GOVERNMENT
STUDY GUIDE
1.
BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT
The THREE BRANCHES of government are the Legislative branch,
judicial branch, and the executive branch.
The
Legislative Branch has the power to make laws, but is not supreme since the
three branches of government are equal.
The Judicial Branch interprets the
laws.
No one branch of the government is
superior to another; they are all three equal.
2.
IMPEACHMENT:
Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton are the
only two presidents to be IMPEACHED.
IMPEACHMENT is NOT a conviction.
3. RESIGNATION:
Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon
when he resigned. Richard Nixon is the only president to resign
from office.
4.
A POCKET VETO is when a president allows a bill to
die.
A FILIBUSTER is talking a bill to
death.
PIGEON HOLDING is when legislators
poke holes into a bill until it is passed.
GERRYMANDERING
is redrawing Congressional districts to favor a particular party.
5.
A PETIT JURY is a trial jury that decides if someone
is guilty. It determines whether or not there is enough evidence to charge or
indict an individual.
GRAND JURY: decides if there is enough
evidence to convict. They do not decide whether
or not a defendant is innocent or guilty.
6.
The FULL FAITH AND CREDIT CLAUSE REQUIRES states to
recognize laws or licenses from other states.
7.
A
SUBPOENA is a legal order directing one to appear in court and/or produce
certain evidence. It is NOT freedom
from prosecution.
PURJURY is the act of lying under oath.
IMMUNITY is the exemption from
legal prosecution.
8.
SEGREGATION
DEFACTO SEGREGATION is social
segregation.
DEJURE SEGREGATION is segregation
by law.
9.
CONSTITUENTS
are people and interests that an
elected official represents. They are NOT representatives of a special
interest group.
INCUMBENTS are current office
holders who are running for re-election.
The CABINET is an advisory group
of the president made up of department secretaries, the Vice-President, and
several
other top officials.
10.
JURISDICTION
APPELLATE JURISDICTION is the
authority of a court to hear appeals.
ORIGINAL JURISDICTION is the
authority of a court to try cases for the first time.
11. In civil law, the PLAINTIFF is the
individual who brings a suit or some other legal action against another (the
defendant) in court. In criminal cases,
the plaintiff
is NOT always the prosecutor.
A DEFENDANT is the person who is
formally charged of a crime or in a civil suit, the person being sued.
12.
CONGRESS
There
are 435 Congressmen/House of Representatives in the U.S.
A CONGRESSMAN must be at least 25
years old, citizen of the U.S. for at least seven years, and a legal resident
of the state they represent.
Anyone who wants to be a CONGRESSMAN, must be 25 years old,
be an inhabitant of state elected, and be a
citizen of US for at least 7 years.
SENATE
There
are 100 Senators.
Anyone
who wants to be a SENATOR must be at least 30 years old, be a US citizen for at
least nine years,
and
must be an inhabitant of the
state
elected.
13.
ELECTORAL VOTES
The ELECTORAL VOTE is the official
vote for the President and the Vice-President.
There are 538 electors who vote
for the president and vice-president (electoral vote)
14.
SUPREME
COURT JUDGES
There have only been 4 FEMALE SUPREME COURT JUSTICES: Sandra
Day O'Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Sonia Sotomayor,
and Elena Kagan.
SONIA SOTOMAYOR is the only Latina
US Supreme Court Judge.
There has only been two AFRICAN
AMERICAN SUPREME COURT JUDGES and their names are Thurgood Marshall and
Clarence Thomas.
15.
THE
PRESIDENT
If the president dies the presidential
line of succession is the Vice President,
the Speaker of the House, the President
“pro
tempore” of the Senate, and
then
the Secretary of State
The PRESIDENT can appoint Supreme
Court judges, but must have the consent of the Senate.
16.
OTHER VOCABULARY
PARDON is a release from legal
punishment.
TAXES are what people pay to
support the government.
EMINENT DOMAIN: Power of a government to take private
property for public use.
CENSUS is a population count that
is done every ten years in America.
A TREATY is a formal agreement between two or more SOVEREIGN
STATES and must have the approval of the senate.
According to the GLASS CEILING
THEORY, women DO NOT have the opportunity to continually rise in the corporate
world.
