AP Gov Unit 2: Interactions Among Branches of Government (Class Notes)

TOPIC 2: Interactions Among Branches of Government 

  1. How many members of the house of representatives are there?

    1. 435

  2. How many senators are there?

    1. 100 (2 per state)

  3. How long is the term for a Representative?

    1. 2 years

  4. How long is a term for a Senator?

    1. 6 years - appointed if becomes Vice President

  5. Who is the current speaker of the house?

    1. Mike Johnson

  6. Who is the current Senate Majority Leader?

    1. John Thune

  7. Who is the current president of the Senate

    1. JD Vance

  8. Which is considered the upper house and which is considered the lower house of congress

    1. Senate = Upper

House = Lower 

Power of Legislative branch

  • Make laws, create public policy = anything government does


Congress: The Senate

  • Represents states equally (2 per state, 100 in total)

  • Senators were originally selected by state legislatures

    • Represent an entire state 

  • 17th amendment established direct election of senators

  • 6 year terms

  • The senate is less formal and has fewer rules than the house 

  • Coalition in Congress are affected by term-length differences

    • Senators may vote differently in the final 2 years of their term out of a desire to get reelected; may become more centrist or more partisan depending on the circumstances and their state

House of representatives

  • Represents the people based on population (435) 

  • Representatives are directly elected 

  • Only position directly elected under the original constitution

  • 2 year terms

  • The house is more formal, more rules-oriented 

  • Coalition in congress are affected by term-long differences

Enumerated powers (Article 1 section 8)

  • Pass a federal budget 

    • 365 days to make this budget 

    • Year round thing

  • Tax (raise money)

  • Borrow money

  • Coin money

  • Declare war and maintain armed faces

  • Regulate interstate commerce 

Necessary and proper clause

  • Congress has the power to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers 

Implied Powers

  • Congress can make laws in areas not expressly stated in the constitution

  • Have allowed congress to enact legislation addressing a wide range of economic environmental and social issues 

  • Chicken and waffles

Consolidated omnibus budget reconciliation act of 1985 (COBRA)

  • Required employers with 20 or more employees to offer health insurance plans with an employee option to continue coverage after losing the job 

  • Any employer not in compliance would be forced to pay an excise tax

  • Coverage for employees can continue up to 18 months after job loss

  • Employers are not required to pay for the continuing coverage 

Non- Legislative powers of the Senate 

  • Confirmation powers (provide “advice & consent” to president for select nominations and treaties)

    • Confirm judicial nominations

    • Confirm cabinet heads

      • Senate has to also approve

    • Confirm executive agency heads

  • Ratify Treaties 

    • Why do you think the framers gave these powers to the Senate instead of the house?

  • Which model of democracy might this exemplify?

    • Elite 

Senate Leadership

  • President of the senate

    • Vice president of the US 

    • Only presides over the Senate to cast tie-breaking votes 

  • Senate Majority Leader

    • Schedules debate and business of the senate 

 

Floor Debates - senates

  • The senate is less formal and has fewer rules than the house

Riders 

  • Non-germane amendments to a bill

Holds

  • Prevent a bill from being brought to the floor

Filibuster

  • Long speech to delay action and prevent a vote 

Cloture

  • A motion to cut off debate on a bill (ends filibusters and holds)

  • ⅗ vote (60 members, aka supermajority)

Double-tracking/silent filibuster

  • Disputed bill is shelved, senate may move on to other business

  • During a talking filibuster, no other action can be taken in the senate, so in 1970, the senate began allowing double-tracking, making it much less costly filibuster, leading to a dramatic increase in filibuster in recent decades

  • It now typically requires 60 votes, not 51, to pass controversial bills 

  • Neither party can control the senate w/o 60 members

Unanimous consent agreements

  • An agreement in the senate that sets the terms for the consideration of a bill

  • Typically used to restrict debate and to expedite action 

House of representatives

  • Initiate tax and revenue bills

    • House ways and means committee

  • Why did the framers give the house the power to initiate tax and revenue bill instead of the senate?

    • DIRECT DEMOCRACY

    • So they can kick the bums out of office 

  • The House is more directly accountable to the people and is up for election every two years. Also, it was part of the great compromise.

