⚪ AP Gov Unit 2

Which article of the Constitution empowers the Legislative Branch?

• Article 1

What is the purpose of the Legislative Branch?

• “To create laws in accordance with the Constitution”

• Most proactive branch, less reactive

What kind of legislature does the Legislative Branch have?

• Bicameral Legislature

• Created by “The Great Compromise”

What are the 2 houses of the Legislative Branch?

• The Senate (Upper House)

• House of Representatives (Lower House)

How many members are in the Senate?

• 100 members

How long are the terms in the Senate?

• 6 year terms

  • Broken into 3 “classes”

    • Hard to fully change makeup of Senate

• No term limits

What is the design of the Senate?

• Designed to mimic the Articles of Confederation

• “Deliberative Body”

Who are the leaders of the Senate?

• VP: President of Senate — Constitution says they lead, really just break ties

• Senate Majority Leader (real leader): elected by members of party who has majority of seats in Senate

  • Super powerful, basically runs Senate

• Also Senate Minority Leader

Who is the leader of the House of Representatives?

• Speaker of the House — Constitution mandate

• Can pick anyone to be Speaker: almost always member of majority party in HoR

Who are the other leaders in the HoR?

• Majority/Minority Leaders

  • Have almost no power

• Whips

  • #2 people, track votes — find where support lies within party, will whip votes to get people to vote for things

How many members are in the HoR?

• 435 members

How long are terms in the HoR?

• 2 year terms

How is the HoR designed?

• Proportional representation for each state

• More “responsive” body

How many senators does Ohio have?

• 2 senators

• Sherrod Brown (D) of Cleveland

  • “Senior” Senator

• JD Vance (R) of BFE

  • “Junior” Senator

How many representatives does Ohio have?

• 15 Representatives

• 3 serve part of the Columbus area

  • Joyce Beatty (D)

    • D+19

  • Jim Jordan (R)

    • R+14

  • Troy Balderson (R)

    • R+7

What are Cook PVI numbers?

• Determine likelihood member of party would be elected in that area/district

  • Higher # = greater chance

  • 5-10: more competitive

  • Theoretically go up to 100

What do states do after 10 years?

• Redraw their congressional districts

  • Reapportionment: get # of districts after census, draw it out

What is gerrymandering?

• Drawing congressional districts in a way to advantage/disadvantage specific groups of voters

Historical example of Gerrymandering?

• South gerrymandered to prevent Black voters from getting representation

What purpose does gerrymandering have today?

• To advantage/disadvantage a political party

• Whichever political party is in power does it (everyone wants more power)

Modern example of Gerrymandering?

• Massachusetts: Republican governor, Democrat districts

  • Districts gerrymandered to favor Dems

    • Republicans can’t be representatives of a district

Where is Gerrymandering most often seen?

• Seen in states w/ mixed political populations

• Ohio: gerrymandered to favor Republicans

  • Still a lot of Dems in Ohio, way more Republican representatives

Why does Gerrymandering exist?

• People in power want to stay in power

What did Ohio do with Gerrymandering?

• Passed amendment to get rid of Gerrymandering

• Districts: areas of similar geographical areas & interests/problems

What are the 2 ways to Gerrymander?

• Crack: break up populations

• Pack: put populations together and isolate them

What is the problem with Gerrymandering?

• Creating non-competitive districts

• Only get reps because they affiliate with superior party — breeds unfit reps

• Unfit reps will stay in power forever because they represent gerrymandered districts — no competition

Why is it hard to get rid of the unfit representatives bred by Gerrymandering?

• Extremists vote in primaries: extremists will vote for extreme unfit candidates, not moderates

What is the solution to Gerrymandering?

• Use a non-partisan districting committee

  • Members picked randomly

Where can bills be introduced?

• Can be introduced in either house

How is a bill introduced in the HoR?

• Easy — simply place in the “hopper”

How is a bill introduced in the Senate?

• Not so easy

  • Must propose during “Morning Hour”

  • Can be stopped by other Senators, though uncommon

    • 1 person won’t stop often: will have no support when they try to pass a bill

What happens after a bill is introduced?

• Sent to the appropriate committee

  • Most power of congress people is in committee — most work done

• Senate Majority Leader or Speaker of the House decides which committee it goes to

What are some of the committees?

• Judiciary

• Armed Services

• Appropriations

• Veterans Affairs

• Etc.

Who makes up a commitee?

• Equal members of both parties

• Lead by a Chairperson: always member of dominant party

What is the first step in determining if a bill becomes a law?

• The bill’s merits and viability are considered

How does the first step in making a bill into a law happen?

