GovernmentEOC Practice

Federalism

• The term "federalism" is also used to describe a system of government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units (such as states or provinces)

Representative Democracy

• A system of government in which public policies are made by officials selected by voters and held accountable in periodic elections.

• “Government of, by and for the people”

Unitary Government

• A centralized government in which all government powers belong to a single, centralized agency.

• Example: Great Britain

Parliamentary System

• A from of government in which the executive branch is made up of the prime minister and their official cabinet.

• They remain in office as long as their policies and administration have the support of the majority.

• Example: South Africa

Presidential System

• A form of government in which the executive and legislative branches of the government are separate, independent and coequal.

• Ex. United States

Expressed Powers

• Powers—Powers directly stated in the Constitution of the United States of America, such as the power to levy and collect taxes, make war, and regulate trade among the states

• Also called “enumerated powers”.

Popular Sovereignty

• the doctrine that sovereign power is vested in the people and that those chosen by election to govern or to represent must conform to the will of the people.

• Basic principle of American system of government.

Checks and Balances

• the powers of one branch can be challenged by another branch.

Concurrent Powers

• Those powers that both the National Government and the States possess and exercise.

• Ex. Power to levy and collect taxes, define crimes and punish them, and to take private property for public use.

Exclusive Powers

• Those powers that can be exercised by the National Government alone.

• Example: The power to coin money, make treaties with foreign countries, and to tax imports.

Implied Powers

• Powers reserved by the national government but not specifically listed; source for implied powers is the elastic clause or ―necessary and proper‖ clause

• “necessary and proper” to carry out expressed powers.

Categorical Grant

• One type of federal grants-in-aid: made for some specific, closely defined, purpose.

• Example: school lunches, airport, wastewater treatment plants.

Grant-in Aid

• Grants of federal money or other resources to States, cities, counties, and other local units.

• Ex. Loans to build State Universities, public lands, flood control work.

Separation of Powers

• the idea that the powers of a sovereign government should be split between two or more strongly independent entities, preventing any one person or group from gaining too much power.

• Executive, legislative and judicial powers are divided up equally.

Judicial Review

• The power of a court to determine the constitutionality of a government action.

Supremacy Clause

• A provision of the U.S Constitution that says it is the “supreme law of the land”.

Civil Liberties

• Freedoms upon which the government may not infringe.

• Protection from the government. (religion, speech, press)

Ex Post Facto

• A law applied to an act committed before its passage.

• For example, a law making it a crime to sell marijuana cannot be applied to a sale that occurred before that law was passed.

Bicameral Legislature

• A legislature that has 2 houses.

• House (representation by population) and Senate (equal representation)

Public Policy

• the fundamental policy on which laws rest, especially policy not yet expressed in specific rules.

• All the many goals that government pursues for human affairs.

House of Representatives

• One of 2 houses in the United States Congress.

• Referred to as the “House”

Senate

• One of 2 houses in the United States Congress

Impeachment

• When formal charges are brought up against a public official.

• The House of Representatives has the sole power to impeach civil officers of the United States.

• Ex. Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. (Nixon resigned prior to impeachment)

Repeal

• The act of revoking a law or congressional act.

Levy

• Impose a tax, fee or fine.

Conference Committee

• a committee of the Congress appointed by the House of Representatives and Senate to resolve disagreements on a particular bill.

• Conference committees operate after the House and the Senate have passed different versions of a bill. Conference committees exist to draft a compromise bill that both houses can accept. Both houses of Congress must eventually pass the identical legislation for the bill to become law.

Presidential Override

• the power of the President of the United States to reject a decision or proposal made by Congress. When a president says no and vetoes a proposal, it is sent back to Congress

Bill

• A proposed law presented to a legislative body for consideration.

Amendment

• A change in, or addition to, a constitution or law.

Ratification

• Formal approval of a constitutional amendment or treaty.

Affirmative Action

• A policy that requires most employers take positive steps to remedy the effects of past discrimination.

Civil Rights

• A term used for the positive acts of government that seek to make constitutional guarantees a reality for all people.

• Ex. Prohibition of discrimination.

Immigration

• the movement of non-native people into a country in order to settle there.

Entitlements

• A benefit that federal law says must be paid to all those who meet eligibility requirements.

• Example: Medicare, food stamps, and veterans pension plans.

Medicaid

• A program administered by the State to provide medical insurance to low-income families.

