Unit 2 Vocab

1. Appellate Jurisdiction: authority of a court to hear an appeal from a lower court.

2. Bureaucracy: departments, agencies, bureaus, and commissions of the executive branch of government.

3. Baker v. Carr, 1961: Supreme Court ruled house districts can be challenged in court if they are unfairly drawn.

4. Closed rule: Rules Committee rule that bans amendments to a bill.

5. Cloture: Senate motion to end a filibuster that requires a 3/5 vote.

6. Concurring Opinion: written by a Supreme Court Justice who voted with the majority, but for different reasons.

7. Conference Committee: works out a compromise between differing House-Senate versions of a bill.

8. Constituents: the people who are represented by elected officials.

9. Discharge Petition: a motion to force a bill to the House floor that has been bottled up in committee.

10. Dissenting Opinion: written by a Supreme Court Justice (or Justices) who express a minority viewpoint in a case.

11. Executive Agreement: an agreement between the president and another head of state that, unlike a treaty, does not require Senate consent.

12. Executive Order: presidential rule or regulation that has the force of law.

13. Executive privilege: the privilege of a president and his staff to withhold their “privileged” conversations from Congress or the courts.

14. Filibuster: nonstop Senate debate that prevents a bill from coming to a vote.

15. Gerrymandering: redrawing district lines to favor one party at the expense of another.

16. Hold: Senate maneuver that allows a Senator to stop or delay consideration of a bill or presidential appointment.

17. Impeachment: House action that formally charges an official with wrongdoing. Conviction requires 2/3 vote from the Senate.

18. Judicial activism: philosophy that the courts should take an active role in solving problems.

19. Judicial restraint: philosophy that the courts should defer to elected lawmakers in setting policy, and should instead focus on interpreting law rather than making law.

20. Judicial Review: power of the courts to review the constitutionality of laws or governmental actions.

21. Legislative Oversight: ongoing process on congressional monitoring of the executive branch to ensure that the latter complies with the law.

22. Line item veto: power of most governors (and President Clinton for only a few years) to delete or reduce funding in a bill on a line by line basis.

23. Logrolling (‘pork barrel’): when two members of Congress agree to vote for each other’s bill.

 Majority Opinion: expresses the majority opinion in a Supreme Court case.

1. Mark up: committee action to amend a proposed bill.

2. Merit System: system of hiring federal workers based on competitive exams.

3. Open rule: House Rules Committee procedure that allows amendments to a bill.

4. Original Jurisdiction: authority of a court to first hear a case.

5. Patronage: power to appoint loyal party members to federal positions.

6. Pocket Veto: presidential killing of a bill by inaction after Congress adjourns.

7. Pork Barrel: wasteful congressional spending.

8. Reapportionment: reallocation of House seats to the states on the basis of changes in state populations, as determined by the census.

9. Redistricting: redrawing of congressional district boundaries by the party in power of the state legislature.

10. Red tape: complex rules and procedures required by bureaucratic agencies.

11. Remand: the Supreme Court’s sending of a case back to the original court in which it was heard.

12. Revolving Door: the cycle  in which a person alternately works for the public sector and private sector, thus blurring the individual’s sense of loyalty.

13. Rider amendment to a bill that has little to do with that bill; can only occur in Senate.

14. Rules Committee: the “traffic cop” of the House that sets the legislative calendar and issues rules for debate on a bill.

15. Seniority System: tradition in which the Senator from the majority party with the most years of service on a committee becomes the chairman of that committee.

16. Shaw v. Reno: Supreme Court ruling that House districts cannot be drawn according to race; districts must comply with Voting Rights Act of 1965.

17. Spoils System: patronage

18. Stare Decisis: Latin for “let the decision stand.” Supreme Court policy of following precedent in deciding cases.

19. Sunset laws: laws that automatically expire after a given time.

20. Ways and Means Committee: House committee that handles tax bills.

21. Whistleblower: an employee who exposes unethical or illegal conduct within the federal government or one of its contractors.