american democracy exam 3

clear and present danger

speech can be limited if it poses a real and imminent threat of causing danger

Gitlow vs New York

1925; arrested and believed 1st amendment was violated; case applied clear and present danger to states (14th amendment)

Brandenbrug vs Ohio

1969; established incitement; imminent lawless action test

Tinker v Des Moines

affirmed 1st amendment rights of students in public schools; symbolic expression does not cause disruption (think kids wearing black armbands to protest vietnam war)

Near v Minnesota

1931; prior restraint violates 1st amendment freedom of press

civil liberties

freedoms given to individuals in bill of rights; protects from gov’t interference; applied to states by 14th amendment

what amendment applied civil liberties to states

14th amendment

1st amendment

establishes freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and freedom to petition gov’t; also: absolute right

absolute right

right that cannot be infringed upon under any circumstance; congress cannot make a law to restrict or limit it (abridging)

abridge

limit/reduce scope of something like rights or privileges

establishment clause

government makes no law establishing religion

issue with establishment clause

it meant something totally different when created; used to be mainly english and germans, and they didn’t want catholicism, protestants, church of england, etc.; now, there are all kinds of religions

Lemon v Kurtsman

created lemon test; test to determine if legislation lays out religion

lemon test

test to determine if legislation lays out religion; law has secular purpose, primary effect, law must prevent excessive entanglement between government and religion

law has a secular purpose

the law must have secular purpose, and not be enacted with intent of advancing/promoting religion

primary effect

cannot advance or inhibit religion

law must prevent excessive entanglement between gov’t and religion

gov’t should not become overly involved in religious affairs and vice versa

example of a lemon test: school lunches

1. secular= feeding kids lunch; helps w/ learning outcomes

2. does this hurt/help religion?= no; primary effect is to give kids lunch

3. all schools must follow nutrition list

sherbert test / strict scrutiny test

3 part test asking if gov’t is passing a law infringing on religion

parts of sherbert / strict scrutiny test

1. compelling government interest

2. narrow

3. least restrictive

compelling government interest

requires government to give strong reason for restricting individual rights

ex: working on the sabbath

Narrow

is governments action tailored to achieve compelling interest?

ex: not hiring people of certain religions b/c they don’t want to work on sabbath

least restrictive

implementing policy in a way that least infringes on individual freedoms and achieves goals

ex: instead of not hiring people of that religion, I can ask them to give me a schedule that works for them

14th amendment

citizenship, due process, equal protection under law; naturalization included

how many votes do you need to be president from electoral college

270 / majority vote

what happens if no president gets absolute majority from electoral votes?

House of representatives goes into session; choose from top 3 candidates; each state gets one vote

swing states

states that could go either way in an election (aka purple states); usually arizona, georgia, michigan, nevada, north carolina, pennysylvania, wisconsin; or rust belt

rust belt

ohio, indiana, north illinois, southeast wisconsin, michigan, pennysylvania, upper new york

t/f: politicians try to carry out what they said they would in office

true

what does the cabinet do as given by constitution?

it was an implied role, allowing president to have someone give advice to them

what does the cabinet do now?

the cabinet is larger now; bigger agencies to run; oversee departments (department heads)

what are department heads also called?

secretaries; each have a title that goes w/ specific department; exception: head of DoJ is attorney general

who / what are under department heads?

agencies and office heads

how was executive office of the president created?

1930s; FDR wanted more staff, gave it an official title

executive office

staff under president; VP included; chief of staff, director of communications, press secretary

chief of staff

presidents advisor; assistant for everything; keep president on track; who gets access, policy, in charge of WH; purely appointed by president, not senate

why is it important to keep president on track?

to make sure they’re doing what is in pay grade; ex: jimmy carter doing everything, like making tennis court schedule

Article 1

establishes Congress; voting takes place every two years

House of Reps

2 year terms; must be 25 y/o; house makes accusation in impeachment, no treaties, no appointments; US citizen for at least 7 years

Senate

1/3 of senate voted in every two years; 6 year terms; senate holds trial for impeachment (67 / 2/3 vote); treaties affirmed by senate; senate confirms appointment; US citizen for at least 9 years

