Englisch 11b PDF - The Political System of the USA

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Lehrermaterial.de Klasse Datum Materialien von Lehrern für Lehrer Name Abi-Prufungsthema The Political System of the USA - Material 1: The Constitution - M1 ”We the People…“ „We the People…“ – these are the famous first words of the Constitution of the United States of America. The document was signed on September 17, 1787, by delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, presided over by George Washington, and ranks among the oldest democratic constitutions still effective today. In the more than 200 years of its existence, it only had to be amended by 27 articles - the so- called amendments to the Constitution - in order to adjust the Constitution to the challenges and needs of modern America. Signing of the US Constitution To this day, its principles form the unchangeable base upon on September 17, 1787 which the political system of the USA is founded. With the text of the Constitution, the Founding Fathers succeeded in uniting several aims. On the one hand, they rejected the absolutistic model of rulership as it was common in 18th century Europe, and gave the Burger power to the people. Instead of an autocrat by the grace of God, the will of every single citizen was seen as the source of all public leadership. On the other hand, the Founding Fathers laid the Quelle Grundung berfragen foundations for the people to transfer its power to the state and its representatives for a limited period. verhindern missbrauch To prevent an abuse of power, the Constitution distributed the authority of the state into a legislative, an executive and a judiciary branch of power. With a cleverly-designed system of checks and balances, the Founding Fathers made sure that the three different branches of power were able to Bund control and curb each other. And finally they laid down how a confederation of thirteen sovereign individual states should become a strong federal state, the “United States of America“. Until today, this Verband association of different principles is regarded as exemplary and made the „Constitution“ an example for a number of other constitutions to be modelled on. M2 History and evolution of the US Constitution The Seven Years‘ War, (1754 to 1763) saw a tough struggle between the colonial powers Great souvarenitat Britain and France for the supremacy on the North-American Continent. The thirteen British colonies besiegen fought this battle alongside their motherland and, with their own troops, went towards defeating the Trotzdum French and their allies. Nevertheless, after the Paris peace agreement of 1763, the British government disregarded the stattdessen colonists’ wish for more voice und autonomy. Instead, it tried to compensate the costs of the war through new taxes and tributes Spannung for the colonies. The tensions between the British motherland durchgehend zunehmend and the American colonies continuously increased in the years to follow and finally resulted in the American Declaration of Independence from July 4, 1776. What followed was a multi-year George Washington crosses war of independence, in which the United States, after some niederlagen Starken early defeats, could prevail and force the British troops to Siegen the Delaware (Dec. 26, 1776) zuruckziehen withdraw from America. In the peace of Paris in 1783, Great Britain finally acknowledged the independence of its former colonies. Together with the disengagement from the British motherland, its Gesetz Gultigkeit laws and regulations lost their validity in the colonies. Exactly like the government structures, they had zuruckstellen to be replaced by new regulations. With the “Articles of Confederacy”, the thirteen individual states © Brigitte Bergmann/ Lehrermaterial.de 1  Lehrermaterial.de Klasse Datum Materialien von Lehrern für Lehrer Name had given themselves a constitutional bedrock as early as in in November 1777. But this only intended brigbleiben a loose confederation of states in which the members remained sovereign states and where the weak central government had only little power. Under the consequences of the beweisen nicht genugt Deshalb war of independence, this model soon proved to be insufficient. Therefore, on May 25, 1787, a constitutional convention in Philadelphia, to which all member states – except Rhode Island – had sent their representatives, set to work. Originally, the mission of the “Philadelphia Convention“ was only a reworking of the ”Articles of the Confederacy“. However, the fifty-five unter/zwischen delegates, among them George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton, quickly dropped the plan and, instead, decided for an all new draft constitution. The constitutional convention was holding its closed session for nearly four months. The aim of the convention was to unify the interests of the extremely different individual states and to Constitution of the consolidate them under the umbrella of a federal state. Different models for United States a constitution were discussed and scrapped again and fierce debates about the distribution of responsibilities between the individual states and the central government flared up. The convention also had long arguments about the form of government: Should it be a single person or a multi-member body? The delegates finally agreed upon a compromise draft that was signed on September 17, 1787. In his final speech, Benjamin Franklin said: „Thus I consent to this Constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure that it is not the best.“ On March 4, 1789, the US Constitution became law. M3 Article I: The legislative Article I of the US Constitution deals with the lawgiving power, the legislative. Its first section reads: “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.“ In the other sections, the article elaborates which requirements the members of both chambers of Congress have to fulfil, how they are elected and which rights are given to Parliament. Both, delegates of the House of Representatives and of the Senate, have to attest a permanent residence in the state they represent in Congress. The former have to be at least 25 years old and to be American citizens for at least seven years. From the latter the Constitution requires a minimum age of 30 years as well as an at least nine-year citizenship. The delegates of the House of The Federal Hall in New York, Representatives are to be elected directly by the people every until 1790 home to the 1st Congress two years. For this purpose, the states are divided into electoral constituencies relative to their population numbers. Every ten years, a population census determines how many constituencies each state is allocated. The candidate who gets the majority of votes becomes the delegate of a constituency. By contrast, the Constitution provides for a graduated voting procedure for senators: Every two years, a third of the members of the Senate are elected. Thus, each Senator has an office term of six years. Each state is represented in the Senate with two seats. Until 1913, the Senators were elected indirectly by the Parliaments of the individual states. The 17th amendment finally introduced a direct election by the people. Article 1 of the Constitution also explicitly implements the powers and limitations of Congress. As rights reserved for Parliament only, Section 8 mentions, for example, the budget and fiscal law, the right of coinage, the right to declare war or the right to maintain an army. Section 9, however, forbids Congress to put a ban on immigration into the USA, to allow a sentence without trial or to burden individual states with taxes and tariffs on exported goods. © Brigitte Bergmann/ Lehrermaterial.de 2  Lehrermaterial.de Klasse Datum Materialien von Lehrern für Lehrer Name M4 Article II: The Executive Article II of the Constitution describes the executive power. Its first section reads: “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.