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OCCC AFG Unit 3
Alan j. Cook Lecture Note Flashcards
90
Political Studies
Undergraduate 1
03/07/2012

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Cards

Term
What are the qualifications to be in the House of Representatives and how long is one term?
Definition

must be 25 years old and have been a citizen for 7 years

term is 2 years

Redistricts every 10 years

Term
What are the qualifications to be in the senate and how long is one term?
Definition

must be 30 years old and have been a citizen for 9 years

term is 9 years

Term
What are the qualifications to be president?
Definition

Must be 35 and have been a natural citizen your whole life

term is 4

max terms is 2

Term
How many members were in the House of Representatives in 1911?
Definition
435
Term
How many memebers are in the house of representatives now?
Definition
435
Term
What is Reapportionment?
Definition
federal act that reapportions representatives based on population size
Term
What is redistricting?
Definition
Process whereby state legislatures redraw boundaries of congressional districts in the state to make them equal in population size.
Term
What is gerrymandering?
Definition
Redistricting that blatantly benefits one political party over the other or concentrates the voting impact of racial or ethinic groups.
Term
What is the 12th amendment?
Definition
Seperate ballots are used for president and vice president.
Term
What is the 16th amendment?
Definition
Gives congress the right to have an income tax
Term
What is the 17th amendment?
Definition
people of the state elect the senate not legislators
Term
What is the 19th amendment
Definition
Gave women the right to vote
Term
What is the 22nd amendment?
Definition
Put a limit on presidential terms
Term
What is impeachment?
Definition
Process whereby the House brings charges against the president or other elected officials that will upon conviction by the senate remove him from office
Term
How many presidents have been impeached?
Definition
0
Term
What happened in Marbury vs. Madison?
Definition
Established the concept of judicial review
Term
Who is the president of the Senate?
Definition
The vice president.
Term
What is a standing committee?
Definition
Permanent committee in the House or Senate
Term
What is a select committee?
Definition
Committee in the House or Senate that has very limited powers over a specific issue
Term
What is a special committee?
Definition
Committee formed to address a specific issue area or controversy, typically for a defined period of time
Term
What is a conference or joint committee?
Definition
Committee that includes members of both the House and Senate
Term
What is a filibuster?
Definition
A delay tactic of extended speech designed to delay or block passage of a bill in the Senate
Term
What is cloture?
Definition
Vote that can stop a filibuster and bring debate on a bill to an end
Term
What is a pocket veto?
Definition
Automatic veto that occurs when congress goes out of session within 10 days of submitting a bill to the president and the president has not signed it
Term
What is the succession of the presidency?
Definition
President, Vice President, Speaker of the House, President pro tempore of the Senate, Secretary of State.
Term
What is the executive priviledge?
Definition
Presidents right to engage in confidential communications with his advisers
Term
Who has the power to declare war?
Definition
Congress
Term
What is a federal administration?
Definition
Federal organization responsible for running or administering a federal program.
Term
What is a Federal Commission?
Definition
Federal organization with a narrow scope of authority over a specific area of jurisdiction
Term
What is a federal corporation?
Definition
Federal organization that is similat to a business in that it provides a service or commodity for a price to the public but also recieves federal funding
Term
What was the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1881?
Definition
Government jobs should be awarded based on merit
Term
What is the adversary process?
Definition
Confrontational legal process under which each party presents its version of events
Term
What is trial by jury?
Definition
Method of placing the determination of issues of fact in trial into the hands of fellow citizens
Term
What is judicial review?
Definition
Authority of courts to declare laws passed by congress and acts of the executive branch to be unconstitutional
Term
What is a writ of certiorary?
Definition
Request to the supreme court that it reviews a lower court case
Term
What is a criminal case?
Definition
Government prosecution of an individual for breaking the law
Term
What is a civil case?
Definition
Lawsuit by a person, organization, or government against another person, organization, or government
Term
What is statuatory law?
Definition
Written law
Term
What is common law?
Definition
judge made law in england and USA that results from gaps in statuatory law
Term
How many courts of appeal are there?
Definition
13
Term
What is jurisdiction?
Definition
Lawful authority of a court to hear a case
Term
What is original jurisdiction?
Definition
Authority to hear a case directly from a petitioning party as in a trial
Term
What is appellate jurisdiction?
Definition
Authority of a court to hear cases on appeals from lower courts
Term
Who nominated Sandra de OConnor?
Definition
Ronald Raegan
Term
Who nominated Sonia Sotomayor?
Definition
Bill Clinton
Term
What is judicial activism?
Definition
Judges who go beyond what the law requires and seek to impose their own policy preference on society through their judicial decisions
Term
What is judicial restraint?
Definition
Respecting the decisions of other branches or  through the concept of precedent the decisions of earlier judges
Term
Where do bills for revenue originate?
Definition
In the House of Representatives
Term
What is the War Powers Resolution of 1973?
Definition
stated the president has 48 hours to tell congress he has sent troops. congress then has ten days to decide if no the president must withdraw the troops in 90 days
Term
What is the only formal leadership position in the constitution?
Definition
Speaker of the House
Term
What are the duties of the speaker of the house?
Definition
appoints all committee chairmen, approve all members committee assignments, and refers bills to the committee's
Term
What does the Majority leader do?
Definition
works with the speaker of the house to decide which issues the party will consider and coordinates with committee leaders on holding hearings and reporting bills to the House floor
Term
What do whips do?
Definition
Whip up support for bills
Term
What is the President Pro Tempore?
Definition
person who is in place of the president of the senate
Term
What are the duties of the Pro Tempore?
Definition

