American Gov't Final

Front 1

Chief of staff

Back 1

top advisor to the president who also manages the white house staff

Front 2

National Security advisor

Back 2

a top foreign policy and defense advisor to the president who heads the national security counsil

Front 3

divided government

Back 3

control of he executive and the legislative branches by different political parties

Front 4

conference committee

Back 4

-set up to reconcile bills
-if the chief sponser is not on the committee, the bill was not meant to be passed
-pple on the committee:
-pple from the presidents office
-pple specializing in that field
-at the very least the leader of the house and senate get together

Front 5

what is the national security cousil?

Back 5

advise and assist the president on national security and foreign policies

Front 6

executive order

Back 6

a rule of regulation issued by the president that had the force of law, based either on constitutional powers of the president ot congressional statues

Front 7

office of management and budget

Back 7

-gathers and filters budget
-advises the president on how much the administration should prepose to spend for each government program and where the money will come from

Front 8

according to the constitution what powers does the president have when it comes to foreign policy?

Back 8

1. appoints; ambasitors, ministers, consuls - subject to confirmation by the senate
2. manages official contracts
3. negotiates treaties with 2/3 of the senates approval
4. negotiates executive agreements which are not subject to the senates approval
5. preserve, protect, and defend

Front 9

extraordinary rendition

Back 9

kidnapping suspected terrorists and sending them to secret locations

Front 10

what does the president do about the budget?

Back 10

prepares the budget but congress has to approve it

Front 11

what is the difference between parlementary system and separation of powers?

Back 11

parlementary system is when an elected official can be in both the executive and the legislative branches. Separation of powers is the citizens elect officials and the officials elect higher officials

Front 12

gerrymandering

Back 12

redrawing district lines so that it helps a political party or a candidate

Front 13

cloture vote

Back 13

need 60% to overthrough a filibuster in senate

Front 14

filibuster

Back 14

-i am not letting this vote happen

Front 15

iran-contra affair

Back 15

the US trading weapons with iran to free hostages

Front 16

war powers act

Back 16

gave congress more control over the president

not trading with the enemy

Front 17

threshold

Back 17

the minimum % of votes needed to win representation

Front 18

trustee

Back 18

acts on things based on what they think is best, tends not to care what the citizens think

Front 19

which electoral system is better at representing different opinions?

Back 19

parlementary system

Front 20

delegate

Back 20

does exactly what the citizens what him to do

Front 21

coalition governement

Back 21

combining parties on certain issues because there is no clear majority party

Front 22

a hold

Back 22

- i am stopping x
-not for the senate floor
-might be to focus on soemthing more important

Front 23

descriptive representation

Back 23

how the residents of the country are empowered by the government

Front 24

party caucus

Back 24

rallying of a party on either the house floor or the senate floor

Front 25

mark up

Back 25

revising a bill in a committee

Front 26

national security act amendments

Back 26

1.the president must take responsibility
2.has to write out what and why he's going to do it
3.the president has to sign off on it

Front 27

rules committee

Back 27

decides:
-how long the debate is going to be, if there is a debate
-whether to allow amendments to the bill
-rules about amending the bill
-close rule- no amendments
-open rule- allow amendments

Front 28

what advantages do congressional incumbents have?

Back 28

more likely to get reelected

Front 29

what do congressional committees do?

Back 29

1.legislate
a. regulations
b. criminal law
c. how ot pay for it all (power of the purse)
2. oversight
a. over the executive branch
b. committees
3. constituancy/ case work
a. pple call reps for specific problems and they take care of them

Front 30

what does it mean "form a government" ?

Back 30

1. parties go out and try to get other parties to work with them so that they can pass legislation - smaller parties
2. the larger parties offer the smaller parties:
a. ministry positions
b. impact on policy - by adopting thier party platform

Front 31

federal judiciary constraints

Back 31

1.have to wait for a case to coem to them
2. when it does come they have to have a plaitiff that has standing (direct effect on them)
3.circumstances of the case have to be moot (live issue)
4.importance of looking at previous cases and learning from them (precedent)
5.have to stick to the arguments that they were given but can ask questions to get them to make certain arguments

Front 32

how do you become a federal judge?

Back 32

appointed by the president and confirmed by the senate

Front 33

judicial review

Back 33

look over laws and decide whether or not they are constitutional or unconstitutional

Front 34

USA vs nixon

Back 34

watergate

Front 35

is the president subject to criminal and civil judicial proceedings?

Back 35

yes, USA vs Nixon and Jones vs Clinton

Front 36

institutional presidency

Back 36

the permanent bureaucracy associated with the presidency, designed to help the current leader of the office carry out his responisbilities

Front 37

loose contructionist

Back 37

underlying message of hte constitution

Front 38

strict constructionist

Back 38

the original message of the constitution, no changes, and not new interpretations

Front 39

class action suit

Back 39

a suit brought on behalf of a group of pple who are in a situation similar to that of the plaintiffs

Front 40

dissenting opinion

Back 40

the opinion of the judge or judges who are in the minority on a particular case before the supreme court

Front 41

concurring opinion

Back 41

the opinion of one or more judges who vote with the majority on a case but wish to set out different reasons for thier decisions

Front 42

executive privilege

Back 42

a presidential claim that not everything needs to be shared with congress

Front 43

stare decisis

Back 43

"to stand by things decided"
to express the notion that prior court decisions must be recognized as precedents

Front 44

appellate courts

Back 44

court of appeals between state trials and supreme court

Front 45

federal district courts

Back 45

cases involving federal law

Front 46

marbury vs madison

Back 46

the right to declare the actions of the other branches of the government null and void if they are contrary to the constitution

Front 47

how is Roe vs Wade connected to Lawrence vs Texas?

Back 47

equal protection law and right to privacy

Front 48

single member plurality electoral system

Back 48

winner take all

our system for the most part

Front 49

proportional representation

Back 49

voting for more than one person at a time

Front 50

majority-minority districts

Back 50

districts drawn so that a racial minority could have the chance to be in office

Front 51

National security act

Back 51

separation and organization of the US military forces