Instead they stay only move
horizontally, they can only move up so far.
17. BILL OF RIGHTS
The 2 basic purposes of the bill of
rights are to protect the rights of the individuals and the accused.
THE BILL OF RIGHTS
1.
Freedom of
speech, religion, assembly, press
2.
Bear arms
(guns)
3.
Quartering of
Troops
4.
Search and
Seizure
5.
Rights of the
Accused: Due Process
6.
Speedy &
Fair Trial
7.
Civil Trials:
Trial by Jury
8.
Cruel and
unusual punishment
9.
Rights
reserved to the people
10. Rights reserved to the states
18. Five ways to change the constitution:
1.
The passage of basic legislation by Congress
2.
Actions taken by the President
3.
Key decisions of the Supreme Court
4.
The activities of political ties and
5.
Custom
19. Ways judges
can insure a fair trial:
1.
Move the trial
2.
Limit the number of reporters
3.
Control the reporter’s conduct
4.
Sequester the jurors
5.
Isolate Witnesses
6.
Issue a gag order
SUPREME COURT CASES
Be able to 1) Summarize the court case 2) Say the ruling/decision 3) Relate the case to an Amendment
1.
SHEPPARD
v MAXWELL
RELATE TO AN AMENDMENT: 14th Amendment, Due process
Clause
SUMMARY: Dr. Samuel Sheppard was convicted of
murdering his wife in a trial widely covered by national news media. Sheppard
appealed his conviction, claiming that the pretrial publicity had made it
impossible to get a fair trial.
RULING: In favor of Shappard. The Court
rejected the arguments about “press freedom,” and overturned his conviction,
and ordered a new trial. As a result of the Sheppard decision, some judges have
issued “gag” orders limiting pretrial publicity.
2.
WEEKS
v UNITED STATES:
RELATE TO AN AMENDMENT: Fourth Amendment (Search and Seizure)
SUMMARY: Police entered the home of Fremont
Weeks and seized papers, which were used to convict him of transporting lottery
tickets through the mail. This was done without a search warrant. Weeks took
action against the police and petitioned for the return of his private
possessions.
RULING: Ruled in favor of WEEKS. In a
unanimous decision, the Court held that the seizure of items from Weeks'
residence directly violated his constitutional rights. The Court also held that
the government's refusal to return Weeks' possessions violated the Fourth
Amendment. To allow private documents to be seized and then held as evidence
against citizens would have meant that the protection of the Fourth Amendment
declaring the right to be secure against such searches and seizures would be of
no value whatsoever. This was the first application of what eventually became
known as the "exclusionary rule."
3.
MIRANDA
v ARIZONA
RELATE TO AN AMENDMENT: 5th Amendment (Rights of
the accused)
SUMMARY: Arrested for kidnapping and sexual
assault, Ernesto Miranda signed a confession including a statement that he had
“full knowledge of [his] legal rights…” After conviction, he appealed, claiming
that without counsel and without warnings, the confession was illegally
gained.
RULING: In favor of Miranda. The Court agreed
with Miranda that “he must be warned prior to any questioning that he has the
right to remain silent, that anything he says can be used against him in a
court of law, that he has the right to… an attorney and that if he cannot
afford an attorney one will be appointed for him…” Miranda firmly upheld
citizen rights to fair trials in State courts.
4.
GIDEON
v WAINWRIGHT:
RELATE TO AMENDMENT: 6th Amendment, right to
counsel
SUMMARY: In 1961 a Florida court found Clarence
Earl Gideon guilty of breaking and entering and sentenced him to five years in
prison. Gideon appealed his case to the Supreme Court on the basis that he had
been unconstitutionally denied counsel (a lawyer) during his trial due to
Florida’s policy of only providing appointed counsel in capital cases.
RULING: The Court ruled in favor of GIDEON.
The Court granted Gideon a new trial, and he was found not guilty with the help
of a court-appointed attorney. The “Gideon Rule” upheld the 6th
Amendment’s guarantee of counsel of all poor persons facing a felony charge, a
further incorporation of Bill of Rights guarantees into State constitutions.
5.