  • Power of Impeachment (trial)

    • 51% Margin required 

    • The house has the power to impeach, or indict, the president and federal judges

Party structure of the house

  • Leaders have more power, more rules to restrict debate

Speaker of the House

  • Most powerful person in Congress, presides over the house

    • Decides who can speak

    • Influences which bills are brought to a vote

Party whip

  • Inform leadership how votes will go; keep members voting with the party (both parties have whips in the house and senate)

Floor Debates - House

  • The house is more formal, more rules-orientated

House rules committee

  • Set rules for debate, time limit, and changes

    • Most powerful committee; review bills and make rules on debate; does not edit the bill

  • Closed rule bill

    • House bill that cannot be amended

Germanness Requirement

  • Discussion ( and any amendments) must be relevant, on topic

Time limit

  • Usually 5 minute or less 

Discharge petition

  • The majority of the house can vote to force a bill out of committee

Committee of the whole

  • Consists of entire house of representatives

  • The house resolves itself into a committee of the whole to consider a specific bill

  • The committee of the whole is governed by different rules than the hose, making it faster and easier to consider complex and controversial legislation

  • Once the committee of the whole votes on the bill the committee is dissolved and becomes the house again 

Standing committees

  • Permanent 

  • Proposed bills are referred here first

  • Hold hearings on proposed bills, edit and markup bills 

Joint Committees

  • Includes both representatives and senators

Conference Committee

  • Purpose: To resolve differences in senate and house versions of the same bill

  • Conference committees are necessary when the house and senate pass different versions of the same bill because a bill can only be sent to the president to sign into law if the house and senate have passed the exact same bill

  • If the conference committee is successful, the bill returns to the house and senate so congressman can vote on the compromise version of the bill

Committee chairs

  • Leader of a congressional committee; has influence over committees agenda

  • Always from the majority party

Committee system in congress

  • What are the pros and cons of congress’s use of committee system?

  • Pros 

    • Members develop expertise on specific policy areas

    • Smaller # of people makes working on legislation more manageable

    • Too difficult for all congressman to focus on all policies at all times

    • Experience and expertise helps with oversight of implementation

  • Cons

    • More susceptible to targeted lobbying efforts and fundraising pressure 

    • May end up making policies to benefit certain and interests rather than the public 

Power of the purse

  • Congress creates and passes a federal budget


Discretionary spending

  • Spending that has to be authorized every year by congress and the president

    • Defense 

    • Education

Mandatory spending

  • Spending that does not have to be approved annually

  • Can only be changed by new legislation

  • Over ⅔ of federal spending

    • Entitlement programs

    • Interest on the national debt 

Entitlement programs

  • Provide benefits to people who are qualified to them by law

    • Social security

    • Medicare, aged-based (elderly)

    • Medicaid, needs-based (low income) 

    • Temporary assistance for needy families, often called welfare

    • Supplemental nutrition assistance program, often called food stamps

    • Supplemental security income, provides unemployment benefits

Social security and medicare

  • By 2035 the program will only be able to pay out 79% of the promised benefits 

  • Why is the spending on these programs increasing so dramatically?

    • The very large baby boomer generation is retiring 

    • Longer life expectancy

  • What can be done to fix these programs before the point of crisis comes?

    • Increase payroll taxes

    • Decrease benefits

    • Increase age requirements 

  • Why is it so politically difficult to fix these programs

    • Need 60 votes to get past a filibuster in senate; raising taxes and cutting benefits are both politically unpopular 

Fiscal policy 

  • Congress and the president are in charge of tax and government spending policies, and creating a federal budget

Budget deficit

  • Government spending > tax revenue in a given year

Budget surplus 

  • Tax revenue > government spending in a given year 

Balanced Budget

  • Government spending = tax revenue in a given yea


National Debt

  • Total Amount the federal Government Owes



Party Polarization

  • Increasing ideological division between republicans and democrats 

  • Causes

    • Clear difference on issues

    • More ideological primary and midterm election voters 

  • Effects

    • Policy gridlock

    • Fewer bills are passed 

Divided government

  • When the house, senate, and presidency are all held by the same party 

  • Create the need for negotiation and compromise

  • Partisan votes against presidential initiatives and congressional refusal to conform appointments of lame-duck presidents of the opposite

