Legislative
Executive
Judicial
Bureaucracy
Odds and Ends
100
Serves as the presiding officer of the U.S. House of Representatives; second in the U.S. presidential line of succession after the vice president
Who is the Speaker of the House?
100
an international agreement, usually regarding routine administrative matters not warranting a formal treaty, made by the executive branch of the US government without ratification by the Senate
What is an executive agreement?
100
Number of Justices on the Supreme Court
What is 9?
100
An independent regulatory agency within the federal bureaucracy that protects human health and the environment by developing and enforcing regulations.
What is the Environmental Protection Agency?
100
Applies term limits to the office of the president; no one may be elected president more than twice, or serve as president longer than ten years
What is the 22nd Amendment?
200
Sets the rules for debate; exclusive to the House
What is the House Rules Committee?
200
a rule or order issued by the president to an executive branch of the government and having the force of law
What is an Executive Order?
200
The rule of precedent, whereby a rule or law contained in a judicial decision is commonly viewed as binding on judges whenever the same question is presented.
What is Stare Decisis?
200
The permanent, professional branches of government administration. It is a nonpartisan and its employees are hired and promoted based on merit rather than patronage.
What is the Civil Service?
200
Newest cabinet department; protects United States from terrorist attacks, controlling borders, and minimizing damage from natural disasters.
What is the Department of Homeland Security?
300
What is a filibuster and how do you end it?
-procedure exclusive to the Senate in which a Senator "talks a bill to death"
-Cloture which requires sixty votes
300
An annual presidential report required by the Constitution, conventionally delivered as a speech to Congress since 1913 and televised since 1947. The president can use the State of the Union to set their policy agenda and recommend policies to members of Congress.
What is the State of the Union?
300
An early Supreme Court case that affirmed the Court’s power of judicial review by striking down a law made by Congress as unconstitutional. In his written opinion, Chief Justice John Marshall declared that “an act of the legislature repugnant to the Constitution is void.”
What is Marbury v. Madison?
300
An independent regulatory agency within the federal bureaucracy that regulates the stock market and protects investors from fraud.
What is the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)?
300
Programs that provide benefits to individuals are classified as mandatory spending, such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
What are entitlements?
400
Compare and contrast Shaw v. Reno to Baker v. Carr.
400
Compare the Cabinet to the White House Staff.
-The Cabinet requires Senate confirmation, while the WH Staff does not
-The President is typically closer to the WH Staff
400
Compare Judicial Activism to Judicial Restraint.
Judicial Activism: The belief that the role of a justice is to defend individual rights and liberties, even those not explicitly stated in the Constitution.
Judicial Restraint: The belief that the role of a justice is to defer decisions (and thus policymaking) to the elected branches of government and stay focused on a narrower interpretation of the Bill of Rights.
400
Two ways Congress can limit the bureaucracy.
Committee hearings (oversight) and the power of the purse
400
# of Representatives
# of Senators
Term of Rep
Term of Senator
Age minimum for Rep
Age minimum for Senator
435 in the House; 2 year term; 25 years old
100 in the Senate; 6 year term; 30 years old
500
Define trustee, delegate and politico
Trustee: Legislators should consider the will of the people, but act in ways that they believe are best for the long-term interest of the nation
Delegate: Legislators should adhere to the will of their constituents
Politico: Legislators should follow their own judgment until the public becomes vocal about a particular matter, at which point they should follow the dictates of constituents; hybrid of trustee and delegate models
500
What checks does the Executive Branch have on the Legislative Branch? Judicial?
What checks do the Judicial and Legislative Branches have on the Executive Branch?
500
List 4 of the 5 checks on the Supreme Court
1-Congressional legislation to modify the impact of prior Supreme Court decisions
2-Constitutional amendments
3-Judicial appointments and confirmations
4-The president and states evading or ignoring Supreme Court decisions
5-Legislation impacting court jurisdiction
500
List and describe the three parts of an Iron Triangle.
500
Describe Federalist 78. (I'm looking for three key points).
written by Alexander Hamilton. In this essay advocating for the ratification of the US Constitution, Hamilton describes the proposed form for the new government’s judicial branch. He argues that judges should serve for life pending good behavior to ensure judicial independence, and that the judicial branch will be the “least dangerous” branch of government since it can neither wage war nor collect taxes. Hamilton also provides an early argument for the power of judicial review, stating that the courts’ duty is “to declare all acts contrary to . . . the Constitution void.”