unit 2 (ai)

• Congress is a bicameral legislature with the Senate and the House of Representatives.
• Each state is represented equally in the Senate.
• Members of the Senate must be 30 years old and serve 6-year terms.
• The founders chose 6-year terms for senators to insulate them from public opinion.
• The House of Representatives, or HOR, has representation by population with each state guaranteed one representative and 2-year terms, and members must be 25 years old.
• The purpose of Congress is to make laws, and both houses of Congress have to agree on identical versions of the same bill before it gets passed on to the president.
• The Senate has unlimited debate, while the HOR has 1 hour of debate per member.
• Congress has enumerated powers such as the power to pass a federal budget (power of the purse), raise revenue, coin money, declare war, and raise an army/navy.
• Congress also has implied powers, which it gets from the necessary and proper clause.
• The leadership positions in the House of Representatives include the Speaker of the House, Majority Leader, Minority Leader, Majority Whip, and Minority Whip.
• The leadership positions in the Senate include the Vice President of the United States, President Pro Tempore, Majority Leader, Minority Leader, Majority Whip, and Minority Whip.
• The legislative process in the House of Representatives involves the House Rules Committee, which is the gatekeeper of all legislation, deciding when votes take place and assigning bills to different committees for debate and revision.
• A bill can be sponsored by a member of the House or Senate and often changes during debate.
• Non-germane riders are provisions of the bill which have nothing to do with the bill.
• Redistricting ﹘Baker v Carr and Shaw v Reno
• Stare decisis: “let the decicion stand”
• Judges: appointed by the president, confirmed by the Senate; lifetime job
• Formal powers: powers given to the executive in Article 2 of the Constitution
• judicial review: court has the power to rule on the constitutionality of laws
• Appellate jurisdiction: court can only hear appeals from lower courts
• Politico model: hybrid of the other two; acts like a delegate when people feel strongly about an issue, acts like a trustee when the people don’t feel strongly about an issue
• Jurisdiction: extent of power the court has, original and appellate
• SCOTUS, Court of Appeals, District Courts - levels of judicial courts
• Pork barrel spending: funds marked for a particular representative’s district
• Logrolling: “I’ll vote for your bill if you vote for mine.”
• Ex: bargaining and persuasion (w/ the citizens)
• Once a bill comes out of committee, it goes to the floor for a vote
• Judicial activism: when the Court acts to
• Partisan gerrymandering: favoring a party
• Delegate model: representative must vote with the will of the people, representative believe they are there to represent the people’s beliefs and not their own
• Advice and consent: presidential appointments have to be approved by the Senate
• Court of Appeal: 12 regions, 11 courts; has only original jurisdiction, no jury
• Models of Representation (representatives)
• Precedent: whenever the court rules on a case, it becomes a precedent
• Has power to establish national policy through judicial review
• Ambassador appointments, White House Staff, appointing Cabinet, appointment to federal court
• Divided government: opposing parties hold majorities (HOR is conservative and the Senate is liberal, or the President is liberal and Congress is conservative)
• SCOTUS: only court established by the Constitution, Article 3
• Informal powers: powers given to the executive but is not explicitly said in the Constitution; given to the executive because the powers given is the nature of the executive
• Racial gerrymandering: favoring a race