H6: Free Response

(a) Define judicial review.

• Judicial Review- a review by the US Supreme Court of the constitutional validity of a legislative act.

(b) Explain how judicial review empowers the Supreme Court within the system of checks and balances.

• A Judicial review can give power to the supreme court by allowing them to declare some legislature unconstitutional. They can basically control the lawmaking of congress and even the president. 

(c) Describe the process through which the Court grants a writ of certiorari.

• A writ of certiorari is when the court decides to review a case that they would usually not review. Usually it comes from parties who have lost in a lower court, and is unhappy with the decision. That Party then has to petition the Supreme court to ask if they can hear their case. The Justices will then have to have a majority agree to see the case. 

(d) Explain how each of the following influences decisions made by individual justices when deciding cases

• Heard by the Court - The court agrees or disagrees on a case, and then use the constitution to decide their ruling.
• Stare decisis - This is usually when a case has already been decided on by the Supreme court, they stand by their decision. This can make it difficult to change negative rulings, but it is also a possibility to reverse the previous decisions.  
• Judicial activism - This is when judges have rulings based on their personal political beliefs or general bias instead of constitutional law. Bias can get  in the way of making a fair decision in court, especially on cases that deal with religion or morals. 

H2: Free Response - Justices

(a) Identify three important characteristics of Supreme Court nominees that many presidents consider.

• Political leanings- What sides do the Justices believe in. Are they Democratic or Republican? If a President wants to appoint a justice, they will usually choose a Justice that is in the same party as they are. 
• Their Experience- The Judges should be experienced in law and cases in lower courts. 
• Their age- If a Justice is too old, they won't be able to stay in the Supreme Court for that long. Presidents choose a younger person so the ideas of their party are expressed throughout the years they will be in the court. 

(b) Explain how each characteristic has been politically relevant during the appointment process. USE real facts from the confirmation of Elena Kagan (or the justice you chose to research) to illustrate at least ONE of these characteristics.

• When a President wants some kind of reform to pass, he will choose a Justice that is a strong supporter of his reform, otherwise the bill he made won't pass. For example, the Republicans chose Thomas because of his strong republican leanings. Since their are more Republicans than Democrats on the court, things like Obamacare had a hard time getting through.
• Presidents cannot hire someone without experience. It would look bad to have someone running the supreme court without knowing what to do.
• Hiring someone who is younger would be an ideal move. It would show to young voters that the ideas of the Supreme Court Justices can change with time, and that the government won't be stuck in their old ideals. 

(c) Identify two methods that have been used by interest groups to influence the appointment process, either for or against a nominee for the Supreme Court.

• Donations can be used in favor of the nominee, or to influence who the Judiciary committee votes for. 
• Arlene Specter of Pennsylvania asked Kagan about a report written on the Supreme Court Justices. This was an example of influencing the Judiciary committee
• Influencing Senators on the Judiciary Committee. This was used during Clarence Thomas' nomination to the Supreme Court when he allegedly sexually assaulted a women prior to his nomination. 

G7: Bureaucracy

1. Two reasons Congress gives agencies policy-making discretion in executing federal laws
1. Congress does not know everything, so they may appoint policy-making discretion to agencies who have researchers to find out the causes of some issues. For example, appointing someone from Greenpeace to help decide what laws they should put in place to counteract Global Warming.
1. Quote: "Members of Congress rely heavily on members of their staffs for information on pending legislation" (p.256)
2. They don’t really know what to base their decisions on. Maybe a Congressman does not have the necessary background to tell what is good for the Environment or not, so they call in someone from an agency to assist on their decision making
1. Quote: "Members look to party leaders for indicators on how to vote." (p.253)
2. Describe tow ways in which congress ensures that federal agencies follow legislative intent. 
1. Congressional oversight committees evaluate programs to see if they are doing their Job, and passing legislation. This is another informal power of Congress. 
2. Withdrawing funds needed to operate from agencies to regulate them.
3. Identify the policy area over which it exercises policy-making discretion
1. The Environmental Protection Agency deals with issues concerning out environment and legislative rulings on conserving natural resources. 
2. The Federal Communications Commission deals with radio and television legislature. If any ruling deal with changing the way television or radio is regulated, they are usually the first ones to know. 
3. Federal Reserve Board deals with the central bank of the United States. Any legislature dealing with money or the regulation of banks goes through the Federal Reserve Board. 
4. A specific action taken by the Federal Communications Commission to exercise duties is ratings to establish shows that are suitable for children and adults. 

F9: Free Response - Congress

(a) Describe one advantage that the majority party in the House and/or Senate has in lawmaking, above and beyond the numerical advantage that the majority party enjoys in floor voting.

• An advantage the majority party has is the ability to nominate their moderators (Senate pro tempore, etc). If the House is having a debate, the moderator can call someone from their party to talk the most and influence a lot of the decisions.    

(b) Describe one difference between House and Senate rules that may make it likely that legislation may pass in one chamber but not the other. 

• The Senate can engage in Filibusterers, which the House cannot do. 

(c) Explain how the difference identified in (b) can lead to the passage of a bill in one chamber but not the other.

• The Senate can preform a filibuster, which is a prolonged speech to get in the way of making a legislative decision. The House can hold a debate, but they are unable to "block" a bill from being discussed or debated over. 

