AP U.S. Government and Politics - Unit 2 Flashcards

Unit Overview

Unit 2 focuses on the interactions among the branches of government.
It emphasizes the complexity of policymaking, involving multiple governmental institutions and actors.
Students explore issues and policies from various perspectives.
The Constitution grants specific powers to Congress, the presidency, and the courts.
Each branch also exercises informal powers developed through political practice, tradition, and legislation.
Distributed power and checks prevent any single branch from overreaching.
Institutional actors must compete and cooperate to govern.
AP Exam Weighting: 25-36%
Class Periods: ~28/~14

Skills Development

Supreme Court Case Analysis:
- Focus on constitutional issues applied by justices.
- Connect case details to other sources.
Data Analysis:
- Identify data from different types of graphs.
- Identify data, patterns, and trends.
- Draw conclusions.
- Link data to political behaviors within different branches of government or budgets of bureaucratic agencies.
Comparisons:
- Identify relevant categories of comparison.
- Avoid irrelevant similarities and differences.
- Explain the significance of similarities or differences.

Big Ideas

Constitutionalism:
- Which branch of government is the most powerful and why?
- Are there effective checks and balances when one party controls all three branches?
Competing Policymaking Interests:
- How has the evolution of government powers affected Americans and their daily lives?

Unit Topics

Congress: The Senate and the House of Representatives

Learning Objective: Describe the different structures, powers, and functions of each house of Congress.
Essential Knowledge:
- Republicanism is reflected in the bicameral structure of Congress.
  - The Senate represents states equally.
  - The House represents the people.
- Membership size influences the formality of debate.
  - House (435 members): more formal.
  - Senate (100 members): less formal.
- Interactions in Congress are affected by the two-party system and term lengths.
  - Senate: One-third elected every two years (continuous body).
  - House: All members elected every two years.
- Enumerated and implied powers allow Congress to participate in public policy:
  - Passing a federal budget, raising revenue through taxes, borrowing, and coining money.
  - Declaring war and funding the armed forces.
  - Determining naturalization processes.
  - Regulating interstate commerce.
  - Creating federal courts and their jurisdictions.
  - Enacting legislation under the Necessary and Proper Clause.
  - Conducting oversight of the executive branch, including federal agencies.

Structures, Powers, and Functions of Congress

Learning Objective: Explain how the structure, powers, and functions of both houses of Congress affect the policymaking process.
Essential Knowledge:
- Senate and House structures and powers differ by design, affecting the legislative process.
- Both chambers refer bills to committees for hearings, debates, revisions, and additions.
  - Committee leadership is determined by the majority party.
- Chamber-specific rules and procedures:
  - House:
    - Speaker is elected by the majority.
    - Revenue bills originate in the House.
    - Rules Committee sets debate rules.
    - Committee of the Whole expedites debate.
    - Discharge petition can bring a bill to the floor (rarely used).
  - Senate:
    - Bills brought to the floor by unanimous consent.
    - Senators can request a hold on a bill.
    - Filibuster: prolong debate to delay or prevent a vote.
    - Cloture: ends a debate.
- Conference committee reconciles differences in bills passed by both chambers.
- Congress generates a budget with mandatory and discretionary spending.
  - Mandatory spending: required by law (e.g., Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid).
  - Discretionary spending: approved annually (e.g., defense, education, infrastructure).
  - Growing entitlement costs decrease discretionary spending opportunities unless tax revenues increase or the budget deficit increases.
- Pork-barrel legislation and logrolling affect the legislative process.

Congressional Behavior

Learning Objective: Explain how congressional behavior is influenced by election processes, partisanship, and divided government.
Essential Knowledge:
- Ideological divisions between parties influence congressional behavior and governing effectiveness.
  - Partisan voting and polarization can lead to gridlock.
- Gerrymandering, redistricting, and unequal representation have been addressed by Supreme Court cases allowing equal protection challenges to redistricting.
- Divided government can intensify partisanship.
  - Members may vote against presidential initiatives and appointments, especially for a lame-duck president.
- Accountability to constituents is affected by how representatives perceive their roles:
  - Trustee: votes based on own knowledge and judgment.
  - Delegate: votes based on constituents' interests.
  - Politico: uses a combination of trustee and delegate roles.

Roles and Powers of the President

Learning Objective: Explain how the president can implement a policy agenda.
Essential Knowledge:
- Presidents use powers and functions with support from the Vice President, Cabinet, and Executive Office of the President to accomplish a policy agenda.
- Presidential powers include formal and informal powers.
  - Formal Powers:
    - Vetoes and pocket vetoes check Congress (2/3 vote override).
  - Foreign policy powers: commander-in-chief and treaties.
  - Informal Powers:
    - Executive agreements.
    - Bargaining and persuasion secure congressional action.
    - Executive orders manage the federal government.
    - Signing statements inform Congress and the public of the president’s interpretation of laws.

Checks on the Presidency

Learning Objective: Explain how the president’s agenda can create tension and frequent confrontations with Congress.
Essential Knowledge:
- Senate confirmation is an important check on appointment powers.
  - Potential for conflict based on presidential appointments:
    - Cabinet members
    - Ambassadors
    - Some positions within the Executive Office of the President
    - Supreme Court Justices, Court of Appeals judges, and District Court judges
- Senate confirmation is an important check, and the president’s longest-lasting influence lies in life-tenured judicial appointments.
- Policy conflicts with the congressional agenda can lead the president to use executive orders and directives to the bureaucracy.

