Download 2. study guide #2

Study Guide # 2
POSC 101 - American Gov’t
Dr. William Eric Davis
College of Southern Nevada
I. TOPICS:
1. Defendant’s Rights: What is the Supreme Court Approach to deciding conflicts
among defendant’s (suspect’s) rights. Be able to discuss the tests, standards, and
burdens [e.g., balancing test, bright-line rules, least restrictive means, probable
cause, reasonable suspicion, etc.) that must be met by government to prevent its
laws/actions/ from being struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional
violations of various Bill-of-Rights protections.
2. Civil Rights: How does sociology, psychology, economics, and political science
separately and jointly explain the existence of slavery, why it lasted so long, and
why discrimination persisted long after slavery ended? What barriers to political
participation did the minority community have to overcome?
3. Congress: Describe the evolution of the distribution of power in the House of
Representatives over the course of its history. Why were certain positions created
and given power and why were they stripped of power?
4. Presidency: In what ways have the president’s constitutional powers grown over 200+
years? In what ways have his non-constitutional powers grown over the last 200+
years? In what ways has the president lost power and why?
5. Bureaucracy: Describe the basic differences between the “spoils system” and the
Civil Service System. What organizational values are served by each
(representativeness, responsiveness, efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability)?
6. Judiciary: In what ways have the federal courts been opened to civil lawsuits and in
what ways have citizens had access to courts restricted to them? Describe how the
courts have become “politicized” over time (that is, moved from being a legal
institution to becoming a political one)?
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II. Terms and Concepts
DEFENDANT’S RIGHTS
Defendant’s Rights (4th/5th/6th/8th Amends.)
Search & Seizure
Exclusionary Rule
Tennessee v. Garner (1985) 
Scott v. Harris (2007) 
Major Exceptions to Warrant Requirement
Exceptions to “Miranda” requirement
The “Keys” to the 4th/5th/6th Amendments
Excessive force
Police Chases
Weeks v. United States (1914) 
Mapp v. Ohio (1961) 
Terry v. Ohio (1968) 
Katz v. United States (1967) 
Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 
Montejo v. Louisiana (2009) 
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) 
Weems v. United States (1910) 
Coker v. Georgia (1977) 
Furman v. Georgia (1972) 
Gregg v. Georgia (1976) 
Exclusionary Rule
Incorporation of 4th Amendment into 14th
“Stop & Frisk”/ Reasonable Suspicion
4th Amendment (Protects People, not Places)
Self-Incrimination/Police Procedure
Barrier against police interrogation
Right to Counsel
Proportionality Test (punishment)
Death Penalty/Rape
Death Penalty/Arbitrary Jury Discretion
Death Penalty/Aggravating Circumstances
Note: The “” symbol beside a case name means the subject of that court’s ruling is in the right
hand column beside the case name.
CIVIL RIGHTS
The 4 Pieces to Civil Rights Puzzle
Minimum Winning Coalition (50%+1)
Literacy Test
Poll Tax (& 24th Amendment)
White Primary
Gerrymandering
Article IV, Section II (Constitution)
Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
Civil Disobedience
MLK “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
“Iron Law of Democratic Politics”
Desegregation
Integration
Cognitive Dissonance
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Interstate Commerce Clause
Voting Rights Act of 1965
13th / 14th / 15th Amendments
The Equal Rights Amendment
Bakke v. Regents of California (1978)
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CONGRESS
Madisonian Dilemma
Parliament
Congress
Bicameralism
Checks & Balances
Congressional Reorganization
Jeffersonian Theory
Committee of the Whole House
Speaker of the House
“Parliamentary” Speakership
“Partisan” Speakership
“Feudal” Speakership
“Democratic” Speakership
“Modern” (Semi-Partisan) Speakership
Majority Leader (House & Senate)
Minority Leader (House & Senate)
Majority/Minority Whip
President of the Senate
President Pro Tempore
Congressional Committees
Select Committee
Standing Committee
Conference Committee
The “Ex Post Veto”
House Rules Committee
Steering Committee
Quorum
Open/Closed/Modified Rules
House “Ways & Means” Committee
Gatekeeping
Revenue (tax) bills
Single Referral
Sequential Referral
Simultaneous Referral
Partial Referral
Discharge Petition/Motion
Calendar Wednesday
Filibuster
Senate Rule 22 (Cloture)
Congressional Qualifications
Seniority
Apprenticeship
Reciprocity
Formality of Address
Voice Vote
Division Vote
Teller Vote
Roll Call Vote
Executive (Presidency and Bureaucracy)
Divided and Unified Government
Constitutional Theory (Pres. Power)
Stewardship Theory (Pres. Power)
The 22nd Amendment
Constitutional Powers of the President
Commander-in-Chief Powers
Treaty Making Power
Pardon Power
Veto Power
Appointment Power
Impoundment
Budget & Impoundment Control Act (1974)
Executive Privilege
United States v. Nixon (1973)
United States v. Clinton (1998)
Legislative Veto
Chadha v. INS (1983)
The War Powers Act of 1973
The Watergate Scandal
Impeachment
Electoral College
Presidential Constitutional Qualifications
Psychoanalysis
Bureaucracy
The Brownlow Commission
The Cabinet
Executive Office of the President [EOP]
Office of Management & Budget [OMB]
The “Clearance Process”
Congressional Oversight
The “Spoils System”
Bureaucratic Values (Organizational Values)
The Civil Service (“Merit”) System
Iron Triangle
The “Hatch Act” (1939)
Administrative Procedures Act (1946)
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Judiciary (Federal Courts)
Evolution of Judiciary (Historical Eras)
Judicial Restraint
Judicial Activism
Procedural Due Process
Substantive Due Process
FDR Court Packing Plan
“Litmus Test”
Senatorial Courtesy
Types of Supreme Court Opinions
Legal Standing
Mootness
Exhaustion of Remedies
Ripeness
Justiciabililty
“Political” Questions
Stare Decisis
Legislative Courts
Constitutional Courts
US District Courts
US Circuit Courts of Appeals
The US Supreme Court
Writ of Certiorari
The “Rule of Four”
Amicus Curiae
In Forma Pauperis
Sovereign Immunity
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