Congressional Branches and Judicial Review

Interactions Among Branches

  • Differences between houses of Congress:
    • District size, chamber size, enumerated powers.
    • Framers aimed to satisfy states with large & small populations.
    • Structure & operations of Congress reflect republican idea of self-government through representatives.
  • House of Representatives (HOR) - lower chamber of Congress
    • 435 representatives, members serve 2 year terms.
  • Senate - upper chamber
    • 100 representatives (each state gets 2), Senators serve 6 year terms - 13\frac{1}{3} of them running for re-election every 2 years.
  • Constituents - voters in a legislative district
  • Coalition - alliance of political groups pursuing a common goal

Similarities & Differences Between HOR & Senate

  • Because HOR serve 2 year terms, they are more responsive to their constituents' concerns than senate.
  • Debate procedures, less formal in Senate (smaller group).
  • HOR less likely to form bipartisan coalitions because reps are sensitive to constituent concerns.
  • Different enumerated & implied powers
  • Senate
    • Representation: 2/State
    • Procedures: less formal
    • Filibuster: yes
    • Holds: yes
    • Unanimous consent agreements: yes
    • Rules committee: no
  • House
    • Representation: based on pop
    • Procedures: more formal rules
    • Filibuster: no
    • Holds: no
    • Unanimous consent agreements: no
    • Rules committee: yes
  • Note:
    • Revenue bills is a power unique to HOR because of responsiveness of representatives
    • Impeachment trials power unique to senate - gives states equal ultimate power over presidency

Congressional Powers

  • Senate
    • Ratify treaties
    • Confirm cabinet & court nominees - more powerful
  • HOR
    • Initiatives
    • Impeachment
  • Cloture - Senate procedure - 60 senators can vote to limit the amount of time spent debating a bill & cut off a filibuster
  • Discharge petition - petition signed by members of the HOR to bring a bill out of committee & on to floor for vote
  • Filibuster - tactic used by Senate to block a bill by continuing to speak until bill's supporters back down
  • House rules committee - Schedule & manage flow of legislation on the floor to make process more efficient
  • Logrolling - 2 Legislators agree to trade votes for each other's bills
  • Pork barrel legislation - use of federal funding to finance localized projects - bring $$ to a rep's district so please constituents
  • Speaker of the house - de facto leader of the majority party
  • Baker v. Carr rejected way state was apportioned
    • districts did not have equal dist. of population
    • violates equal protection clause
    • "One person, one vote"
  • Shaw v. Reno (1991) - while voters claimed North Carolina's congressional district violated equal protection clause because of 1 majority-minority groups
    • SC declared that race cannot be the predominant factor in creating districts
  • Formal powers - powers outlined in Article I
  • Informal powers - claimed powers
  • Cabinet - presidential advisors power justified by sec 1 & 3 + carrying out law enforcement
  • Executive agreement - int. agreement bln president & another country
  • Executive order - presidential order to the executive branch - carries force of law
  • Pocket veto - indirect veto - president leaves veto unsigned for fewer than 10 days before Congress adjourns

Presidential Powers

  • Signing statement - a presidential statement upon signing a bill into law - explains how pres. admin intends to interpret that law
  • State of the union address - pres' annual message to a joint session of Congress - evaluate nation's top priorities
  • Some powers of President:
    • Confer diplomatic recognition of other governments
    • Commander-in-chief of army
    • Make treaties
    • Grants pardons
    • Adjourn Congress & convene Congress
    • Appoint you officers
    • Direct bureaucracy intended interpretation of bill
    • Setting priorities of Congress
  • Presidential checks:
    • executive order, pardons, appointing go officials & judges, priorities to Congress
    • can adjourn congress , military force
  • Presidential nominations - president's formal proposal of a candidate to fill a position /cabinet of SCI
  • Confirmation - Senate approval of a presidential nomination - can pur ques & congress in conflict
  • Executive order - rule issued by the president wo the cooperation of Congress that carries the force of law
    • represents enhanced pres power beyond expressed powers
  • Federalist N. 78:
    • argues in favor of the unitary executive - necessary to ensure accountability - enables pres
      • single executive
      • defend against legislative encroachment on his power
      • single executive easier to remove if they become corrupt & single executive has more secrecy than larger group of leaders
  • War Powers Act - limits pres power to deploy US army
  • Bully pulpit -Theodore Roosevelt's notion of the presidency as a platform from which pres could promote agenda directly to public
  • Inferior courts - all lower courts
    • Congress holds the power to establish inferior courts & determine how they operate
  • Judicial independence factors include lifetime appointments & a ban on salary decrease for siting justices
    • prevents members of legislative & executive branches from influencing SC

