Political Science Final
Order by
78 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Administrative Adjudification | procedures designed to allow resolution of complex issues based on specific facts rather than general rules |
| Appellate Jurisdiction | substantive area in which a higher court may hear cases appealed from a lower court |
| Appointment Power | Article II, section 2, of the constitution empowers the president, often with the advice and consent of the senate, to appoint many senior government officials |
| Bureaucracy | a hierarchical organization in which offices have specified missions and employees are assigned responsiblities based on merit, knowledge, and experience |
| Caucus | face-to-face meeting in which rank-and-file party members discuss and vote on candidates to stand for election to offices under the party label at a later general election |
| Civil Code | legal tradition that envisions a complete and fully articulated legal system based on clear statutes that lay out legal principles and commands in plain language that citizens can understand and obey |
| Civil Law | law dealing primarily with relations between individuals and organizations, as in marriage and family law, contracts, and property. Violations result in more judgements and fines than punishment as such |
| Civil Liberties | areas of social life, including free speech, press, and religion, where the constitution restricts or prohibits government intrusion on the free choices of individuals |
| Civil Rights | areas of social life, such as the right to vote and to be free from racial discrimination, where the constitution requires government to act to ensure that citizens are treat equally |
| Civil Service System | rules governing the hiring, advancement, pay, and discipline of civilian federal employees |
| Common Law | judge made law, as opposed to a fully integrated legal code, developed over time as judges considers particular legal disputes and then future judges cite earlier decisions in resolving issues |
| Containment | U.S. policy, developed by Marshall, Kennan, and Truman, after World War II to contain the Soviet Union power by strengthening U.S. allies on the periphery of the Soviet Empire |
| Corporation | A legal rather than a physical person, that can do anything a person can do, including buying and selling property, loaning and borrowing money, but the liability of the shareholders is limited. |
| Criminal Law | prohibits certain actions and prescribes penalties for those who engage in the prohibited conduct |
| Deterrence | The military doctrine and strategy that seeks to amass sufficient power to prevent or deter an opponent from resorting to force |
| Executive Priviledge | the right of presidents, recognized by the supreme court, to keep conversations and communications with their advisors confidential |
| Filibuster | senators enjoy the right of unlimited debate. Use of unlimited debate by a senator to stall or block passage of legislation is called this |
| Fiscal Policy | government policy about taxing, spending, budgets, deficits, and debt |
| Flat Tax | a tax that takes the same proportion of income or wealth from the wealthy as from the poor |
| General Election | A final or definitive election in which candidates representing their respective parties contend for election to office |
| Hard Power | assets, especially military and economic power, that allow a nation to insist on its preferences |
| Incorporation | the idea that many of the protections of the bill of rights, originally meant to apply only against the national government, applied against the states as well as because they were "incorporated" into the 14th Ammendment's gurantees of due process and equal protection of the laws. |
| Inherent Powers | legal or constitutional process common in the states that allow citizens to place questions on the ballot to be decided directly by the voters |
| Judicial Review | power of any federal court to hold any law or official act based on law to be unenforeable because it is in conflict with the Constitution |
| Justiciability | legal term indicating that an issue or dispute is appropriate for or subject to judicial resolution |
| Legislative Supremacy | idea that the lawmaking authority in government should be supreme over the executive and judicial powers |
| Means-Tested Programs | social programs in which eligibility is established by low income and limited assets like Medicaid |
| Original Jurisdiction | mandatory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court as laid out in Article III of the Constitution |
| Patronage | the awarding of political jobs or contracts based on partisan ties instead of merit or experience |
| Precedent | a judicial decision that serves as a rule or guide that deciding later cases of similar nature |
| Primary | a preliminary election in which votes select candidates to stand under their party label in a later and definitive general election |
| Progressive Tax | a tax that takes a higher proportion of income or wealth of the wealthy than of the poor |
| Reciprocity Norm | congressional norm promising that if members respect the views and expertise of members of other committees, their committee expertise will be respected as well |
| Regulatory Policy | refers to the legislation and bureaucratic rules that affect the performance of individual businesses and the economy in general |
| Regressive Tax | a tax that takes a greater proportion of income or wealth of the poor than of the wealthy |
| Remand | to send a case back to a lower court for further consideration |
| Reverse | Action by a higher court to overturn the decision of a lower court |
| Right to Counsel | Gideon v. Wainwright declared that a person accused of crime has the right to assistance of a lawyer in preparing his or her defense |
| Rule Making | Process of defining rules or standards, that apply uniformly to classes of individuals, events, or activities |
| Rule of Four | Four justice must appove a writ of certiorari before a case will be heard on appeal before the Supreme court |
| Seniority Norm | the norm that holds that the member of a congressional committee with the longest continuous service on the committee shall be its chair |
| Soft Power | Assets, such as attractive values, culture, and prosperity, that encourage others to emulate and cooperate with a nation |
| Specialization Norm | the norm that encourages Congress members to specialize and develop expertise in the subject matter covered by their committee assignments |
| Standing Committees | permanent committee fo the Congress enjoying fixed jurisdiction and continuing automatically from one congress to the next |
| Stare Decisis | the judicial principle of relying on past decisions or precedents to devise rulings in later cases |
| Treaty-Making Power | Article II, section 2, of the constitution gives the president, with the advice and consent of the Senate, the power to make treaties with foreign nations |