“ Article II grants the US president far-reaching authorities as head of state and head of government in one person, but at the same time it determines the requirements and limitations of the office. Presidential candidates have to be at least 35 years of age and have to be US-born. Only those who can show a residence in the US from fourteen years back are allowed to the candidacy. The election itself proceeds in an indirect two-level mode. First, each state defines as many electors as the particular state is due to have delegate seats and senate seats in Congress. At the beginning, this occurred through the different Parliaments, since 1824 by means of general elections. As it was declared in the 12th amendment of 1804, the electors meet in their states and cast two different votes, for a president and a vice president. The candidates who can acquire the most votes are elected into George Washington, first US the two offices. Due to Article II, Section 2, the president is commander-in- President (1789–97) chief of the US military forces. He is entitled to conclude international treaties in the name of the United States of America if the Senate agrees with a supermajority. Moreover, with the consent of the Senate, he appoints ambassadors, officials and the US Supreme Court Judges. From time to time, the president has to report Congress about the state of the union. A president’s term is four years. Since the 22nd amendment, he can only be re- elected once. If a president dies, steps down or is found unfit to execute his office, the vice president takes over the presidency. The Constitution of 1787 also provides for the possibility of an impeachment of the president or vice president. If they are accused of treason, corruption or other crimes and found guilty, they have to resign from office. M5 Article III: The judiciary In Article III, the US Constitution deals with the judicial power, the judiciary. The first section of the article reads:”The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.“ The Supreme Court judges are appointed by the president with the Senate having to agree. Under the first section of Article III, they are appointed for life. Only serious misconduct in office can be a reason for suspension by Congress. Furthermore, section 2 of the article defines which areas the judiciary of the state actually spans. In addition to legal disputes due to the Constitution and the laws and treaties of the United States, also cases in which the USA itself is party to the dispute or two or more states confront each other, belong to the judiciary powers. These lawsuits fall under the jurisdiction of the lower federal courts. On rare occasions only, the Supreme Court acts as the trial court. As a court of appeal, it usually checks verdicts The present home to the Supreme already enacted in other federal courts for errors of law or errors of Court in Washington, D.C. fact. The judicial system of the individual states remains responsible for all fields of law not mentioned in section 2, especially civil and criminal cases. Thus the Constitution rules that a criminal process has always to be held in the state in which the particular crime has been committed. The trial has always to be held as a jury court. © Brigitte Bergmann/ Lehrermaterial.de 3  Lehrermaterial.de Klasse Datum Materialien von Lehrern für Lehrer Name M6 Article IV: Federalism Article IV of the US Constitution deals with the relations of the individual states among each other and specifies their relation to the federal state. Section 1 of the article reads:”Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State.” The ruling in section 1 of the article ensures that each US citizen has to observe the laws and regulations of the state in which he or she is living. Section 2 – modified by the 14th amendment of 1868 – also determines that no individual state is allowed to pass laws reducing the liberties of US citizens. Thereby, the discrimination of citizens from other US states is not allowed. Article IV also rules the admission of new individual states into the federal state. Congress can only approve such an extension A map of the USA showing its 50 states of the USA if the new state is not established within the jurisdiction of another state. In section 4, the federal government finally guarantees each state a Republican form of government and commits itself to protect the states against incursions from outside or, on their demand, against threats from within. M7 The Amendments Since taking effect on March 4, 1789, the US Constitution has been amended by 27 amendments. The last amendment so far, dealing with the pay increase of the members of Congress, became an official letzt andrun part of the Constitution on May 18, 1992. In order to keep the wording of the seven original articles of 1787, the procedure has always been to add the amendments and changes at the end of the original text. Current issues of the Constitution specifically mark those sections of the original text that were superseded or replaced by amendments. Thus the readability of the Constitution is ensured forever. The reasonable number of amendments shows how universal and adjustable the Founding Fathers had phrased the US Constitution. Although the United States of today differs fundamentally from the late 18th century USA, a few changes were enough to adjust its basic constitutional framework to the needs of the nation. This is possible because the US Supreme Court, in its leading decisions which are binding for other courts, can interpret the text of the Constitution in view of each political, social and economic circumstance, without a formal constitutional revision to be required. Links:  United States of America Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/guides/ztx22hv/revision/2 Source: BBC  Constitution of the United States of America Link: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_United_States_of_America Source: Wikisource  Politics of the United States Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_the_United_States Source: Wikipedia  Separation of Powers: A System of Checks and Balances Link: http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/usconstitution/a/sepofpowers.htm Source: About News © Brigitte Bergmann/ Lehrermaterial.de 4  Lehrermaterial.de Klasse Datum Materialien von Lehrern für Lehrer Name Overview of the U.S. Political System: LEGISLATIVE EXECUTIVE JUDICIAL BRANCH BRANCH BRANCH Congress President Supreme Court appoints approves presidential Veto overrides the veto reviews executive House of Senate by a two-third vote  head of state and head of government decisions  Chief Justice and 8 associate justices Representatives  commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces  nominated by the President and 100 possibilty of confirmed by the Senate 435 Senators impeachment  issues executive orders  justices serve for life Representatives (2 for each state)  concludes international treaties  generally acting as an appeal court approves  signs bills into law  reviews the constitutionality of laws and  enacts and enforces laws  directs foreign and domestic policy appointments executive decisions  authority over financial and  nominates federal judges budgetary policy reviews laws  