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83 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
Constituency Behavior
Definition:
when representatives do personal favors for people in their district.
Importance:
?
Pork Barrel
Definition:
pejorative (implying disapproval), used by people who don't like that fact that members of congress are trying to get federal money to their district/state.
Importance:
This is an example of how congress is inefficient due to district representation. Instead of thinking as a whole, representatives only think about their district. This is referred to as being "locally oriented". When a budget finally gets to the floor, members of congress immediately try to add appropriations to their district (try to amend it). $16.5 billion in pork barreling in fiscal 2010.
Committee
Definition:
working subgroup of congress specialized by a function.
Importance:
Policy making in congress is fragmented into committees and bills are worked within a specific committee. This is why most bills pass so easily in the house because of committees.
Party Differences in Congressional Voting
Definition:
Americans for Democratic Action(1948)(a liberal association that rates parties on how many policies that they vote for that they approve to be voted on) showed a huge difference between republicans and democrats and on each party voted.
Importance:
This shows that each party doesn't have any discipline, but it is quite clear which party is liberal and which party is conservative.
Patterns of Congressional Leadership
Definition: ?
Importance: ?
Speaker of the House
Definition: The most influential person in the House who is also the leader of the Rules Committee.
Importance:
They choose how each bill is voted upon and how they are made.
Majority Leader
Definition:
The most influential person in the Senate.
Importance: They are less powerful than the Speaker of the House because they the Senate does not have a Rules Committee. Because of this, the Senate has very little control(anarchy).
Health Care Reform Bill
Definition: (2010), general rubric used for discussing major health policy creation or changes—for the most part, governmental policy that affects health care delivery in a given place.
Importance:
It passed very quickly in the house because it has a Rules Committee, but when it went to the Senate, there was a threat of a filibuster, so it got changed to be less liberal. It took over a year to pass the watered down reform bill. This is what the founding fathers wanted. To be inefficient.
Filibuster
Definition:
unlimited talking in the Senate once they are on the floor. They own the floor as long as they can keep talking. This brings the process of lawmaking to a halt.
Importance:
It is an institution at which to stop the majority over the minority. This is not in the constitution. It makes things much more inefficient and makes passing bills very difficult which is what the founding fathers wanted though it is not directly stated in the Constitution.
Veto
Definition:
The president doesn't sign the bill and sends bill back to the original house at which it came and it kills the bill unless each house passes it by 2/3 vote.
Importance:
One of many ways in which the president can potentially get rid of a bill that could be a law.
The Paradox of Congress
Definition:
Congress is very good at serving individual interests, but not serving public interest.
Importance:
This is why congress is so locally oriented. They only care about their individual district instead of thinking of the nation as a whole. They spend money so inefficiently and they have a "compulsion" to get as much money to their individual district as possible.
Logrolling
Definition:
exchanging votes with another representative ("You vote for my policy, and I'll vote for yours").
Importance:
This is a good way in which representatives can get the policy they want for their district. This is extends on the notion that congress is locally oriented.
Distributive Tendency
Definition:
tendency of congress to turn all lawmaking to try to bring in money to their districts.
Importance:
This again extends on the notion of being locally oriented and showing how irresponsible congress can be.
Rider
Definition:
amendment (not germane) that appropriates money to many districts.
Importance:
Shows how irresponsible legislation is. When is bill brought up, regardless of the what the bill was originally brought up for, congress will always try to get money for their district by amending the bill to appropriate money to their district.
African Drought Bill
Definition:
(1984), there was a disastrous drought in Ethiopia/Somalia so a bill was created to alleviate starvation in Africa (About $60 million in aid). There was so much riding in this bill that the budget for the bill increased to $1.1 billion.
Importance:
The riding happened due to the democrats. This is an importance example of how locally oriented and irresponsible congress can be. Instead of thinking about the world as a whole, the representatives were more concerned about getting as much money as possible to their district instead of thinking about the disaster in Africa.
Consolidated Appropriations Act
Definition:
Republican’s have the majority in the house and in the senate, and they have the white house. It was a 388 billion dollar general appropriation bill. This bill was 1,600 pages long. Attached were 11,772 riders. They spent 16 billion dollars.
Importance:
?
NAFTA
Definition:
(1993), a bill that eliminated trade barriers between Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. Bill Clinton was the leading supporter.
Importance:
The bill was passed by the Republicans even though the president was Democratic. Shows how bills can sometimes be passed by the opposing party of the president in congress.
