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American Policy

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Submitted By jrdfletcher
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Competing demands balance by Congressman -what I think -whats best for my constituants -whats best for the country -whats the right thing

Bicameral- two houses, one more populace, one more elitist.

Reapportionment- happens every 10 years after census, readjusts how many representatives.

Redistricting- within a state, you redraw districts according to how many representatives you have

Gerrymandering- You mess around with redistricting…the state senate redraws the districts in favor of how they want.

Advantages of being an incumbent- they win 85% of the time. They have name recognition

Pro’s for term limits- when politicians become professional they begin to lose touch with the people and become corrupt…
Con- when you have a really good one, they are limited to what they can do

Who presides over the Senate? Vice President

Powers of the Speaker of the House- Call on people to speak, assign bills to committees, set time limits for debates.

Nancy Pelosi- Speaker of the House, from San Francisco, California.

Pro tempore- has to do with the fact that the vice president never shows up to the senate, the senior member of the major party is the leader of the senate

Majority leader- the person who sets the agenda for the party

Whip- the one who counts the votes and makes sure it gets done…twists peoples arms to get them to vote their way.
Filibuster- somebody talks as long as they want

Cloture- two thirds majority vote in the senate, you can limit the amount of time spent debating a bill.

Riders- attached to bills and usually have nothing to do with bills, attempt to get politicians to vote on the bill.

Amendments to bills- if a bill is sent back from the senate to the house then it would be amended. Has to go through both houses in identical form

Electoral college- the way we elect our president…each state gets an electoral vote to every representative and senator.

Unit rule- says all electoral votes from a state go to the same candidate

Powers of the President-

Richard Nixon- President during Vietnam, matching questions, involved in Watergate, impeached

Reagan- former actor, governor of California, economical

FDR- president during WWII, had polio, elected to four times, fire side chats

New Deal- socialism imposed upon the American economic scene in order to pull us out of the great depression

Andrew Jackson- President, he was the first who was elected because he was popular with the people, not his party.

Executive agreements-

Pardons- when the president forgives a convicted criminal…most of the time their friends who helped them

Leaks- leaking stuff to the media

Definition of bureaucracy- structure of government…Trevecca

Departments- Justice, Defense, Education, Agrictulture….organizations of around the Cabinet members…know the names of each of the heads of departments

Cabinet-

Examples of agencies- CIA,
Regulatory commissions- FCC

Special Interest Groups- NAACP, NRA, ACLU

PACs- Political Action Commitees. Not tied to a candidate but to a specific cause…give money to candidates.

Bundling- coming in with a stack of checks from different people for campaign contribution

Amicus Curiae Briefs- “Friend of the Court”…the judges read all the briefs (papers written by the people from the different parties). Anybody is allowed to write a brief on any case. Makes an argument by somebody who’s not involved in a case.

Lobbying- trying to convince somebody to do something that I want them to do

Federalist #10- Paper where James Madison defends factions…its impossible to have a govt without factions…people are always going to group themselves according to their beliefs

John Marshall- first great supreme court justice…set parameters of where the court will work

Common law- good portion of our legal system…legal decisions are based on traditions in our communities

Precedent- comes out of common law…tries cases based on how cases were decided in the past

Stare Decisis- “to stand by what’s been decided”…if somebody has been tried for something, they need to stick by what they decided the first time

Statutory law- law this is made by statute…in contrast to common law…made by congress or the states

District courts- courts of appeal and the federal court systems

Appellate courts- any court that hears an appeal

Judicial activism vs judicial restraint- should judges interpret the law or should they enforce the law. JA says im gonna do what I think is best…JR says im gonna follow the law because that’s what im supposed to do.

Judicial review- court deciding if a law is constitutional or not

9 supreme justices- John Roberts, Samuel Alito ( both recently appointed by Bush), Clarence Thomas, Scalia, Ruth Ginsberg (only woman)
Chief Justice- John Roberts

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