sole right to declare war  establishes committees elect for a four-year-term U.S. Courts of Appeal (13)  ratifies international treaties U.S. District Courts (94) electors (538) 270 electors vote over you are the 50 U.S. states elect for a elect for a six-year term state courts presich u t state legislatures governors two-year-term (one-third of the seats elect elect every two years) a desi elect elect People of the United States of America (entitled to vote) © Brigitte Bergmann/ Lehrermaterial.de 5 after The 4 Power is Media water gair Bsp.. investigativer Journalismus Nirch  Lehrermaterial.de Klasse Datum Materialien von Lehrern für Lehrer Name Key Vocabulary: individual states → Einzelstaaten federal state → Bundesstaat federal government → Bundesregierung trial court/ court of first instance → erstinstanzliches Gericht administration court → Verwaltungsgericht general jurisdiction courts → ordentliche Gerichte appeal court/court of appeal → Appellationsgericht (Berufungsgericht) Supreme Court → Oberster Gerichtshof sole right → alleiniges Recht simple majority → einfache Mehrheit supermajority (two-third vote) → Zweidrittelmehrheit U.S District Courts → Bundesbezirksgerichte U.S Courts of Appeal → Bundesberufungsgerichte state courts → Staatsgerichte state legislatures → Staatsparlamente legal disputes → Rechtsstreitigkeiten law suits → Gerichtsverfahren jury court → Geschworenengericht electors → Wahlmänner Electoral College → Wahlmännerkollegium electoral constituencies → Wahlkreise graduated electoral procedure → gestaffelter Wahlmodus chambers of Congress → Kongresskammern office term → Amtszeit to be appointed for life → auf Lebenszeit berufen werden basic constitutional framework → konstitutionelle Grundlage draft constitution → Verfassungsentwurf amendments → Zusatzartikel zur Verfassung validity → Gültigkeit budget and fiscal law → Haushalts- und Steuerrecht commander-in-chief → Oberster Befehlshaber state of the union → Lage der Nation impeachment → Amtsenthebung right of veto → Vetorecht to override a veto → sich über ein Veto hinwegsetzen executive orders → Verfügungen/Anordnungen presidential executive orders → Präsidialerlasse © Brigitte Bergmann/ Lehrermaterial.de 6  Lehrermaterial.de Klasse Datum Materialien von Lehrern für Lehrer Name Material 2: Congress M1 Fundamental principles of the U.S. Constitution Article I, section 1, of the United States Constitution from 1787 reads: „All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.“ With this sentence, the Founding Fathers made two important decisions: on the one hand, they gave the legislative, which is the lawgiving power, to Parliament only. On the other hand, they divided it into two different chambers. Moreover, they provided Congress with the necessary instrument to occupy a markedly strong and powerful position within the political system of the USA. In the following sections of Article I, they did this by what is called “enumerated powers“. It was absolutely clear what the constitutional convention of 1787 intentioned: in the newly founded union of states, the “United States of America”, the legislative, in the form of Congress, was to efficiently counterbalance the executive, which is represented by the president. M2 The structure of the U.S. Congress 100 435 SENATE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES  2 senators for each of the 50 U.S. states  Apportionment of seats relative to the  Minimum age: 30 years population of the states  U.S. citizen for at least 9 years  Minimum age: 25 years  Main residence in the respective state  U.S. citizen for at least 7 years  Main residence in the constituency  Election: every 2 years 1/3 of the Senate  Constituency: entire state  Election: all representatives every two years  Term: 6 years  Constituency: electoral district (defined on the  since 1913 directly elected by the people basis of censuses every 10 years)  people vote directly  President of the Senate: formally the U.S. vice president, actually his deputy  Speaker: The majority party provides the for an unlimited time Speaker of the House of Representatives  Parties: Republicans and Democrats (rarely third  the Speaker has considerable influence on the parties or independents) agenda and committee work  Functions: There is a majority leader and a minority  Parties: Republicans and Democrats (rarely third parties leader or independents)  There is no party discipline  Delegates more tied to their political party than senators  Boards: The parties form and staff permanent and  Boards: It is always the majority party that provides the non-permanent committees. chairperson in committees and subcommittees © Brigitte Bergmann/ Lehrermaterial.de 9  Lehrermaterial.de Klasse Datum Materialien von Lehrern für Lehrer Name M3 The U.S. Capitol The United States Capitol is the home of the United States Congress and the seat of the legislative branch of the U.S. federal government. It sits atop Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. The prominent domed building with its two wings at the north and south is one of the world’s most famous buildings. Like all the main buildings of the executive and judicial branches, the Capitol has a white exterior. It is part of a whole complex of federal buildings, The Capitol in Washington, D.C. with called ”Capitol Hill“, to which also the Supreme Court and the Senate (l.) und House of Repr. (r.) Congress library belong. In the laterals of the Capitol, the two chambers of Congress are housed. While the senators occupy the North Wing, the South Wing is reserved for the delegates of the House of Representatives. Both parts of the building, with their meeting rooms and office rooms, are strictly separated from each other. M4 The Senate In the American legislative, the Senate represents the interests of the individual states. Each state is represented with two senators, regardless of its size and population. In this way, the Senate forms a counterbalance to the House of Representatives where it depends on the population how many seats each state gets. Originally, the Constitution of 1787 planned that the parliaments of the individual states elect their senators. Since the 17th amendment of 1913, however, they are elected directly by the people. The office term of a senator is six years. Every two years, a third of the seats are elected. But there are never two senators of one state up for election at the same time. Those who apply for a Senate post have to be at least 30 years of age. They also have to be U.S. citizens for at least 9 years. Their main residence has to be in the state in which they stand for election. In Senate elections, the state as a whole is the constituency. This generally leads to the fact that a senator represents a considerable amount of voters more than a delegate of the House of Representatives. According to the Constitution, the U.S. vice president is formally the president of the Senate. Thereby, as an exception, at this point the otherwise strict separation between executive and legislative is broken. Actually, the vice president rarely fills this position. In his absence, he is substituted by an elected non-permanent Senate chairman or chairwoman for the Senate’s day-to-day work. The Senate’s primary duties lie in the field of legislation and in checking the executive. Except for the raising of budget resources, where the bill is reserved for the House of Representatives, the Senate can draft and introduce bills in all fields of politics. Each U.S. federal law has to be passed with a simple majority by the Senate and the House of Representatives before the president can sign it into