Policy gridlock

  • Making policy become slow and difficult 

Reapportionment

  • Change the number of seats each state has in the house 

    • Occurs every 10 years following the census 

Redistricting

  • Redrawing congressional districts following reapportionment

  • Done by state legislatures

Baker V Carr (1962)

  • Apportionment issues can be settled by federal courts; led to the “one person, one vote” principle of equal representation 

Malapportionment

  • Districts of very unequal size (population)

    • Unconstitutional

Gerrymandering

  • Drawing district in bizarre shapes to

    • Benefit party

    • Protect incumbents 

    • Increasing minority representation 

  • Is allowed but…

    • Lines must be contiguous

    • cant dilute minority voting strength

    • Cant be drawn based on race

Cracking 

  • Splitting voters for the opposing party into multiple districts, diluting their voting strength in each district

Packing

  • Concentrating large numbers of voters for the opposing party into a single district to reduce their voting power in other districts 

Shaw vs Reno (1993)

  • Congressional districts cannot be drawn based only on race 

Majority-Minority districts

  • Districts made up of mostly minorities

  • Majority-minority districts are allowed

  • Drawing a district based only on race is what isnt allowed 

Models of congressional representation

  • Trustee

    • Vote how she personally believes is best (regardless of constituent opinion)

  • Delegate

    • Do what the constituents want (regardless of their own opinion)

  • Partasain

    • Does what the party wants 

  • Politico

    • Depends on situation; sometimes act as a trustee, someones delegate 

Exclusive powers

  • Belong only to the president

  • Commander in chief

    • Commission officers in the armed forces

  • Grant pardons

  • Call congress into session

  • Receive ambassadors

  • State of the union address

Shared with senate

  • Appointment power 

    • President nominates, senate confirms 

    • Advice and consent to the senate

    • Simple majority in the senate

  • Make treaties

    • President makes treaties, senate ratifies

      • ⅔ to ratify 

Shared with Congress 

Approve legislation

  • Veto

    • Message to congress stating reasons for not signing the bill

    • Congress can override veto with ⅔ vote of both houses 

    • Only 4% of vetos have been successfully overridden 

  • Pocket veto

    • President doesn’t sign the bill AND the session of congress ends within 10 days of receiving the bill 

Line-item veto

  • Approve some parts of a bill, not others

  • Clinton v New York (1998)

    • Ruled presidential use of the line item veto unconstitutional

    • Violated the principle of separation of powers 

Executive order

  • Implied from the president’s vested “executive power” 

  • Used to manage federal government

  • Rule issued by the president that has the power of law 

  • Often leads to conflict with congressional agenda 

  • Unlike a law can be overturned by the next president via a new executive order 

Executive Agreement 

  • President and Foreign government agreement 

  • International agreements like treaties that don’t require Senate confirmation

    • Example: FDR’s Lend-Lease and numerous trade agreements, such as NAFTA

  • From 1940 - 1989, presidents signed nearly 800 treaties and over 13,000 agreements

Tensions with Congress

  •  As a result of the law-making process, nomination and senate confirmation, congressional oversight, and the presidents ability to issue executive orders there are frequent confrontations between congress and the president

Informal powers of the president 

  • The president relies heavily on his power to persuade and bargaining with congress because he lacks extensive constitutional powers 

  • Popularity typically declines during terms; highest during “honeymoon” period 

    • Presidents are most successful making major policy changes early in their term 

Mandate Claim

  1. A presidential claim to have a command from citizens to carry out his program based on the electorate’s vote 

  2. George Busch = known for being a DIMWHIT (LOL)

Checks On Presidential Power

  • Presidential appointments Cabinet

    • Heads of the 15 major executive departments 

      • Labor, Agriculture, Transportation, War, 

    • Can be removed by the president at any time

  • Ambassadors

  • White House Staff 

    • President’s closes assistants & aids with offices in the White House

    • No senate confirmation

    • Personally loyal to the president

Foreign policy 

  • Commander and Chief, but only congress has the power to formally declare war

Presidential Advantages

  • Commander-In-Chief

  • (Nominates) ambassadors & diplomats

  • Negotiates treaties & executive agreements

  • Make executive orders affecting military

  • Defense, diplomatic, and intelligence services report directly to the president daily

War Powers Resolution (1973)

  • Purpose: limit the president's ability to wage war 

    • President must report to congress within 48 hours of military action

    • Congress has 60 days to authorize action 

    • If congress refuses to authorize, the president has 30 more days to withdraw troops

    • Has had very little influence (probably unconstitutional)

Vietnam War

  • In 1964, the gulf of Tonkin resolution empowered the president to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the united states and to prevent further aggression and led directly to fully escalating US involvement in vietnam

  • The resolution was viewed as a blank check of congressional authorization on presidential war powers in Vietnam

  • After years of struggling to exert influence over Vietnam war policy, Congress passed the War Powers Resolution in 1973 to try to limit the president's war powers.

