Random Presidential Trivia
This president was given a $20 speeding ticket for riding his horse and buggy too fast down a Washington D.C. street.
Who is Ulysses S. Grant?
There are three reported arrests of Ulysses S. Grant by officers of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPD), all for speeding by horse.
The legal doctrine under which courts follow past decisions when deciding cases with similar facts
What is stare decisis?
This case established the power of judicial review, allowing the Supreme Court to strike down acts of Congress or the executive as unconstitutional.
What is Marbury v. Madison?
Three families refused to send their children to public school after the 8th grade, arguing that high school attendance was contrary to their religious manual labor lifestyle and would endanger their salvation. The State of Wisconsin tried to fine them for violating compulsory education laws. What clause and case did this involve?
Under the Free Exercise Clause, the Court ruled in favor of the families in Wisconsin v. Yoder.
This founding document, written under the Articles of Confederation era, created a government so weak it lacked an executive branch, a national court system, and the power to regulate interstate commerce
What is the Articles of Confederation?
Reserved powers are those powers kept by the states under this amendment — which simply states that powers not delegated to the federal government are reserved to the states and the people
What is the 10th Amendment?
This House-specific committee controls the rules and time limits for debate on bills before they reach the full House floor
What is the Rules Committee?
This is the only president to have never been elected by voters to either president OR vice president — he assumed both roles after resignations.
Who is Gerald Ford?
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. assumed the presidency after the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974, and served until 1977. As the second vice president under Nixon, succeeding Spiro Agnew who resigned in 1973, Ford's presidency was overshadowed by the Watergate Scandal. Before his vice presidency, he was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 24 years.
Evidence illegally seized in violation of a suspect's Fourth Amendment rights cannot be used against them in court under this rule
What is the exclusionary rule?
This case established the supremacy of the U.S. Constitution and federal laws over state laws in a dispute over a national bank and state taxes
What is McCulloch v. Maryland?
Constitutional Clause in Engel v. Vitale
The First Amendment's Establishment Clause!
The New York State Board of Regents authorized a short, voluntary prayer for recitation at the start of each school day. A group of organizations joined forces in challenging the prayer, claiming that it violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The New York Court of Appeals rejected their arguments. Engel v. Vitale, was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that it is unconstitutional for state officials to compose an official school prayer and encourage its recitation in public schools.
This Anti-Federalist document warned that a powerful central government posed a dangerous threat to personal liberty and argued for a small, decentralized republic
What is Brutus No. 1?
This type of grant gives states federal money with minimal restrictions on how to spend it — states prefer it over other types of grants for this reason
What is a block grant (states have more flexibility than with categorical grants)?
During long debates or impeachment hearings, on the Senate floor, the only three things members are actually permitted to eat or drink while in session are these. What are these 3 things?
What are water, candy, and milk?
This president banned broccoli from the White House and Air Force One.
Who is George H.W. Bush?
During his tenure as the 41st president of the United States, George H. W. Bush frequently mentioned his distaste for broccoli, famously saying: "I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid. And my mother made me eat it. Now I'm president of the United States. And I'm not gonna eat any more broccoli!"
In March 1990, President George H.W. Bush famously banned broccoli from Air Force One and White House meals. This ban, announced to the American Society of Frozen Food Processors, triggered a lighthearted, nation-wide controversy. California broccoli farmers sent over 10 tons of broccoli to the White House in protest.
This type of congressional power is not explicitly written in the Constitution but is inferred from the Necessary and Proper Clause
What are implied powers?
In this redistricting case, the Court held that federal courts could hear challenges to redistricting plans that may violate the Equal Protection Clause
What is Baker v. Carr?
Facts and Clause of Citizens United
Facts: In the early 2000s, a conservative non-profit produced a scathing documentary titled Hillary: The Movie. The FEC blocked them from airing it, citing a part of the BCRA that banned "electioneering communications" by corporations near an election.
Clause: The Court ruled that under the 1st Amendment, corporate and union funding of independent political broadcasts cannot be limited.
This federalist paper argues that this constitutional feature prevents any one branch from becoming too powerful, using the famous phrase "ambition must be made to counteract ambition"
What is Fed 51?
This is the term for when a president signs a bill into law but attaches a written statement interpreting how the executive branch will implement it
What is a signing statement?
The Supreme Court building has a basketball court on its fifth floor — which is physically higher than the actual courtroom — earning it this punny nickname
What is "The Highest Court in the Land"?
