Federalism and the Constitution
Define constitution
How long do Representatives and Senators serve?
2 and 6 years
What are the term length, term limit, and qualifications for president?
4 years, 2 terms, 35, natural citizen, 14 years resident
Define Bureaucracy
Offices, tasks, rules, principles of organization that coordinate the work of their personnel
What is term length, limit, and number of justices for the Supreme court?
Lifetime (and thus no limits), 9
How many words are in the US constitution, including amendments?
7591
Define federalism
Separation of powers/responsibility between levels of government
What are the qualifications for House and Senate?
House: 25, 7 years citizen, resident of state. Senate: 30, 9 years citizen resident of state
What is the Institution of the Presidency
Institutional positions that support the President
True or false: The federal bureaucracy has grown in recent years.
False
What is judicial review?
Ability of SCOTUS to declare laws unconstitutional
What number congress are we on?
119
Contrast Dual, Cooperative, and New Federalism
Dual- separate powers, Cooperative-shared powers, new- return to dual
Why was states setting federal term limits declared unconstitutional?
States can’t change federal requirements
Contrast inherent and implied powers.
Inherent are because they are associated with the nature of being the president, implied are implied/ derived from other powers the Constitution specifically grants.
Name one reason to delegate to powers to the bureaucracy and one reason not to delegate
To: Policy experts, update rules more, and washes hands of responsibility. Not to: Principal agent problem (differences in personal incentives, asymmetric information, and hidden actions)
What is the difference between a concurring and dissenting opinion?
Concurring agrees with majority but stressing specific issue (regular) or disagree with logic (special). Dissenting disagrees with majority.
How many presidential elections have we had?
60
Contrast federal, unitary, and confederal systems.
Federal (power constitutionally divided between national and state governments) US*, unitary (power concentrated in the national government), confederal (independent states join together to delegate powers to a common regional authority who has power)
Explain why the differences in term length and reelection frequency between the House and the Senate.
House short term passions, Senate long term values
Name 2 legislative powers of the president.
Agenda setting state of the union, agenda setting via budget, veto
Pick one of the following and describe how they oversee the bureaucracy: Congress, judiciary, interest groups, workers/citizens.
Congress oversees the bureaucracy by passing laws, delegating responsibilities, and monitoring how agencies implement and enforce those laws. Congress can hold hearings, investigate agencies, control funding, and change laws if agencies are not following congressional intent. This helps address the principal-agent problem, where bureaucracies may carry out policies differently than Congress intended.
List 2 ways the US judiciary system is different than other systems.
Common law system, judicial review, strong presumption of innocence, fairness of procedure over outcome, individual over society
What is Donald Trump’s Middle name?
John
Congressional powers (and thus, federal powers) have grown via two avenues. Describe one of those avenues
Expansion through implied powers, expansion through getting into state matters
Walk me through the federal law making process beginning with a bill being introduced in the House.
Sent to clerk, committee, subcommittee, committee, floor vote, other house repeats, sent to president
Executive powers has grown via two avenues. Describe one of those avenues.
Going public and administrative strategy
Name three of the four responsibilities of the bureaucracy.
Innovate, implement, make rules, enforce
Discuss why the judiciary should be independent and how it is designed to be independent.
Don’t want judiciary beholden to people or other branches
Who is the current speaker of the house?
Mike Johnson