PLESSY
v FERGUSON
RELATE TO AN AMENDMENT: 14th Amendment, Equal
Protection Clause
SUMMARY: The state of Louisiana enacted a law
that required separate railway cars for blacks and whites. In 1892, Homer
Adolph Plessy--who was seven-eighths Caucasian--took a seat in a "whites
only" car of a Louisiana train. He refused to move to the car reserved for
blacks and was arrested. Plessy sued saying his 14th amendments were
violated.
RULING: The court ruled against Plessy and in
favor of Ferguson. The Court held that segregation was permitted if facilities
were equal.
6.
DRED
SCOTT v SANFORD:
RELATE TO AN AMENDMENT: 5th Amendment, individual
rights and the 14th amendment Equal Protection Clause)
SUMMARY: This decision upheld property rights
over human rights by saying that Dred Scott, a slave, could not become a free
man just because he had traveled to “free soil” States with his master.
RULING: Against Dred Scott.
7.
BROWN
v BOARD OF EDUCATION:
RELATE TO AN AMENDMENT: 14th Amendment, Equal
Protection Clause
SUMMARY: A 10-year-old Topeka girl, Linda
Brown, was not permitted to attend her neighborhood school because she was an
African American. Her family sued the board of education.
RULING: The court ruled in favor of Brown.
8.
KOREMATSU
V US
RELATE TO AN AMENDMENT: 14th Amendment, Equal
Protection Clause
SUMMARY: In 1942, Franklin Roosevelt signed
Executive Order 9066 allowing the US military to declare parts of the US as
military areas and thereby exclude specific groups of people from them. The
practical application was that many Japanese-Americans were forced from their
homes and placed in internment camps during World War II. Frank Korematsu, a
US-born man of Japanese descent, knowingly defied the order to be relocated,
was arrested, and convicted. His case went to the Supreme Court where it was
decided that exclusion orders based on Executive Order 9066 were in fact
constitutional. Therefore, his conviction was upheld.
RULING: IN favor of America, against
Korematsu.
9.
ROPER
V SIMMONS:
RELATE TO AN AMENDMENT: 6th Amendment, Speedy and
fair trial and 8th Amendment, Cruel and Unusual Punishment)
SUMMARY: A juvenile offender was convicted of
murder at age 17 and then sentenced to the death penalty the following year
despite having been under 18 at the time of the offence (the crime)
RULING: The death penalty
may not be imposed for offences committed before reaching age 18 because doing
so would violate the U.S.
10.
ROE
v WADE
RELATES
TO AN AMENDMENT: 9th
Amendment, right to privacy
SUMMARY: A Texas woman challenged a State law
forbidding the artificial termination of a pregnancy, saying that she “had a
fundamental right to privacy.” To have an abortion or not.
RULING: In favor of ROE. The Court upheld a
woman’s right to choose in this case, saying the patient is free to determine,
without regulation by the State, that... the patient’s pregnancy should be
terminated” if in the first trimester. The decision struck down the State
regulation of abortion in the first three months of pregnancy and was modified
by Planned Parenthood of Southeastern PA v. Casey, 1992.
11.
REGENTS
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA v BAKKE
RELATE TO AN AMENDMENT: 14th Amendment, Equal
Protection Clause.
SUMMARY: The case involved the admissions practices of the
Medical School of the University of California at Davis. The medical school
reserved 16 out of 100 seats in its entering class for minorities, including
"Blacks," "Chicanos," "Asians," and
"American Indians." Allan Bakke, a white applicant, was twice denied
admission to the medical school even though his MCAT scores, GPA, and benchmark
scores were "significantly higher" than those of some minority
applicants recently admitted. Bakke sued the University of California in a
state court, alleging that the medical school's admission policy violated Title
VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 14th Amendment. The
California Supreme Court agreed, finding that the quota system explicitly
discriminated against racial groups and holding that "no applicant may be
rejected because of his race, in favor of another who is less qualified, as
measured by standards applied without regard to race." The medical school,
ordered to shut down its quota system, appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court,
which reviewed the case in 1978.
RULING: Ruled in favor of Bakke by finding
the school's special admissions program unconstitutional because of its use of
quotas and that Bakke should be admitted.
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