Medicare

• a federally sponsored health insurance programme for persons of 65 or older.

Social Security

• public provision for the economic, and sometimes social, welfare of the aged, unemployed, etc, esp through pensions and other monetary assistance.

Initiative

• the right or power to introduce legislation, etc, in a legislative body.

• the procedure by which citizens originate legislation,

Referendum

• A process by which a legislative measure is referred to the State’s voters for final approval or rejection.

Cabinet

• Presidential advisory body.

Regulatory Agency

• a governmental agency that regulates businesses in the public interest.

• Example: FDA – Food and Drug Administration

Appointment

• - the act of putting a person into a non-elective position.

Electoral College

• A group of persons chosen in each State every 4 years who make a formal selection of the President and Vice-President.

Party Nomination

• the official endorsement of a candidate for office by a political party.

Primary Election

• an election that narrows the field of candidates before an election for office.

Caucus

• A group of like-minded people who meet to select the candidates they will support in an upcoming election.

Diplomacy

• the conduct by government officials of negotiations and other relations between nations.

Ambassador

• An official representative of the United States appointed by the President to represent the nation in matters of diplomacy.

Pardon

• an official order (from the President) allowing someone who has been found guilty of a crime to go free without being punished.

Veto

• Chief executives power to reject a bill passed by legislature.

• Means literally “I forbid”.

Executive Order

• Directive, rule or regulation issued by a chief executive having the force of law.

Domestic Policy

• All policies that are not directly connected to the realm of foreign affairs.

Embargo

• an order of a government prohibiting the movement of merchant ships into or out of its ports.

Foreign Policy

• Everything a nation’s government says and does in world affairs.

• a policy governing international affairs.

Treaty

• A formal agreement between 2 or more sovereign states.

Sanctions

• official orders or laws stopping trade, communication etc with another country, as a way of forcing its leaders to make political changes.

• EX. a resolution to impose sanctions (=start using sanctions) on North Korea.

Free Trade

• a policy in international markets in which governments do not restrict imports or exports.

Jurisdiction

• the authority of a court to hear a case.

Precedent

• Court decision that stands as an example to be followed in future similar cases.

Plaintiff

• The party who brings a suit or some other legal action against another.

Defendant

• The person against whom a court action is brought by the plaintiff.

Petit Jury

• a jury of 12 persons empanelled to determine the facts of a case and decide the issue pursuant to the direction of the court on points of law.

Grand Jury

• A panel of citizens that is convened by a court to decide whether it is appropriate for the government to indict (proceed with a prosecution against) someone suspected of a crime.

Preponderance of the Evidence

• A standard of proof that must be met by a plaintiff if he or she is to win a civil action.

Tort

• A wrongful act that involves injury to one’s person, property, or reputation in a situation not covered.

Civil Law

• The portion of the law that pertains to human conduct, to disputes between private parties and to disputes between private parties not covered by criminal law.

Habeas Corpus

• Habeas Corpus, literally in Latin "you have the body" is a term that represents an important right granted to individuals in America. Basically, a writ of habeas corpus is a judicial mandate requiring that a prisoner be brought before the court to determine whether the government has the right to continue detaining them. The individual being held or their representative can petition the court for such a writ.

Indictment

• A formal complaint before a grand jury which charges the accused with one or more crimes.

Presumption of Innocence

• “Innocent until proven guilty.

Probable Cause

• is the standard by which an officer or agent of the law has the grounds to obtain a warrant for, or as an exception to the warrant requirements for, making an arrest or conducting a personal or property search, etc. when criminal charges are being considered. It is also used to refer to the standard to which a grand jury believes that a crime has been committed in conjunction with a preponderance of the evidence. This term comes from the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Reasonable Doubt

• uncertainty as to a criminal defendant's guilt; the level of certainty a juror must have to find a defendant guilty of a crime.

Subpoena

• An order for a person to appear and to produce documents or other requested materials.

Due Process

• the regular administration of the law, according to which no citizen may be denied his or her legal rights and all laws must conform to fundamental, accepted legal principles, as the right of the accused to confront his or her accusers.

Party

• is an organization of people which seeks to achieve goals common to its members through the acquisition and exercise of political power.

PAC

• Political Action Committee (PAC) — A popular term for a political committee organized for the purpose of raising and spending money to elect and defeat candidates

Poll

• a sampling or collection of opinions on a subject, taken from either a selected or a random group of persons, as for the purpose of analysis.

