Download Top “ten” Terms - Pleasantville High School

Top “ten” Terms
1. Realigning election- describe a dramatic change in politics. More specifically, they refer to any
one of several U.S. presidential elections in which there are sharp changes in new issues, new
leaders and new bases of power for each of the two political parties, resulting in a new political
power structure and a new status quo that will last for decades usually focuses on the transition
between party systems. An example would be the 1896 election when both the president and
vice president Republican candidates won a sweeping majority in both the White House and both
houses of Congress, taking away from the previous Democratic majority
2. Habeas Corpus-is the name of several writs which may be issued by a judge ordering a prisoner
to be brought before the court. More commonly, the name refers to a specific writ known in full
as habeas corpus ad subjiciendum, a prerogative writ ordering that a prisoner be brought to the
court so it can be determined whether or not the prisoner is being imprisoned lawfully.
3. Rule of Four- is a Supreme Court of the United States practice that permits four of the nine
justices to grant a writ of certiorari. This is done specifically to prevent a majority of the court
from controlling all the cases it agrees to hear.
4. Social Capital- refers to the collective value of all social networks and the inclinations that arise
from these networks to do things for each other, war generates social capital and that social
capital can be divided along generational lines. For example the WWII generation has sustained
their increases levels of civic engagement and remains the faction most likely to participate in
activities such as voting and volunteering
5. Concurrent powers- shared powers; powers granted to the national government by the
Constitution, but not denied to the states. One example is the right to lay and collect taxes.
6. Rider- an additional provision attached to a bill under the consideration of a legislative
assembly. A recent example is the rider added to Article IX of a Appropriation Bill, that was
added by Rep. Smith, regarding internet use in public schools and libraries
7. Expressed powers- are powers that Congress has that are specifically listed in the United States
Constitution. They can be found in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. For example in this
list Congress has the authority to levy taxes.
8. Judicial Review- power of a court to refuse to enforce a law or government regulation which it
believes to be unconstitutional. Chief Justice John Marshall articulated this right in the decision
of Marbury v. Madison (1803). So far, the Supreme Court has ruled about 1500 congressional
acts or parts of acts unconstitutional.
9. Necessary and proper clause- clause 18 of Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution. This clause
establishes the "implied powers," by which Congress has authority to pass legislation in areas not
specifically listed in the Constitution. AKA The elastic clause!
10. Commerce Clause- Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution, it empowers
Congress to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among several states, and with the
Indian Tribes, it justifies Congress’s legislative power that has been the subject of long, intense
political controversy. Interpretation of the sixteen words of the Commerce Clause has helped
define the balance of power between the federal government and individual states. First clarified
federal power over states in Gibbons v. Ogden. In Wickard v. Filburn, (1942) the Court upheld
the Agricultural Adjustment Act, stating that the act of growing wheat on one's own land, for
one's own consumption, affected interstate commerce, and therefore under the Commerce Clause
was subject to federal regulation.
11. Hatch Act(s) - The purpose of the law was to calm fears that federal civil service employees
might be able to wield extraordinary influence on the election of the President and members of
Congress. As a result of the Hatch Act, federal employees may vote, but may not take an active
part in partisan politics.
12. Iron Triangles- closed, mutually supportive relationships that often prevail in the United States
between the government agencies, the special interest lobbying organizations, and the legislative
committees or subcommittees with jurisdiction over a particular functional area of government
policy, tend to dominate all policy-making in their respective specialized areas of concern, and
they tend to present a united front against "outsiders" who attempt to invade their turf and alter
established policies that have been worked out by years of private negotiations among the
"insiders." For example, at one point of the triangle could be any interest group that would
benefit from highway construction, like auto manufacturers, then there could be the government
agency, the Federal Highway Administration, and finally at the third point could be the
Environment and Public Works Committee in the Senate. Today, with the strong role of the
media most of these alliances are now referred to as “issues networks.”
13. Due Process- proper legal procedure. The Constitution guarantees that every American citizen be
protected from arbitrary actions by the government buy requiring the government to follow
specific procedures, defined by law, in situations like investigating criminal actions and arresting
suspects. Due process clauses are found in both the 5th and 14th amendments. The 5th amendment
guarantees the people due process and the 14th incorporates this protection from state
governments.
14. Eminent Domain- governmental power to take private property for public use. The Fifth
Amendment to the US Constitution requires the government to pay "just compensation" to
anyone from whom it takes private property under eminent domain. For example, when the
government forces an individual to sell their home to the government in order to construct a
road, for public use. This power was expanded in Kelo v. New London in 2004.
15. OMB- is a body within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP) which is
tasked with coordinating United States Federal agencies. A "stop-and-think shop," it is a senior
management team of the White House. The OMB performs this coordination by gathering and
filtering budget requests, by issuing circulars dictating agency management practices, and by
reviewing agency regulations
16. PACs- an independent organization established by interest groups, political candidates, and
people who hold office. PACs serve to raise and contribute money to the political campaigns of
individuals whose platforms agree with the aims of the PAC. These organizations were founded
because federal laws prohibit most interest groups from contributing money directly to political
campaigns.
