Chapter 1 Identifications

government: made up of individuals and institutions, vehicle through which policies are made and the affairs of the state are conducted

politics: the process of how policy decisions get made; the study of "who gets what, when, and how"

Thomas Hobbes: wrote The Leviathan; believed humans were selfishly individualistic and constantly at war with one another, therefore people must surrender themselves to rulers in exchange for protection from their neighbors.

John Locke (s): wrote Second Treatise on Civil Government; used natural rights to support his social contract theory--the view tht the consent of the people is the only true basis of any sovereign's right to rule...individuals agree, through a contract, to form a government to protect their rights under natural law. By agreeing to be governed, individuals agree to abide by the decisions made by the majority vote in the resolution of disputes.

monarchy: the rule of one in the interest of all of his or her subjects

totalitarianism: ruler excerises unlimited power and individuals have no personal rights or liberties

oligarchy: participation in government is conditioned on the possession of wealth, social status, military position, or achievement

democracy: gives power to the people either directly or through their elected representatives

social contract theory: the belief that people are free and equal by God-given right and that this in turn requires that all people give their consent to be governed

direct democracy (e): a system of government in which members of the polity meet to discuss all policy decisions and then agree to abide by majority rule; example: ancient Greece

indirect democracy (representative democracy): a system of government that gives citizens the opportunity to vote for representatives who will work on their behalf

republic: a government rooted in the consent of the governed; a representative or indirect democracy

political culture: commonly shared attitudes, beliefs, and core values about how government should operate

personal liberty: key characteristic of U.S. democracy; intially meant freedom from government interference; today it includes demands for fredom to engage in a variety of practices free from governmental discrimination

equality: reflects Americans' stress on the individual; "one person, one vote"--political equality

popular consent: the idea that governments must draw their powers from the consent of the governed

popular sovereignty: the right of the majority to govern themselves

civil society: society created when citizens are allowed to organize and express their views publicly as they engaged in an open debate about public policy

individualism: all individuals are deemed rational and fair; primary function of government is to enable the individual to achieve his or her highest level of development

baby boom (s): 76.8 million people born after WWII (1946-1964) ; now reaching retirement age, putting a strain on Social Security and Medicare systems

Generation X: liberatarian generation; 50 million born in the late 1960s through the mid 1970s; experiencd economic downturn in the late 1980s; believe political leaders ignore them and distrust the political process; believe capitalism can be used for social change

Generation Y: people born from 1977 to 1994; grown up in good times, optimistic about future; internet savvy and more globally focused

political ideology: the coherent set of values and beliefs about the purpose and scope of government held by groups and individuals; the means by which the basic values held by a party, class, group or individual are articulated

conservative: one thought to believe that the government is best that governs the least and that big government can only infringe on individual, personal, and economic rights; a defender of the status quo who, when change is necessary in tested institutions or practices, prefers that it comes slowly, in moderation

liberal: one considered to favor extensive governmental involvement in the economy and the provision of social services and to take an activist role in proctecting the rights of women, the elderly, minorities, and the environment; currently one who believes in more government action to meet individual needs, originally one who resisted government encroachments on individual liberties

libertarian: one who favors a free market economy and no governmental interference in personal liberties

Chapter 2 Identifications

Declaration of Independence: Document drafted by Thomas Jefferson in 1776 that proclaimed the right of the American colonies to separate from Great Britain.

Articles of Confederation: The compact among the thirteen original states that was the basis of their government. Written in 1776, the Articles were not ratified by all the states until 1781.• A national government with a Congress empowered to make peace, coin money, appoint officers for an army, control the post, and negotiate with Indians.• Each state retains independence and sovereignty to govern within ins territories.• One vote in the Continental Congress for each state, regardless of size.• 9/13 to pass a measure, unanimous for amendment.• Selection and payment of delegates to Congress by their state legislatures.

Shays's Rebellion (s): A 1786 rebellion in which an army of 1,500 disgruntled and angry farmers led by Daniel Shays marched to Springfield, Massachusetts and forcibly restrained the state court from foreclosing mortgages on their farms. The failure of Congress to muster and army to put down the rebellion showed the weaknesses inherent in the Articles of Confederation and shocked the nation's leaders into recognizing the new government's overwhelming inadequacies.

Constitution: A document establishing the structure, functions, and limitations of a government.

Charles A. Beard: Wrote the Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States which argued that the 1780's were critical for businessmen who wanted a strong national government to promote industry and trade, and protect private property. According to Beard, the constitution represents “An economic document drawn with superb skill by men whose property interests were immediately at stake.

Virginia Plan:• Creation of a powerful central government with three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial.• A population based two-house legislature with one house elected directly by the people, the other chosen from among persons nominated by the state legislatures.• A legislature with the power to select the executive (a president serving a single 7 year term) and the judiciary.

New Jersey Plan:• Unicameral legislature with one vote per state.• Congress has the power to raise revenue from duties and postal service.• Creating a supreme court with members appointed for life by the executive officers

Great Compromise:• The house of representatives would be based on population, and directly elected by the people. This house would have the power to originate all bills concerning raising and spending money

• All states would have equal say in the other house, the Senate. Representatives there would be selected by state legislatures

3/5 Compromise: Agreement reached at the Constitutional Convention stipulating that each slave was to be counted as three-fifths of a person for purposes of determining population for representation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Preamble: a brief introductory statement of the fundamental purposes and guiding principles which the Constitution is meant to serve. “We the People of the United States” boldly proclaimed that a loose confederation of independent states no longer existed.

Federal System: Plan of government created in the U.S. Constitution in which power is divided between the national government and the state governments and in which independent states are bound together under one national government.

Separation of Powers: A way of dividing power among three branches of government in which members of the House of Representatives, members of the Senate, the president, and the federal courts are selected by and responsible to different constituencies.

17th Amendment: Called for the direct election of senators by the voters, making them directly accountable in the people, thereby making the system more democratic.

Checks and balances (s): A governmental structure that gives each of the three branches of government some degree of oversight and control over the actions of the others. Allowed framers to reduce the threat of tyranny from any one branch.

Enumerated Powers (s): Seventeen specific powers granted to congress under Article I section 8 of the U.S. Constituion; these powers include taxation, coinage of money, regulation of commerce, and the authority to provide for a national defense. Granted powers to Congress previously denied by the Articles of Confederation.

Necessary and proper clause (s): Gives Congress the authority to pass all laws “necessary and proper” to carry out the enumerated powers specified in the Constitution; also called the "Elastic Clause". Source for congressional activity never anticipated by the framers.

Implied Powers (e): Powers derived from the enumerated powers and the elastic clause. Powers that are considered reasonably implied through the exercise of delegated powers. Federal minimum-wage and maximum-hour laws. Regulating trains and planes.

Supremacy clause (s): National law is supreme to all other laws passed by states or by any other subdivision of government. Linchpin of the entire federal system.

Federalists: Those who favored a stronger national government and supported the prosed U.S. Constitution; later became the first U.S. Political party.

Anti-Federalists: Those who favored strong state governments and a weak national government; opposed the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

The Federalist Papers: A series of 85 political papers written by John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison in support of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

Bill of Rights: The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

27th Amendment: Amendment preventing members of the House from raising their own salaries.

Equal Rights Amendment: Womens rights amendment that, despite gaining overwhelming majorities in congress, failed to be ratified by the states, showing how hard it is to amend the Constitution.

Informal Amendments (e): When judicial review is used as a means to “amend” the constitution. When the Constitution is interpreted a certain way by the Supreme Court. Seen in social example with womens rights. While

there is no specific womens rights amendment, the courts have interpreted the Constitution to prohibit forms of gender discrimination.