3 ways to get on Congress’ agenda

1. public opinion (trend/event)

2. president

3. majority party leaders

How does House pass a bill in normal order?

standing committee, subcommittee, then back through until passed

standing committee

permanent committee; deals with one subject area

subcommittee

holds a hearing with testimony (lobbying / advocacy takes place); mark up / change bill; vote: if no, dead; if yes, send back through and then to senate

how does the senate pass a bill in normal order?

standing committee; if no, send to subcommittee and then if yes, unlimited debate (no rules committee)

what can happen in an unlimited debate?

filibuster (prolonged debate to prevent a decision; 60 votes to stop it), cloture vote (call to question)

what happens once house and senate finally agree on a bill?

sent to conference committee; bill goes to house/senate, and if they vote yes it is sent to president

veto

say no to a bill

sign

ok a bill

pocket veto

when the president doesn’t sign a bill and allows it to expire without formally vetoing it; 10 days

bipartisan bill

people from both parties working together to make a bill

omnibus legislation

spending bills (do not go through normal order)

christmas trees

bill ornamentation; making bills look better

committees

where most of the work gets done; standing, select, joint, conference

standing committee

permanent committee

select committee

can become permanent, but usually temporary

joint committee

house and senate work together

conference committee

joint committees with very specific purpose

speaker of the house is…

3rd in line for presidency; makes sure everything goes smoothly; currently Mike Johnson

majority leader

leads day to day party organization; partisan; making sure majority is on same page

majority leaders in house and senate

house: Steve Sculise

senate: John Thune

Minority leader

little power as long as party sticks together; gets word out to public; senate has more power than house

minority leaders in house and senate

house: Hakeem Jeffries

senate: Chuck Schumer

majority whips

count heads and round up party members for votes; also stand in for majority / minority leaders

majority whips in the house and senate

house: Tom Emmer

senate: John Barrasso

Minority whips

help out minority leader; communicate, count votes, discipline, attendance, etc.

minority whips in house and senate

house: Katherine Clark

senate: Dick Durbin

how many members does house have

435; based on population

how many members does senate have

100; 2 per state

predictors in how to vote

political party, colleagues, interest groups, staff, president, constituents

political party

is party taking a strong stand on something; is vast majority voting one way

interest groups

what do they want you to do

colleagues

what do they think

staff

mostly in Congress; have them study and tell you

president

what they want can change opinion

constituents

how they want you to vote

delegate

vote the way constituents want me to

trustee

you elected me to make decisions, so i’ll vote how i want to as your rep; you may not like it, so vote someone else in next time

7 basic powers of presidency

administrative head, serve as commander in chief of armed forces, power to convene congress, veto, appointment, power to negotiate treaties, pardon

administrative head

we have a bureaucracy; someone needs to be in charge

commander in chief

lead armed forces

power to convene congress

not as important today as congress meets more often

veto

checks and balances

appointment

appoint top officials and judges; senate has power to confirm

power to negotiate treaties

senate has power to confirm; they’ll probably assign someone to do it for them

pardon

absolute power given to every president

importance of expansion

claim of inherent power, congressional delegation; persuade

claim of inherent power

government possesses powers not explicitly granted in constitution / has powers considered essential

executive order

president telling bureaucracy how they’re going to handle something; congress can create a counter law

congressional delegation

members of congress representing a particular state / official trip abroad by congress members

persuade

how can president get things they want done?- mandate, political capital

mandate

president doing what they said they would

political capital

how money from an elected official is spent

article 3

judicial branch; creates supreme court; gives congress power to set up court system appointed by president, approved by senate; indefinite term

policy

precedent, freedom vs order and equality, can undo democracy decisions

precedent

one judge or court makes a ruling and others follow that ruling in similar cases; lateral court

sentencing precedent

judge looks at other similar cases, and what other judges decide

freedom vs order and equality

ex: is it illegal to burn US flag?

can undo decisions of democracy

can overrule democratic decisions; if you want to limit congress, you have to amend constitution

judiciary act

creates 3 tiered federal courts system; congress changes number of courts as population changes