Emergency Economic Stabilization Act
Definition:
(2008), a bill that proposed to appropriate $208 billion to bailout bankers during the Bush Administration referred to as the Bailout of 2008.
Importance:
The bill was passed by the Democrats even though the president was Republican. Shows how bills can sometimes be passed by the opposing party of the president in congress.
Head of State
Definition:
symbolizes the country; our "father" figure who loves us and who everyone mourns when they die.
Importance:
Head of State is powerful when it comes to Domestic Policy because everyone listens to them. The President of the U.S takes advantage of this position to have power in Domestic Policy because the constitution made it so the President was weak in Domestic Policy, yet strong in Foreign Policy. Also, people hardly argue against the Head of State because they feel they would be unpatriotic by doing so.
Head of Government
Definition:
Makes decisions on policies (makes "dirty" deals regarding politics), acts on the things that divide us.
Importance:
The Head of Government is very weak when it comes to Domestic Policy. The president of the US is very special in that they are both the Head of Government and Head of State. The president takes advantage of his position as the Head of State to have power in Domestic Policy because hardly anyone argues against the Head of State.
The Transformation of George W. Bush
Definition:
elected in 2008, as he gave speeches, he had the tendency to have verbal clumsiness and it became very humorous when he gave a speech. People began to wonder if he was smart enough to be president. This all changed though when the 9/11 attacks happened. Everyone now thought that it was wrong to insult the president and you would be unpatriotic if you did so (refer to the "Rally 'round the flag effect"). Bush never changed, but people's perspective of him did. This is only temporary though.
Importance:
Shows how the Head of State position comes into play here. Because the president is both the head of state and the president, in times of trouble, they fall to the person who symbolizes the country which is the president. So even though people hated him, they loved him in times of trouble.
"Commander-in-Chief" Clause
Definition:
clause granted by the constitution that gives the President the position of being in charge of National Defense, and the power to send/receive ambassadors.
Importance:
This is one reason why the President in the position of Head of Government has so much power in Foreign Policy yet is so weak in Domestic Policy.
The Power to Persuade
Definition:
(domestic policy), the president is the "chief bargainer", he can only try to persuade citizens; he has very little power to when it comes to Domestic Policy so he uses his position of Head of State to do so.
Importance:
?
Bully Pulpit
Definition:
Because of Roosevelt, he president is more of a public speaker, but he does not have a lot of influence over public opinion.
Importance:
He is a "superstar", yet he has no influence. This is very ironic.
Gridlock
Definition:
a metaphor to describe the situation in which the the majority of congress is one party and the president is the opposing party and nothing gets done.
Importance:
It shows inefficiency in the system. It seems that nothing is moving, but it is "bumper to bumper" moving.
Capital-Gains Taxes
Definition:
taxes on the profits from investments.
Importance:
Bush's #1 domestic policy was to lower capital gain taxes, but every year he submitted it to congress, it failed due a democratic majority. When referring to domestic policy, the majority party in congress is very important.
Health-care Reform
Definition:
(1993), Bill Clinton promised to institute some type of health insurance. When he submitted his idea at the State of the Union address, both congress and the senate had a democratic majority, yet the bill failed.
Importance:
The bill failed because Clinton was not honest on the actual price of the bill; When revealed, the bill was very complex. Even if the president's power controls congress and public favors the policy, the president himself can still "blow it" (fail).
ANWR
Definition:
(2003,2006): Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. ANWR was explored and oil companies say there is a big oil field in that area and they wanted to drill there, but it is forbidden. In 2003, Bush Jr wanted to pass a bill allowing the drilling of that area and made it his biggest policy of energy resources. Even though he was very popular, it still failed.
Importance:
It failed because more than 60% of Americans consider themselves environmentalists and environmentalists have a good lobbying and had a good PR against it. Even if the president's power controls congress and public favors the policy, the president himself can still "blow it" (fail).
Deep-water Horizon
Definition:
(2010): a huge oil rig blew up in the gulf and on May 1st, Obama issued an order to stop drilling if the water depth was greater than 500 feet.
Importance:
Democrats had the majority in both houses, but the issue was very unpopular along the Gulf and oil companies filed suit against this order. A federal judge issued an injunction lifting the order and drilling resumed, thus the policy failed. Even if the president's power controls congress and public favors the policy, the president himself can still "blow it" (fail).