Chapter 3 Identifications

Unitary System (e): system of government where the local and regional governments derive all authority from a strong national government (ex. Great Britain)

Privileges & Immunities Clause: part of Article IV of the Constitution guaranteeing that the citizens of each state are afforded the same rights as citizens of all other states

10th Amendment: final part of the Bill of Rights that defines the basic principle of American federalism in stating: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, not prohibited by it to the states reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”

Reserved Powers: powers reserved to the states by the 10th amendment that lie at the foundation of a state's right to legislate for the public health and welfare of its citizens.

Concurrent Powers (e): authority by both the state & national governments that may be exercised concurrently as long as that power is not exclusively within the scope of national power or in conflict with national law (Ex. Taxing)

Full Faith & Credit Clause: portion of article IV of the Constitution that ensures judicial decrees and contracts made in one state will be binding and enforceable in any other state.

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819): The Supreme Court upheld the power of the national government and denied the right of a state to tax the bank. The court's broad interpretation of the necessary and proper clause paved the way for later ruling upholding expansive federal powers.

Gibbons v. Ogden (1824): The Supreme Court upheld broad congressional power to regulate interstate commerce. The Court's broad interpretation of the Constitution's commerce clause paved the way for later rulings upholding expansive federal powers.

Commerce Clause (s): used to justify a great deal of federal legislation, including regulation of highways, the stock market, and even segregation.

Dual Federalism: the belief that having separate and equally powerful levels of government is the best arrangement

NLRB v. Jones and Laughlin Steel Co. (1937): Authorized collective bargaining between unions and employees; upheld the constitutionality of the national labor relations act of 1935

Cooperative Federalism: the relationship between the national and state governments that began with the New Deal

Surface Transportation Act: withheld 5% of the federal highway funds from states that failed to pass legislation prohibiting persons under the age of 21 from drinking alcoholic beverages

Categorical Grants: grant for which congress appropriates funds for a specific purpose

Great Society (p,s): broad attempt to combat poverty & discrimination; federal funds channeled to states, local governments, and citizen action groups; altered the fragile federal /state balance of power

New Federalism: federal/state relation proposed by Reagan administration during the 1980s; hallmark is returning administrative powers to the state governments

Reagan Revolution: Reagan administration's budget and its policies dramatically altered the relationships among federal, state, and local governments – federal aid to state and local governments declined for the first time in 30 years.

Block Grant: broad grant with few strings attached; given to states by the federal government for specified activities such as secondary education or health services

Devolution Revolution: scaling back the federal government in 1994; caused republicans to take back the House of Representatives

Unfunded Mandates (e): National laws that direct states or local governments to comply with federal rules or regulations (such as clean air or water standards) but contain no federal funding to defray the cost of meeting

these requirements (ex. Clean water act and the safe drinking water act)

No Child Left Behind Act (p): higher education standards, greater school accountability, ensuring qualified teachers, closing the gap in student achievement.

Preemption: a concept derived from the Constitution's supremacy clause that allowed the national government to override or preempt state or local actions in certain areas.

Webster v. Reproductive Services (1989) (s): encouraged states to fashion more restrictive abortion laws – which actually happened.

U.S. v. Lopez (1995): Court ruled that congress had constitutional authority under the commerce clause to regulate guns within 1000 feet of a school – local gun control in schools was a state, not a federal, matter.

Printz v. U.S. (1997): Congress lacks the power to compel state officers to execute federal laws.

Sovereign Immunity: The right of a state to be free from lawsuit unless it gives permission to suit, under the 11th amendment all states are considered sovereign.

Discussion

• Privileges and Immunities: States can't discriminate against people of other states◦ Exception: College Tuition Costs• Full Faith & Credit Clause: One state has to respect the judicial rulings of another◦ Exception: Defense of Marriage Act• Unitary System: Policy-making power is in the hands of the national government; homogeneous• Reserved Powers: powers of the state; 10th amendment◦ Exception: Ratifying Constitutional Amendments• Prominent Concurrent Powers: tax, establish courts

POWERSPower Who Exercises Constitutional Origin

Enumerated Congress Article I

Implied Congress Necessary and Proper ClauseMcCulloch v. Maryland

Reserved States 10th AmendmentConcurrent Both Levels U.S. and State Constitutions

• John Marshall's Court ( 1801-1836): builds foundation for national power• McCulloch v. Maryland (1819): Could Congress form the National bank? Could Maryland tax it?◦ The court upheld the use of implied powers and the supremacy of federal law◦ The court's broad interpretation of the necessary and proper clause and the supremacy clause paved the way for later rulings upholding expansive federal powers• Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)◦ Struck down a NY law that granted a steamboat monopoly on the Hudson River◦ Only congress held power over interstate commerce, not states.

Chapter 5 Identifications

Ninth Amendment: part of the Bill of Rights that reads “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

Fourteenth Amendment: provides a broad definition of citizenship and requires states to provide equal protection of the law to all people within their jurisdictions

Due Process Clause (s): clause contained in the Fifth and Fourteenth amendments. Over the years, it has been construed to guarantee individuals a variety of rights ranging from economic liberty to criminal procedural rights to protection from arbitrary governmental action. The significance is that it's language suggested the possibility that some or even all of the protections guaranteed in the Bill of Rights might be interpreted to prevent state infringement of those rights

Sedition Laws: laws that made it illegal to speak or write any political criticism that threatened to diminish respect for the government, its laws, or public officials

Gitlow v. New York (1925): court case in which the Supreme Court first noted that the states were not completely free to limit the forms of political expression; first step in the development of the incorporation doctrine

Incorporation Doctrine: an interpretation of the Constitution that holds that the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires that state and local governments also guarantee those rights

Selective Incorporation: a judicial doctrine whereby most but not all of the protections found in the Bill of Rights are made applicable to the states via the Fourteenth Amendment

First Amendment (Five Freedoms): part of the Bill of Rights that imposes a number of restrictions on the federal government with respect to the civil liberties of the people, including the freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition

Establishment Clause: the first clause in the First Amendment; it provides the national government from establishing a national religion

Free Exercise Clause: the second clause of the First Amendment; it prohibits the U.S. Government from interfering with a citizen's right to practice his or her religion

Engle v. Vitale (1962): the Court first ruled that recitation in public classrooms of a twenty-two word non-denominational prayer drafted by a New York school board was unconstitutional

Lemon v. Kurzman (1971): the Court tried to carve out a three-part test for laws dealing with religious establishment issues—a practice or policy was considered constitutional if: 1. had a secular purpose2. neither advanced nor inhibited religion3. did not foster an excessive government entanglement with religion

Prior Restraint: constitutional doctrine that prevents the government from prohibiting speech of publication before the fact; generally held to be in violation of the First Amendment

Sedition: speech or publication expressing discontent of lawful authority/the government

Schenck v. U.S. (1919): Supreme Court upheld the Espionage Act of 1917, ruling that Congress had a right to restrict speech “of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent.”

