POLS121 Midterm Guide PDF

13th Amendment – abolished slavery 14th Amendment – defines citizenship 15th Amendment – bans the denial of the right to vote based on race or color 17th Amendment – establishes the direct election of the US senators by popular vote. 19th Amendment – bans the denial of t...

13th Amendment – abolished slavery 14th Amendment – defines citizenship 15th Amendment – bans the denial of the right to vote based on race or color 17th Amendment – establishes the direct election of the US senators by popular vote. 19th Amendment – bans the denial of the right to vote based on sex. 24th Amendment – prohibits federal and state governments from imposing taxes on votes during federal elections. 26th Amendment – lowered the voting age to 18 for all Americans. Brown v. Board of Education (1954) – schools needed to stop segregating by race. District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) – citizens have to possess an ordinary type of weapon and use it for lawful situations. Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) – enslaved people that were not citizens couldn’t get any protection from the government or the courts. Engel v. Vitale (1962) – schools of New York mandated morning prayer for students Furman v. Georgia (1972) – death penalty was deemed as cruel and unusual punishment in the case of an accidental burglary death. Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) – guaranteed the right to an attorney for everybody, even the criminal, in court. Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) – courts had to decide whether it was appropriate to provide funds to religious schools to hire teachers. Loving v. Virginia (1967) – struck down all state laws banning interracial marriage. Marbury v. Madison (1803) – declared an act of Congress unconstitutional. McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) – allowed the federal government to set up a federal bank. Miller v. California (1973) – clarified the legal definition of obscenity. Miranda v. Arizona (1966) – an arrested person is entitled to rights against self- incrimination. New York Times v. Sullivan (1964) – protected freedom of the press Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) – all states must validate same-sex marriage the same as opposite-sex marriage. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) – separate but equal accommodations for blacks and whites. Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) – court rule a university’s use of racial “quotes” in its admission process unconstitutional. Roe v. Wade (1973) – allowed women the right to abortion without excessive government restrictions. Shelby County v. Holder (2013) – section 4 of Voting Rights Act was unconstitutional. o How many members are in the House and Senate? House has 435 members. Senate has 100 members (2 for each state). o What are the requirements to be in the House or Senate, to be elected president, or to be a Supreme Court justice? Requirements for Senate: - Atleast 30 years old. - U.S citizenship for atleast 9 years. - Residency in the state they wanna be senate in, Requirements for President: - Must be 35 years old. - A natural born citizen. - Must have lived in the U.S for at-least 14 years. Requirements for House: - Must be 25 years old. - Must be a U.S citizen for 7 years. - Must be a resident of the state they represent. Requirements for Supreme Court Justice: - None. o What are some checks and balances between the branches? Executive branch: veto power. Legislative branch: impeachment power, override veto. Judicial branch: judicial review. o What are the leadership positions in Congress, and who holds the very top spots in the House and Senate? Leadership positions in Congress: speaker of the House, democratic leader, republican leader, party whips. Most powerful person in House: speaker. Most powerful in Senate: Majority Leader or Vice President. o What is the federal courts pyramid, and what are its levels? District court, appeals court and supreme court. The federal courts pyramid is the 3 levels of the federal court. It’s the 1. District court 2. Appeals court 3. Supreme court. Who holds the majority in the House and the Senate right now? Democratic Party holds majority in Senate whereas Republican Party holds majority in House. The basic process of a bill becoming a law: Bill gets introduced, gets sent to committee, hold debates, vote on bill, referred to Senate, get sent to president, president can sign or veto.  o What are the different types of committees? (What’s the difference between a standing, ad hoc, conference, and joint committee?) Standing deals with specific issue areas. They are permanent. Ad hoc do not deal with legislation. Conference committee meet together if they can’t agree on a bill. Join committee have members of House and Senate and deal with business of Congress. o What is meant by assigning a rule to a bill? How is debate going to proceed on a bill. What are different ways to think about representation? Reflection, intentional, constructive. What does “professionalization” mean in relation to state legislatures? Means members are well paid, provided with more staff and resources. What is the difference between a council-manager city government and a strong mayor-council city government? Strong mayor council run day to day operations of a city. Council-manager city government operates day-to-day functions of the city by an unelected city manager. How does the Electoral College work? Each state is assigned a number of electoral votes based on its representation in Congress. Most states use a winner-takes-all system which means the candidate receiving the most votes in that state gets all of its electoral votes. o How do states distribute their electoral votes? Through a winner takes all system. o What happens if no presidential candidate gets a majority of the electoral vote? The vote goes to the House of Representatives. o What is a faithless elector? A party representative who does not have faith in the election result within their region and thus, ends up voting for another person or abstains from voting. What are the stages of the impeachment and removal process? 1. Articles of Impeachment in House. 2. Senate hold trial. The House presents the case as to why they should be removed. 