Opening to China
Definition:
After communists took over China in 1949, Truman broke all diplomatic relations with them, but the Republic of China was recognized as China. Overtime, presidents became less enthusiastic about this policy.Nixon wanted to use China as a counter-weight to the Soviet Union so he took a trip to Romania(communist country) to signal to China that he was okay with communicating with communist countries. China responded by inviting a Chinese team from the US to compete in a ping-pong tournament. Both signals were noticed and a new relationship was created between China and the US. China said that the US must unrecognize the Republic of China but Nixon refused but in 1979, Carter did just that.
Importance:
Neither Nixon nor Carter consulted congress for their actions when they recognized/unrecognize a country. Shows how powerful the president is in foreign policy.
Iran-Contra Affair
Definition:
(1985-86): 1. Reagan sponsored Contras who were attacking the communist country of Nicaragua. Democrats worked a logroll with Reagan but bill only lasted a year and a half and Reagan still wanted to fund the Contras. 2. 8 Americans were taken hostage and Reagan said said he needed to find a way to fund the contras and to get the hostages back so Oliver North(national security agent) sells missiles to Iranians and puts profit back into the treasury and also takes profit from the illegal missile sale and gives it to the Contras. 3. secretly funding the Contras was considered illegal and after a year and a half, the story breaks in 1986 and 11 people are convicted but not Reagan. North has immunity for giving up all information.
Importance:
The president was able to conduct a large but illegal operation without anyone finding out for a year and a half. Yet when it went public, he wasn't convicted. This shows how powerful the president is in foreign policy.
Landing Troops
Definition:
The president can send troops somewhere without Congress's consent without war technically being declared. Examples: (1965) - Johnson landed 22,000 troops in Dom. Republic being afraid that communists would take over. (1980) - Islamic revolution in Iran and they took over the american embassy and took hostages. Carter sent troops as a rescue mission without Congress's consent. [ There are 4 more examples].
Importance:
The president was able to send troops to foreign countries with notifying congress or even obtaining permission from them. This shows just how strong and influential the president is in foreign policy.
"Imperial Presidency"
Definition:
(1945 - ), As of today, the president controls foreign policy but ever since WWII, Congress has occasionally tried to reassert control.
Importance:
?
Korematsu v. U.S
Definition:
In 1941, Japan attacked pearl harbor and in 1942, Roosevelt issued an executive order to round up all Japanese immigrants and put them in concentration camps without any civil rights. Later, Korematsu sued and in 1944 the supreme court approved this action because during war time, they will not second guess the president's action to protect the country.
Importance:
During war, presidents get extraordinary powers, which may depreive many Americans of their civil rights.
Unitary Executive Theory
Definition:
a week after 9/11, Congress passed the equivalent of a declaration of war (a joint resolution) that authorized the president to take any action he’s sees fit to protect the US. Bush's theory stated that any function that protects the country, the president is not subject to checks and balances and doesn't have to pay attention to congress or the supreme court.
Importance:
Shows presidential power expansion in times of turmoil/war time.
Signing Statements
Definition:
when a president signs a bill, he puts on a statement saying parts of this bill may be unconstitutional and reserves authority to enforce/not enforce these parts of the bill.
Importance:
?
Non-political Myth
Definition:
It is a myth that judges are not political [ Am I missing something? ]
Importance:
?
Judicial Review
Definition:
To declare an act constitutional or not.
Importance:
This action that judges can perform shows that they are very powerful.
Partisan Appointments
Definition: ?
Importance: ?
Robert Bork
Definition:
(1987), Bork was a highly extinguished judicial theorist and was appointed to the supreme court by Reagan. Bork was interested in a theory called Original Intent which is making decisions based on what the founding fathers would have decided. Because of this, he objected a lot of proposed laws. Conservatives considered him a hero, but other groups (Feminist, Labor Unions) got together to try to vote against Bork to get him out of office. A new term coined up - "To Bork" is to mount a national campaign against someone to get them out of office.
Importance:
Ever since Bork was removed from office(1987) appointment to the supreme court required campaigning.
Wesberry v. Sanders
Definition: ?
Importance: ?
Roe v. Wade
Definition:
(1973) - prior to 1933, politics on abortion were left to the state legislature. Courts later realized that overall, amendments protect you individually. They came up with an idea that entitled everyone to sexual individual freedom and declared abortion legal and that states couldn't outlaw it.
Importance:
The ruling created an abortion industry and a political opposition to try to outlaw abortion. Also, this was a time when the supreme court took sides in a political issue.
Texas v. Johnson
Definition:
Texas had a law that forbid desecration of the american flag. Citizens in Dallas burned a flag and were arrested. Johnson took up the case. Rulings later stated that unpopular expressions are still protected by the 1st amendment so flag burning is legal.
