Term
| what the Constitution says about the judiciary. |
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Definition
| Doesn’t say much about the requirements to be a judge of the Supreme Court. “One supreme court, and in such inferior courts.” |
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Term
| What is judicial review and where did it come from? |
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Definition
| Judicial review- power to declare a law unconstitutional- not in the constitution- power from early court case |
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Term
| What is the structure of the federal court system? Know what each level of court does |
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Definition
Judiciary Act of 1789 created the basic three-tiered structure of the federal court system.
District Courts
About 100
Where litigation begins
Court of Appeals
No witnesses or jury.
Usually 3 judges
Review the case to see if it was handled correctly
The Supreme Court
Court of last resort |
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Term
| How are judges chosen? What does the president consider and what do senators consider? |
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Definition
Judges are nominated by the president and confirmed by Senate (senatorial courtesy)
President considers experience, ideology or policy preferences, rewards, pursuit of political support, religion, race, ethnicity, and gender. |
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Term
| How are Supreme Court cases chosen? What is the process and what things do the judges consider? |
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Definition
1% of cases appealed to the Supreme Court that are heard
Granting of Cert – when the judges approve to the hearing of a case.
Rule of 4 – must be approved by 4 judges out of the 9.
Issue Area – if the issue is close to the judge, they might grant cert.
Importance of the issue
Conflict among lower level courts
Solicitor General – lawyer that represents and defends the United States. Responsible for handling nearly all appeals on behalf of the US government to the Supremem Court |
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Term
| How are court cases decided? What information factors into the decisions? What are court opinions? |
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Definition
Legal factors
Precedent
Ideology – how they interpret the constitution
Judicial Activism – create new policy through the decisions of a case
Judicial Restraint – keep policy the same
Personal factors
Group interactions
Outside factors
Public opinion
Amicus Briefs – from interest groups |
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Term
| What types of opinions exist? Which is most important? |
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Definition
Majority Opinion – explains everything that was considered in coming to the final opinion. When it is signed, it becomes a law.
Minority Opinion – the opinion of dissent.
Concurring Opinion – On majority side but agree for different reasons. |
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Term
| What are judicial activism and judicial restraint? |
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Definition
Activism-judge decides to change the law and put regulations in place.
Restraint-judge lets the law stand. |
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Term
| How much to people know about politics? What are the on-line processing and RAS models of political knowledge? |
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Definition
On-line processing – keep a running tally and forget the details
RAS models – Receive, accept, sample |
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Term
| How do people form political attitudes? What factors in? |
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Definition
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Term
What causes public opinion to change over time? What types of people change their opinions?
What types of information is discussed on television news? In newspapers? Online? |
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Definition
Public opinion changes over time.
The moderate or people in the middle change their opinions the most.
Newspapers have become more careful to not alienate advertisers and are starting to die out.
The biggest goal of cable news is to gain viewers to get money.
24 hours a day, 7 days a week
narrowcasting and consumer filtering
Hard vs. Soft news
o Hard-really important hard hitting
o Soft-fluff pieces
Spin and pitch
Local News
Quick stories
Equal time rule
Fairness doctrine
Standards of Journalism
Truthful and accurate
Objective, impartial, and fair
Online
Citizen Journalism
Less reputable |
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Term
| Know the recent trends within the news media, such as narrowcasting and news blurring with entertainment. |
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Definition
Cable network blur news with entertainment.
Mix hard with soft news stories
More national stories
More analysts
Local Network
Local news stories
Focus on car accidents, crime, corruption, etc
Quicker |
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Term
| What regulations has the government placed on media? What are the equal time rule and fairness doctrine? |
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Definition
Government can’t limint any speech or publication before they action occure.
Equal time rule requires that broadcast stations sell air time equally to all candidates in a political campaign if they choose to sell it to any, which they are under no oblication to do.
Fairness Doctrine required the holders of broadcast liscenseto both present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that was, in the Commission's view, honest, equitable and balanced. |
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Term
How do the media cover different parts of the government? What branches are covered the most?
Are media biased? Why? |
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Definition
President is covered the most often. The white house beat.
Specific networks have groups that they choose to target.
There are natural human bias. |
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Term
| Be able to summarize the history of political parties. Why are parties so important? |
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Definition
Parties were not discussed in the constitution.
Development of political parties 1800-1824
Federalist party/democrat-republican party
Jacksonian Democracy 1824-1860
Parties faded except at the state level.
The Golden Age 1860-1932
Remarkable stability in the identity of both the Republican and Democratic parties
Political machines
The Modern Era
Govt. gradually took over positions formerly held by political parties
Rise to candidate centered politics |
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Term
| What do the Democratic and Republican parties stand for today? In other words, what issues do they care about? How do people choose a political party to align with? |
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Definition
Candidates are most liberal/conservative during primaries and become more moderate throughout the presidential election.