3. The vote has to be 2/3. What is an executive order? A signed, written, and published directive from the President of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. How does the veto work? The president can use the veto power to prevent a bill passed by the Congress from becoming law. o How does a vote override work? Congress can override the veto by a two-thirds vote of both chambers. o What is a line-item veto? A type of veto power that allows the executive to cancel specific parts of a bill while signing into law the rest of the bill. What is the presidential cabinet? An advice-giving group selected by the president to aid him in making decisions. Ex. Secretary of Defense. What are the types of agencies within the US bureaucracy, and what are some examples? There are four types of agencies within the US bureaucracy. They are:  1. Cabinet Departments 2. Independent executive agencies 3. Regulatory agencies 4. Government corporations Examples are: National Park Service, NASA, IRS. What does it mean to be a natural born citizen? Means the person didn’t need to go through naturalization later in life in order to become citizen. Who have been some of the top-rated presidents, and what sorts of things do they have in common? George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln. All very strong leaders who had a vision. Who is the current governor of Kansas? Laura Kelly. What were the major issues in the different eras of judicial review? Abortion, same-sex marriage, federalism, equal protection. How are Supreme Court cases chosen to be heard? By using the “Rule of Four”. Rule of Four is when 4 of the 9 justices vote to accept a case. o What are the standards the Supreme Court follows? Code of Conduct, case acceptance, case ruling, case type, case outcome. Who chooses who serves in judicial posts? President and Senate. What determines the number of Supreme Court justices? Congress. o Have presidents tried to change this? Yes. What are some common features in the backgrounds of current Supreme Court justices (previous jobs, education)? Harvard, Yale Law School. Clerked in law school. What is a special purpose district? Special districts are limited purpose local governments – separate from cities and counties. What is the difference between a city, a county, and a township? City - A populated urban area with its own local government, usually smaller geographically than a county. County - A larger administrative region that contains multiple cities and towns, with its own government structure. Township - A smaller division within a county, often considered a rural area with a lower population density. What is the difference between direct democracy and representative democracy? Direct democracy – voters choose public policies themselves. Representative democracy – people vote for representatives who enact policy initiatives. How were the Articles of Confederation different than the Constitution? Weak executive. No courts no president. o What were some reasons they decided to get rid of the Articles? It placed most powers in the hands of the states, did not provide for an executive branch, raised fears of disorder within the states.  Who were the opposing sides in drafting the constitution, what were the plans they put forward, and what was the ratification debate about? Federalists and Anti-Federalists. The Federalists advocated for a strong central government where the Anti-Federalists opposed the Constitution. The ratification debate was about how much power a government should have. What were the Federalist Papers, and what did Federalist #10 argue? The Federalist Papers were a series of essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. Federalist No. 10 argues that a strong, united republic is more effective than individual states at controlling factions. What is the process to amend the U.S. Constitution? Proposal. Vote 2/3. o Know the most common way this has happened. What are the recall, the referendum, and the initiative? Initiative is where a law or an amendment directly gets put on the ballot. Kansas doesn’t have referendum or initiative. Referendum is when a popular vote gets passed on a law. Recall is when vote may remove a public official from office before the expiration of their term. o Which does Kansas allow for? Recall. What is federalism, and what is a confederation versus a unitary government? Federalism is a geographic division of power between the national government and the state governments. A unitary government is one central government (usually the national government) controlling the weaker states. Confederation government is when vast majority of the power lies with the states. What part of the constitution says that federal laws and ruling trump state laws and rulings? Article 6. How can the federal government influence the state governments with grants, and what are crossover sanctions? The federal government can influence state governments with grants which can help finance health care, education, public safety in the states. Crossover sanctions are the use of federal money in one program to influence state and local policy in another. What is the process to become a state, and what are the two current areas under debate to potentially become states in the future? To become a state, a territory needs to submit a petition to Congress. Congress then passes an enabling act which allows the territory to draft a state constitution. Once the constitution is created, it needs to be approved through a referendum by the residents of that territory. Congress also needs to vote on whether or not they want to admit the territory as a state. The two current potential states are: Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. What’s the difference between a civil liberty and a civil right? Civil liberty - constitutional guarantees that protect individual freedom from government power. Civil right - legal claims that are generally provided in statutory law (legislation). What is the doctrine of incorporation? What is it meant when we say the Supreme Court follows selective incorporation? Doctrine of incorporation is a constitutional doctrine through which parts of the first ten amendments of the United States Constitution (known as the Bill of Rights) are made applicable to the states through the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Selective incorporation refers to the choice of the U.S. Supreme Court to apply rights and freedoms to states one at a time rather than all at once. What were the landmark laws passed in regards to civil rights? (Think of things like the Voting Rights Act, the Missouri Compromise, the Americans with Disabilities Act, etc.) Civil Rights act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, Missouri Compromise etc. What was the Equal Rights Amendment? A proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that would guarantee equal rights under the law for all people, regardless of sex. 1. Imagine that you're the head of a group that wants to get an amendment added to the U.S. Constitution. In your first paragraph, describe the process to get an amendment enacted - you can limit yourself to just describing the most common route that has been used. Then explain whether your amendment would apply to state governments, or if you would need to get amendments passed in each state's constitution for that to be the case. Would your answer be different if you were doing this prior to the Civil War? Give the name of the doctrine