law. If the president refuses his signature with a special law, his veto can be overridden by a two-third majority in both chambers of Congress and the law can still be enforced. The Senate has also far-reaching competencies in its control function towards the executive. All the president’s staff proposals for senior posts, e.g. ministers, leading federal civil servants, ambassadors or federal judges require the approval of the senators. Usually, candidates have to face a hearing before a Senate committee. Moreover, international treaties negotiated by the executive cannot be ratified before the Senate has approved them with a two-third majority. Finally, in the event of an impeachment trial against the president, the Senate takes over the role of a court. If the House of Impeachment trial against Representatives has brought the impeachment through criminal President Bill Clinton (1999) charges, the Senate hears the lawsuit, presided by the chief justice at the Supreme Court. A two-third majority of senators is needed to impeach the president. © Brigitte Bergmann/ Lehrermaterial.de 10  Lehrermaterial.de Klasse Datum Materialien von Lehrern für Lehrer Name M5 The House of Representatives With the House of Representatives (short: House) the Constitution adds a second chamber to the U.S. Congress. Its delegates are to mirror the will of the People directly. Unlike the members of the Senate, the men and women of the House of Representatives have been elected directly by the People since the United States was founded. An equal representation of the individual states is not provided in this chamber of Congress. Instead, the number of seats is relative to the population of each state. California receives about 53 mandates, Alaska or Wyoming, by contrast, receive only one. Elections to the House of Representatives take place every two years. The relatively short term compared to the Senate ensures that the chamber reflects the will of the voters for the moment. For the election, the 435 seats, Seal of the House of Representatives which are allocated to the House of Representatives since 1911, are distributed to the individual states relative to their population. These, for their part, divide their territories into the same number of constituencies. The apportionment of seats is based on a census that takes place every ten years. Regardless of its population, each state is entitled to have at least one seat in the House of Representatives. Candidates for a parliamentary mandate have to be at least 25 years of age and they have to be U.S. citizens for at least 7 years. Their main residence has to be in the constituency in which they stand for election. The two main parties, Democrats and Republicans, often decide in primaries within their party which candidate they field in their constituencies. The candidate who gets the majority of votes on Election Day enters the House of Representatives as Congressman or Congresswoman. Traditionally, the majority party in the House provides the “Speaker“ of the House of Representatives. He has an extremely powerful position. In times in which the U.S. president belongs to the other political camp, he is regarded as the secret minority leader. The chairpersons of all the committees of the House of Representatives as well as other important posts also go to the strongest faction in numbers. This is of great significance because it is in the committees and subcommittees that the substantive work on legislative proposals as well as the controlling of governmental and federal authorities actually takes place. As part of the legislative the House of Representatives, just like the Senate, is entitled to come up with legislative proposals and to pass its own bills. In each case, the other chamber has to decide about the proposals and has to vote on them again. Not a single federal bill can be signed into law by the U.S. president before both chambers of Congress have approved it. The fiscal and budget laws, e.g. the annual U.S. federal budget, which can only be brought in by the House of Representatives, form an exception. The Senate takes a vote on it, but it has no right of initiative itself. Debate in the House of Representatives In the field of controlling the federal government and government agencies, the House of Representatives is less powerful than the Senate – with one limitation: only the House delegates can initiate impeachment proceedings against the U.S. president or other senior federal civil servants. A simple majority in the House of Representatives is enough to initiate an impeachment. After that, the Senate, in its capacity as a court, has to start the trial, which is chaired by the chief justice. With a two-third majority, the Senate can prompt the president’s removal from office. In the history of the United States, there have only been two impeachment trials against a president: in 1868 against Andrew Johnson because of a violation of the rights of Congress, and in 1999 against Bill Clinton because of a false oath and the obstruction of justice. In both cases, there was no judgment against the president by the Senate. © Brigitte Bergmann/ Lehrermaterial.de 11  Lehrermaterial.de Klasse Datum Materialien von Lehrern für Lehrer Name Material 3: The President M1 Historical background Article II, section 1 of the U.S. Constitution of 1787 begins with the following sentence: ”The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” The fixing of the executive power on a single person was anything but undisputed among the fifty-five delegates of the constitutional convention in Philadelphia. Just a few years after the end of the American War of Independence and the disengagement from the British Monarchy, many representatives of the thirteen founding states were skeptical about a strong and powerful man to head the USA. Therefore, they also discussed other models of the executive power, e.g. a multi- member government with divided powers, a head of government elected by Congress, or a president together with an advisory body. Finally, the Founding Fathers agreed on a compromise solution: each individual state was to appoint the same number of electors as they had mandates in Congress. The total of electors, the so-called “Electoral College“, elected a president and a vice president for the limited period of four years. The constitutional convention of 1787 rejected a direct vote of the top executive body by the people. M2 Tasks and functions of the U.S. president Right of a suspensive veto Head of state of the Commander-in-Chief of the for bills United States of America U.S. military forces appoints ministers, appoints judges at federal President of the USA ambassadors and senior courts federal civil servants oversees the federal brings the federal budget authorities as head of determines the foreign and forward to Congress government security policy © Brigitte Bergmann/ Lehrermaterial.de 14  Lehrermaterial.de Klasse Datum Materialien von Lehrern für Lehrer Name M3 Constitutional powers Today, people like to talk about the president of the United States of America as of the ”most powerful man in the world“. In his role as head of government and commander-in-chief of the U.S. military forces, he is the master of about 4 million civil servants. It is often forgotten that the original intent of the Founding Fathers was a quite different one: they actually intended to prevent a too powerful ruler at the head of the state through a system of checks and balances among the three constitutional powers. But since 1789, the office of the U.S. president has significantly gained more responsibilities and powers, mainly