Dems – more government control in economics
Less govt control on social issues
Reps – Less govt control in economics
More govt control on social issues
Party Alignment
Geography
Gender
Race Ethnicity
Social/Economic factors
Religion
Marital Status |
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Term
| Why do third parties struggle so much in the United States? |
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Definition
They aren’t a majority, which is what you need to win.
There are certain requirements just to get put on the ballot that makes it harder for them to get on.
Not as much funding.
Single member districts – only the majority wins
Multiple member districts – split proportionally by percentage of votes |
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Term
| What is the structure of a political party? |
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Definition
The National Party
National Chair
National Committee
National Convention
State
State central committees and state conventions
Congressional district committees
Local
City and county committees
Precinct and ward committees
Activists and volunteers
Identifiers and voters. |
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Term
| What are the theories of why interest groups form? |
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Definition
Pluralist theory – political power is distributed among a wide range of divers and competing interest groups.
Disturbance theory – groups form as a result of changes in the political system.
Transaction theory – argues that public policies are the result of narrowly defined exchanges or transactions among political actors |
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Term
| How do interest groups attempt to influence policy and elections? Know the differences between PACs and Super PACs. Know where campaign funding comes from when it’s not from interest groups. |
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Definition
PACs
Individuals
Limited Donations
Can spend limited amount
Allowed to talk to candidate
SuperPACS
Individuals/Business/Organizations
Unlimited donations
Can spend Unlimited amount
Not allowed to talk to candidate |
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Term
| Why do people join interest groups? What is the free-rider problem? How do interest groups overcome it? |
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Definition
Influence Elections
Endorse Candidates
Rate Candidates
Give money-how much should they be able to give?
Political Action Committees (PACs)
Super PACs
Get out the vote
Influence Policy
Talk to lawmakers/lobby
Motivate other people to talk to lawmakers
Initiate lawsuits
Freerider problem – people who receive the benefits of what an interest group fights for without being a member |
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Term
| Where would we expect presidential candidates to be ideologically? Why? Understand the role of the primaries and the general election campaigns. Know what caucuses and primaries are. |
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Definition
Presidential candidates begin as far left or right as possible during primaries and become more moderate during the general election campaign.
Caucus
meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement.
Types of Primaries
Open primaries
o Come in the day of and choose which party you want to vote in
Closed primaries
o You have to be registered to vote for that party before the day of the election.
Semi-open primaries
o Independents can choose on the day of to which ballot they want. |
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Term
| How does the Electoral College work? |
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Definition
Designed as a compromise between states and the people.
Voters in each state are members of HOR plus members of senate.
538 total votes
Advantage – states with large population will affect the outcome
o Small states have less people per vote
Popular vote – every vote counts and winner is president. |
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Term
| Who works on campaigns? What positions are the most important? |
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Definition
Campaign Manager – coordinates the campaign.
Finance Chair
Communications Staff
Director
Press Secretary
Campaign Consultants
Volunteers |
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Term
| What factors influence the outcomes of congressional elections? |
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Definition
Incumbency
Gerrymandering
Coattail effect-congressional members will ride on the coattails of the newly elected president |
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Term
| Why do some people choose to vote and others don’t? What might improve voter turnout? |
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Definition
Income and education – higher income and education more likely to vote
Race and ethnicity – white vote more regularly
Gender – women vote more than men
Civic engagement – members of civic organizations, trade and professional organizations, and labor unions more likely to vote
Interest in politics – more interested more likely to vote
Some people don’t vote because
Other commitments
Difficulty of registration
Difficulty of voting
Number of elections
Voter attitudes
Weakened influence of political parties |
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Term
| What are the steps in the policy making process? Understand what each one entails. |
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Definition
Agenda setting – set off issues to be discussed or given attention
Policy formulation – crafting of proposed courses of action to resolve public problems
Policy Adoption – the approval of a policy proposal by the people with requisite authority.
Policy Implementation - process of carrying out public policies, most of which are implemented by administrative agencies.
Policy Evaluation – seek to determine whether a course of action is achieving it intended goals. |
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Term
| How do health policy and income security work in the United States today? |
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Definition
Health Policy
Medicare
Medicaid
Health Insurance
Public Health
Income Security Policy – protect people against loss of income because of retirement, disability, unemployment, or death or absence of the family breadwinner.
Social Security Act of 1935
Entitlement programs - government benefits that all citizens meeting eligibility criteria are legally ‘entitled’ to receive.
Non-means-tested programs – programs that provide cash assistance to qualified beneficiaries, regardless of income. Among these are social security and unemployment insurance.
Means-tested programs – programs that require that beneficiaries have income below specified levels to be eligible for benefits. Among these are SSI, TANF, and SNAP. |
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