• Usually, polls. the place where votes are taken.

Gerrymandering

• . the dividing of a state, county, etc., into election districts so as to give one political party a majority in many districts while concentrating the voting strength of the other party into as few districts as possible.

Reapportionment

• the redistribution of representation in a legislative body.

Redistricting

• to divide anew into districts, as for administrative or electoral purposes.

Deficit Spending

• the practice of spending funds in excess of income, especially by a government.

Surplus

• More income than spending

Necessary and Proper Clause

• A Constitutional clause that gives Congress the power to make all laws “necessary and proper” for executing its powers.

Interstate Commerce Clause

• the prohibition, implied in the Commerce Clause, against states passing legislation that discriminates against or excessively burdens interstate commerce. 

Bill of Rights

• composed of the first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America. It guarantees the rights of individuals and expresses limitations on federal and state governments.

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Equal Protection Clause

• The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits states from denying any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

14th Amendment

• An amendment to the United States Constitution, adopted in 1868. It was primarily concerned with details of reintegrating the southern states after the Civil War and defining some of the rights of recently freed slaves.

15th Amendment

• prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

17th Amendment

• established direct election of United States Senators by popular vote. The amendment supersedes Article I, § 3, Clauses 1 and 2 of the Constitution, under which senators were elected by state legislatures.

22nd Amendment

• an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1951, limiting presidential terms to two for any one person, or to one elected term if the person has completed more than two years of another's term.

Full Faith and Credit

• Constitutional requirement that each State accept the public acts, records and judicial proceedings of every other state.

Majority/Minority Leader

• The floor leader of the party that holds the majority of seats in each house of Congress.

Party Whip

• a legislator appointed by the party to enforce discipline

Speaker of the House

• The presiding officer of the House of Representatives, chosen by and from the majority party in the House.

President of the Senate

• The presiding officer of a senate, in Congress. The Voce-President of the United States.

President Pro Tempore

• The member of the United States Senate or of the upper house of a States legislature chosen to preside in the absence of the president of the Senate.

Marbury v Madison

• was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court formed the basis for the exercise of judicial review in the United States under Article III of the Constitution. The landmark decision helped define the boundary between the constitutionally separate executive and judicial branches of the American form of government.

Roe v Wade

• is a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. Decided simultaneously with a companion case, Doe v. Bolton, the Court ruled 7–2 that a right to privacy under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment extended to a woman's decision to have an abortion, but that right must be balanced against the state's two legitimate interests in regulating abortions: protecting prenatal life and protecting women's health.

Miranda v Arizona

• was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court which passed 5–4. The Court held that both inculpatory and exculpatory statements made in response to interrogation by a defendant in police custody will be admissible at trial only if the prosecution can show that the defendant was informed of the right to consult with an attorney before and during questioning and of the right against self-incrimination prior to questioning by police, and that the defendant not only understood these rights, but voluntarily waived them

Tinker v Des Moines

• was a decision by the United States Supreme Court that defined the constitutional rights of students in U.S. public schools. The Tinker test is still used by courts today to determine whether a school's disciplinary actions violate students' First Amendment rights

Mapp v Ohio

• a landmark case in criminal procedure, in which the United States Supreme Court decided that evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects against "unreasonable searches and seizures," may not be used in state law criminal prosecutions in state courts, as well, as had previously been the law, as in federal criminal law prosecutions in federal courts.

Gideon V Wainwright

• is a landmark case in United States Supreme Court history. In it the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that state courts are required under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to provide counsel in criminal cases to represent defendants who are unable to afford to pay their own attorneys.

Brown v Board of Education

• a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional

New Jersey v TLO

• is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States addressing the constitutionality of a search of a public high school student for contraband after she was caught smoking. A subsequent search of her purse revealed drug paraphernalia, marijuana, and documentation of drug sales. She was charged as a juvenile for the drugs and paraphernalia found in the search. She fought the search, claiming it violated her Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling, held that the search was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.

Regents v Bakke

• was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States. It upheld affirmative action, allowing race to be one of several factors in college admission policy.

Texas v Johnson

• was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that invalidated prohibitions on desecrating the American flag enforced in 48 of the 50 states. Justice William Brennan wrote for a five-justice majority in holding that the defendant Gregory Lee Johnson's act of flag burning was protected speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.