in war time and in times of crisis. As head of government: Under article II, section 3 of the U.S. Constitution, the president “shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed […]”. In order to be able to fulfil this function as head of the executive, the president is allowed to appoint a wide range of positions in the administrative machinery of the federal government himself. That includes ministers, heads of agencies or federal judges. However, his proposals for important positions need Senate approval. Via special edicts, the so- called “executive orders“, the president can directly U.S. President Trump signs the Executive Order influence the work of the federal agencies. These 13766 for the construction of two pipelines. orders are legally binding for federal agencies. Unlike formal laws, they don’t require the(24.01.2017) approval of Congress. An “Executive Order“ can only be overruled by the decision of a federal court. As head of state: In addition to his position as head of government, the U.S. president holds the office of head of state of the United States of America. In this function, he is responsible for the U.S. relations with other states and organizations. In the name of the United States, he concludes international agreements, which come into force if the Senate approves them with a two-third majority. Moreover, the president appoints all U.S. diplomats abroad. What is also not to be underestimated is the symbolic power inherent in the office of the head of state. Especially in times of emergency and crisis, the president serves as a positive role model behind which the nation comes together as a whole. This is exemplified by the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II. As commander-in-chief: The U.S. president is commander-in-chief of the U.S. military forces. In addition, he commands the national guards of the 50 individual states if they are committed for the federal state. In an emergency, about 2.5 million troops are under his control. According to the “War Powers Resolution”, a federal law of 1973, the president can commit these military forces at any time within the framework of the Constitution, but he has to inform Congress within 48 hours. By no later than 60 days, the president needs a special authorization by Congress or a formal declaration of war for military action. Only U.S. President George W. Bush aboard the Congress can approve the latter with a two-third majority. aircraft carrier „Abraham Lincoln“ (05/01/2003) © Brigitte Bergmann/ Lehrermaterial.de 15  Lehrermaterial.de Klasse Datum Materialien von Lehrern für Lehrer Name In the area of legislation: Due to the strict separation between executive and legislative, the U.S. president has formally no chance to bring forward any propositions of his own for a vote in Congress. If he wants to introduce a bill in Congress, he needs the help of politically affiliated delegates or senators. In the reverse case, the president can put in his veto at any time in order to prevent a Congress bill from becoming law. If Parliament isn’t able to override his veto via a two-third majority in both chambers of Congress, the bill has ultimately failed. M4 The all-powerful president? The president of the United States of America is often perceived as the power center within the political system of the USA. Due to the wide range of his functions, the associated tasks and responsibilities, and his frequent public appearances, the powers seem to concentrate in an “all- powerful” person. And yet, the U.S. president’s sphere of influence is indeed considerably smaller than it seems to the outside world. Different from the parliamentary system of the federal republic of Germany, e.g., the U.S. president cannot rely on a permanent majority in Congress. There is no party discipline like in the German Bundestag. Even if the president’s party has the majority in both chambers of Congress, (this constellation is called ”unified government“), it is almost always the case that the interests of their own voters or states have priority for the delegates and senators. In order to implement his own propositions, the president has to look for a majority in Congress each time. This task becomes all the more difficult for him in the case of a so-called ”divided government“, if the opposing party has the majority in one or both chambers of Congress. It is not without reason that we say that the power of the U.S. president mainly depends on his ability to negotiate successfully, to compromise and sometimes even to manipulate. In addition to Congress, the federal U.S. courts also have a control function with respect to the president’s authority. The Supreme Court above all, which is the USA’s top court, consistently affects the relations between the three state authorities with its judgements. In fact, the president has a right of nomination and the Senate a right of consent when there is a vacancy in one of the nine judges’ positions at the Supreme Court. But this does not mean that the judges have to be in line with any particular policy. On the contrary, their appointment for life reinforces the judges to free themselves completely from any political influences on their judgements. Therefore the U.S. Supreme Court is held in high esteem with the American people. Finally, also the U.S. media plays its part in contributing to the fact that the president’s administration is under permanent observation and that his decisions are challenged if necessary. The skepticism against all forms of a concentration of power was already clearly expressed in the Constitution of 1787. This mistrust of the American people towards state institutions is reflected in the work of many U.S. media. Major daily newspapers and news channels often provide special editors that act in the field of “investigative journalism“. Through meticulous research, they frequently expose political scandals or grievances that quite often end up in a congressional U.S. President Richard Nixon at his investigation committee. These revelations have already led to resignation speech (08/09/1974) the resignations of many a politician. The most well-known example for this is certainly the “Watergate Affair“ of 1972, in the course of which the “Washington Post” journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein disclosed serious transgressions of the U.S. administration under President Richard Nixon. The following investigations in Congress led to the resignation of Nixon in 1974. Nixon has been the only U.S. president so far who stepped down from the presidency. © Brigitte Bergmann/ Lehrermaterial.de 16  Lehrermaterial.de Klasse Datum Materialien von Lehrern für Lehrer Name Material 4: The Supreme Court M1 Constitutional principles Article III of the United States Constitution deals with the judicial power of the state: the judiciary. Section 1 reads: „The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.