recognizing individual senators who wish to speak

breaking ties

rules which motions are in order

Term
Who is the Committee Chair?
Definition
Majority party member who leads committees
Term
What is markup?
Definition
Process where bill are written by members of the congressional committee
Term
Who is the Ranking member?
Definition
Leader of minority party
Term
What is the advocacy caucus?
Definition
Group of members of congress from both parties who share a common background, economic interest, or opinion on an issue that reflects their constituients interests
Term
Who is the Hous Rules Committee?
Definition
Gatekeeping committee that sets the guidelines for debating, changing, and voting on a bill.
Term
What is Franking priviledge?
Definition
Special free mail that a House or Senate member can use to send letters to constituents
Term
What is bully pulpit?
Definition
Nickname for the power of the president to use the attention associated with the office to persuade the media, congress, and the public to support his policy positions
Term
What is clemency?
Definition
General power of president to grant mercy for a federal criminal offense
Term
What is a commutation?
Definition
Decision to shorten a federal prison sentence
Term
What is executive order?
Definition
presidential directive that usually involves implementing a specific law
Term
What is the federal budget?
Definition
Budget of all federal programs, typically released in early Feb.
Term
What is the federal budget deficit?
Definition
difference between the amount of money the federal government spends and the amount it receives from revenue
Term
What is a veto?
Definition
authority of the president to block legislation passed by congress
Term
What are term limits?
Definition
number of elected terms an official may serve
Term
What is the State of the Union Address?
Definition
Speech given by the president to congress every January on the condition of the country
Term
What is the National Security Council?
Definition
The presidents personal set of advisors on international security
Term
What is the court packing plan?
Definition
FDR proposal to add new justices to the supreme court so that the supreme court would uphold his policies
Term
What is the Great Society?
Definition
Lyndon B. Johnsons program for expanding the federal social welfare programs in health care, education, housing, and poverty.
Term
What was the New Deal?
Definition
FDR program for ending the Great Depression through government intervention in the economy and a set of safety net programs for workers
Term
How many cabinet level departments are there?
Definition
15
Term
What is the cabinet?
Definition
Set of executive departments responsible for carrying out federal policy in specific issue areas
Term
What is the cabinet secretary?
Definition
head of a cabinet dept. and chief advisor to the president on the issue under the dept. jurisdiction
Term
What is the civil service?
Definition
system of employment in the federal bureaucracy under which employees are chosen and promoted based on merit
Term
What are career civil servants?
Definition
Federal employees hired through a merit based system to implement federal programs and who are expected to be neutral in their political affiliations
Term
What did the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 do?
Definition
Replaced the civil service committee with the office of personnel management which oversees both civil servants and political appointees
Term
What are independent agencies?
Definition
Federal organizations that have independent authority and do not operate within a cabinet department
Term
What are political appointees?
Definition
Federal employees appointed by the president with the explicit task of carrying out his political and partisan agenda
Term
What is the federal reserve?
Definition
National banking system created in 1913 to control the flow of money in the economy
Term
What is medicaid?
Definition
government health insaraunce for the poor
Term
What are district courts?
Definition
Federal trial courts, at the bottom of the federal judicial hierarchy
Term
What was trial by jury inspired by?
Definition
The Magna Carta 1215
Term
What was the Judiciary Act of 1789?
Definition
Created the lower federal judiciary, district courts, and curcuit courts of appeals
Term
What is precedent?
Definition
Practice of reaching decisions based on the previous decisions of other judges
Term
What is the rule of four?
Definition
Supreme Court rule that grants review to a case if as few as four of the justices support review
Term
What is the Senate Judiciary Committee?
Definition
Standing committee charged with reviewing judicial affairs, including federal court nominations
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