The growth of the presidency 

  • The framers feared the president could become too strong & intended for congress to be the strongest branch 

Federalist No 70

  • Argued in favor of a unitary (ONE) executive

  • Hamilton argues that giving 1 person the executive power is actually safer than giving it to a group of people. We know that the framers were very concerned about the concentration of power, so what logic do you think Hamilton could use to justify his argument?

Article III of the constitution

  • The basis for judicial power

    • Federal judges serve for life 

    • Congress creates lower courts 

Marbury v Madison (1803)

  • Established judicial review

*Scott Prewit: 



2.9

Supreme Court and Precedent

  • The Court typically is guided by the principle of stare decisis

Stare Decisis

  • “Let the decision stand”; follow precedent

  • Past diversions are usually followed, but the court has overruled itself over 260 times

  • The court makes policy whenever it reinterpret/overrules laws

    • Over 160 federal laws have been ruled unconstitutional

The Court in Action

  • Federal Court System

    • Original jurisdiction - First court to hear a case

    • Appellate jurisdiction - Hear appeals; rule on legal and constitutional issues 

    • District Court - have original jurisdiction on most federal cases

    • Circuit Court of Appeals - have only appellate jurisdiction

    • Supreme Court- both appellate and original jurisdiction (vast majority of cases are from appellate jurisdiction)

  • The Supreme Court

    • Chooses which cases to hear from its appellate jurisdiction 

    • Caseload- the cases the Supreme Court hears

      • Only accepts 70 - 80 cases per year

      • Reject about 99% of cases ( receive over 8,000 appeals per year)

    • Rule of 4 

      • Informal rule that at least 4 justices must agree to hear a case

    • Writ of certiorari

      • A request for lower court documents

      • Issues only if SCOTUS agrees to hear the case

    • The Court is more likely to hear a case if

      • 2 or more circuit courts rule differently on the same issue

      • The federal government is petitioning for the case 

        • Solicitor General- 3rd highest judicial power

      • The Case Presents a civil rights or civil liberties questions

      • The Case has a significant social or political interest

    • Justiciable 

      • Capable of being decided by a Court

    • Standing

      • Being allowed to take case to court

      • Must be a real case, and must be able to show harm (not a real case ex. War Powers Act)

    • Briefs

      • Written arguments for a case

    • Amicus curiae briefs 

      • Literally, “friend of the Court”

        • Submitted by an interested party not directly involved in the case

        • Most commonly submitted by interest groups and the federal government (executive branch/ Justice department)

    • Oral Arguments

      • Each side gets 30 mins

    • Supreme Court Opinions

      • Opinion of the Court: Public Policy - have the option to give their opinion 

      • Majority opinion; simple majority, if it’s a tie the lower court’s decision stands 

    • Concurring Opinion

      • Justices who agree with majority opinion but for different reasons

    • Dissenting Opinion

      • Opinion of the losing side 

    • Checks on Judicial decisions

      • No police power

        • Rely on others (executive branch, states, public) to enforce decisions

        • Decisions can sometimes be ignored 

      • Recall Federalist No. 78’s explanation that Courts have neither force nor will, they have neither the power of the sword or the purse

    • Supreme Court checks itself

  • Ex Parte McCardle (1867)

    • Arrested for publishing articles that advocated opposing reconstruction 

    • Make another appellate court to check the supreme court

  • Judicial Restraint

    • Courts should defer to the democratically elected branches & shouldn’t overrule them whenever possible

  • Judicial Activism 

    • Courts can and should overrule the other branches when they are wrong and be willing to create bold new policies

      • Often used to justify striking down laws that trample on individual rights and liberties

  • NFIB v. Sebelius (2012)

    • 5-4 ruling the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of most of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)

    • Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative, surprised many by siding with the 4 liberals in this case. The following excerpt from his majority opinions sheds some light on his reasoning.

