Making the laws
This is the age you must be to be elected to the House of Representatives
What is 25 years old?
Electors in the Electoral College do not have to do this once voters have expressed who they want to win the presidency
What is follow voters' wishes?
This is the name for an opinion that declares the decision of the Supreme Court and sets precedent
What is the majority opinion?
Why would you want a representative to use one style of representation (trustee, politico, delegate) over another? What types of laws/policy areas do you think goes with each style?
Different styles are more or less representative of constituents' wishes.
Delegate - responsive to voters' wants, better for cases dealing with issues specific to a place/population/directly impacting constituents
Trustee - not responsive to voters' wants, better for issues that require expertise or big-picture knowledge that voters often don't have (e.g. war, public health, etc.)
Politico - mixes both styles, so partially responsive to voters; helpful when needing to moderate public input on an issue
This style of representative combines the trustee and delegate styles; they use expert opinion, party influence, their own opinions, and constituent input to make decisions.
What is a politico?
This citizenship status is required of potential presidential candidates
What is a natural-born citizen?
This person represents the U.S. government in cases before the Supreme Court
Who is the solicitor general?
Why do Supreme Court Justices get nominated by the President and approved by the Senate? Why don't we vote for them?
We want our SCOTUS Justices to be unbiased and a little distant from citizens/other politicians so they can remain objective. If we voted for them, they would probably be more partisan and biased. By having the two other branches work together to nominate and approve them, they are more likely to be qualified for the job and be someone that lots of people agree would be good (even across party lines)
This way of allocating representatives to a state based on population is more beneficial to large states
What is proportional representation?
This type of election allows voters to express whom they want to win the presidency
What is a general election?
This type of jurisdiction is focused on establishing the facts of the case
What is original jurisdiction?
Why do Supreme Court Justices have lifetime appointments? What are the benefits and drawbacks to that?
Letting Supreme Court Justices serve for life allows them to become really good at the job, and make good long-term decisions since they are in this position of responsibility for a long time. They are already legal experts, and develop strong relationships in the Court that help them make good decisions.
They may end up serving well into old age, though, and may no longer be as sharp at the end of their time on the Court. It also means that the Supreme Court is strongly impacted/controlled by past Presidents/Congresses - we can vote out politicians we don't like, but their approved Justices can impact us for decades later!
After a bill passes committee, it goes to this place in either the House or the Senate to be further debated and voted on
What is the floor of the House or Senate?
This type of primary election does not require you to be a registered member of that party to vote in that party's primary
What is an open primary?
This is the other name for federal courts of appeals
What are circuit courts?
How do each of the branches "check" and "balance" each other? What's one example of each branch checking the others? (6 total)
Congress can impeach president, can override veto (with 2/3 vote)
President can veto legislature
President appoints SCOTUS Justices, has power to enforce SCOTUS decisions (or not!)
Congress approves SCOTUS Justices (or not!), has power to fund SCOTUS decisions (or not!)
Supreme Court has power of judicial review over President
Supreme Court has power of judicial review over Congress
This way of allocating representatives to a state does not depend on how big the population is, and is better for small states
What is equal representation?
The President can pardon criminals, except in these types of cases
What are impeachments?
This Latin term refers to following precedent
What is stare decisis?