| Unanimious Consent | legislative device by which the Senate sets aside its standard rules for a negotiated agreement on the order and conduct of business on the floor. Plays roughly the same role as rules or special orders in the house |
| Veto Power | the president has the right to veto acts of Congress. The act can still become law if both houses pass the bill again by a two-thirds vote |
| Voter Turnout | that portion of the voting-age population that actually turns up to vote on election day |
| Writ of Certiorari | judicial instrument that makes a formal request that a case be submitted for review by a higher court |
| Administrative Procedures Act | passed in 1946, the APA remains the single most important attempt by Congress to define the nature and process of bureaucratic decision making |
| Atkins v. Virginia | The supreme court held that execution of severely retarded persons that violated the prohibition against "cruel and unusual punishment" in the 8th ammendment |
| Barron v. Baltimore | The court held that the bill of rights apploed to the federal government, not the states. As a result, individuals whose rights had been violated by state and local government had to appeal to state constitutions, state judges, and local juries |
| Bonham's Case | British case in which Sir Edward Coke, chief justice of the King's Bench, laid the foundation for judicial review |
| Brandenburg v. Ohio | this decision overruled Whitney v. California to apply a more stringent version of the clear and present danger test. In order to warrant a legitimate suppression of speech, the state had to prove that danger resulting from such speech was imminent |
| Brown v. Board of Education | This landmark case overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and declared that separete inherently unequal. Consequently, the segregation of public schools was unconstitutional |
| Buckley v. Valeo | this decision declared the provisions of the 1974 Federal Elections Campaign Act limiting the amount that a candidate could contribute to his or her campaign to be an unconsitutional limitation on free speech |
| Civil Right Cases | this decision struck down key parts of the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The court held that congress could only prohibit racial discrimination by state government and not reach discrimination |
| Dred Scott v. Sanford | the court declared that African Americans, whether free or slave, were not citizens of the US. Moreover, slaves were property and could be carried into any state of the union |
| Gitlow v. New York | the court accepted the argument that the First ammendment limited state as well as federal action, but then applied a relaxed version of the clear and present danger test that allowed speech to be punished if it created a bad tendency to produce turmoil, even at some point in the remote future |
| Grutter v. Bollinger | the court upheld Bakke, allowing affirmative action that takes race into account as one factor among many, but not in a rigid or mechanical way |
| Lemon v. Kurtzman | this case established the "lemon test" for state support of religion. Such support must be secular in purpose, not unduly advance or impede religion, and not involve excessive entanglement of the state with religion |
| McConnell v. FEC | the supreme court upheld all major elements of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, including those permitted regulation of soft money and issue ads |
| Miller v. California | the court allowed states and local communities greater latitude in defining and regulating obscenity |
| Plessy v. Ferguson | the court upheld a state law that segregated the races in transportation. According to the Court's analysis, the races could be confired to separate spheres within society as long as they were treated equally, thus originating the separate but equal doctrine |
| Regents of the University of California v. Bakke | this landmark affirmative action case stated that race could be taking into account in admissions decisions as long as the institution did not set aside a specific number of seats for which only minorities were eligible |
| Roe v. Wade | court struck down a texas law regulating access to abortion as a violation of a woman's fundamental right to privacy. Recognized two state interests in prescribing abortion and determined that the compelling nature of these interests would depend on the trimester of the pregnancy and present medical knowledge |
| Roth v. US. | because the court determined that obscenity was not protected under the first ammendment, it reasoned that material was obscene and therefore unprotected if the "average person, applying contemporary community standards" found the dominant theme of the material "appeals to prurient interests" of society or was "utterly without redeeming social importance" |
| Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad | the court interpreted the word "persons" in the 14th ammendment to apply equally to corporations. The substantive right of persons to enter into contracts was used subsequently as a justification for striking down government regulation of business |
| Slaughterhouse Cases | with this decision, the supreme court limited the impact of the post civil war ammendments by defining US citizenship narrowly and leaving the states to regulate domestic race relations |
| Truman Doctrine | Post-World War II policy of supporting noncommunist forces around the world as they struggled against communist pressure from domestic or foreign sources |
| War Powers Resolution | passed in congress in 1973 requiring the president to consult with Congress on the use of force and to withdraw US forces from conflict should congressional approval not be forthcoming |
| Budget and Accounting Act | this act created the Bureau of the Budget in the treasury department and enhanced presidential control over the budgetary process in the executive branch and it became the Office of Management and Budget in 1970 |
| Bush Doctrine | highlighted in the national security strategy of october 2002, this put soverignty, national security, preemption, and supremacy at the core of American Foreign Policy |
| Federal Election Campaign Act | campaign reform legislation passed in 1971, with major amendments in 1974 and later, that required disclosure and set limits on campaign contributions, and provided public finding of presidential elections |
| Judiciary Act | originating act for the federal judiciary passed by the first congress |
| Monroe Doctrine | U.S. policy announced by President James Monroe in 1823 stating that attempts by European powers to establish new colonies anywhere in the Americas would be considered unfriendly to U.S. interests in the area |
| Pendleton Act | the original legislation establishing the civil service system |
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