Clear and Present Danger Test: test articulated by the Supreme Court in Schenck v. U.S. To draw the line between protected and unprotected speech; the Court looks to see “whether the words used” could “create a clear and present danger that they will bring about substantive evils” that Congress seeks “to prevent”

Direct Incitement Test: a test articulated by the Supreme Court in Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969) that holds the advocacy of illegal action is protected by the First Amendment unless imminent lawless action is intended and likely to occur

Symbolic Speech: symbols, signs, and other methods of expression generally also considered to be protected by the First Amendment

Tinker v. Des Moines (1969): the Court upheld students' rights to wear black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War

Libel: false written statements or written statements tending to call someone's reputation into disrepute

Slander: untrue spoken statements that defame the character of a person

New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964): The Supreme Court concluded that “actual malice” must be proved to support a finding of libel against a public figure

Roth v. U.S. (1957): the Court held that in order to be obscene, the material in question had to be “utterly without redeeming social importance”

Miller v. California (1973): case wherein the Supreme Court began to formulate rules designed to make it easier for states to regulate obscene materials and to return to communities a greater role in determining what is obscene

Reno v. ACLU (1997): Court overturned the Communications Decent Act, which prohibited the transmission of obscene materials over the Internet to anyone under the age of eighteen, ruling that it violated the First Amendment and was too vague and overbroad

Texas v. Johnson (1989): Case in which the Court overturned the conviction of a Texas man found guilty of setting fire to an American flag

Second Amendment: ensures that Congress could not pass laws to disarm state militias; protects a right to keep and bear arms

Due Process Rights: procedural guarantees provided by the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments for those accused of crimes

Fourth Amendment: part of the Bill of Rights that reads “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

Fifth Amendment: part of the Bill of Rights that imposes a number of restrictions on the federal government with respect to the rights of persons suspected of committing a crime. It provides for indictment by a grand jury and protection against self-incrimination, and prevents the national government from denying a person life, liberty, or property without the due process of law. It also prevents the national government from taking property without fair compensation

Miranda v. Arizona (1966): a landmark Supreme Court ruling that held the Fifth Amendment requires that individuals arrested for a crime must be advised of their right to remain silent and to have counsel present

Exclusionary Rule: judicially created rule that prohibits the police from using illegally seized evidence at a trial

Mapp v. Ohio (1961): incorporated a portion of the Fourth Amendment by establishing that illegally obtained evidence cannot be used at trial

Sixth Amendment: part of the Bill of Rights that sets out the basic requirements of procedural due process for federal courts to follow in criminal trials. These include speedy and public trials, impartial juries, trials in the state where the crime was committed, notice of the charges, the right to confront and obtain favorable witnesses, and the right to counsel

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963): granted indigents the right to counsel

Eighth Amendment: part of the Bill of Rights that states: “excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”

Furman v. Georgia (1972): the Supreme Court used this case to end capital punishment (did not last very long)

Gregg v. Georgia (1976): overturning Furman v. Georgia, the case ruled that Georgia's rewritten death penalty statute was constitutional

Right to Privacy: the right to be let alone; a judicially created doctrine encompassing an individuals decision to use birth control or secure an abortion

Griswold v. Connecticut (1965): Supreme Court case that established the Constitution's implied right to privacy

Roe v. Wade (1973): the Supreme Court found that a woman's right to an abortion was protected by the right to privacy that could be implied from specific guarantees found in the Bill of Rights applied to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment

Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989): in upholding several restrictive abortion regulations, the Court opened the door for state governments to enact new restrictions on abortion

Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992): an unsuccessful attempt to challenge Pennsylvania's restrictive abortion regulations

Lawrence v. Texas (2003): The Court reversed its 1986 ruling in Bowers v. Hardwick by finding a Texas statute that banned sodomy to be unconstitutional

Chapter 6 Identifications

Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857): The court bluntly ruled that the Missouri compromise, which prohibited slavery north of a set geographical boundary, was unconstitutional. Also stated that slaves were not U.S. citizens, thus they could not bring suits in federal court

13th Amendment: bans slavery in the United States

14th Amendment: guarantees equal Protection and due process of the laws to all U.S. Citizens

15th Amendment: specifically enfranchised newly freed male slaves Guaranteed the rights of citizens to vote regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude

Jim Crow Laws: laws enacted by southern states that discriminated against blacks by creating whites only schools, theaters, hotels, and other public accommodations.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): Plessy challenged a Louisiana statue requiring that railroads provide separate accommodations for blacks and whites. The Court found that separate but equal accommodations did not violate the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment

19th Amendment: guaranteed women the right to vote

Poll Taxes: small taxes on the right to vote that often came due when poor African American sharecroppers had the least amount of money on hand

Literacy Tests: difficult reading-comprehension tests given to potential voters by local voter registration officials

Grandfather Clause: voting qualification provision in many southern states that allowed only those whose grandfathers had voted before Reconstruction to vote unless they passed a wealth or literacy test

Voting Rights Act of 1965 (s): Intended to guarantee voting rights to African Americans. Targeted states that had used literacy or morality tests or poll taxes to exclude blacks from the polls. The act bans any voting device or procedure that interferes with a minority citizens right to vote and requires approval for any changes in voting qualifications in areas where minority registration was not in proportion to the racial composition of the district. The significance was that African American voter registration skyrocketed.

NAACP: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Founded in 1909 after a handful of individuals active in progressive causes met to discuss the idea of a group devoted to the problems of the Negro

Brown v. Board of Education (1954): U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that school segregation is inherently unconstitutional because it violates the 14th amendment's guarantee of equal protection; marked the end of legal segregation in the U.S.

Equal Protection Clause: sections of the 14th amendment that guarantees that all citizens receive “equal protection of the laws”

Civil Rights Act of 1964 (p,s): Legislation passed by congress to outlaw segregation in public facilities and racial

discrimination in employment, education, and voting. It helped the country move past segregation, and over come employment discrimination. This led to the Supreme Court ruling that employers could be found liable for discrimination if the effect of their employment practices was to exclude African Americans from certain positions.

• Outlawed arbitrary discrimination in voter registration and expedited voting rights lawsuits.• Barred discrimination in public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce.• Authorized the department of justice to initiate lawsuits to desegregate public facilities and schools. • Provided for the withholding of funds from discriminatory state and local programs. • Prohibited discrimination in employment on grounds of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex.• Created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

De Jure Segregation: racial segregations that is a direct result of law or official policy

De Facto Segregation: racial discrimination that results from practice (such as housing patterns or other social factors) rather than the law.

Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District (1971): The Supreme Court ruled that all vestiges of de jure discrimination must be eliminated at once.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: federal agency created to enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which forbids discrimination on the basis of race, creed, national origin, religion, or sex in hiring, promotion, or firing

Equal Rights Amendment: proposed amendment that would bar discrimination against women by federal or state governments

Rational Basis Test: also called the minimal rationality test. Governments must allege a rational foundation for any distinctions they make (in terms of equal protection of the law)

Suspect Classification: category of class, such as race, that triggers the highest standard of scrutiny from the Supreme Court

Strict Scrutiny: a heightened standard of review used by the Supreme Court to determine the constitutional validity of a challenged practice

Reed v. Reed (1971): turned the tide in terms of constitutional litigation, ruling that the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment prohibited unreasonable classifications based on sex

Craig v. Boren (1976): The court ruled that keeping drunk drivers off the roads may be an important government objective, but allowing women aged eighteen to twenty-one to drink alcoholic beverages while prohibiting men of the same age from drinking is not substantially related to that goal.

Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972: bars educational institutions receiving federal funds from discriminating against female students

Romer v. Evans (1996): a Colorado constitutional amendment precluding any legislative, executive, or judicial action at any state or local level designed to bar discrimination based on sexual preference was ruled not rational or reasonable

Americans with Disabilities Act: Defines a disabled person as someone with a physical or mental impairment that limits one or more “life activities,” or who has a record of such impairment. Thus extending the protections of the Civil Rights Act to all of those with physical or mental disabilities Affirmative Action: policies designed to give special attention or compensatory treatment to members of a previously disadvantaged group University of California v. Bakke (1978): A sharply divided Court concluded that the university's rejection of Bakke as a student had been illegal because the use of strict affirmative action quotas was inappropriate. However, the medical school was free to “take race into account.”

Chapter 7 Identifications

Baker v. Carr (1962): ruled that equal protection and the one-person, one-vote principles required that there be the same number of people in each of the legislative districts within a single state

Speaker of the House (powers): the only officer of the House of Representatives specifically mentioned in the Constitution; elected at the beginning of each new Congress by the entire House; traditionally a member of the majority party. The speaker presides over the House, oversees House business, is the official spokesperson for the House, and is second in line of presidential succession. Also, the speaker of the House is the House liaison with the president and carries great political influence, and also ensures the smooth passage of party-backed legislation through the House.