      • “It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.”

        • Example of Judicial Restraint due to Roberts 

  • Strict Constructionism

    • Based on what is directly stated or clearly implied by the Constitution

  • Loose interpretation/broad constructionism

    • Based on the principle of the Constitution and its vague language 

  • Originalism

    • Attempt to abide by the framers intent when writing the constitution

  • Swann v Charlotte meckleburg board of education

  • Very little desegregating schools has happened since brown v. board of education 

  • North Carolina Black students went to school that were totally black

  • Lower courts directed the school board on solutions

  • Federal courts are constitutionally authorized to oversee and produce remedies for state-imposed segregation

  • Milliken v. Bradley (1974)

    • A district court ordered a desegregation plan for Detroit and 85 outlying school districts

    • Districts were not obligated to desegregate unless it had been proven that the lines were drawn with racial intent 

  • Checks on Judiciary 

    • appointment/confirmation of judicial nominees

    • Alter number of judges (including Supreme Court)

    • Propose

  • Federal Income Tax

    • Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan and Trust Company (1895), 5-4 decision the Supreme Court struck down a federal income tax, ruling that Congress was not permitted to directly taz citizens

    • Federal income tax to this day

    • Congress proposed and the states ratified the 16th Amendment; Congress has power to lay and collect taxes on income

  • Bureaucracy 

    • Executive agencies & departments that implement & administer federal programs 

  • Merit System

    • Non-political government employees are hired and promoted based on ability, not political connections 

      • Many jobs requiring taking a civil service exam

      • Reforms promote professionalism, specialization, and neutrality

  • Pendleton Civil Service Act

    • Established the merit system; ended the patronage system

  • Cabinet departments

    • Major administrative responsibilities over a broad area of policy 

  • Independent Executive Agencies

    • Narrow areas of responsibility, perform public services

    • NASA, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

  • Independent Regulatory Commissions

    • Experts who make rules regulating specific industries to protect the public 

      • Federal Communications Commision, Federal Reserve federal communications commissions 

      • Determines Public radio-ABC and other public radio is determined by FCC

      • Streaming services and like are not bound by FCC

      • Independent agencies are meant not to be impacted by president, and more to be be enforcers of the will of people

      • President is not meant to be able to easily fire 

      • Performed by cabinet departments, agencies, commissions, and government corporations

      • Tasks can include

        • Writing and enforcing regulations

        • Fines

        • Testifying before Congress

        • Issue networks and Iron Triangles

    • Iron Triangles

      • Between Congress, Interest Group, and Bureaucracy

  • Government Corporations

    • Provides unprofitable services not provided by public companies

    • Examples are AMTRAK(Trains), Postal Service

  • Administrative adjudication

    • Bureaucratic agencies have the power to enforce administrative law and punish violators via fine

  • EPA Active since early 70s

  • 2.14 Holding the Bureaucracy Accountable

    • Congressional Oversight

      • Agency/department heads must regularly testify before Congressional standing committees

  • Check on the Bureaucracy-President

    • Appoint/remove heads

    • Issue executive orders

    • Make changes in budget proposals

    • Propose policy

      • Examples

        • Trump barred the EPA from publishing relating to climate change

  • Checks on the Bureaucracy-Congress

    • Abolish/approve agencies

    • Appropriate funds

    • Pass legislation

    • Investigative agencies

    • Confirm Cabinet and agency nominations(Senate)

    • Write legislation to limit power

  • Judiciary

    • Rule on Constitutionality

    • Rule whether Bureaucrats have acted within the law

      • Chevron Deference

        • Supreme court originally was able to rule over a disagreement over the interpretation of an act, ruling whether or not agency ruling was ok.

        • Changed to having the agency having the final say over rulings relating to their expertise.

  • Legislative Veto

    • Congress would grant the president or an executive agency authority and reserve congress the authority to overrule actions with a majority vote

    • Ruled Unconstitutional by INS v. Chadha

  • Other Branches and Bureaucratic Authority

    • Congress can hold oversight hearings, and decrease budget

    • President can issue orders to reorganize, nominate agency heads, fire cabinet secretaries, and set goals on their ideology