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22 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Bill of attainder |
a legislative action declaring someone guilty without a trial; prohibited under the Constitution |
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Concurrent powers |
shared state and federal powers that range from taxing, borrowing, and making and enforcing laws to establishing court systems |
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Devolution |
a process in which powers from the central government in a unitary system are delegated to subnational units |
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Elastic clause |
the last clause of Article I, Section 8, which enables the national government “to make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying” out all its constitutional responsibilities |
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Ex post facto law |
a law that criminalizes an act retroactively; prohibited under the Constitution |
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Federalism |
an institutional arrangement that creates two relatively autonomous levels of government, each possessing the capacity to act directly on the people with authority granted by the national constitution |
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Full faith and credit clause |
found in Article IV, Section 1, of the Constitution, this clause requires states to accept court decisions, public acts, and contracts of other states; also referred to as the comity provision |
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Privileges and immunities clause |
found in Article IV, Section 2, of the Constitution, this clause prohibits states from discriminating against out-of-staters by denying such guarantees as access to courts, legal protection, and property and travel rights |
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Unitary system |
a centralized system of government in which the subnational government is dependent on the central government, where substantial authority is concentrated |
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Writ of habeus corpus |
a petition that enables someone in custody to petition a judge to determine whether that person’s detention is legal |
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Cooperative federalism |
a style of federalism in which both levels of government coordinate their actions to solve national problems, leading to the blending of layers as in a marble cake |
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Dual federalism |
a style of federalism in which the states and national government exercise exclusive authority in distinctly delineated spheres of jurisdiction, creating a layer-cake view of federalism |
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General revenue sharing |
a type of federal grant that places minimal restrictions on how state and local governments spend the money |
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New federalism |
a style of federalism premised on the idea that the decentralization of policies enhances administrative efficiency, reduces overall public spending, and improves outcomes |
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Nullification |
a doctrine promoted by John Calhoun of South Carolina in the 1830s, asserting that if a state deems a federal law unconstitutional, it can nullify it within its borders |
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Block grant |
a type of grant that comes with less stringent federal administrative conditions and provide recipients more latitude over how to spend grant funds |
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Categorical grant |
a federal transfer formulated to limit recipients’ discretion in the use of funds and subject them to strict administrative criteria |
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Creeping categorization |
a process in which the national government attaches new administrative requirements to block grants or supplants them with new categorical grants |
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Unfunded mandates |
federal laws and regulations that impose obligations on state and local governments without fully compensating them for the costs of implementation |
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Immigration federalism |
the gradual movement of states into the immigration policy domain traditionally handled by the federal government |
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Venue shopping |
a strategy in which interest groups select the level and branch of government they calculate will be most receptive to their policy goals |
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Race-to-the-bottom |
a dynamic in which states compete to attract business by lowering taxes and regulations, often to workers’ detriment |
