Term
| The System of Checks and Balances |
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Definition
| The Constitution creates a system of separate institutions that share powers. Because the three branches of government share powers, each can (partially) check the powers of the others. This is known as... |
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Term
| Congress can check the President in these five ways |
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Definition
- By refusing to pass a bill the president wants
- By passing a law over the president's veto
- By using the impeachment powers to remove the president from office
- By refusing to approve a presidential appointment (Senate only)
- By refusing to ratify a treaty the president has signed (Senate only)
Who can check the President in these ways? |
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Term
| Congress can check the Federal Court in these three ways |
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Definition
- By changing the number and jurisdiction of the lower courts
- By using the impeachment powers to remove a judge from office
3. By refusing to approve a person nominated to be a judge (Senate only)
Who can check the Federal Courts in these ways? |
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Term
| How can the President check Congress? |
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Definition
| Who can check Congress by vetoing a bill it has passed? |
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Term
| How can the President check the Federal Courts? |
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Definition
| Who can check the federal courts by nominating judges? |
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Term
| How can the Federal Courts check Congress? |
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Definition
| Who can check Congress by declaring a law unconstitutional? |
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Term
| How can the Federal Courts check the President? |
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Definition
| Who can check the president by declaring actions by him/her or his/her subordinates to be unconstitutional or not authorized by law? |
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Term
| These seven liberties are guaranteed in the Constitution (before the Bill of Rights was added) |
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Definition
- Writ of habeus corpus may not be suspended (except during an invasion or rebellion).
- No bill of attainder may be passed by Congress or the states.
- No ex post facto law may be passed by Congress or the states.
- Right to trial by jury in criminal cases is guaranteed.
- The citizens of each state are entitled to the privileges and immunities of the citizens of every other state.
- No religious test or qualification for holding federal office is imposed.
- No law impairing the obligation of contracts may be passed by the states.
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Term
| Under Article V, there are two ways to propose ammendments to the Constitution. What are they? |
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Definition
- Two-thirds of both houses of Congress vote to propose an amendment, or
- Two-thirds of the state legislatures ask Congress to call a national convention to propose amendments.
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Term
| Under Article V, there are two ways to ratify ammendments to the Constitution. What are they? |
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Definition
- Three-fourths of the state legislatures approve it, or
- Ratifying conventions in three-fourths of the states approve it.
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Term
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Definition
| A legislative act that declares the guilt of an individual and doles out punishment without a judicial trial. The state legislatures and Congress are forbidden by Article 1, sections 9 and 10 of the Constitution to pass such acts. This is an important ingredient of the separation of powers. |
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Term
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Definition
| The claimed right of executive officials to refuse to appear before, or to withhold information from, the legislature or courts on the grounds that the information is confidential and would damage the national interest. For example, President Nixon refused, unsuccessfully, to surrender his subpoenaed White House tapes by claiming executive privilege. |
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Term
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Definition
This critical instrument of active presidential power is nowhere defined in the Constitution but generally is construed as a presidential directive that becomes law without prior congressional approval. The power for the executive order is implied in Article II of the Constitution when it allots "executive power" to the president:
"The executive power shall be vested in a president of the United States of America." - Article II, section 1
"[The President] shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed..." - Article II, section 3 |
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Term
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Definition
| The guarantee in the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution that one may not be tried twice for the same crime. For example, an individual declared not guilty of murdering a neighbor cannot be tried again for that murder. The person is not, however, exempt from being tried for the murder of another individual. |
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Term
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Definition
| A court order directing a police officer, sheriff, or warden who has a person in custody to bring the prisoner before a judge and show sufficient cause for his or her detention. Designed to prevent illegal arrests and unlawful imprisonment. A Latin term meaning "you shall have the body". |
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Term
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Definition
| A formal accusation against a public official by the lower house of a legislative body. Impeachment is merely an accusation and not a conviction. Two presidents have been impeached, Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998. Neither was convicted. In the case of Johnson, the Senate failed by one vote to obtain the necessary two-thirds vote required for conviction. In the case of Clinton, fifty senators voted for conviction, again missing the two-thirds requirement. |
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Term
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Definition
| A law that makes criminal an act that was legal when it was committed, or that increases the penalty for a crime after it has been committed, or that changes the rules of evidence to make conviction easier; a retroactive criminal law. A Latin term meaning "after the fact." The state legislatures and Congress are forbidden to pass such laws by Article I, section 9 and 10 of the Constitution. |
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