Importance:
(1989) Federal judges are appointed by life so they are not influenced by public opinion.
Bush vs. Gore.
Definition:
(2000) - Gore was the democratic nominee for president. The election between him and Bush was really close. Whoever won Florida won the electoral vote. Bush won by a 1000 votes so the Gore people asked for a recount. The decision went to the supreme court and they ruled 5-4 not for a recount.
Importance:
This decision was a partisan "insertion". The supreme court took sides in the decision and ultimately decided who was going to be president.
Citizens United v. Federal Election Committee
Definition:
(2010) - McCain Fine Gold Act stated that no corporate campaigning 30 days before the election. Various corporation filed against this and the supreme court ruled that a corporation is indeed a person and that money is speech therefore declaring the act unconstitutional.
Importance:
?
Imperial Legitimacy
Definition:
people who are alarmed by what the supreme court has been doing over the years.
Importance:
Used by people who think judges have too much power and should be elected or lower their power. People argue this goes against democratic theory.
Inflation
Definition:
rising prices across the board and causes the value of the dollar to decrease.
Importance:
The federal reserve board attempts to control the flow of money in the economy thus making sure the dollar does not inflate nor deflate. A lot of people argue that the fed is a too powerful institution to be appointed instead of elected.
Discount Rate
Definition:
interest rate at which the fed loans money to other banks.
Importance:
The fed controls the discount rate and when the economy is bad, they tend to low the discount rate and when the economy is too good, they raise the discount rate. A lot of people argue that the fed is a too powerful institution to be appointed instead of elected.
Monetary Policy
Definition:
deliberately putting more or less money into the economy to stabilize price levels and to not cause inflation.
Importance:
people argue that the fed is too powerful for the people to work there to be appointed; they should be elected . They are a independent central bank.
Independent Central Bank
Definition:
controls money supply and is very powerful.
Importance:
People who like the fed argue that powerful institutions should be led by those who know what they are doing and other argue that there should be more democratic control over the fed.
Bureaucracy
Definition:
government agency created to implement policy.
Importance:
Most if not all bureaucracies are not influenced by outside politics and have a certain amount of freedom.
Bureaupathology
Definition:
create an administrative agency to accomplish some goal, give it money, but later they create there own goals.
Importance:
Bureaucracies alway try to expand their policy and try to be become more powerful then they were originally intended to be.
NATO
Definition:
created in 1949 to stop expansion of the Soviet Union. In 1991, the Soviet Union was disbanded, yet NATO is still active today. After it's original purpose, they are now a peace keeping organization.
Importance:
Shows how bureaucracies acquire goals of their own after their original purpose is complete(Bureaupathology).
Fireman First Principle
Definition:
When legislative proposes a budges cut for a city, they threaten to cut the one thing that threatens the public the most which are the fireman
Importance: ?
Parkinson's Law
Definition:
work expands to fill the time available for it's completion; expenses tend to meet income.
Importance:
This is a law that mostly all bureaucracies tend to follow. This explains why they are so inefficient.
Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion and Dairy Management
Definition:
both are agriculture agencies. Dairy Management's purpose was to get people to eat more cheese(which worked). CNP's policy was to inform people to eat healthy which included to eat less cheese.
Importance:
the agriculture agency was provoking contradictory bureaucracies.
National Intelligence Director
Definition:
many people had information regarding the possible attack of the US(9/11) but refused to share it so the NID was created to make intelligent agencies cooperate(share information).
Importance:
rules become reality for agencies; they think they are succeeding of they follow the rules.
FEMA
Definition:
hurricane Katrina smashed aquarium of the Americas. FEMA gave them $617,000 to get moe fish except the aquarium fished for the fish they needed and it only cost them $100,000. FEMA refused to reimburse the money to save tax payers the other $500,000. Though they later did reimburse the money.
Importance:
Bureaucracies think that if they follow the rules, they will be successful regardless of the situation and circumstances.
Sea Otters
Definition:
there was a huge oil spill near alaska and a lot of birds and mammals got coated in oil so volunteers went down to clean them and some of them were sea otters. since sea otters were considered an endangered species, it was illegal to handle them without a permit, but the volunteers protested enough so they were allowed to help them.
Importance:
Bureaucracies think that if they follow the rules, they will be successful regardless of the situation and circumstances.
Whistle Blower Protection Act
Definition:
?
Importance:
?
Pendleton Act
Definition:
Before 1883, the president could fire/hire any federal worker but this system was later stated as highly party oriented so the civil service came into order that allowed the organization it's self to fire/hire workers(hired by examination).
