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34 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Presidency Formal powers of the president? How are presidents constrained in their formal powers? |
1)pardon offenders, veto, nominate justices, appoint diplomats and ambassadors, nominate cabinet, nominate SC Justices, make treaties, commander in chief, state the union address, take care laws 2)must get approval from senate, sharing powers, veto can be override
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Informal/Inherent powers of the president |
send troops to war even without formally declaring war, executive agreement, executive privilege, give executive orders |
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How have presidents construed their broad constitutional provisions differently? |
Separate institutions sharing powers, senate must confirm SCJs or Cabinet nominations, congress can override pres. veto w/ 2/3s vote in H/S, Congress declares war, 2/3s vote of senate to make treaties, Federalism (states have the power to determine policy for themselves (10th A) |
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Constitutional powers of the vice-president
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No formal powers were given in the Constitution. Given responsibility as the president of the senate with the right to cast a vote to break a tie. However, no formal executive power given unless the president leaves office for some reason, in which case the VP would take on the Presidents duties.
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Contradictions of the president
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High expectations, but formal resources. Ordinary but extraordinary. Listen, but lead. Listen to the public, but cant do much.
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Why has presidential power grown?
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Individual leadership(silences in the constitution allow individuals to redefine prez power) public expectations, congressional delegation of authority, crisis moments, Congress is encouraging it
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Take-care clause of the Constitution
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the president should oversee the bureaucracy, presidential legislation(typically mundane, sometimes major), Executive agreements(like treaties but don't require 2/3s)
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Commander-in-chief clause of the Constitution
What does this enable the president to do? |
Gives president ability to be able to respond quickly during a crisis events
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Why would Congress ever delegate authority to the executive branch? |
so they don’t have to make unpopular decisions or decisions that won't benefit them with getting reelected
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1) Persuasion techniques
2) Why is it important for presidents to be persuasive? |
1)-Inside the beltway bargaining: bargaining with Washington DC insiders; less common
-Going public -Approval ratings 2) So they can get reelected and make proper decisions |
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Executive office of the President What are their duties? |
Collection of nine organizations that help the president with policy and political objectives |
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Rally-around-the-flag effect |
increased short-run popular support of the President of the United States during periods of international crisis or war. |
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Four main bureaucratic “types” |
1. cabinet departments :Departments of __ 2. Independent Executive Agencies: outside of cabinet, closer to Pres demands for swift and effective action (NASA, CIA, EPA); report directly to the pres. (confirmed by senate) 3.Independent Regulatory Commissions: independent from pres and politicians; deal w/ complex economic/ technical issues (which Congress cannot reap benefit from making these decisions); Federal Elections Commission. Federal Reserves Board 4.Government Corporations: operate in a vague area between public and private sector (USPS); designed to be self supporting |
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1)Ideal-type bureaucracy 2)Characteristics3)Why does the bureaucracy fail to conform to this ideal? |
1)hierarchical, division of labor, consistent rules, meritocracy 2)rigid set of rules & procedures means they make decisions that are inappropriate to personal situations (security at airports) |
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Merit vs. spoils system |
a system of governing in which (merit): jobs are given based on relevant technical expertise and ability to perform or (spoils): political positions and benefits are given to friends of those in power |
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marrying the natives |
finding out the goals of the bureaucracy and advocating them more so than the president's |
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bureaucratic rule making and adjudication -what does this consist of |
-rule making is deciding exactly what the laws passed by Congress mean and how they should be carried out -adjudication is the process of deciding if a rule has been violated |
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theories of bureaucratic behavior |
budget-maximizing: bigger budgets -> bigger/more important programs -> more power, prestige, opportunity for advancementutility-maximizing: highlighting successes and downplaying failures because doing so increases chances of advancement because legislatures will be misled into thinking they're capable of performingbounded rationality: humans will look for a solution to satisfice and take the first satisfactory option even if it's not the best option because it is "good enough" and little incentive is present to continue searching |
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politics of agency creation 1)how does democratic politics contribute to bureaucratic problems? 2)how are bureaucracies created? |
1) bureaucracy is meant to serve the democracy but it cannot be expected to abide by the principle of democracy because it is not democratic, so they're inefficient and contradictory 2) by congress?? they're inefficient because there are multiple goals stemming from a democratic system and they have to negotiate with too many competing interests |
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agency capture why is this problematic |
when an agency operates for the benefit of those who it's supposed to regulate (hiring foxes to guard the hen house) it's problematic because it raises questions about the ability of the bureaucracy to uphold the principles. however, there is little hard evidence that it is a widespread problem |
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Legislative veto |
-allows Congress to reject a proposed action by a public agency - ruled unconstitutional, but still used |
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How to limit bureaucratic drift What can presidents & congress do? |
-Pres. nomination power(but pres. nominates less than 1% of bureaucrats and appointees may marry thenatives -building in appropriatestructures and engage in police patrol oversight -fire alarm oversight |
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Federal register What is this? |
Where rules must be published before being implemented |
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Fire-alarm oversight How does this differ from police patrol oversight? |
-instead of constant monitoring like with police patrol is more reactive - rules/regulations must be published in the Federal Register first interest groups will pull the fire alarm |
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Red-tape What is this? |
Rules and regulations imposed on a democracy |
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Iron triangles What does this consist of? why is it problematic? |
-mutual relationships btwn agencies, MCs and interest groups - interdependent -bureaucrats give MC info and help w/ constituents complaints/request; MC give bureaucrats bigger budgets and favorable legislation; interest groups help w/ campaign contributions and advocate for things 2)it's problematic because it is a "government within a government" and what each actor has to offer isn't going to whoever deserves it |
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Judiciary Structure of federal judiciary |
§ -intended to be theleast influential branch-SC is only Judicial body mentioned in Constitution -3 levels of federal courts: ----1.District courts: 95; criminal and civil casesinvolving fed. law; hears about 300Kcases annually; where most cases begin& end; at least 1/state ----2.Courts of Appeal: 13; defendants who lose cases indistrict courts; about 60K annually; appellate jurisdiction (review lowercourts cases) ----3. Supreme Court: final court of appeals; originaljurisdiction on dispute bwtn states; about 100 cases annually (less than 1%) |
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Judicial review How was this established? |
the doctrine under which legislative and executive actions are subject to review (and possible invalidation) by the judiciary est. by Marbury v. Madison |
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Qualifications to serve as a Supreme Court Justice How are justices chosen to serve? |
Having same ideological belief as president |
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How the Supreme Court decides which cases to hear What is the process? |
rule of 4 writ of certiorari; amicus curiae briefs; oral arguments; meet in private to discuss cases |
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Amicus curiae briefs What are these? |
friends of the court interest groups makes an argument for why a case should be heard |
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Precedent/Stare Decisis What does this mean? |
this stand as decided earlier rulings with different cases |
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Majority/Concurring/Dissenting opinions What’s the difference between these three? |
-Majority when the majority (5 or more of the nine justices) write an opinion on an issue and that opinion is the one that prevails. ---- ----------Dissenting the other justices who disagreed with the majority opinion sometimes write a dissenting opinion to express their disagreements(dissent). -Concurrence Sometimes, you have justices who agree with the ultimate decision madeby the majority, but disagree as to the reasons why they came to that ultimatedecision |
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Current composition of the Supreme Court |
Conservatives 1.Alito 2.Roberts 3.Thomas 4.Scalia Liberals 1.Kagen 2.Sotomayor 3.Ginsburg 4.Breyer Swing vote 1. Kennedy |