• Bill can be assigned to subcommittee by Chairman for further research

  • Subcommittees report findings to full committee

• Hearings may be held

• Finally a vote by the full committee — bill is “ordered to be reported”

What is the second step in determining if a bill becomes a law?

• Committee holds a “mark-up” session

• Provides chance for revisions & additions

• If a lot of changes are made — committee may consider a new bill & start process over again

Where do most bills go in the HoR before Congress votes?

• Most go to the Rules Committee

• Determine rules for how the bill will be debated on the floor

What are the types of amendments for a bill?

• “Germane” or standard amendments

• “Pork”

• “Riders”

What are Pork amendments?

• Any amendment that adds spending or special privileges for a constituency

  • Ex. money for a bridge or road, construction of a hosptial

What are Rider amendments?

• An amendment that has nothing to do with the original intent of the bill

• Often, but not always pork

• All pork is a rider, not all riders are pork

What is a “Zombie Bill”?

• The Senate can take a bill from the House, remove all of the language and insert completely new, entirely different language

• Make new bill from old one — suck out its guts

• Still has same name, different meaning

What is the third step in determining if a bill becomes a law?

• After a bill makes it out of Committee it gets debated on

How does debate work in the Senate?

• Unlimited debate in Senate

• Filibusters!

What is a filibuster?

• Somebody refusing to stop debating until everyone leaves

• Can say whatever you want

• Multiple people filibuster: keep going forever, Senate just moves on — better things to do

How is a filibuster ended?

• Cloture Vote: 60 votes, ends debate

• Large legislature needs 60 votes, prevents filibusters from happening

How does debate work in the HoR?

• More regulated in HoR

• Typically 10 minute time limit per person

• (Time limit in HoR, cloture in Senate)

What is the fourth step in determining if a bill becomes a law?

• Then they vote!

  • Need “Quorum”: majority of members present

  • Simple majority needed (51, 218)

What happens if a bill passes in one house?

• Once a bill passes one house, it gets sent to the other and the process starts all over again

What happens when a bill passes in both houses?

• It goes to the President for him/her to sign

• If President vetoes: bill goes back to Congress

What can Congress do if the President vetoes a bill?

• Congress can then try to override veto with a 2/3 vote

  • Rare, but it does happen

What were Congressional districts required to do by Tennessee law?

• Congressional districts were to be redrawn every 10 years to coincide with the census

What was the main reason Baker v. Carr occurred?

• Congressional districts in Tennessee were not redrawn to coincide with census

What 2 questions needed to be answered in Baker v. Carr?

• Does the Supreme Court have jurisdiction over questions of legislative apportionment?

• Do states need to have districts of equal population size?

What was the problem with the district Baker lived in?

• District had 10 times the population of rural districts due to population shifts

• Voters from his district were having votes “watered down” relative to rural voters

What did Baker believe was violated with this district offense?

• His 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection

  • All citizens guaranteed equal protection under the law

Who was Carr?

• Secretary of State at state level (Tennessee)

  • Handles election laws (in court)

What did Carr argue?

• While the districts may be unequally populated, Supreme Court could not act in this case

  • Drawing districts = state power, not federal power

  • Supreme Court should leave Tennessee to figure out issue itself

What was the ruling in Baker v. Carr?

• 6-2 decision for Baker

• Does the court have jurisdiction? Yes.

• Do states need to have equally sized districts? Yes. (10th of a percent difference)

What was the reasoning behind the ruling in Baker v. Carr?

• Brennan cited several precedents of SC intervening in state administration

• Found that 14th Amendment did guarantee people equal representation

What impact did Baker v. Carr have?

• Limited the methods by which districts (of any kind of system/district) can be drawn

• Established principle known as “one man, one vote”

  • All votes must be valued equally, to the best of the govt’s ability

Why did the Justice Department reject a North Carolina district map?

• Said it violated the Voting Right Act — lacked proper representation of the state’s African American population

What did North Carolina do after the map was rejected?

• Redrew districts, creating 2 majority Black districts

What problems did North Carolina residents have with the new districts?

• Several white NC residents argued that new districts violated their equal protection under the law (guaranteed by the 14th Amendment)

What 2 questions needed to be answered in Shaw v. Reno?

• Does the 14th Amendment apply to Congressional districts?

• Was Shaw actually “injured”?

What did Shaw argue?

• NC’s reapportionment plan constituted an unconstitutional racial gerrymander

• By drawing along racial lines, white voters in the district were being unfairly treated

What did Reno argue the Voting Rights Act stated?