Importance:
we have a lot of Bureaupathology because of the 2.5 million workers of the government, only 3000 are appointed by the president/politicians.
Peter Principle
Definition:
in a bureaucracy, people tend to be promoted to their level of incompetence.
Importance:
This explains why bureaucracies are so inefficient.
American Postal Workers Union
Definition:
in 2010, the APWU election had to be postponed because most of the ballots were lost in the mail.
Importance:
shows the inefficiency in bureaucracies.
Implementation
Definition:
the act of carrying out a law
Importance:
This is very hard to do due to public opinion and certain circumstances. many hailed failed but some have succeeded.
New Towns Program
Definition:
a program that tried to get low cost government housing for the poor. People in Housing and Urban Development would go over government owned land and declare land surplus(available). As a whole this failed but they couldn't get house contractors to build low cost houses. Ex) HUD chose an old civil war fort but the community around the fort was middle class so the community protested and HUD had to abandon the project.
Importance:
?
Nuclear Waste Policy Act
Definition:
(1982 - ): There are 104 nuclear plants in the US but the one question is always brought up: where to send the nuclear waste? Space? Water? They decided to bury it. but everyone did want it near them(NIMBY). In 2001, congress decided to place nuclear waste in Nevada but they protested tremendously so in 2009 the Obama administration abandoned the dump site and put the waste in containers around the US.
Importance:
local opposition is always destroying policies
Project Apollo
Definition:
(1961 - 1969): JFK stated that the US would send a man to the moon before the end of the decade and it was successful.
Importance:
The project succeeded because it didn't have any opposition unlike the New Towns Program.
Head Start
Definition:
a program that identified poor children before they went to kindergarten and administered by parents in local areas, NOT politicians. The program reaches over 900,000 children a year. since the program, children who enter the program do better in school and are less likely to be arrested.
Importance:
This program was so successful because they avoided opposition of local politics.
60%
Definition:
People have always asked to what extent does the government do what the people want. Political scientists have researched this question and have 3 conditions:
1. ask about what issues the public is aware of. 2. public has to have large majority over policies. 3. people's opinions cannot be irrational. When these conditions are satisfied, then the government agrees with the people about 60% of the time.
Importance:
People argue that it isn't close enough and that the government isn't legitimate.
The "politico" style
• Generally, most legislators hold neither a pure trustee view (that legislators should act as trustees of the broad interests of the entire society; they should vote against the narrow interests of their constituents if their conscience and their perception of national needs so dictate) nor a pure instructed-delegate view ( they should mirror the views of the majority of the constituents who elected them in the first place). Typically they combine both perspectives in a pragmatic mix.
Gerrymandering
• Refers to the tactics that were used under Elbridge Gerry, the governor of Massachusetts, in 1812 elections to draw legislative boundaries. A districts said to have been gerrymandered when its shape is altered substantially by the dominant party to maximize its electoral strength at the expense of the minority.
Authorizations versus appropriations
• Authorization is a formal declaration by the appropriate congressional committee that a certain amount of funding may be available to an agency. The appropriation of funds occurs when the final bill is passed. In this process, large sums are in play, Representatives and senators, especially those who chair key committees, find it easy to slip earmarks, or pork, into a variety of bills. These proposals may have nothing to do with the explicitly stated purpose of the bill.
Clinton v City of New York
• The line-item veto act, which allows the president to veto specific spending provisions of legislation that were passed by congress, was used by President Clinton on multiple occasions. In 1998, the act was challenged in court. The US Supreme Court agreed with the vet’s opponents and overturned the Line Item Veto Act stating that “there is no provision in the Constitution that authorizes the president to enact, to amend, or to repeal statutes.
Youngstown Steel and Tube Company v Sawyer
• President Harry Truman authorized the federal seizure of steel plants and their operation by the national government in 1952 during the Korean War. Truman claimed that he was using his inherent emergency power as chief executive and commander in chief to safeguard the nation’s security, as an ongoing steel mill strike threatened that the supply of weapons to the armed forces. The supreme court did not agree, holding that the president had no authority under the Constitution to seize private property or to legislate such action. According to legal scholars, this was the first time a limit had been placed on the exercise of the president’s emergency powers.
United States v Nixon
• Articles I and II of the Constitution authorize the House and Senate tor remove the president, the vice president, or other civil officers of the US for committing “ Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” The House Judiciary Committee approved articles of impeachment against President Nixon for his involvement in the cover up of the Watergate Break-in of 1972. Informed by members of his own party that he had no hope of surviving the trial in the Senate, Nixon resigned before the full House voted on the articles. Nixon is the only president to have resigned from office.