“ The Supreme Court, the USA’s highest national court, is the only court explicitly mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. As to the rest, the constitutional text remains rather vague in terms of the federal judicial system: it neither mentions the special powers and liberties of the Supreme Court, nor does it include any statements concerning the structure of the subsequent court instances. The differences in opinion within the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were one major reason for this missing specification. Many delegates had their doubts that a system of federal courts was necessary since an effectively functioning judiciary already existed in the individual states. Were the new federal courts to supplement or completely replace the state courts? They finally agreed that the state courts kept their competencies and the federal courts should only be responsible for specific areas of law. Since then, two judicial systems continue to co-exist in the USA: the federal jurisdiction, with the Supreme Court at its top, and the jurisdiction of the individual states, with partly very different laws. M2 The structure of the U.S. judicial system Federal judiciary State judiciary rd 3 instance Supreme Court Supreme Courts nd 13 United States 2 instance Courts of appeal courts of appeal st 1 instance 94 United States First instance courts district courts (trial courts) responsible - cases concerning the constitutionality of laws - most cases in criminal law and law of - disputes concerning U.S. treaties inheritance for: - cases with ambassadors and ministers as affected - cases in law of contract parties - Domestic Relations Law (DRL) - disputes between two or more states - cases concerning the constitution of an - disputes with the USA as affected party individual state © Brigitte Bergmann/ Lehrermaterial.de 19  Lehrermaterial.de Klasse Datum Materialien von Lehrern für Lehrer Name M3 The Supreme Court Building Since 1800, the U.S. Supreme Court has been seated in the country’s capital, Washington D.C. Together with the Senate and the House of Representatives, it resided in the Capitol Building, before it moved to the United States Supreme Court Building, one block east of Parliament, in 1935. The reason was that the legislative and judiciary branches should also be physically separated from each other. The costs for the building, which is almost entirely made of marble, amounted to almost 10 million dollars. The west façade of the building, essentially, the "front" of the court The Supreme Court Building which faces the Capitol, bears the inscription "Equal Justice Under Law", (main entrance) while the opposing east façade bears the inscription "Justice, the Guardian of Liberty”. Sixteen marble columns at the main west entrance support the pediment. In 1987, the Supreme Court Building was designated a National Historic Landmark. The Courtroom inside the Supreme Court Building measures 25x28 metres. Its ceiling reaches the height of 13 metres and is supported by 24 pillars made of Italian marble. Opposite the entrance is the Raised Bench behind which the 9 Justices sit during sessions. At the left of the Bench is the Clerk of the Court’s desk. To the right is the desk of the Marshal of the Court. The Marshal is the timekeeper of Court sessions, signalling the lawyer by white and red lights as to time limits. The attorneys arguing cases before the Court occupy the tables in front of the Bench. When it is their turn to argue, they address the Bench from the lectern in the centre. A bronze railing divides the public section from that reserved for the Supreme Court Bar. Representatives of the press are seated in the red benches along the left side of the Courtroom. The red benches on the right are reserved for guests of the Justices. The black chairs in front of those benches are for the officers of the Court and visiting dignitaries. The ground floor is devoted to offices and public services, including the offices of the Clerk of the Court, the Counselor to the Chief Justice, police headquarters, the Public Information Office and Press Room, the Curator’s Office and the Personnel Office. On this floor, visitors can view one of the two marble spiral staircases. Each ascends five stories and is supported The Judges’ Bench only by overlapping steps and by their extensions into the wall. The main of the U.S. Supreme Court floor is largely occupied by the Justices’ Chambers, offices for law clerks and secretaries, the large, formal East and West Conference Rooms, the offices of the Marshal, an office for the Solicitor General, the Lawyers’ Lounge, and the Justices’ Conference Room and Robing Room. This office space surrounds four courtyards, each with a central fountain. Most of the second floor is devoted to office space including the offices of the Reporter of Decisions and the Legal Office. The Justices’ Library Reading Room and the Justices’ Dining Room are also located here. The Library occupies the third floor and has a collection of more than 500,000 volumes. On that floor, there is also a small gym with a basketball court, nicknamed “The Highest Court of the Land“. The Supreme Court Police, which was founded in 1949, is responsible for the security of the U.S. Supreme Court. This unit of the federal police, with a staff of 125, controls the building as well as the judges, staff and visitors. M4 Appointment and confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court Since 1869, the size of the U.S. Supreme Court is defined for nine posts of judge: the Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. Candidates to the Supreme Court are nominated by the president of the United States. Generally, they are experienced judges who have worked for a long period at other United States federal courts. Each hopeful has to face a lengthy hearing in front of the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. Senate. After that, he or she needs a majority vote in the Senate. Only then, he or she can be appointed Supreme Court Justice. Due to Article III, section 1 of the U.S. Constitution, Supreme Court Justices “shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour”. In principle, this means a lifetime appointment. As long as a Justice is not guilty of any serious wrong-doings that would justify an impeachment by the Senate, he or she can occupy the post up until old age and decide for himself or herself about his or her time of retirement. The same applies to judges at other federal courts. In this manner, the Founding Fathers wanted to ensure that the judicial system remained independent and that the judges were able to work and decide free from any kind of political pressure. © Brigitte Bergmann/ Lehrermaterial.de 20  Lehrermaterial.de Klasse Datum Materialien von Lehrern für Lehrer Name M5 Competencies of the federal courts As the highest U.S. court, the Supreme Court is at the top of the federal jurisdiction. Due to Article III, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, the judicial power shall extend to all cases:  … arising under the Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made under their authority;  … affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls of other countries in the USA;  … of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction;  … of controversies to which the United States is a party;  … of controversies between two or more states;  … of controversies between citizens of different states;  … of controversies between a state and citizens of another state;  … of controversies in which states or their citizens are parties to the dispute against other countries or their citizens. th Since the 11 amendment took effect in 1795, the federal courts are no longer in charge if citizens of one state sue another state. But vice versa, they still are, if one state sues the citizen of another state. The definition of these spheres of competence frequently causes competing jurisdiction between the federal courts of the USA and the courts of the individual states – in which case it is necessary to ascertain which jurisdiction will be responsible: the federal judiciary or the state judiciary. M6 Supreme Court rules In almost all cases, the U.S. Supreme Court acts as an Appellate Court (Court of Appeal), meaning that, on request, it deals with