that describes this, and briefly explain what part of the Constitution it comes from. Finally, if you could pick a new constitutional amendment to pass, what would it be? Explain why you'd think it'd be a good idea. Congress proposes an amendment to the states, 2/3 in the Congress must approve the amendment, and the ¾ states must then decide whether to ratify the amendment. My amendment would apply to state governments so that it could apply to all the states without any additional rules added for each state. I believe this answer would differ if I was doing this prior to Civil War because there were much more complicated things going on in the country such as slavery and states’ rights. It could also be possible that the amendment I proposed did not necessarily align with the states’ values. The doctrine that describes this is the Doctrine of Incorporation which is a constitutional doctrine through which parts of the first ten amendments of the United States Constitution (known as the Bill of Rights) are made applicable to the states through the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. If I could pick a new constitutional amendment to pass, I think it would be “Right to Free Education”. There are too many students in the world that are in crippling debt all because they chose to pursue their dreams. And, there are too many people that are scared to pursue what they want to do because of the cost that comes with it. Student loans are currently one of the biggest problems in the United States. I believe if we had an amendment that guaranteed free education for those who desire, it would greatly benefit both the country and the people. 2. First, describe the most common way that states award their presidential electoral votes (i.e., proportionally, or all-or-nothing, or some other way)? How does that affect how and where presidential candidates choose to campaign? Then, describe how the Constitution determines how many electors each state is allotted. Why was this formula the compromise, and how does it affect how different states are represented? Finally, do you think it would be better if the House chose the president like they choose the Speaker of the House, instead of having the Electoral College? Explain your choice.  States award their presidential electoral vote through a winner-take-all approach. This approach allows the state winning the most popular vote to be declared as the winner. This approach affects the choice of the presidential candidates in where they choose to campaign if there are swing states present. Swing states are states that could “swing” to either Democratic or Republican candidates depending on election. The constitution allocates a number of votes equal to the number of senators and representatives in the state. This formula was the compromise so that there is a balance between larger and smaller states. So that the larger states don’t get an advantage. It affects the representation of different states because it may cause smaller states to have more influence no matter the size. No, I don’t think it would be better if the House chose the president like they choose the speaker of the House because it wouldn’t necessarily represent all the citizens. The speaker of the House is chosen through a voting session within the House only. If the president was chosen that way, then it wouldn’t ensure that the votes of the citizens of the country are being considered. 3. Begin by explaining what the difference is between direct democracy and representative democracy, and say which is more commonly used around the world. Then, thinking over the course of American history, tell me what groups are able to participate in US democracy who had restrictions on doing so in the past – give three constitutional amendments in your answer, saying which groups became protected from discrimination by each. Finally, give your opinion: should there be an amendment giving a right to vote to all adults put into the Constitution? Explain your answer. In direct democracy, people decide on policies without any representative. In representative democracy, people elect the representative that they believe will carry their policies further. Representative democracy is most common approach used in the world. All countries nowadays are seen to elect representatives rather than have every person make a decision on a policy. In the past, people of the US were restricted to participation in elections whether it be due to age or race. But amendments like 15th, 19th and 26th allowed the abolition of that discrimination. The 15th amendment states that no citizens should be denied the right to vote based on race or color. The 19 th amendment states that no person should be denied the right to vote based on gender, and the 26th amendment states that any American that is at least of age 18 has the right to vote. According to these amendments, there can be made an assumption that previously there has been groups that were denied voting rights due to their race, age or gender. Two examples of those groups are: black people and women. The 15th amendment allowed the right to vote to the people of color mostly referring to black people, more specifically African American men. When the 19th amendment came about, that’s when it was time for women to finally have a say in the decisions for the country. I think there does need to be an amendment in the Constitution that gives all adults a right to vote. There are many people including noncitizens, undocumented immigrants, prisoners who are usually left out from that right. There are more than a million people prisoned in the U.S. Adding another one or two million to that if we calculate all the noncitizens. That’s millions of votes being considered invalid due to a label. 4. List the steps of a bill becoming a law, including the process Congress goes through and what choices the president has after Congress passes the bill. What check does the judicial branch have on this process, and what was the first case in which they exercised this power? The steps of a bill becoming a law: the idea/bill is proposed, it is sent to Committee, when it is approved by the Committee, it is sent for debate to the House, the bill is voted on, then it is referred to Senate, bill gets sent to president, president can sign or veto. If the president chooses to veto a bill, in most cases Congress can vote to override that veto and the bill becomes a law. But if the president does not sign off on a bill and it remains unsigned when Congress is no longer in session, the bill will be vetoed by default. The judicial branch interprets laws to see if it violates the constitution. The first case the judicial branch exercised this power was in Marbury v. Madison (1803). Marbury v. Madison established the doctrine of judicial review which gave the Supreme Court the power to declare acts of Congress as unconstitutional.