clause, and states cannot interfere with valid federal actions under the Supremacy Clause.

What was established in Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)?

Broad federal authority over interstate commerce under the Commerce Clause, including navigable waters.

What did NFIB v. Sebelius (2012) decide regarding the Commerce Clause and Taxing Power?

Congress could not force individuals to enter commerce under the Commerce Clause, but the individual mandate was upheld under Congress's taxing power.

How do categorical grants differ from block grants?

Categorical grants provide federal funding for a specific purpose with conditions or strings attached, while block grants provide funding for broader purposes with greater state discretion.

What is the fundamental distinction between civil rights and civil liberties?

Civil rights concern equality and protection against discrimination, whereas civil liberties are individual freedoms protected from government interference.

Which three constitutional provisions original to the text addressed slavery?

The Three-Fifths Compromise (Article I, Section 2), the Importation Clause (Article I, Section 9), and the Fugitive Slave Clause (Article IV, Section 2).

What was the Supreme Court's ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)?

The Supreme Court ruled against Dred Scott's claim to freedom and citizenship, holding that Black individuals were not citizens.

What did the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments accomplish?

The 13th Amendment abolished slavery; the 14th established citizenship, due process, and equal protection; and the 15th prohibited denying voting rights based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

How did Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) compare to Brown v. Board of Education (1954)?

Plessy upheld racial segregation under the 'separate but equal' doctrine, whereas Brown ruled that legally mandated racial segregation in public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause.

What did Shelby County v. Holder (2013) decide regarding the Voting Rights Act?

The Supreme Court invalidated the Voting Rights Act's Section 5 coverage formula.

What is the difference between de jure and de facto segregation?

De jure segregation is segregation mandated by law, while de facto segregation occurs in practice through historical or residential patterns without an explicit law.

What must the government prove under strict scrutiny review?

A compelling governmental interest using appropriately narrow means.

What standard applies under intermediate scrutiny, and to what classification does it apply?

Intermediate scrutiny applies to sex/gender classifications and requires showing a substantial relationship to an important governmental objective.

What is incorporation in constitutional law?

The process through which many Bill of Rights protections became applicable to state governments through the 14th Amendment's Due Process Clause.

What was the significance of Barron v. Baltimore (1833)?

It established that the Bill of Rights originally restricted only the federal government, not state governments.

What doctrine originated in Schenck v. United States (1919)?

The 'clear and present danger' test for evaluating restrictions on speech.

What did New York Times v. United States (1971) rule regarding prior restraint?

The Court rejected the government's attempt at prior restraint in the Pentagon Papers case.

What rule did New York Times v. Sullivan (1964) establish for defamation claims by public officials?

It established strong First Amendment protection for criticism of public officials, requiring actual malice to prove defamation.

What are the three criteria of the Lemon Test?

A law must have a secular purpose, must not advance or inhibit religion, and must avoid excessive government entanglement with religion.

What did Mapp v. Ohio (1961) establish?

It applied the exclusionary rule—excluding unconstitutionally obtained evidence from trials—to state governments.

How do Miranda v. Arizona (1966) and Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) differ in scope?

Miranda requires police to inform suspects of constitutional rights before custodial interrogation, whereas Gideon establishes the right to appointed counsel for indigent defendants in qualifying state felony cases.

What was the constitutional progression across Heller, McDonald, Bruen, and Rahimi?

Heller recognized an individual 2A right; McDonald applied it to states; Bruen altered the framework for public carry restrictions; and Rahimi addressed restrictions for individuals subject to domestic-violence restraining orders.

Where did the Supreme Court derive the right to privacy in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)?

From penumbras created by the 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Amendments, combined with the 14th Amendment's protection of liberty.

How did Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022) affect Roe v. Wade (1973)?

Dobbs overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating federal constitutional protection for abortion.

What is Gerald Rosenberg's central argument regarding Supreme Court rulings?

A constitutional right or Supreme Court decision does not automatically produce immediate real-world change because implementation depends on Congress, states, lower courts, police, and public opinion.