Whip: one of the several representatives who keep close contact with all members and take nose counts on key votes, prepare summaries of bills, and in general act as communication links within the party

President Pro Tempore: official chair of the Senate, selected by the majority party and presides over the Senate in the absence of the vice president; primarily an honorific office that generally goes to the most senior senator of the majority party

Senate Majority Leader (powers): the elected leader of the party controlling most of the seats in the Senate; regarded as the most powerful member; schedules floor action, sets majority stances, refers bills

Standing Committees (e, s): committee to which proposed bills are referred; yield considerable power in that they can kill bills, amend them radically, or hurry them through the process. Ex: Appropriations committee

Joint Committees: includes members from both houses of Congress; conducts investigations or special studies

Conference Committees: joint committee created to iron out differences between Senate and House versions of a specific piece of legislation

Select Committees: temporary committee appointed for a specific purpose, such as conducting a special investigation or study

House Rules Committee: performs a traffic cop function, giving each bill a rule containing the date the bill will come up for debate and the time allotted for discussion, along with what kinds of amendments can be offered, if any

Discharge Petition: petition that gives a majority of the House of Representatives the authority to bring an issue to the floor in the face of committee inaction

Pork (s): legislation that allows representatives to bring home the bacon to their districts in the form of public works programs, military bases, or other programs designed to benefit their districts directly; improves a member's chance for reelection

Committee Chairs (powers): authorized to select all subcommittee chairs, call meetings, and recommend majority members to sit on conference meetings; may even opt to kill a bill by refusing to schedule hearings on it

Seniority: time of continuous service on a committee

The Frank: an envelope that contains a legislator's signature in place of a stamp; incumbent privilege of free distribution of newsletters and other non-campaign materials through the mail system

Delegate: role played by elected representatives who vote the way their constituents would want them to, regardless of their own opinions

Trustee: role played by elected representatives who listen to constituents' opinions and then use their best judgment to make final decisions

Politico: role played by elected representatives who act as trustees or as delegates, depending on the issue

Divided Government: the political condition in which different political parties control the White House and Congress

Constituents: the people who live and vote in the home district or state

Logrolling: vote trading; voting yea to support a colleague's bill in return for a promise of future support

GAO (General Accountability Office): audits the financial expenditures of the executive branch and federal agencies, sets government standards for accounting, provides a variety of legal opinions, settles claims against the government, and conducts studies upon congressional request

Hold: a tactic by which a senator asks to be informed before a particular bill is brought to the floor; stops the bill from coming to the floor until the hold is removed

Filibuster: a formal way of halting action on a bill by means of long speeches or unlimited debate in the Senate

Cloture: mechanism requiring sixty senators to vote to cut off debate

Pocket Veto: if Congress adjourns during the ten days the president has to consider a bill passed by both houses of Congress, without the president's signature, the bill is considered vetoed

Oversight (e, s): congressional review of the activities of the agency, department, or office; determines if an agency, department, or office is carrying out its responsibilities as intended by Congress.Ex: Congressional hearing, GAO audit

Congressional Review: a process whereby Congress can nullify agency regulations by a joint resolution of legislative disapproval

Chapter 8 Identifications

22nd Amendment: adopted in 1951, prevents a president from serving more than two terms or more that ten years if he came to office via the death or impeachment of a predecessor.

Impeachment: the power delegated to the House of Representatives in the Constitution to charge the president, vice president, or other “civil officers,” including federal judges , with “Treason, bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” This is the first step in the constitutional process of removing such government officials from office.

Executive Privilege: an implied presidential power that allows the president to refuse to disclose information regarding confidential conversations or national security to Congress of the judiciary.

U.S. v. Nixon (1974): Key Supreme Court ruling on power of the president, finding that there is no absolute constitutional executive privilege to allow a president to refuse to comply with a court order to produce information needed in a criminal trial.

Presidential Succession Act: The act, passed in 1947, which states that after the Vice President, the order of succession is:1. Speaker of the House of Representatives2. President pro tempore of the Senate3. Secretaries of state, treasury, and defense, and other Cabinet heads in order of the creation of their department.

25th Amendment: adopted in 1967 to establish procedures for filling vacancies in the office of president and vice president as well as providing for procedures to deal with the disability of a president.

Cabinet: The formal body of presidential advisers who head the fifteen executive departments. Presidents often add others to this body of formal advisers.

Executive Agreement: Formal government agreement entered into by the president that does not require the advice and consent of the U.S. senate.

Line-item Veto: The authority of a chief executive to delete part of a bill passed by the legislature that involves taxing or spending, The legislature may override a veto, usually with a 2/3 majority of each chamber.

Clinton v. City of New York (1998): The Supreme Court ruled that the line-item veto was unconstitutional because it gave powers to the president denied him by the U.S. Constitution. Significant alterations of executive/congressional powers, said the court, require constitutional amendment.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution: Passed in 1964, it acknowledged Johnson's claim to war-making authority.

War Powers Act: passed by Congress in 1973; the president is limited in the deployment of troops overseas to a sixty-day period in peacetime (which can be extended for an extra thirty days to permit withdrawal) unless Congress explicitly gives its approval for a longer period.

Pardon: an executive grant providing restorations of all rights and privileges of citizenship to a specific individual charged or convicted of a crime.

Inherent Powers: Powers of the president that can be derived or inferred from specific powers in the Constitution.

Executive Office of the President (EOP) (e): establishment created in 1939 to help the president oversee the executive branch bureaucracy Ex. important members include the National Security Council

National Security Council: Established in 1947 to advise the president on American military affairs and foreign policy. The NSC is composed of the president, vice president, and the secretaries of state and defense.

White House Staff: personal assistants, senior aides, domestic policy aides, etc.

Honeymoon period: a time early in the presidency when the goodwill towars the president often allows a president to secure passage of legislation that he would not be able to gain at a later period

Executive Order (e,s): A rule or regulation issued by the president that has the effect of law. All executive orders must be published in the Federal Register. Ex. Affirmative Action (Lyndon B. Johnson). Significance: Presidents can make policy without legislative approval.

Presidential Records Act of 1978: “established that the records of presidents belong to the American people.” George W. Bush eviscerated the act with an executive order.

Richard Neustadt: political scientist who says that a presidents power to persuade is key because constitutional powers alone don't provide modern president with the authority to meet rising public expectations

Bully Pulpit (e): A public office of sufficiently high rank that provides the holder with an opportunity to speak out and be listened to on any matter. The bully pulpit can bring issues to the forefront that were not initially in debate, due to the office's stature and publicity. Ex. Bill Clinton speaking on the Larry King Live show about his health care plan

Presidential Approval Ratings (s): The percentage of the American people who approve of the presidents job performance. This significance is a president with high popularity can make policy decisions which would otherwise be very difficult.

Chapter 9 Identifications

Bureaucracy: A set of complex hierarchical departments, agencies, commissions, and their staffs that exist to help a chief executive officer carry out his or her duties. Bureaucracies may be private organizations of governmental units.

Max Weber: believed bureaucracies were a rational way for complex societies to organize themselves. Bureaucracies have: 1. A chain of command2. A division of labor among specialized workers3. Clear lines of authority4. A goal orientation that determines structure, authority and rules5. Impersonality- all employees treated fairly based on merit6. Productivity: all work evaluated according to established rules

Spoils System: The firing of public-office holders of a defeated political party and their replacement with loyalists of the newly elected party.

Patronage: Jobs, grants, or other special favors that are given as rewards to friends and political alliesfor their support.