• That the Federal Government must approve the Congressional districts of states with a history of racial discrimination in voting, including NC

What did Reno argue about the initial drawing and the redrawing of NC’s map?

• Map as originally drawn by NC failed enough representation for black voters, and needed to be redrawn

• New map ensures that black voters will get the representation owed to them under the 14th Amendment

What was the ruling for Shaw v. Reno?

• 5-4 decision ruled in favor of Shaw

What was the reasoning for the Shaw v. Reno ruling?

• Although NC’s reapportionment plan was racially neutral as a whole,

  • The resulting district shape was bizarre enough to suggest that it showed an effort to separate voters into different districts based on race that exceeded what was necessary to maintain a racial balance

What 3 conditions must districting meet under the 14th Amendment?

• A compelling government interest

• Narrowly tailored to achieve that interest

• Done in the most geographically logical way to achieve that goal

What was the impact of Shaw v. Reno?

• Limited the methods by which districts can be gerrymandered

• Just as it is unconst. to draw districts that intentionally “water down” minority voters, it is also unconst. to artificially create majority-minority districts, regardless of intention

When are majority-minority districts okay?

• If they are a logical product of the demographics of the region

  • NC-12 was not a logical product of the region

What are the 3 kinds of committees?

• Joint

• Select

• Standing

What is a joint committee?

• Both houses (contain Senators & Reps)

  • Not important

What is a select committee?

• Temporary

  • Except for House Intelligence Committee

  • Most exist in HoR

  • Created for investigations mostly

What is a standing committee?

• Permanent

• Where bills go and get amendments

What does the House Ways & Means Committee do?

• Handles ways and means of getting $

• Taxes and Budget

• Where budget bills begin — always starts in HoR (most power of the purse)

• MOST POWERFUL COMMITTEE IN CONGRESS

  • Also biggest

What do the House and Senate Appropriations Committees do?

• What we do w/ budget — handing out the $

• 2nd Powerful — gives out the $ to federal programs

What committees control the power of the purse?

• House Ways & Means Committee

• House & Senate Appropriations

• HoR 75% control of PotP

What does the House Rules Committee do?

• Every bill passes through here in HoR

• Decides debate rules for bills — rules for its process

What does the Senate Judiciary Committee do?

• Any nominee for federal judge position has to pass through here

• Lots of power over judicial branch

What is a caucus?

• Not the same as committees

• Groups of congress people (mostly HoR) who are like-minded: come together to pull votes to influence things

What are the 3 types of caucuses?

• Demographic Caucus

• Geographic Caucus

• Ideological Caucus

What is a Demographic Caucus?

• Of same/similar demographic

• Ex. Congressional Black Caucus

• Stick together well

What is a Geographic Caucus?

• From same/similar geographical area

• Ex. Great Lakes Caucus

• Policies passed to protect certain areas (like Great Lakes)

What is an Ideological Caucus?

• Based on political views

• Ex.

  • Far Right = Freedom Caucus

  • Far Left = Progressive Caucus

  • Etc.

Can a person be in multiple caucuses?

• Yes

• Have to request membership into caucus — can be denied (rare)

What kind of organization are caucuses?

• Have structured leadership, organization

What 2 things are the Senate mostly in charge of?

• Foreign Policy & Appointments

What 2 things are the HoR mostly in charge of?

• Budget & Investigations

What article of the Constitution gives the executive branch its powers?

• Article II

• Section 1 Clause 8 (oath)

What is the purpose of the executive branch?

• “To enforce the laws and the Constitution”

What makes up the executive branch?

• President

• VP

• Joint Chiefs

  • U.S. Military

• Cabinet & their Departments

• Law Enforcement

  • FBI

  • U.S. Marshalls

  • Etc.

What are the requirements to become eligible for presidency?

• Constitutional Requirements

• 35 y/o

• Natural born citizen

  • Born within soil of USA

  • Doctrine of jus sanguinus applies

• Must have lived in US for at least 14 years

What does the doctrine of jus sanguinis state?

• If you have at least 1 parent who is an American citizen, you are an American citizen

What are the traditional requirements for presidents?

• Military experience

• National Congressional experience

• State Gubernatorial (governor) experience

• Most presidents have at least 1 of these 3 (except for Trump and Hoover)

What are the seven roles of the president?

• Chief of State

• Chief Executive

• Chief Administrator

• Chief Diplomat

• Chief Legislator

• Commander in Chief

• Chief Citizen

What does the role Chief of State mean?

• Symbol of the people and the nation — ceremonial head of the government

  • Like a king or queen

What does the role Chief Executive mean?

• Chief enforcer of the Constitution and the laws of the nation