Judicial Branch

  • Judicial review - SC power to review whether acts of the exes. & leg. branch are consistent w/ constitution
  • Federalist No. 78:
    • judges should serve for life to ensure judicial independence & judicial branch least dangerous because it cannot wage war or collect taxes
  • Article III of constitution:
    • establishes jud. Branch
    • gives congress power to create inferior courts
  • Marbury v. Madison (1803):
    • before Adams left office: passed Judiciary Act of 1801: added judges & gave pres more appointment power
    • senate approved appointment but some commissions not delivered (Marbury(
    • Marbury petitioned for a writ of mandamus
    • Questions:
      • 1. plaintiffs right to receive commission
      • 2. can they sue for their commission in court
      • 3. does SC have authority to order the delivery of commissions
    • Judiciary Act of 1789 enabling Marbury to bring claim to SC was unconstitutional since it purported to extend Court's original jurisdiction beyond what Article III established
  • Judicial appointment - pres appoints SC justices & fed judges
    • attempt to influence ideology of the Courts for years to come
  • Confirmation process - Senate must confirm nominees by a simple majority
  • Life tenure - SC justices & fed judges have lifetime appointments
  • Precedent - legal decision establishes a rule for similar cases in future
  • Stare decisis - making legal decisions based on past precedents
  • Court-curbing measures - strategies for reducing the power of the SC or its rulings & future appointments:
    • pres can change ideological composition of the court Le Congress may pass acts that prevent the SC from hearing appeals in certain types of cases
    • in exes., or leg., may refuse to implement decisions
  • Jurisdiction - field of authority a court has to make legal judgements & decisions
  • Legitimacy of the SC - public trust in & willingness to accept a SC ruling

Beliefs and Responsibilities

  • Judicial activist - belief that role of a justice is to defend individual rights & liberties, even chose not stated in constitution
  • Judicial restraint - belief that role of a justice is to defer decisions to elected branches of you & stay focused on a narrower interpretation of the Bill of Rights (more explicit
  • Challenging: other branches may question court's right to exercise judicial review or appropriateness of justices' site revues
    • ex: nomination & confirmation of justices
  • Bureaucracy carries out responsibilities of fed gov
  • Merit system - bureaucrats hired based on skills rather than political connections
    • enhances effectiveness
  • Civil service - permanent, professional branches of you administration -nonpartisan - employees hired based on merit
  • Iron triangle - longstanding, mutually- beneficial relationship an interest group, congressional committee, & bureaucratic agency devoted to similar issues
    • ex: Social Security Agency, AARP, Congressional Subcommittee of Aging
  • Issue network - group of individuals, public officials, & interest groups that form around a particular issue
  • Patronage - practice of hiring individuals based on political support rather than merit
  • Discretionary authority of bureaucracy is agencies deciding whether or not to take action when implementing certain laws
  • Rulemaking authority is agency's ability to make rules that affect how programs operate
    • both enhance power of bureaucracy over gov policies
  • CHECKS: congress allots budget to fed bureaucracy
  • Committee hearings - ask agencies questions
    • Congress cannot always control the large size of bureaucracy
  • President cannot fire lower levels of bureaucracy only officers (
    • president can make appointments, shift budget/agencies can issue executive orders