controversies that have already been tried by lower federal courts. The appeals can only be submitted by those lawyers who have a special admittance for the Supreme Court. The annual session of the Supreme Court starts on the first Monday in October and usually lasts until the end of June or beginning of July. This period is divided into “sessions“ and “recesses“, which alternate approximately every two weeks. During the sessions, the hearings and passing of judgement take place, while the recesses are reserved for the discussions among the nine Justices and the wording of their sentences. Each year, up to 10.000 appeals are submitted to the Supreme Court. After careful examination by the court, about 150 cases that are admitted to an oral hearing remain from the over-abundance of requests. This hearing always follows the same strict rules: the lawyers of both sides have exactly 30 minutes time to answer the Justices’ questions on the facts. The Supreme Court mainly deals with those cases that are a matter of the constitutionality of laws or government measures. The nine Supreme Court Justices (June 2017) During the recesses, in which no oral hearings take place, the Justices discuss the cases and, separately and independently, determine a basis of decision-making. Frequently there are test ballots for the individual cases. The final decision does not have to be unanimous: a simple majority is enough if at least six Justices take part in the ballot. Both, the majority opinion as well as the minority voice of the court, are written down. The Justices are also allowed to give a dissenting opinion, meaning they approve of the court’s decision, but for other reasons. The months of May and June of a law term are reserved for the reading of the decisions and grounds for the judgement. It is not possible to appeal at any other U.S. court against a Supreme Court decision. Since large parts of the U.S. legal system are based on unwritten common law, the Supreme Court sentences serve as precedents on the basis of which the lower courts take their decisions. © Brigitte Bergmann/ Lehrermaterial.de 21  Lehrermaterial.de Klasse Datum Materialien von Lehrern für Lehrer Name Material 5: The Election of the U.S. President M1 Historical Background Article II, Sections 1 and 2 of the U.S. Constitution set the following regulations for the election of the U.S. president: „Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress [...].The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons [...].The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed“. The question how the executive representative of the newly founded “United States of America“ was to be designated in the future was one of the main items discussed at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 in Philadelphia. An election by Congress or by the governors of the individual states as well as the direct vote by the American people was at issue among the 55 delegates. In the end, there was a compromise solution: each individual state was to determine a specific number of electors who, as a committee, elected the president and the vice president for a four-year term. M2 The eight stages to the U.S. presidency Stage 1: Requirements Stage 8: The Swearing-in of the President minimum age: 35 years On January 20, at noon, the new president takes his oath on the steps residence: for 14 years in the USA of the U.S. Capitol in Washington U.S.-citizen: by birth and begins his 4-year term. Stage 2: The Primary Race Stage 7: The Vote in the Electoral College Within the parties, several In December after the election, candidates stand for the the electors of the Electoral position of the presidential College give their votes nominee. They compete for according to the election results the approval of the party in their home states. But there is members. no duty to do so. Stage 3: The Parties‘ Primaries Stage 6: The Presidential Election In each state, the party On Election Day voters decide for members vote for the a president and a vice president. presidential nominee in The vote is transferred to the primaries or caucuses. electors that each state sends out to the ”Electoral College“. Stage 4: The National Conventions Stage 5: The Presidential Race The parties officially crown the Both candidates compete for the primary winners as their approval of the population in the presidential nominees. individual states. © Brigitte Bergmann/ Lehrermaterial.de 24  Lehrermaterial.de Klasse Datum Materialien von Lehrern für Lehrer Name M3 The long road to the White House For a candidate for the office of the U.S. president, the hot phase of the campaign starts just over a year before Election Day. The official announcement of their candidacy fires the starting gun for a long, hard road into the highest office of the United States of America. Stage 1: Requirements for candidates Those who want to enter the race for the White House first have to fulfil the constitutional requirements for the office of the U.S. president. They include a minimum age of 35 years, evidence of the permanent residence in the USA for the past 14 years, as well as U.S. citizenship by birth. In terms of the 22nd amendment of the U.S. Constitution, he or she who has already completed an entire legislature as president cannot stand for re-election Stage 2: The Primary race The USA is shaped by a two-party system, with the Republican Party on one side, and the Democratic Party on the other side. Since 1853, the U.S. president has continuously come from one of these political camps. Generally, a number of contenders in both parties are running for the presidency. A long-drawn-out primary race within the parties that each candidate, with one exception, has to face, decides who is actually nominated in the end: if a sitting president has served only one term and is striving for a second term, he is, as a rule, automatically his party’s candidate. Stage 3: The parties‘ primaries Both, Democrats and Republicans, determine their presidential nominee in primary elections that take place between January and June in all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and in some U.S. external territories. Each party holds its own primary election. There is a general distinction between two forms how a state performs its primary election: either as a caucus or as a primary. A caucus is a meeting at the local level where citizens of a town or a district gather and have extensive debates on a party’s candidates. At the end of the discussion, there is the recommendation of one of the candidates. The results of all local caucuses in a state are then summarized and represent its primary election result. The primary, by contrast, is a classical polling in which the citizens can vote on a candidate in secret. There are also differences as for the groups of people entitled to vote in a primary. In the so-called “closed primaries”, only those citizens who have registered for a party are allowed to vote. In the so-called ”open primaries“, however, all citizens are allowed to vote – even if they are not sympathetic to the respective party. In the 2016 presidential election, the Democratic Party held caucuses in fourteen states, seven of which were open or half-open. The Republican Party held twelve primaries in the form of caucuses, ten of which were closed. For the primaries, both main parties assign a specific number of delegates to each state. The number is determined by the state’s population. In 2016, California sent 548 delegates in the Democratic primaries and 172 in the Republican primaries. By comparison, Wisconsin sent 96 delegates for the