Constitutional Clauses
The clause that makes the Constitution and federal law the highest law in the land, overriding state law.
What is the Supremacy Clause?
The 1803 case that established the power of judicial review.
What is Marbury v. Madison?
The standard courts use when a fundamental right or suspect classification is at issue — the government must show a compelling interest
What is strict scrutiny?
The president's power to reject a bill passed by Congress.
What is the veto?
The Senate procedure requiring 60 votes to end debate and force a vote.
What is cloture?
The clause giving Congress power to make all laws "necessary and proper" to carry out its enumerated powers.
What is the Necessary and Proper (Elastic) Clause?
The case that ruled racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional.
What is Brown v. Board of Education (1954)?
The First Amendment protection that prevents the government from punishing speech before it's made.
What is prior restraint?
International agreements made by the president that do NOT require Senate ratification.
What are executive agreements?
he House committee that controls the rules and time limits for floor debate on every bill.
What is the Rules Committee?
The clause that prohibits Congress from establishing an official religion.
What is the Establishment Clause?
The 1971 case in which the Supreme Court ruled the government could NOT use prior restraint to stop newspapers from publishing the leaked Pentagon Papers.
What is New York Times Co. v. United States?
The Miranda v. Arizona decision requires police to inform suspects of these rights.
What is the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney?
This 1973 law limits the president to 60 days of military deployment without congressional approval.
What is the War Powers Resolution?
The type of committee made up of both House and Senate members, formed to reconcile differences in a bill's two versions.
What is a conference committee?
The clause used in McDonald v. Chicago to apply the Second Amendment to the states.
What is the 14th Amendment Due Process Clause
The case that ruled the government cannot sponsor prayer in public schools, based on the Establishment Clause.
What is Engel v. Vitale (1962)?
Tinker v. Des Moines ruled that students don't "shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate" this was the right at issue
What is freedom of speech (symbolic speech)?
The term for the president's role as head of the military, established in Article II.
What is Commander in Chief?
Congress's power to review and oversee the actions of executive agencies.
What is congressional oversight?
The clause that guarantees all citizens equal protection under the law, used in nearly every civil rights case.
What is the Equal Protection Clause (14th Amendment)?
The 2010 case that ruled political spending by corporations is protected free speech under the First Amendment.
What is Citizens United v. FEC?
The legal doctrine, applied through the 14th Amendment, that makes most of the Bill of Rights apply to state governments.
What is selective incorporation?
The informal expansion of presidential power beyond what's written in the Constitution, justified by the Vesting and Take Care Clauses.
What are the informal powers of the President?
The constitutional process by which Congress can remove the president from office the House charges, the Senate tries.
What is impeachment?