Pendleton Act: Reform measure that created the Civil Service Commission to administer a partial merit system. The act classified the federal service by grades, to which appointments were made based on results of a competitive examination. It made it illegal for federal political appointees to be required to contribute to a particular party.

Merit system: The system by which federal civil service jobs are classified into grades or levels, to which appointments are made on the basis of performance on competitive examinations.

Federal Trade Commission: Created by Congress in 1914 to protect small businesses and the public from unfair competition, especially from big business.

Hatch Act: Law enacted in 1939 to prohibit civil servants from taking activist roles in partisan campaigns. This act prohibited federal employees from making political contributions, working for a particular party, or campaigning for a particular candidate.

Federal Employee Political Activities Act: 1993 liberalization of the Hatch Act. Federal employees are now allowed to run for office in nonpartisan elections and to contribute money to campaigns in partisan elections.

Departments (e): Major administrative units with responsibility for a broad area of government operations. Departmental status usually indicates a permanent national interest in a particular governmental function, such as defense, commerce, or agriculture.

Government Corporations (e): Businesses established by Congress that perform functions that could be provided by private businesses (Such as US Postal Service)

Independent Executive Agencies (e): Governmental units that closely resemble a Cabinet department but have a narrower area of responsibility (such as CIA) and are not part of any Cabinet department.

Independent Regulatory Commissions (e): agencies created by Congress to exist outside the major departments to regulate a specific economic activity of interest. (ex. National Labor Relations Board, Federal Reserve Board, Securities and Exchange Commission)

Implementation: The process by which a law or policy is put into operation by the bureaucracy.

Iron Triangle (e): The relatively stable relationships and patterns of interaction that occur among an agency, interest groups, and congressional committees or subcommittees. (ex. Department of Veterans Affairs and the House Committee on Veteran Affairs or American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars)

Issue Networks: The loose and informal relationships that exist among a large number of actors who work in broad policy areas.

Interagency Councils: Councils within agencies, designed to give council to such agencies and agents of the agencies. Agents may also give council to other agents within their own agency, or they cannot and say they did.

Administrative Discretion: The ability of bureaucracies to make choices concerning the best way to implement interfaces in a java program, or congressional intentions.

Rule Making: A quasi-legislative administrative process that has the characteristics of a legislative act.

Regulations: Rules that govern the operation of a particular government program that have the force of law.

Administrative Procedures Act: 1946 established rule-making procedures to give everyone the chance to participate in the process. Required:

1. Public notice of the time, place, and nature of the rule-making procedures to be provided tin the Federal Register. 2. Interested parties be given the opportunity to submit written arguments and facts relevant to the rule3. The statutory purpose and basis of the rule must be stated.

Administrative adjudication: A quasi-judicial process in which a bureaucratic agency settles disputes between two parties in a manner similar to the way courts resolve disputes.

Chapter 10 Identifications

Judicial review: Power of the courts to review acts of other branches of government and the states.

Judiciary Act of 1789: Established the basic three-tiered structure of the federal court system. At the bottom are federal district courts, then the circuit courts, and finally the Supreme Court of the United States.

Marbury v. Madison (1803) (s): Case in which the Supreme Court first asserted the power of judicial review in finding that the congressional statute extending the Court's original jurisdiction was unconstitutional. Opened up judicial review of congressional legislation and has since been utilized very often.

Jurisdiction: Authority vested in a particular court to hear and decide the issues in any particular case. Original Jurisdiction (s): The jurisdiction of courts to hear a case first, usually in a trial. Courts determine the facts of a case under their original jurisdiction. Allows courts to hear cases in trial. Appellate Jurisdiction (s): The power vested in an appellate court to review and/or revise the decision of a lower court. The court reviews the application of the law, not the factual record.

Criminal law: codes of behavior related to the protection of property and individual safety.

Civil Law: Codes of behavior related to business and contractual relationships between groups and individuals.

Constitutional Courts (e): Federal courts specifically created by the U.S. Constitution or by Congress pursuant to its authority in Article III. Ex. Supreme Court.

Legislative Courts (e): Courts established by Congress for specialized purposes. Ex. Court of Military Appeals.

U.S. District Courts: federal trial courts of original jurisdiction. Cases are heard here when they involve: The federal government, civil suits under federal law, civil suits between citizens of different states if the amount in issue is more than $75,000, or bankruptcy.

U.S. Court of Appeals: The intermediate appellate courts in the federal system. Established in 1789 to hear appeals from federal district courts. Appeals of cases come from: lower federal courts, U.S. regulatory commissions, legislative courts.

Brief: A document containing the legal written arguments in a case filed with a court by a party prior to a hearing or trial.

Precedents: Prior judicial decisions that serve as a rule for settling subsequent cases of a similar nature.

Stare decisis (s): In court rulings, a reliance on past decisions or precedents to formulate decisions in new cases. Allows for predictability in court rulings, however they don't always follow these decisions, leading to much litigation due to conflicting rulings.

U.S. Supreme Court (s): reviews cases from the U.S. Courts of appeals and state supreme courts, and acts as the final interpreter of the U.S. Constitution. This allows them to ensure national law is supreme, and ensures uniform interpretation of the constitution.

Senatorial Courtesy: Process by which presidents generally defer selection of district court judges to the choice of senators of their own party who represent the state where the vacancy occurs.

Strict Constructionist: An approach to constitutional interpretation that emphasizes the Framer's original intentions.

Senate Judiciary Committee (s): committee which investigates nominees, holds hearings, and votes on its recommendation for Senate action. They decide whether or not to recommend a nominee be appointed, this affects the senate's voting.

Writ of Certiorari: a request for the court to order up the records from a lower court to review the case.

Rule of Four: At least four justices of the Supreme Court must vote to consider a case before it can be heard.

Solicitor General: the fourth ranking member of the Department of Justice; responsible for handling all appeals on behalf of the U.S. government to the Supreme Court.

Amicus Curiae: “Friend of the Court”; amici may file briefs or even appear to argue their interests orally before the court.

Majority Opinion: Legal reasoning justifying a decision and sets the precedent for future cases.

Concurring Opinion: Differing approach to same conclusion as the Majority opinion. Used to express individual opinions.

Dissenting Opinion: Personal and legal disagreements with other members of the court. Important indicator of legal thought on the court.

Judicial restraint: A philosophy of judicial decision making that argues courts should allow the decisions of other branches of government to stand, even when they offend a judge's own sense of principles

Judicial Activism: A philosophy of judicial decision making that argues judges should use their power broadly to further justice, especially in the areas of equality and personal liberty.

Judicial Implementation (e): Refers to how and whether judicial decisions are translated into actual public policies affecting more than the immediate parties to a lawsuit. (Ex. Brown V. Board of Education)

Chapter 11 Identifications

Public opinion: What the public thinks about a particular issue or set of issues at a particular time

Committee On Public Information: Created by Woodrow Wilson to raise support for the war effort.

Straw Polls: unscientific surveys used to gauge public opinion. Literary Digest used them to predict 4 presidential elections.

Political socialization: The process through which an individual acquires his particular political orientations – His knowledge, feeling, and evaluations regarding his political world.

Gender Gap: men and women hold different opinions on a variety of issues. The gap in the way men and women vote.

Random Sampling: Gives each potential voter/adult the same chance of being selected.

Quota Sample: Sample based on known statistics to determine the proportion of particular groups in the sample.

Stratified Sampling: A variation of random sampling. Census data is used to divide a country into 4 sampling regions. Sets of counties and standard metropolitan statistical areas are then randomly selected in proportion to the total national population.

Push Polls: Telephone “polls” designed to give respondents some negative or even untruthful information about a candidate’s opponent. Data is often ignored, as this is not the intention of push polls.

Tracking polls: Continuous surveys that allow a campaign to chart its daily rise or fall in support. Small samples are contacted every 24 hours.