25th amendment
• In 1967 the 25th Amendment was passed, establishing procedures in the event of presidential incapacity and when filling a vacant vice presidency. The vice president is the constitutional officer assigned to preside over the senate and to assume the presidency in case of death, resignation, removal, or disability of the president.
Stare decisis
• The body of judge-made law that developed under this system is still used today and is known as the common law. The practice of deciding new cases with reference to former decisions—that is, according to precedent—became a cornerstone of the English and American judicial systems and is embodied in the doctrine of stare decisis, a Latin phrase that means “to stand on decided cases.” The doctrine of stare decisis obligates judges to follow the precedents set previously by their own courts or by higher courts that have authority over them. The doctrine of stare decisis provides a basis for judicial decision making in all countries that have common law system. Because we have a common law tradition, in which the doctrine of stare decisis plays an important role, the decisions rendered by the courts also form an important body of law collectively referred to as case law. Case law includes judicial interpretations of common law principles and doctrines, as well as interpretations of constitutional provisions, statutes, and administrative agency regulations. It is up to the courts—and ultimately, if necessary, the Supreme Court—to decide what a constitutional provision or a statutory phrase means. In doing so, the courts, in effect, establish law
FISA
• The federal government created the first secret court in 1978. In that year, Congress passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which established a court to hear requests for warrants for the surveillance of suspected spies. Officials can request a warrant without having to reveal to the suspect or to almost all of the thousands of requests for warrants that officials have submitted. There is no public access to the court’s proceedings or records. In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on 9/11, the Bush administration expanded the powers of the FISA court. Previously, the FISA enacted after 9/11 changed this wording to “a significant purpose,”—meaning that warrants way now be requested to obtain evidence that can be used in criminal trials. Additionally, the court has the authority to approve physical as well as electronic searches, which means that officials may search a suspect’s property without obtaining a warrant in open court and without notifying the subject.
Marbury v Madison
• The power of the courts to determine whether a law or action by the other branches of government is constitutional is known as the power of judicial review. This power enables the judicial branch to act as a check on the other two branches of government, in line with the system of checks and balances established by the US Constitution. The power of judicial review is not mentioned in the Constitution, however. Rather, it was established by the US Supreme Court’s decision in Marbury v Madison. In that case, in which the Court declared that a law passed by Congress violated the Constitution, the Court claimed such a power for the judiciary. If a federal court declares that a federal or state law or policy is unconstitutional, the court’s decision affects the application of the law or policy only within that court’s jurisdiction. For this reason, the higher the level of the court, the greater the impact of the decision on society. Because of the Supreme Court’s national jurisdiction, its decisions have the greatest impact.
Judicial implementation
• Our judicial system is one of the most independent in the world. But the courts do not have absolute independence, for they are part of th political process. Political checks limit the extent to which courts can exercise judicial review and engage in an activist policy. These checks are exercised by the executive branch, the legislature, the public, and finally, the judiciary itself. Judicial implementation is the enforcement of judicial decisions in such a way that those decisions are translated into policy. The Supreme Court simply does not have any enforcement of the other two branches of government.
0.1 percent
• President Jackson’s spoils system survived for a number of years, but it became increasingly corrupt and bloated in size. Civil Service reformers began to look to the example of several European countries—in particular, Germany, which had established a professional civil service that operated under a merit system in which job appointments were based on competitive examinations. In 1883, the Pendleton Act, or Civil Service Reform Act, was passed placing the first limits on the spoils system. The act established the principle of employment on the basis of open, competitive examinations and created the Civil service Commission to administer the personnel service. Only 10 percent of federal employees were covered by the merit system initially. Later laws, amendments, and executive orders, however, increased the coverage to more than 90 percent of federal employees. The effects of these reforms were felt at all levels of government.
FOIA
• 1966, the federal government passed the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which required federal government agencies, with certain requests are helpful not just to individuals.
Whistle-Blower Protection Act
• The term whistleblower as applied to the federal bureaucracy has a special meaning” it is someone who blows the whistle on gross governmental inefficiency or illegal action. Whistleblowers may be clerical workers, managers, or even specialists, such as scientists. Further protection for whistleblowers was provided in 1989, when congress passed the Whistle-Blower Protection Act. That act established an independent agency, the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), to investigate complains brought by government employees who have been demoted, fired, or otherwise sanctioned for reporting government fraud or waste.