17. Block grants- is a large sum of money granted by the national government to a regional
government with only general provisions as to the way it is to be spent, allow regional
governments to experiment with different ways of spending money. For instance, in 2003, under
the State Homeland Security Grant Programs and Critical Infrastructure Protection Grants,
Wyoming, the least populous state, received $17.5 million and California, the most populous
state, received $164 million. In 2004 FY2004 Wyoming is guaranteed to receive a minimum of
$15 million and California, $133 million.
18. Coattail Effect- is the tendency for a popular political party leader to attract votes for other
candidates of the same party in an election. For example, in the United States, the party of a
victorious presidential candidate will often win many seats in Congress as well; these
congressmen are voted into office “on the coattails” of the president. This theory is prevalent at
all levels of government. A popular statewide candidate for governor or senator can attract
support for down ballot races of their party as well. The term of voting a straight ticket can also
be used. Following the 2004 elections, Republicans picked up seats in Congress and in other
lower offices because of the coattails of George W. Bush.
19. Selective perception- is when one individual has a certain view on an object, issue, or individual,
while another persons view are the opposite. For example, one person may view President Bush
as a conservative Republican, if his views aren’t as extreme as theirs, while another may say he
is a very liberal Republican, if they tend to be more conservative
20. Cloture- is a motion or process aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. It was adopted in the
United States Senate in 1917 in response to the actions of isolationist senators who attempted to
talk out, or filibuster a bill to arm U.S. merchant ships. President Woodrow Wilson urged the
Senate to change its rules to thwart what he called a "little group of willful men", to which the
Senate responded by introducing cloture in the form of Rule 22, which would end a filibuster
with a 3/5 majority.
21. Filibuster- a tactic in which a Senator holds the floor for a long time in order to delay or prevent
a vote on an issue. Filibusters cannot occur in the House of Representatives, since speaking time
is limited. For example, if one party wants to prevent a bill from being passed, they could
filibuster, and hope that their opposing party would eventually agree to kill the bill.
22. Plurality- is the largest share of something, which may or may not be a majority. For example, if
an election had three candidates, who received 40%, 25%, and 35% of the vote, the candidate
with 40% would have a plurality, but not a majority.
23. Senatorial courtesy- is the custom whereby the Senate will refuse to confirm any Presidential
appointments only if objections are raised by either the senior Senator of the President's political
party, or the Senators from the state to which the appointment applies. Senatorial courtesy does
not apply in the appointment of Supreme Court Justices, though it did during the administration
of Grover Cleveland, when political opposition of New York senator David B. Hill prevented
him from gaining confirmation for a replacement to a seat traditionally held by a New Yorker.
24. Pocket Veto- (Article 1, Section 7), is a legislative maneuver in American federal lawmaking.
The U.S. Constitution requires the President to sign or veto any legislation placed on his desk
within ten days (not including Sundays). If he does not, then it becomes law by default. The one
exception to this rule is if Congress adjourns before the ten days are up. In such a case, the bill
does not become law; it is effectively, if not actually, vetoed. Ignoring legislation, or "putting a
bill in one's pocket" until Congress adjourns is thus called a pocket veto. Since Congress cannot
vote while in adjournment, a pocket veto cannot be overridden
25. Log Rolling- exchanging political support for political favors, especially by members of
Congress and other legislatures. For example, if certain members of our local government need
support to get money to put in the mid-county bridge, they may promise to give support to
another groups cause, say for unification, that way each party gets what they want
26. Standing committee- legislative committee that exists beyond the adjournment of the legislative
body. In the U.S. Congress, most work is done by standing committees, such as the Foreign
Relations committee in the U.S. Senate
27. Trustee/ Delegate- is an individual (or a member of a group called a delegation) who represents
the interests of a larger organization such as a charity at a meeting of some king, like an aid
negotiation
28. Regulatory taking- has occurred when a government deprives a person of the use of property by
the application of regulations that have not changed the ownership of the property. In the U.S,
taking without the payment of fair market value of the property is forbidden by the 5th
Amendment. For example if the government was widening a road, which required the use of an
individual’s property, they could compensate that individual for their land.
29. Deficit- occurs when the government spends more than it takes in. Before the invention of bonds,
the deficit could only be financed with loans from private investors. An example of this was the
Rothschild dynasty.
30. Debt- is the effect of a growing deficit; it is the money which is owed. Excesses in debt
accumulation have been blamed for exacerbating economic problems. US debt continues to be a
problem due to deficit budgets. When governments spend more than revenue available, debt
occurs. Deficit spending has resulted in more than $9 trillion of US debt.
31. Divided government- describes a situation in which one party controls the White House and
another party controls one or both houses of Congress. For example, in a divided government,
the Republicans could control the White House, e.g. and Republican president, and the
Democrats could control one or both Houses of Congress. This divided government can either
lead to stalemates with no compromise or can lead to bipartisan cooperation.
32. Executive privilege- is a claim asserted by the President of the United States and other members
of the executive branch to justify withholding of documents and information from other branches
of government. For example, President Nixon gave this as a reason for withholding tapes from
being used against him during the Watergate Scandal. This case was US v. Nixon.