While Supreme Court law clerks regularly play on the court, it is less common for the justices to do so. Near the entrance a sign warns: PLAYING BASKETBALL AND WEIGHT LIFTING ARE PROHIBITED WHILE THE COURT IS IN SESSION.
This president had the most pets during his time at the White House.
Who is Theodore Roosevelt?
He had the most pets of any U.S. president, over 40 animals during his presidency (1901–1909). His White House was home to a variety of animals, including a bear, a badger, a hyena, guinea pigs, a one-legged rooster, Emily Spinach the garter snake, and Algonquin the pony.
This term describes the idea that an implicit agreement exists among people in a society to give up some freedoms in exchange for social order and government protection
What is the social contract?
This case ruled that wearing black armbands in school to protest the Vietnam War was protected speech under the First Amendment
What is Tinker v. Des Moines?
What are the facts and clause of Schenck v US? and what doctrine replaced it's ruling?
The facts: Schenck was the Secretary of the Socialist Party of America. He mailed about 15,000 leaflets to men who had been drafted, calling the draft a form of involuntary servitude that violated the 13th Amendment and urging them to resist. He was charged under the Espionage Act of 1917.
The clause: First Amendment Free Speech Clause.
The holding: The "clear and present danger" test — speech that creates a clear and present danger of producing a "substantive evil" that Congress has the right to prevent is NOT protected, even if that same speech would be protected in peacetime.
The replacement doctrine: Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969) set a much higher bar. The government can now only restrict speech if it is:
This Federalist Paper written by Alexander Hamilton argues that an independent judiciary with life tenure is essential to protect individual rights from legislative overreach.
What is Federalist No. 78?
A president can let a bill die without signing or vetoing it if Congress adjourns within 10 days
What is a pocket veto?
Which former or current Supreme Court Justice got 2 parking tickets from the PPA in 2012?
In 2012, Justice Antonin Scalia was double-parked at the Union League of Philadelphia when the justices’ two cars—"at least one featuring a U.S. Supreme Court Police parking placard”—each received a $31 ticket from the Philadelphia Parking Authority.
Who gifted President John F. Kennedy with a dog in 1961?
Nikita Khrushchev gave the Kennedy's Pushinka (aka Fluffy), who was a puppy of a Soviet space dog named Strelka.
Pushinka arrived at the Kennedy White House after Jacqueline Kennedy had spoken to Khrushchev about Strelka at a state dinner in Vienna. Mrs. Kennedy asked about Strelka's puppies, and one was subsequently sent by Khrushchev to the White House. Pushinka was examined by the Central Intelligence Agency at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center over fears that she might be concealing an implanted listening device. Pushinka was x-rayed, screened with a magnetometer, and inspected by sonogram. She was found to be free of subversive devices.
This constitutional protection ensures that a prisoner cannot be held indefinitely without being brought before a judge to determine if their detention is lawful.
What is Habeas Corpus?
It’s one of the few civil liberties actually written into the original Constitution (Article I), even before the Bill of Rights was added. Abraham Lincoln famously suspended it during the Civil War.
What are the two required caese that, using the process of selective incorporation, applied provisions of the Bill of Rights to the states?
Gideon v. Wainwright
What are the facts of Shaw v. Reno?
Facts: Following the 1990 census, North Carolina created a second majority-minority district that was "no wider than the interstate highway along which it stretched" for 160 miles. Residents sued, claiming the district's only purpose was to ensure the election of a Black representative.
Clause: The Court ruled this violated the Equal Protection Clause because race was the only factor in the "bizarre" redistricting, race cannot be the only factor used in the process.
This is the formal term for when one member of the House of Representatives files a petition to force a bill out of committee and onto the floor
What is a discharge petition?
The Tariff Act of 1883 imposed a duty on imported vegetables but allowed fruit to be imported tax-free. John Nix and his family filed a lawsuit to get their money back, arguing that since a tomato has seeds and grows from a flowering plant, it is botanically a fruit.
In Nix v. Hedden (1893), the Supreme Court was asked to determine whether tomatoes are vegetables or fruits for tariff purposes. What did they rule?
Holding: Tomatoes are "vegetables" and not "fruit" within the meaning of the Tariff Act of 1883 based on the common meaning of those words.
Nix v. Hedden(1893) is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court unanimously held that tomatoes should be classified as vegetables rather than fruits for purposes of tariffs, imports and customs. The Court ruled that in "the common language of the people," these are all vegetables because they are served at dinner with soup or fish, rather than being served as dessert like actual fruits.