POL 102 EXAM 2 - outline of topics on exam 2 PDF

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Political Science 102: Introduction to American Government Midterm 2, Review Sheet Instructor: J. Rose HINT: STUDY THE SLIDES especially and refer to your text and lecture notes on the following subjects: Civil Rights vs Civil Liberties  Civil Rights - constitutional and legal protections from gov't o What the gov't cannot do  Civil Liberties - citizenship rights guaranteed to the people and protected by gov't o What the gov't must do Jim Crow Laws - Grandfather clauses, Poll Taxes, White Primaries, Literacy tests  Poll Taxes o Tax on voting o Prohibited by the Twenty-Fourth Amendment (1964)  White Primaries o Election rules that prohibited blacks from voting in Democratic primaries o Primaries were where the decisions were made o Backs could vote in the general but not primaries  Literacy Tests o Tests requiring reading and interpretation skills in order to vote  Grandfather Clauses o Election rules that exempted people from difficult literacy and interpretation tests for voting if their grandfathers had been eligible to vote  Established strict segregation of the races (Southern laws) 14th amendment – applies due process & equal protection to the states  "No State shall… den to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." o Equal Protection  Dual citizenship (US and State), Privileges and immunities clause, Due Process Clause, Equal Protection Clause  Equal Protection Clause - only similarly situated persons be treated equally Suspect, Quasisuspect and Nonsuspect Classifications AND Strict/Intermediate/Rational Basis Scrutiny Tests!  Standards of Review: Three Supreme Court Classifications of Laws that discriminate  Suspect - Strict Scrutiny Test o Classifications for which any discriminatory law must be justified by a compelling state interest  Example: Race o Strict Scrutiny - Highest level of scrutiny; highest standard of review to assess the constitutionality of laws that limit some freedoms  Quasisuspect - Intermediate Scrutiny Test o Classification for which any discriminatory law must be justified by an important state interest  Example: gender

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Intermediate Standard - Middle standard; "important state interest" is subordinate to "compelling state interest" Nonsuspect - Rational Basis Test o Classification for which any discriminatory law must be justified by a rational basis  Example: age, wealth, sexual orientation o Minimum Rationality - Lowest standard of review (NOT compelling or important state interest) but a rationale to justify a law that treats a class of people differently

Missouri Compromise  Way to fix the 3/5 compromise (but wasn't permanent)  Missouri be the slave state and Maine as a free state o So the ratio is 12:12 (slave state to free state)  No state above Missouri border can become a slave state and vice versa 5th Amendment - what does "I plead the 5th" mean?  Right to remain silent  Right to a grand jury  The Due Process Clause requires equal protection o DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) violates equal protection, and is unconstitutional  Marriage is between the man and woman only  US v. Windsor (2013) o Their same sex marriage was not recognized by the FEDERAL gov't due to DOMA but was recognized by STATE gov't o She had to pay for the death tax since she wasn't recognized as her spouse  Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) o Same-sex marriages must be recognized by all states as a fundamental right 13th Amendment – abolished slavery

15th Amendment - enfranchises (gives the right to vote to) black men

19th Amendment - enfranchises women  Equal Rights Amendment  Craig v. Boren (1976)  US v. Virginia (1996) Terms of House (2yrs) and Senate members – 1/3 of Senate re-elected every 2 years, serve 6

Differences between the House and Senate  House - entire body is re-elected every 2 years o Congressional Districts: CD, NY-1 o Safe CDs v. Marginal CDs  Senate - 1/3 is elected every 2 years, serve for 6 years o Safe States v. Swing States

House Ways and Means Committee and Rules Committee  Rules Committee o Make rules for each bill  Specifies when the bill will be debating, how long, and how to amend it  Limits speech time limit for each person o Majority rules format  Ways and Means Committee (most influential) o They get the work of congress done o They raise the revenue for the gov't o Handle taxes at federal level, handle tariffs o Oversight over federal programs  Social Security  Unemployment benefits  Medicare  Federal Welfare Filibuster, quorum and Cloture – know them Remember!! Cloture currently requires 60 votes  Filibuster - practice of unlimited debate in the Senate in order to prevent or delay a vote on a bill  Quorum - minimum number of members that must be present in order to make the legislative proceedings valid o Quorum in both houses of Congress are a simple majority  Cloture - vote to end U.S. Senate filibuster; currently requires a majority vote (60 votes) De jure vs de facto discrimination/segregation  De jure discrimination - discrimination arising from or supported by law  De facto discrimination - discrimination that is the result of tradition, habit and history Tax bills in the House must first be assigned to the Rules Cmte AND the Ways and Means Cmte

