AP Gov ch.13&14 – Flashcards
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A "ponzi scheme" is characterized by?
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- extrememly high returns - lots of investors - when money is withdrawn by old investors, they receive money from the new investors - money eventually runs out - SEC - didn't go anything about Bernie Madoff
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A large, complex organization in which employees have specific job responsibilities and work within a hierarchy of authority is..
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a bureaucracy
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modern government bureaucracies are organized with what goal in mind?
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-Survival (most important) - to perform tasks
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A common complaint against Washington bureaucracies is that their highly centralizes organization model offers a one-size-fits-all solution to problems. In some instances it would be better for these bureaucracies to do what?
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to give local managers the flexibility to tailor their own solutions to the unique problems faced in the state
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Government regulation of business grew in response to what?
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monopolies and oligopolies "sugar trust"
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The government began to take steps to provide income security in the wake of what?
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The Great Depression
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President Reagan and President Obama represent two polar philosophies concerning government. To Reagan, small government enhanced personal freedom; To Obama, a larger government is a means of promoting what?
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equality and protecting citizens
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When members of Congress "run against the government," they play on what?
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- the government is wasting money - the government doesn't compromise - people are dysfunctional, vote for me and I'll bring change
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What describes the public's attitude toward government programs?
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they like specific programs but government is too big
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Which president aimed to abolish the Department of Education
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Ronald Reagan
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George W. Bush worked to ____ the size of government
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increase
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Majoritarian decision making reduces the size of the national bureaucracy; pluralist decision making does what?
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Increases the size of national bureaucracy
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Which president worked to expand social welfare through a prescription drug benefit for senior citizens, and he understood that it was not always good politics to try to downsize government?
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George W. Bush
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The largest organizational unit in the executive branch is what?
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departments
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Independent agencies (such as the EPA) are under the control of?
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the president
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What is a government corporation?
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Government agencies that perform service that might be provided by the private sector but that either involve insufficient financial incentive or are better provided when they are somehow linked with government
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The U.S. Postal Service and Amtrak are what?
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Government Corporations
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The civil service was created after President Garfield was assassinated by?
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an unbalanced and dejected job seeker
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The purpose of the Pendleton Act of 1883 was to?
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-establish the Civil Service Commission (now the Office of Personal Management) - reduce patronage
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The civil service system was created to?
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the system by which most appointments to the federal bureaucracy are made, to ensure that government jobs are filled on the basis of merit and that employees are not fired for political reasons - fill jobs off merit and not political reasons
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Presidential appointees in the executive branch fill the top policymaking positions in government, and some 1000 of them require what?
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Senate confirmation
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Most political appointees come from?
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business, universities, nonprofits, and government
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the bureaucracy may not be fully responsible to a president's wishes because?
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- pluralism can pull agencies in a direction other than that favored by the president
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Committees can "punish" an agency by doing what?
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cutting its budget, altering a key program, or holding up confirmation of a nominee to a top agency post
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If the EPA formulates new regulations specifying procedures for disposal of toxic wastes, what must happen?
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people have to follow the new regulations as law
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The legal powers of bureaucratic agencies derive from what?
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Congress
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Congress has a tendency to grant _____ discretion to those agencies involved in domestic and global security
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broad
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After an ExpressJet flight kept 47 passengers on board the aircraft overnight at the Rochester, New York airport, the Department of Transportation, in 2009, announced a new set of rules, limiting tarmac waits to how long?
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3 hours
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Why is the rational-comprehensive model of policymaking unrealistic?
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It has a great difficulty defining precise values and goals because policies won't agree with everyone, insufficient info, and limited time
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According to Charles Lindblom, policymaking tends to be characterized by what, with policies and programs changing bit by bit, step by step?
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incrementalism (series of decisions instituting modest change)
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In implementing the IDEA, school administrators frequently offer families fewer services than the law calls for because of what?
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they don't have the financial means to provide all the services to all the qualifying students in schools/districts
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Bureaucrats "go by the book" because of what?
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because the book is the law they administer; obligated to enforce law
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When Leon Panetta became head of the CIA in 2009 he faces an especially delicate and difficult task in trying to change the mindset of the agency because of what?
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the previous mindset of protecting against terrorism at all costs
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Which act held agencies accountable for their performance?
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Government Performance and Results Act
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Which court was created by name in the Constitution?
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one supreme court - article 3, section 1
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William Marbury became the primary figure in Marbury vs. Madison because he and several others were appointed to government posts created by Congress in the last days of which presidency?
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John Adams
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With its ruling in the case Marbury vs. Madison, the U.S. Supreme Court established what?
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when an act of legislation conflicts with the Constitution, the act is invalid
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Judicial review is what?
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the power to declare congressional and presidential acts invalid because the violate the constitution
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what can be used to overturn a Supreme Court decision declaring a federal law unconstitutional?
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Constitutional Amendment
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National supremacy required the Supreme Court to impose what on national law; otherwise, the Constitution's meaning would vary from state to state?
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Uniformity
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According to Alexander Hamilton in Federalist no.78, the power of judicial review is what?
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implied superiority over all the other branches and keeps Congress from being to powerful
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Criminal offenses such as arson, theft, and murder are almost always the sole responsibility of which entity?
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state entities (court)
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Plea bargaining is the process by which what happens?
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admission of guilt in exchange for a less severe punishment
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If you are a party to a lawsuit, the odds are considerable that your case will be?
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- settled (civil) - plea bargained (criminal)
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When a case is adjudicated by a court judgment, such rulings set precedents that judges rely on in future, similar cases. This is kown as the English system of what?
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Common Law
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When judges adjudicate cases and present explanation justifying their rulings, they publish them in the form of what?
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Opinions - explanations to justify their rulings
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to appeal means to what?
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to take a case to a higher court
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there are how many U.S. district courts in the federal system?
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94
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A U.S. District court can hear a case between citizens of two different states if the case involves more than how many dollars?
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$75,000
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Stare decisis is what?
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"let the decision stand" provides continuity and predictability to the law
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Judicial interpretation of the law means that judges do what?
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interpret the law, which results in policy
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If the Supreme Court conducts a trial and hands down a decision on its own, the case was part of its ________ jurisdiction
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Original jurisdiction
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Most cases reach the U.S. Supreme Court thought its ______ jurisdiction
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Appellate Jurisdiction
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In two flag burning cases, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed constitutional protectin for unbridled political expression, including the emotionally charged act of desecrating a national symbol. In 2006, Congress attempted to pass a constitutional amendment banning flag desecration, but while the proposal passed by more than 2/3 vote in the House, it failed by a single vote in the what?
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Senate
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Approximately how many cases does the Supreme Court select each year as worthy of review
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less than 100 approx. 80
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About how many requests does the U.S. Supreme Court receive each year?
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8,000
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What are requests in which a litigant seeking review asks the U.S. Supreme Court "to become informed" of the lower court proceeding:
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Certioari
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The _______ represents the federal government before the Supreme Court
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Solicitor General
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The critical ting to remember about such terms as activism and restraint is what?
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terms are not limited to a particular ideology
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Agreement with a judgment for different reasons from those set forth in the majority opinion is known as?
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A concurring opinion
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Once appointed and confirmed, federal judges can be judges under what circumstances?
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judges for life
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the most important factor in the rejection of Supreme Court nominations is what?
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partisan politics
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The most common background experience among recent Supreme Court nominees is judicial experience, and this can be explained by what?
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their previous decisions are indicators of future judicial decisions (good predictor)
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The pluralist model of democracy is expressed in the judicial process through what?
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Class Action lawsuits