Exit Polls: polls conducted at selected polling places on Election Day. Samples every tenth voter emerging from the polling place. They allow the media to predict the outcome of elections before the polls have closed. Exit polls caused Jimmy Carter to concede defeat 3 hours before the polls closed, leading to controversy over whether or not he would have one had the Exit polls not dismayed potential voters.

Voter News Service (VNS): The conglomerate organization that provided the major networks with their exit poll data. In 2000 they had many errors concerning the state of Florida, leading many networks to predict the outcome prematurely.

Sampling Error: The difference between the actual universe and the sample. It is a measure of accuracy of a public opinion poll.

Bandwagon Effect: When polls or early victories in the primaries can influence new supporters to, “jump on the bandwagon” of that particular candidate. The better a candidates’ outcome in a poll, the more likely he or she is to receive more donations, where as if the candidate seems to have little support in the polls, people are unlikely to donate money to the failing campaign.

Chapter 12 Identifications

Political party: a group of office holders, candidates, activists, and voters who identify with a group label and seek to elect public office individuals who run under that label.

Governmental party: the office holders and candidates who run under a political party’s banner.

Organizational party: the workers and activists who staff the party’s formal organization.

Party in the electorate: the voters who consider themselves allied or associated with the party.

Political machines: a party organization that recruits its members with tangible incentives and is characterized by a high degree of control over member activity.

Direct primary: the selection of party candidates through the ballots of qualified voters rather than at party nomination conventions.

Civil service laws: these acts removed the staffing of the bureaucracy from political parties and created professional bureaucracy filled through competition.

Ticket-splitting: voting for candidates of different parties for various offices in the same election.

Divided government: the political condition in which different political parties control the White House and Congress.

Coalition: a group of interests or organizations that join forces for the purpose of election public officials.

National platform: a statement of the general and specific philosophy and policy goals of a political party, usually promulgated at the national convention.

National committees: make arrangements for the conventions and coordinate the subsequent presidential campaigns.

National chairperson: selected by the sitting president or newly nominated presidential candidate; prime spokesperson and arbitrator for the party during the four years between elections. He/she is called on to damp down factionalism, negotiate candidate disputes, raise money, and prepare machinery for the next presidential election

National convention: a party meeting held in the presidential election year for the purposes of nominating a presidential and vice presidential ticket and adopting a platform.

Think tanks: institutional collection of policy-oriented researchers and academics who are sources of policy ideas.

Red states: states that predominantly vote for the Republican Party; South, Midwest, Southwest, the Rockies, and Alaska.

Blue states: states that predominantly vote for the Democratic Party; New England, New York, the Pacific Coast, and a few Midwestern states.

George Wallace: leader of the American Independent Party; firm geographic base in the south focusing on civil rights.

Ross Perot: another third-party leader who ran for president in 1992 whose campaign was fueled by the deficit issues (as well as by his personal fortune).

Ralph Nader (s): Green Party nominee in 2000 election, received 2.86 million votes; cost Democrat Al Gore the presidency. .

Proportional representation: a voting system that apportions legislative seats according to the percentage of a vote won by a particular political party.

Single-member plurality system (s): U.S. system requires a party to get one more vote than any other party in a legislative district or in a state’s presidential election to win. In contrast, countries that use proportional representation often guarantee parliamentary seats to any faction securing as little as 5 percent of the vote. Therefore, in the U.S., parties usually move to the left or right on issues in order to gain popular support. This tends to keep third parties remaining minor.

Chapter 13 Identifications

Mandate: A command, indicated by an electorate's votes, for the elected officials to carry out their platforms.

Retrospective Judgment: A voter's evaluation of the performance of the party in power.

Prospective Judgment: A voter's evaluation of a candidate based on what he or she pledges to do about an issue if elected.

Primary Election: Election in which voters decide which of the candidates within a party will represent the party in the general election.

Closed Primaries: A primary election in which only a party's registered voters are eligible to vote.

Open Primaries: A primary in which party members, independents, and sometimes members of the other party are allowed to vote.

General Election: Election in which voters decide which candidates will actually fill elective public offices.

Initiative: An election that allows citizens to propose legislation and submit it to the state electorate for popular vote.

Referendum: An election whereby the state legislature submits proposed legislation to the states voters for approval.

Caucus: Under this system, party members meet in small groups throughout a state to select the party's delegates to the national convention.

Regional Primary: A proposed system in which the country would be divided into five or six geographic areas and all states in each region would hold their presidential primary elections on the same day.

Super Tuesday: When the southern states allied and held their primaries on the same day to have a greater influence on presidential politics. Conservative democrats wanted a more moderate candidate but they were disappointed when Michael Dukakis and Jesse Jackson came out on top.

Front-loading (s): The tendency of states to choose an early date on the primary calendar. This causes many states

to try to push their way up the calendar to have an earlier primary, thus increasing their overall effect. Front-loading benefits the front runner in presidential campaigns, and benefits the candidate who gains the most money and support before the campaign officially begins.

Invisible Primary: The year or so prior to the start of the official nomination season when candidates begin raising money and unofficially campaigning.

Superdelegates: Delegate slot to the Democratic Party's national convention that is reserved for an elected party official.

Electoral College (s): Representatives of each state who cast the final ballots that actually elect a president. The significance of this is that the popular vote can differ from the actual president, and that the electors are not bound to vote as the public does. Constructed to work without political parties and elect a non-partisan president.

Constituency Services (s): The term used to describe a wide array of assistance provided by a member of congress to voters in need. The members of the House receive an average of $750,000 a year for these services. The more people that benefit, the more likely they are to vote for him/her, which increases his or her chances of re-election.

Reapportionment: The process by which states gain or lose congressional seats due to shifts in the national population.

Gerrymandering: The legislative process through which the majority party in each statehouse tries to assure that the maximum number of representatives from its political party can be elected to Congress through the redrawing of legislative districts.

Coattail Effect: The situation in which successful presidential candidates usually carry into office congressional candidates of the same party in the year of their election. It has declined in recent years due to ticket splitting.

Midterm Elections: Elections in the middle of presidential terms.

26th Amendment: Ratified in 1971, it lowered the voting age to 18.

Motor Voter Act of 1993: Required states to permit individuals to register by mail, not just in person. It also allows citizens to register to vote when they visit any motor vehicles office, public assistance agency, or military recruitment division.

Chapter 14 Identifications

Voter canvass: the process by which a campaign reaches individual voters, either by door-to-door solicitation or by telephone

Get-out–the-vote (GOTV): a push at the end of a political campaign to encourage supporters to go to the polls

Campaign manager: the individual who travels with the candidate and coordinates the many different aspects of the campaign

Campaign consultant: the private-sector professionals and firms who sell to a candidate the technologies, services, and strategies required to get the candidate elected

Direct mailer: a professional who supervises a political campaign’s direct-mail fundraising strategies

Communications director: the person who develops the overall media strategy for the candidate, blending the free press coverage with the paid TV, radio, and mail media

Media consultant: a professional who produces candidates’ television, radio, and print advertisements

Spot ads: television advertising on behalf of a candidate that is broadcast in sixty-, thirty-, or ten-second durations

Horse race (s): the “who’s ahead, who’s behind, who’s gaining” aspect of politics; detrimental to the substance of the candidates’ issues and ideas; public opinion polls (tracking polls) dominate coverage; tone of the media

coverage can effect whether people decide to give money and other types of support to a candidate

Media events: activities designed to include sound bites and staged with appealing backdrops so that they will be run on the television news and in the paper

Sound bites: brief, clever quotes used by candidates in media events

Spin: putting the most favorable interpretation for their candidate (and the most negative for their opponent) on any circumstance occurring in the campaign

Candidate debates (s): forum in which political candidates face each other to discuss their platforms, records, and character; important tool for both consolidating their voter base and correcting misconceptions about the candidate’s suitability for office; errors or slips of tongue can affect election outcomes; increase knowledge about the candidates and their respective personalities and issue positions

McConnell v. FEC (2003): concluded that the government’s interest in preventing political-party corruption overrides the free speech rights to which the parties would otherwise be entitled

Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974 (FECA): governed campaign finance for the past thirty years; first established public funding of presidential campaigns

Political action committees (s): federally mandated, officially registered fundraising committee that represents interest groups in the political process; give primarily to incumbents; candidate might reciprocate PAC donations with loyalty to their cause

Buckley V. Valeo (1976) (s): ruled that no limit could be placed on the amount of money candidates can spend from their families’ resources, since such spending is considered a First Amendment right of free speech; allowed wealthy politicians to spend millions

Matching funds: donations to presidential campaigns from the federal government that are determined by the amount of private funds a qualifying candidate raises

Hard money: legally specified and limited contributions that are clearly regulated by the FECA and by the FEC.