Democrats and 42 for the Republicans. A state’s delegates are allocated to the respective candidates in accordance with the primary results. The Democrats do this on a percentage basis in accordance with the share of the vote. The Republicans, however, adopt the ”winner takes all“ principle in some states, e.g. Florida and Ohio, meaning the candidate who wins the primary gets all the state’s delegate votes. In the end, the point for all candidates in the primary phase is to collect as many delegates as possible. © Brigitte Bergmann/ Lehrermaterial.de 25  Lehrermaterial.de Klasse Datum Materialien von Lehrern für Lehrer Name Stage 4: The National Conventions The National Conventions of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party usually take place in the late summer of an election year when the primary phase has finished. For the occasion, those delegates of a party whose votes the candidates had to ensure during the primaries, get together from all states. Their main task is to elect the candidate who is to enter the race for the White House for their party. The National Conventions mainly take on a symbolic character and are rather a big show event than a party conference. At that time, it is already clear who has made the running. He or she who received more than 50% of delegate votes in the primaries is “crowned” the party’s presidential nominee by the National Convention. Unexpected surprises are rare since the delegates – with the exception of some “superdelegates“ - are tied to the voters’ decision in their respective states. By then, hopeless candidates with few votes have already withdrawn their candidacy and given their delegates their endorsement for another candidate. Therefore, the National Conventions are more of a “Coronation Mass“ where the parties demonstratively gather behind their presidential nominee and leave the internal rivalries of the primary phase behind. Stage 5: The presidential campaign For both parties‘ candidates, the main battle for the presidency starts immediately after the National Conventions. Until Election Day at the beginning of November, they are touring the country again and compete for the citizens’ votes. They are focussing on the heavily populated states, like California, Texas or Florida. The so-called “swing states“, like Ohio or Iowa, where Democrats and Republicans traditionally run a very close race, are very important, too. Here, one campaign appearance follows the other. Less populous states or the parties‘ traditional strongholds, however, are only seldom visited by the presidential nominees, or even not at all. Stage 6: The presidential election In the USA, presidential elections traditionally take place on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Similar to the primaries, they are held in an indirect voting system. Each of the fifty U.S. states is attributed a fixed number of presidential electors. This number corresponds with the state‘s number of delegates in Congress. California is the U.S. state that has the largest number of electors (55). Small U.S. states like Vermont or Wyoming, however, only get three votes. Altogether, 538 delegate votes are assigned on Election Day. On Election Day, citizens place a tick next to the name of a presidential and a vice presidential candidate on their ballot paper. But indeed, their voting decides about the political camp to which the electoral votes of their home state goes. If, for example, the Democratic candidate can achieve a better result in California than his Republican opponent, he manages to secure all the 55 electoral votes there. What matters here: in all U.S. states, with the exception of Maine and Nebraska, there is the “winner takes all“ principle, meaning the candidate who in the end has received at least one vote more than his opponent gets all the state’s electoral votes. The candidate who receives 270 or more electoral votes on Election Day is the winner of the presidential election. Until he will be sworn in on the steps of Capitol Hill in January of the following year, he is called the “president-elect”. © Brigitte Bergmann/ Lehrermaterial.de 26  Lehrermaterial.de Klasse Datum Materialien von Lehrern für Lehrer Name Stage 7: The vote in the Electoral College After the presidential election it is clear to which political camp the electoral votes in each state went. Until the middle of December, the party organizations of the individual states can present a list with the persons who shall act as electors. They are mostly rightful party officials whose loyalty remains undoubted. All 538 electors together form the so-called Electoral College. On the Monday after the second Wednesday in December, the Electoral College comes together for the actual election of the U.S. president. For this purpose, the Electoral College does not come together as a whole, but the electors arrive in the capitals of their home states and each casts their vote for the president and the vice president. Their ballots are sealed and sent to the Senate in Washington where they are counted on January 3rd. In 26 out of 50 states, the electors are bound by law to vote in accordance with the will of the electorate. In 24 states, they are theoretically legally free to also vote against the will of the electorate – but that very seldom does occur in practice. Electors who vote against the will of the electorate are called “faithless electors”. Never in the history of the United States has a candidate been elected president by a “faithless elector”. Stage 8: The swearing-in ceremony (inauguration) of the new U.S. president On January 20th after the presidential election, the swearing-in ceremony of the new U.S. president - which is also called ”inauguration“ - takes place at the steps of Capitol Hill in Washington. The new incumbent usually starts the day with a church service in the morning. After that, the sitting president welcomes his successor in the White House for a short talk and they traditionally share breakfast before they set out for the U.S. Capitol together. There, the new vice president is the first to take his oath of office in front of the assembled congressmen and –women and hundreds of thousands of spectators. At 12 o’clock local time, the new president takes the oath with the following words: „I, [name of the president], do solemnly swear I, that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” The oath is mostly confirmed by the religious addition ”So help me God!“. The oath-taking is followed by a short inaugural address which the new president uses to announce the key note of his presidency. After that, there is the leave-taking of the former president and a banquet on Capitol Hill. The inauguration is completed by a huge parade leading the new U.S. president from Capitol Hill through Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House where he will reside for at least the following four years. Links:  Presidential Election Process Link: https://www.usa.gov/election Source: Official web portal of the United States federal government (USA.gov).  How the U.S. president is elected Link: http://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/us-election-explained/ Source: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)  United States presidential election Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia  Everything you need to know about how the presidential primary works Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/05/12/everything-you-need-to- know-about-how-the-presidential-primary-works/?utm_term=.e88619bbd690 Source: The Washington Post © Brigitte Bergmann/ Lehrermaterial.de 27