U.S. Constitution
This term refers to an official change to the U.S. Constitution. So far, there have been 27.
What are amendments?
What is two (2)?
This title refers to the president's role as the supreme leader of the U.S. military.
Bonus: most recent war officially declared by the U.S. Congress?
What is commander-in-chief?
Bonus: World War II
There have been this many justices (judges) on the U.S. Supreme Court since 1869.
What is nine (9)?
Bonus: animal this party uses as a mascot?
Bonus: elephant
This section of the Constitution states that the Constitution itself, federal laws, and treaties (and by extension, federal court decisions) take priority over conflicting state laws.
What is the Supremacy Clause?
When state governments draw their congressional district maps to favor one political party over another, they are said to be engaging in this practice.
What is gerrymandering?
Every year (typically sometime between January and March), the president gives this speech to Congress in which he reflects on the health of the country and proposes ideas for legislation.
What is the State of the Union Address?
This implied power is used by the Supreme Court to invalidate ("strike down") federal and state laws and executive branch actions which contradict the U.S. Constitution.
What is judicial review?
These elections are used to determine who each party will nominate as their candidate for an upcoming general election.
What are primary elections ("primaries")?
The U.S. Constitution is actually our second constitution. In 1789, it replaced this document which had governed the country for the previous eight years.
Bonus: two weaknesses of the original document?
What were the Articles of Confederation?
Bonus: no power to tax, raise an army, or enforce laws, no federal court system, unanimous consent required to amend, etc.
A great deal of Congress' power comes from this section of the Constitution, which states that they may pass any law that they deem necessary for carrying out their enumerated (written/listed) powers.
What is the Necessary and Proper (Elastic) Clause?
To more efficiently manage the federal government and execute the nation's laws, the president often issues these directives that carry the force of law and do not require approval from the U.S. Congress.
Bonus: two ways in which these may be overturned?
What are executive orders?
Bonus: next president rescinds the order, judicial review, Congress amends/repeals the law the executive order is based on, Congress passes a law circumventing (going around) the executive order
All federal judges (Supreme Court, Courts of Appeal, District Courts) are appointed by the U.S. president and approved/confirmed by this body.
What is the Senate?
This is the number of Electoral College votes a presidential candidate must receive on election night in order to win the presidency.
What is 270? (538/2 = 269; 50% + 1 = 270)
Write out the process used to amend the U.S. Constitution.
Proposal by 2/3 of each chamber of Congress, ratification by 3/4 of states.
Every ten years, this practice is used to redistribute the 435 seats in the House across all 50 states to account for population shifts over time.
This body of over 2.3 million workers is tasked with enforcing and administering the nation's federal laws.
Bonus: Name 2 agencies that work within this organization.
Bonus: EPA, FTC, FCC, FAA, FDA, CDC, etc.
What is incorporation?
Bonus: two other reserved powers?
What are state governments?
These are Congress' powers that are written down in the Constitution rather than implied by the Elastic Clause (example: the power to coin money).
Bonus: list three of them (besides coining money)
What are enumerated powers?
List 2 exclusive powers of the U.S. House.
List 3 exclusive powers of the U.S. Senate.
House: introducing money bills, impeachment, choosing the president if no EC winner
Senate: confirming presidential appointments, approve treaties (2/3), holding impeachment trials, choosing the VP if no EC winner
What are executive agreements?
The U.S. District Courts have this type of jurisdiction, since they hear most federal cases for the first time. The Supreme Court also has this type of jurisdiction in a handful of rare cases.
What is original jurisdiction?
Since the terms of U.S. Senators are staggered, only this many Senators are up for re-election every two years. (#, fraction, or %)
What is one-third? (33/34, 33%)