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA): limits the amount that individuals, interest groups, and political parties can give to candidates for president, senator, and representative; prevents any single group or individual from gaining too much influence over elected officials

Soft money: the virtually unregulated money funneled by individuals and political committees through state and local parties

Issue advocacy: issue advocacy advertisements paid for with unregulated soft money; much like express advocacy ads, but avoids usage of the terms “vote for” or “vote against”

Independent Expenditures: the money spent on express advocacy advertisements without a candidate’s cooperation

527 Committees (e, s): unregulated interest groups that focus on specific cause or policy position and attempt to influence the decision of voters; unregulated soft money in previous election cycles ended up in the hands of these organizations; campaign reform law had no effect on overall spending. (ex. the Media fund and Americans Coming Together)

Chapter 15 Identifications

Yellow Journalism: A form of newspaper publishing in vogue in the late-nineteenth century that featured pictures, comics, color, and sensationalized, oversimplified news coverage.

Muckraking: A form of journalism, in vogue in the early twentieth century, concerned with reforming government and business conduct.

Print Press: The traditional form of mass media, comprising newspapers, magazines, and journals.

Electronic Media: The broadcast and cable media, including television, radio, and the internet.

Chains (s): Large media conglomerations owning a large portion of the daily newspapers. Chain ownership usually reduces the diversity of editorial opinions and can result in the homogenization of the news.

Niche Journalism: Journalism catering to specific groups of people, such as CNN and Fox News.

Networks: An association of broadcast stations (radio or television) that share programming through a financial arrangement.

Affiliates: Local television stations that carry the programming of a national network.

Wire Service: An electronic delivery of news gathered by the news service’s correspondents and sent to all member news media organizations.

Press Release: A document offering an official comment or position.

Press Briefing: A relatively restricted session between a press secretary or aide and the press.

Press Conference: An unrestricted session between an elected official and the press.

Press Secretary: The president’s main disseminator of information to the press. Must be adept at dealing with the press.

Investigative Journalism: reporters go beyond headlines and scrutinize public officials and public policy to find wrongdoing.

Character issue: What some people see as a press obsession with the sins and foibles of our politicians.

Watergate (s): The Watergate scandal began a chain reaction that today allows for intense media scrutiny of public officials’ private lives. Moved journalism away from description (providing an account of happenings) to prescription, helping to set the campaign’s and society’s agenda by focusing attention on the candidates shortcomings as well as on certain social problems. Increased emphasis on character, and on the press holding the government accountable.

Libel: Written defamation of character that unjustly injures a person’s reputation.

New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964): Supreme Court ruling stating that simply publishing a defamatory falsehood is not enough to justify a libel judgment. Public officials would have to prove “actual malice” henceforth. This rule made it very difficult for public figures to win libel cases. (Extended to all public figures 3 years later)

Telecommunications Act of 1996: The passage of this law would benefit media corporations with television holdings. Scholars found that articles appearing in newspapers owned by the corporations with the potential to benefit from this law failed to report the negative impact of the law, thus putting corporate interests above providing fair and complete coverage of an important issue.

Equal Time Rule: The rule that requires broadcast stations to sell air time equally to all candidates in a political campaign if they choose to sell it to any.

Fairness Doctrine: Rule in effect from 1949 to 1985 requiring broadcasters to cover events adequately and to present contrasting views on important public issues.

New York Times Co. v. U. S. (1971) (s): Case in which the Supreme Court ruled that the government couldn’t prevent the New York Times from publishing the Pentagon Papers, documents stolen, photocopied, and sent to the Times by Daniel Ellsberg. This stated that the government cannot censor press, reaffirming the first amendment.

Chapter 16 Identifications

Interest Groups: Organized groups that try to influence public policy

David Truman: One of the first political scientists to study interest groups. Posed disturbance theory: theory that interest groups form in part to counteract the efforts of other groups. Government’s role in managing competing groups is to balance their conflicting demands.

Public Interest Groups (e): Organizations that seek a collective good that will not selectively and materially benefit group members (ex. Common Cause, peace groups).

Economic Interest Groups (e): A group with the primary purpose of promoting the financial interest of its members. Ex. AFL-CIO, AMA

Political Action Committees (PACs): Federally mandated, officially registered fund-raising committees that represent interest groups in the political process.

Groups: in concept chart

Lobbyist: Interest groups representative who seeks to influence legislation that will benefit his or her organization through political persuasion.

Lobbying: The activities of a group or organization that seeks to influence legislation and persuade political leaders to support the group's position.

Lobbying Disclosure Act: Employs a strict definition of lobbyist- One who devotes at least 20% of a client's or employer's time to lobbying activities. Also, it requires lobbyists to: 1. Register with the clerk of the House and the secretary of the senate. 2. Report their clients and issues and the agency or house they lobbied. 3. Estimate the amount they are paid by each client.

Ethics in Government Act: Passed in the wake of Watergate in 1978. Its key provisions were: 1. Financial Disclosure: The president, vice president, and top-ranking executive employees must file annual public financial disclosure reports that list: the source and amount of all earned income (stocks, bonds, investments, debts, source of spouses income), and, any position or offices held in any business, labor, or non profit organizations2. Employment after government services: Former executive branch employees may not: represent anyone before an agency for two years after leaving government service on matters that came within the former employee's sphere or responsibility (even if they were not personally involved in the matter) OR Represent anyone on any matter before their former agency for one year after leaving it, even if the former employees had no connection with the matter while in government.

Amicus Curiae Briefs: “Friend of the court'; a third party to a lawsuit who files a legal brief for the purpose of raising additional points of view in an attempt to influence a court's decision.

Grassroots Lobbying: a form of pressure-group activity that attempts to involve individuals who contact their representatives directly in an attempt to affect public policy.

E.E. Schattschneider: political scientist who wrote “Pressure politics is essentially the politics of small groups... Pressure tactics are not remarkably successful in mobilizing general interests.” He was correct; historically, corporate interests often prevail over the concerns of public interest groups such as environmentalists.

Collective good: Something of value that cannot be withheld from a nonmember of a group, for example, a tax write-off or a better environment.

Free rider problem: Potential members fail to join a group because they can get the benefit, or collective good, sought by the group without contributing to the effort.

Chapter 16 Identifications

Interest Groups: Organized groups that try to influence public policy

David Truman: One of the first political scientists to study interest groups. Posed disturbance theory: theory that interest groups form in part to counteract the efforts of other groups. Government’s role in managing competing groups is to balance their conflicting demands.

Public Interest Groups (e): Organizations that seek a collective good that will not selectively and materially benefit group members (ex. Common Cause, peace groups).

Economic Interest Groups (e): A group with the primary purpose of promoting the financial interest of its members. Ex. AFL-CIO, AMA

Political Action Committees (PACs): Federally mandated, officially registered fund-raising committees that represent interest groups in the political process.