F11: State of the Union

• Obama proposes that we should expand the Middle class, simplify the tax code, and increase the Federal minimum wage. 
• Obama spoke in a hopeful way, for example, he started the speech by talking about hard working Americans, and how these changes could help these people to better their lives. The person he mentioned by name was a wounded solider on his road to recovery. He compared it to the US and our situation, showing Americans that we can get through it. I think his focus this year was to make people hopeful that they can get out of the deficit and back to a normal America. 
• One thing I would like to focus on is the major lash from the Republicans on raising the Federal minimum wage and expanding the middle class. They only seemed against it because it was going to affect their big corporations and increase their taxes. I believe that there are some Republicans do support the raise of minimum wage, but their opinions are not heard over the louder ones.

F12: Congress v The President

(a) Identify ONE formal constitutional power of the President in making foreign policy.

• The president has the power to appoint ambassadors to other countries.

(b) Identify ONE formal constitutional power of Congress in making foreign policy.

• Only congress has the constitutional power to declare war. 

(c) Identify ONE informal powers of the President that contribute to the President's advantage over Congress in making foreign policy.

• The President is able to send in troops to another foreign country for at least 60 days, due to the War Powers Act. 

(d) Explain how the informal powers you described above contributes to the President's advantage over Congress in making foreign policy.

• The President is able to send troops in to fight against foreign countries, without declaring war. For example, the United States has not declared war since WWII, but troops have been sent to Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and other various countries. 

(e) Explain ONE provision of the War Powers Act that Congress wrote to limit the president's power.

• A provision of the War Powers Act is that the President needs permission from congress to keep troops in a foreign country for more than 60 days, although this rule is rarely followed. 

G16: Budget Free Response

Many people are concerned about large deficits in the federal budget. Rarely does the government balance its budget.

(a) Define balanced budget.

• A balanced budget is when revenue is equal to expenditures, and no budget deficit exists. 

(b) Define federal entitlements.

• Federal entitlements are payments made to groups based on criteria set by the government. 

(c) Identify an entitlement. Explain how entitlements are a barrier to the federal government achieving a balanced budget.

• An entitlement is something like Medicare or Social Security. It is a barrier to the federal government because money is being used to support retired Americans. The only reason why it is a problem is because America does not tax people equally, and fails to sustain the ratio of taxes to entitlements. 

(d) Describe a consequence of large budget deficits.

• A major consequence of budget deficits is the Unemployment rate increases. Many people loose their jobs because most companies do not have the money to have them as an employee. 

(e) What is the current budget deficit? See if you can find out online from a reputable source -- and cite your source.

• $635 Trillion dollars- From http://usdebtclock.org/

G18: Multiple Choice Questions

Write 3 multiple-choice questions (five answer choices) for class review: one about the presidency, one about the bureaucracy, and one about economics.

• What is an example of an Independent Regulatory Commission
• Treasury 
• Amtrak
• NASA
• Federal Communications Committee
• What is a Constitutional power that the President has over Congress? 
• The Power to Declare war 
• Regulating the National Budget 
• Appointing Ambassadors
• None of the Above 
• What is a Bureaucracy?
• A Federal office
• Hierarchy of unelected officials
• Congress 
• The House and Senate 

Answers: 1) FCC, 2) Appointing Ambassadors, 3) Hierarchy of unelected officials

H1: About a Justice- Clarence Thomas

Clarence Thomas, known as the "Intellectual leader of the Supreme Court" assumed office in 1991, and was appointed by George H.W. Bush. He is considered to be one of the most conservative Justices in the court, sticking to his views no matter what. He is a strong Supreme Court Justice, but he is also silent; he hasn't spoken formally during a Supreme Court case in five years.
Clarence Thomas is an interesting person mainly because he is a black republican. The republican party focused on that because there are not that many minorities on their side. He is heavily against Obamacare, and is considered to be an originalist (A person interested in sticking to the exact words in the US Constitution). He also tends to disagree frequently with the Supreme Court.

G12: The President's Budget

1. What priorities seem to be most important to the President? Give evidence from your readings -- and explain why these programs might be important priorities to him.
1. The two issues that seem to be the most important to the president are Social Security and Medicare. Obama has been focusing on these issues for a while now, but he has been getting harsh criticism from the left. Obama wants to tax the wealthy and assist the lower class so they can receive benefits that they can survive on. 
2. What are some especially notable changes that the President proposes, compared to the previous year's budget? Why might he want to make those changes?
1. Well a huge difference compared to his budget now is that Obama wants to give tax credits to the lower class, using higher taxes from the rich to pay for it. His focus seemed to shift from Social Security to the issue of taxes and a little bit of education. Obama is in his final years of his presidency, so I believe he is really putting in the ideas that he originally wanted to act upon, but he was too nervous to do. Also, he sees that the working poor cannot survive on the amount of money they receive.  
3. What elements of his plan will his opponents in Congress be most likely to strongly oppose? Why?
1. Congress have already expressed their opinion on Obama's budget plan for 2014, and the left is mainly opposed to the idea of raising taxes on the wealthy, and cutting off tax breaks for corporations. The political left would dislike this the most because their taxes will be raised, and the businesses they were supported by would be most affected by this.