Define Civil Rights  Civil Rights - constitutional and legal protections from gov't o What the gov't cannot do

The Committee System in Congress - know those slides!!!  Lecture 5, Slides 9-14 Standing Committee / Joint Committee / Select Committee / Conference Committee  Standing Committee o Permanent committees o Usually divided into sub-committees  Focus on specific areas of policy o Review, hold hearings, amend and kill bills  Joint Committee

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Combined House-Senate committees formed to coordinate activities and expedite legislation in a certain area. USUALLY PERMANENT  Joint Committee on the Library - devoted to the affairs and administration of the Library of Congress  Joint Committee on Atomic Energy (1946-1977) - scrutinized all legislation and other matters related to civilian and military nuclear power Select Committee o Temporary committee appointed to deal with an issue or problem not suited to a standing committee o Often investigate in nature, collecting data or evidence for a law or problem, and will dissolve immediately after they report their findings to the House or Senate  Select Committee on Homeland Security - investigated 9/11  Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities - investigated President Nixon and Watergate Conference Committee o Temporary joint committee formed to reconcile differences in House and Senate versions of a bill o Purpose of conference committee is to create one version of the bill that can be presented to the president

435 Congressional Districts in the US

Who is the current Speaker of the US House of Representatives?  Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Democrat) - Speaker of the House Civil Rights Act of 1964  Codified Supreme Court Ruling on segregation, strengthened voting and unemployment discrimination laws o If federal money was used for discrimination, the money would be cut off  More Republicans voted for this than Democrats did What is a committee?  Legislative sub-organization that handles a specific duty or policy issue Who is the current Speaker of the House? What is the role of the Speaker of the House?  Speaker of the House - leader of and elected by the majority party o Serves as the presiding officer of the House (top post) o Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Democrat) - Speaker of the House  President of the Senate (Vice President of the United States) o Presiding officer, office of the Senate o Casts tie-breaking vote if needed o Hon. Mike Pence (Republican)  Senate Majority Leader o Leader of and elected by the majority party (top post) o Senator Mitch McConnel (Republican)

Reapportionment and redistricting - what are they and how are they related?  Reapportionment - the change in the allocation of congressional seats among the states every ten years, following the census  Redistricting - process of dividing states into CDs, after reapportionment Who redraws the CDs after reapportionment?  State legislatures Gerrymandering, Coattail effect - define them  Gerrymandering - redistricting to benefit a particular group  National Politics in CDs o Coattail Effect - the added votes received by congressional candidates of a winning presidential party Incumbency advantage - what is it?  Incumbency Advantage - The electoral edge afforded tot hose already in office o Name recognition, lack of quality challengers, casework, better ability to fundraise, franking privileges  Franking privilege – mailing privilege  Sent to their districts to brag about what they are doing  Not considered campaign material  Money that challengers have to pay that the incumbent candidate doesn’t  Quality challenger usually knows to wait for the seat rather than go against the incumbent candidate Pork Barrel Legislation  Party Responsibility v. Representation o Pork Barrel Legislation - public works projects and grants for specific districts paid for by general revenues  Doesn't help anyone or it only helps a certain group of people  Essentially buying votes with the people's money as the money for these projects come from the people themselves and they brag about these projects.  This is an example of collective action problem Trustee vs. Delegate model of representation  Delegate/Representative Model - decisions are made based on the will of constituents. The member is a voicepiece for the district (Democracy) (more of a Democrat thought process)  Trustee Model - decisions are made by the member because he/she knows better than the constituents (based off what the person knows best not always following the will of the people) (more of a Republican thought process)  Politico Model - member takes a delegate or trustee view depending on the issue (most politicians) Clauses Due Process Clause and Equal Protection Clause  Equal Protection Clause - only similarly situated persons be treated equally

Cases Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)  Established separate but equal is constitutional  Plessy was 1/8 black but looks white o Argues segregation is a violation of the Equal Protection Clause Scott v. Sanford (1856)  Article III Argument o Blacks are not and can not be citizens  Amendment 5 Argument o Slaves are property Brown v. Board of Education (1954)  Separate but equal is unconstitutional  Separate is inherently unequal o Strikes down the Plessy case o All the schools have to be mixed, integrated  The second case says that the schools have to desegregate "with all deliberate speed"...