Expansion of Presidential Power

Learning Objective: Explain how presidents have interpreted and justified their use of formal and informal powers.
Essential Knowledge:
- Federalist No. 70 justifies a single executive.
  - A strong executive is essential for protecting the country, administering laws, protecting property, and ensuring liberty.
- The Twenty-Second Amendment demonstrates concern about the expansion of presidential power.
  - Established presidential term limits.
- Different perspectives on the presidential role continue to be debated.
  - Limited vs. expansive interpretation and use of power.

Presidential Communication

Learning Objective: Explain how communication technology has changed the president’s relationship with the national constituency and the other branches.
Essential Knowledge:
- Presidential communication's impact has increased with advances in communication technology.
  - Modern technology (e.g., social media) allows for rapid responses to political issues.
  - State of the Union messages and the president’s bully pulpit are tools for agenda setting.
    - Use media to influence public views on important policies.

The Judicial Branch

Learning Objective: Explain the principle of judicial review and how it checks the power of other branches.
Essential Knowledge:
- The foundation for the powers of the judicial branch and its independence is set forth in:
  - Article III of the Constitution
  - Federalist No. 78

The Role of the Judicial Branch

Learning Objective: Explain the role of legal precedent in judicial decision-making.
Essential Knowledge:
- Stare decisis (following legal precedents) plays an important role in judicial decision-making.
- Ideological changes in the Supreme Court's composition have led to establishing new or rejecting existing precedents.

The Court in Action

Learning Objective: Explain how life tenure can lead to debate about the Supreme Court’s power.
Essential Knowledge:
- Life tenure for justices allows the Court to function independently of the current political climate.
  - The Court can deliver controversial or unpopular decisions, leading to debate about its power.

Checks on the Judicial Branch

Learning Objective: Explain how the exercise of judicial review can lead to debate about the Supreme Court’s power and how other branches can limit the Supreme Court’s power.
Essential Knowledge:
- Political discussion about the Supreme Court’s power is illustrated by debates over differing interpretations of judicial review.
  - Judicial activism: judicial review allows courts to overturn precedent or invalidate legislative/executive acts.
  - Judicial restraint: judicial review should adhere to current precedent.
- Restrictions on the Supreme Court are represented by:
  - Congressional legislation to modify the impact of prior Supreme Court decisions
  - Ratification of a Constitutional amendment
  - Judicial appointments and confirmations which may shift the ideological balance of the court
  - The president and states delaying implementation of a Supreme Court decision
  - Enacting legislation to limit the cases the Supreme Court can hear on appeal by removing the court’s jurisdiction over a case

The Bureaucracy

Learning Objective: Explain how the bureaucracy carries out the responsibilities of the federal government.
Essential Knowledge:
- The federal bureaucracy is composed of departments, agencies, commissions, and government corporations that implement policy by:
  - Writing and enforcing regulations
  - Issuing fines
  - Testifying before Congress
  - Forming iron triangles (alliances of congressional committees, bureaucratic agencies, and interest groups)
  - Creating issue networks (temporary coalitions to promote a common issue)
- The civil service primarily uses a merit system.
  - Prioritizes hiring and promotion based on professionalism, specialization, and neutrality.
  - Opposed to political patronage (politically appointed jobs).

Discretionary and Rulemaking Authority

Learning Objective: Explain how the federal bureaucracy uses delegated discretionary authority for rulemaking and implementation.
Essential Knowledge:
- The federal bureaucracy uses discretionary power delegated by Congress to interpret and implement policies.
  - Through rulemaking authority, agencies utilize discretion to create and enforce regulations.
  - Examples include: Department of Homeland Security, Department of Transportation, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Education, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Federal Elections Commission (FEC), and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Holding the Bureaucracy Accountable

Learning Objective: Explain how Congress uses its oversight power in its relationship with the executive branch and how the president ensures that executive branch agencies and departments carry out their responsibilities in concert with the goals of the administration.
Essential Knowledge:
- Congressional oversight of the bureaucracy includes:
  - Review, monitoring, and supervision of bureaucratic agencies
  - Investigation and committee hearings
  - Power of the purse
- Congressional oversight serves as a check of executive authorization.
- Presidential ideology, authority, and influence affect how executive branch agencies carry out the goals of the administration.
- Compliance monitoring ensures funds are used properly and regulations are followed.
  - Compliance monitoring can pose a challenge to policy implementation.

Policy and the Branches of Government

Learning Objective: Explain the extent to which governmental branches can hold the bureaucracy accountable given the competing interests of Congress, the president, and the federal courts and Explain how the distribution of powers among the three branches of government impacts policymaking.
Essential Knowledge:
- Formal and informal powers of Congress, the president, and the courts over the bureaucracy are used to maintain its accountability.
- The allocation of powers creates multiple access points for stakeholders and institutions to influence public policy.
- National policymaking is constrained by the sharing of powers between the three branches.