Groups: in concept chart

Lobbyist: Interest groups representative who seeks to influence legislation that will benefit his or her organization through political persuasion.

Lobbying: The activities of a group or organization that seeks to influence legislation and persuade political leaders to support the group's position.

Lobbying Disclosure Act: Employs a strict definition of lobbyist- One who devotes at least 20% of a client's or employer's time to lobbying activities. Also, it requires lobbyists to: 1. Register with the clerk of the House and the secretary of the senate. 2. Report their clients and issues and the agency or house they lobbied. 3. Estimate the amount they are paid by each client.

Ethics in Government Act: Passed in the wake of Watergate in 1978. Its key provisions were: 1. Financial Disclosure: The president, vice president, and top-ranking executive employees must file annual public financial disclosure reports that list: the source and amount of all earned income (stocks, bonds, investments, debts, source of spouses income), and, any position or offices held in any business, labor, or non profit organizations2. Employment after government services: Former executive branch employees may not: represent anyone before an agency for two years after leaving government service on matters that came within the former employee's sphere or responsibility (even if they were not personally involved in the matter) OR Represent anyone on any matter before their former agency for one year after leaving it, even if the former employees had no connection with the matter while in government.

Amicus Curiae Briefs: “Friend of the court'; a third party to a lawsuit who files a legal brief for the purpose of raising additional points of view in an attempt to influence a court's decision.

Grassroots Lobbying: a form of pressure-group activity that attempts to involve individuals who contact their representatives directly in an attempt to affect public policy.

E.E. Schattschneider: political scientist who wrote “Pressure politics is essentially the politics of small groups... Pressure tactics are not remarkably successful in mobilizing general interests.” He was correct; historically, corporate interests often prevail over the concerns of public interest groups such as environmentalists.

Collective good: Something of value that cannot be withheld from a nonmember of a group, for example, a tax write-off or a better environment.

Free rider problem: Potential members fail to join a group because they can get the benefit, or collective good, sought by the group without contributing to the effort.

Chapter 18 Identifications

Interstate Commerce Commission (1887): required that railroad rates be just and reasonable. Also prohibited pooling, rate discrimination, and charging more for longer hauls.

Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890): Section 1 prohibits all restraints of trade, including price-fixing, bid-rigging, and

market allocation agreements. Section 2 prohibits monopolization.

Pure Food and Drug Act (1906): prohibited the mislabeling of foods and drugs.

Clayton Anti-Trust Act (1914): prohibited unfair business practices such as price discrimination, exclusive dealing contracts, and corporate mergers that lessened competition. Sought to prevent monopolies and trusts.

16th Amendment (1913): authorized the national government to “lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived” without being apportioned among the states.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (1933): insures bank deposits, originally for $5,000 per account.

Securities and Exchange Commission (1934): independent regulatory commission. It’s authorized to regulate the stock exchanges, to enforce the Securities Act (investors be given full info on stocks or securities being offered to them), and reduce the numb#r of stocks bought on margin (with borrowed money).

National Labor Relations Act (1935): guaranteed workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively through unions of their choosing.

Fair Labor Standards Act (1938): set 25 cents an hour and 44 hours a week as initial minimum standards. Also banned child labor. Didn’t protect farmers, domestic workers, fishermen, etc.

Federal Communications Commission (1935): Was given extensive jurisdiction over the radio, telephone, and telegraph industries.

Occupational Safety and Health Act (1966): Guarantees workers a safe and healthy workplace, but contains no health and safety standards with which workplaces must comply.

Deregulation: reduction in market controls.

Airline Deregulation Act (1978): Completely eliminated economic regulation of commercial airlines over several years.

Monetary Policy: A form of government regulation in which the nation’s money supply and interest rates are controlled.

Federal Reserve Board: A seven-member board that sets member banks’ reserve requirements, controls the discount rate, and makes other economic decisions.

Reserve requirements: Governmental requirements that a portion of member banks’ deposits must be retained to back loans made.

Discount rate: The rate of interest at which member banks can borrow money from their regional Federal Reserve Board.

Open market operations: The buying and selling of government securities by the Federal Reserve Bank in the securities market.

Fiscal policy: Federal gov. policies on taxes, spending, and dept management, intended to promote the nation’s macroeconomic goals, particularly with respect to employment, price stability, and growth.

Clean Air Act (1970): Directs the EPA to set standards for motor vehicle emissions, air quality, hazardous air pollutants, and new sources of pollution; to prevent significant deterioration of air quality in clean air areas; to reduce stratospheric ozone depletion; and to control acid rain through emissions trading system.

Clean Water Act (1972): Creates a federal grant program to finance sewage treatment plant construction, authorizes technological standards to reduce water pollution, and establishes programs to control non-point-source pollution, such as runoff from parking lots and livestock feedlots.

National Environmental Policy Act (1969): Requires agencies taking actions that will have a major impact on the

environment to prepare environmental impact statements (EISs), which are subject to review by the EPA.

Superfund: The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act: provides for the cleanup of abandoned hazardous waste sights

Chapter 18: The Budget Identifications

Discretionary Fiscal Policy: involves deliberate decisions by the president and Congress to run budget surpluses or deficits; can be done by changing the amount of taxing and government spending

Mandatory Spending: funding required to fund programs such as unemployment insurance, food stamps, and Medicaid; spending increases when economy declines

Budget and Accounting Act of 1921: gave the president authority to prepare an annual budget and submit it to Congress for approval

Office of Management and Budget (s): assists the president and handles the details of the budget preparation; puts together a budget that reflects the president's preferences and priorities, as wells as modifies and revises agency budget request downward; president usually agrees with OMB decisions

Fiscal Year: begins on October 1 of one calendar year and runs through September 30 of the following calendar year

Appropriations Committees: provide funding need to carry out programs; often deny some or all of the funding authorized by the legislative committees

Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974: establishes a budget process that includes setting overall levels of revenues and expenditures, the size of the budget surplus or deficit, and priorities among different “functional” areas (ie, national defense, transportation, agriculture, etc)

Congressional Budget Office: professional staff of technical experts that assist the budget committees and provide members of Congress with their own source of budgetary information so they would be more independent of the OMB

Continuing Resolution: authorizes agencies to continue operating on the bases of the previous year's appropriation until approval of their new budget

Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (p): lowered income tax rates across the board, expanded deductions and provided taxpayers with rebates in the summer and early fall of 2001: up to $300 for single tax filers, $500 for heads of households, and $600 for married couples

National Debt: sum of the annual budget deficits

Budget Deficit: occurs when the government spends more money than it takes in

Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act of 1985: created a procedure for automatic deficit reduction: 1. Budget deficit goals of $171.9 billion and $144 billion were set for 1986 and 1987 . After that, the deficit goal would be lowered annually by $36 million decrements until it reached zero in 19912. Several programs were exempted from automatic budget cuts, including Social Security, Medicaid, veteran's benefits, food stamps, Aid to Families with Dependent Children child nutrition, and interest on the national debt. 3. If at the beginning of a fiscal year the deficit target was not met, then, by a process called sequestration, automatic, across-the-board budget cuts, divided equally between nonexempt domestic and military programs, would be levied, sufficient to meet the deficit target

Budget Enforcement Act of 1990: set limits on discretionary spending and created a “pay as you go” procedure, requiring that increases in spending be offset by decreases in other appropriations so there would be no increase in the deficit

Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (p): incorporated a mix of tax increases and entitlement reductions; the top income tax rate was increase and those with very high incomes were assessed a surcharge, also included

corporate tax increases, and increases in the tax that high-income Social Security recipients would pay; placed limits on the Medicare program

Budget Surplus: occurs when the government takes in more than it spends

Entitlement Program: income security program to which all those meeting eligibility criteria are enrolled