Elections and Political Parties
What is allocative vs symbolic representation?
Allocative:
When congress people work to secure grants, funds, or major projects for their district
Symbolic:
a way that our representatives try to signal that they are one of us and they stand for the values we do. So they do things to signify this (EXAMPLES?)
What are a few ways in which a bill can be killed before becoming a law?
Speaker or Majority leader can refuse to refer a bill to committee
Senate leadership can refuse to schedule a vote
They can send a bill back to committee
Any senator can filibuster a bill
What are the two main purposes of the State of the Union?
the SOTU sets the political agenda for the next year for the administration.
the SOTU is an opportunity to address the fears/concerns of the people
BONUS: ^^^why is this important this year?
What are some factors which determine a court's jurisdiction over a case?
Subject matter
Location of crime/charges
Parties involved
What is "political socialization"?
how we acquire political beliefs from everything around us, and then internalize those beliefs as a political lens
BONUS: how do we develop this?
What are some of the effects of hyperpartisanship on political parties?
Cooperation with the “other side” is seen as betrayal
Our opponents are demonized
Parties become homogenous and there is no middle ground or real variance; everyone falls into step.
the strategy of putting party first, not tolerating internal dissent, and refusing to compromise has ground American government to a halt
What are the four types of Senate committee?
Standing
Select
Joint
Conference
BONUS: what does a conference committee do?
BONUS: give one example of a standing committee
What are some things an Executive Order CANNOT do?
cannot create a department on his own through an executive order nor can it abolish a department.
cannot violate the Constitution or federal law/statute
cannot create new laws
cannot control state governments in areas reserved to states
cannot command courts or congress to act
cannot allocate or restrict funding
What are some key features of the US common law system? Upon what does "common law" rely?
Common law means “judge made law”.
-Relies on precedent
-Centralized authority
What is a "trigger law"?
Trigger laws are state-level statutes designed to automatically take effect only when a specific, triggering condition is met, like a major SCOTUS opinion.
BONUS: how are trigger laws an effective social movement strategy?
BONUS: give an example of "trigger laws" discussed in this class.
What are the two main forms of gerrymandering?
Packing and Cracking
BONUS: explain each of these
These are government-funded, localized projects secured by politicians to benefit their specific districts, often aimed at winning constituent support or re-election.
Pork barrel projects
BONUS: give examples!
Executive Orders are traditionally used as an "emergency" resort to policy change within the administrative state. Explain how this "emergency" power might exist in tension with the power of the other branches.
-Only Congress writes laws, but sometimes the EO seeks to bypass legislative procedure
-EOs are subject to judicial review, but its impacts often move more quickly than the courts' ability to review them
BONUS: give some examples of EOs which have been challenged for pushing the boundaries of executive power
Why did Hamilton say that the judiciary was the "least dangerous branch"? Be specific.
It holds neither the "purse" nor the "sword".
BONUS: explain
How do social movements strategically work within a federalist system to make social change?
Instead of targeting federal legislation or SCOTUS cases, they focus on changing state laws and constitutions.
BONUS: why is this effective?
Why does one's political party matter to the lawmaking process, once they are elected?
The party with the most members gets to fill important committees and posts
Describe some tensions between local representation and national lawmaking.
Lawmakers have a responsibility to make and pass federal laws but also an obligation to represent the interests of the electorate.
BONUS: examples?
The President may be head of the executive branch, but has powers which can be determined to be "legislative", "executive", and "judicial". Give an example of each.
Legislative: SOTU, veto power
Executive: foreign diplomacy, treaty, commander in chief
Judicial: appointing federal/SCOTUS judges, staffing the DOJ, pardon power
What are some of the pros and cons of the adversarial legal system?
Pros:
It’s socially responsive; puts power into hands of individuals to benefit from restitutive systems
It makes the judiciary more of a part of the governing processes/is how judicial power checks other powers
Holdscorporations accountable
CONS: expensive, tedious, inaccessible, needs caps on damages
What are some criticisms of "rights litigation"?
-focusing on individual rights doesn’t address underlying and persistent harms that community faces: EXAMPLE?
-movements who use their money and energy to fight for a specific right or a specific law may be diverting energy away from broader initiatives in the movement.
- Courts cannot create new rights and can't enforce ones they affirm: EXAMPLE?
What are arguments both for and against gerrymandering?
For: corrects historical racial gerrymandering by redrawing lines and preserving minority votes in a district, "counter-gerrymandering" is necessary when other party does it (EXAMPLE?)
Against: allows politicians to choose their voters rather than voters choosing their representatives, ignores popular will, dilutes minority voting power
BONUS: where does the word "gerrymander" come from?
Explain one way in which Congress checks the President's "judicial" powers.
They hold confirmation hearings for appointments to SCOTUS and the federal bench.
BONUS: what are some ways the Senate can completely derail this process?
🦅⚖️⚔️👛executive order exercise🦅⚖️⚔️👛
[see handout]
What does this executive order do?
Why was this order issued?
What source(s) of authority does it cite?
Who must act – agencies, military, states?
Does this EO exceed its Constitutional authority? Why or why not?
What was the holding in Brown v Board of Education?
Racial segregation of schools deprives the children of the minority group of educational opportunities in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
BONUS: how did they reason this/why did they make this argument?
Explain the advantage of a social movement choosing to focus on litigation as a strategy rather than electoral or legislative politics.
Major SCOTUS cases sometimes jumpstart social movements and bring the struggle for things like civil rights to national attention instead of just local attention or the concern of the effected group.
A case like Brown challenges systemic racism in a way which frames it as a violation of Constitutional rights
Cases like Brown bring movements to the front of the nation's attention, have reverberating effects for other rights (EXPLAIN?)