When presidents fill judicial vacancies in district courts, they generally defer to the
senators from the state where the vacancy occurs.
Texas public schools were first administered by county commissioners before the
advent of the school district system.
The Three-Fifths Compromise is still in effect today.
The Secure Fence Act is an example of an open border policy.
A key function of county governments is administering elections.
The media has little effect on whether members of the public contribute money to
campaigns.
The Supreme Court has ruled that the University of Michigan’s Law School admissions
process is unconstitutional.
An executive agreement must be ratified by the Senate.
The face of interest group politics is changing as fast as laws, political consultants, and
technology allow.
Executive orders have the force of law and can be used by presidents to make major
policy decisions.
President George W. Bush promoted progressive federalism.
The Supreme Court’s ruling in Miranda v. Arizona requires that people must be
informed of their rights if they are arrested.
The exclusionary rule was created in Miranda v. Arizona.
Only interest group members can enjoy collective goods.
The Sons of Liberty were organized to fight the French and Indian War.
“On a scale from 0 to 100 with 0 being strongly opposed and 100 being strongly
support, how do you feel about the recent health care law?” is an example of a feeling
thermometer.
Both cities and counties have general ordinance-making authority.
The Electoral College has always elected both the president and vice president.
The fiscal year ends on December 31.
There are now only some 2,000 full-time-equivalent legislative staff members in Texas.
The Vanna White Amendment was added to the Wisconsin state constitution to prevent
the governor from playing Wheel of Fortune.
The petroleum industry’s share of the Texas gross state product has been slowing but
steadily increasing since the 1973 oil embargo enforced by OPEC countries.
The Democratic Party uses the winner-take-all system in few of its presidential
primaries.
The Supreme Court has consistently upheld the standards established in Tinker v. Des
Moines Independent School District.
The commission style of city government has become increasingly popular in the last
few decades.
If evidence is collected and admitted as evidence in California, it is also generally
admissible as evidence in Texas. This concept arises from the constitutional principle of
sovereign immunity.
According to the authors of the textbook, there is little chance of significant
constitutional revision in the near future.
The Constitutional Convention of 1919 fell only three votes short of approving a major
overhaul of the Texas Constitution.
A constitutional amendment was submitted to the voters in 2007 which required a
recorded vote on final passage of a bill which supporters argued would make
government more transparent. Voters approved the amendment.
The majority of Recovery Act funds were allotted to improving health care.
About one-half of the cases decided by the Supreme Court involve economic issues.
Article III sets out the structure of the federal court system.
The G.I. Bill was a program begun after World War I to provide opportunities to newly
returning veterans to attend college and buy homes.
The state can pass laws that restrict the authority of home-rule cities to govern
themselves.
All significant structural revision of the 1876 Texas Constitution has been achieved
through the piecemeal method.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was created by
A) the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
B) a presidential executive order.
C) Congress to monitor all forms of discrimination.
D) the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
E) Title IX of the 1972 Civil Rights Act.
Some cities in Texas operate their own electric companies. These cities have the
authority to do this because
A) capitalism is a fundamental principal of the Texas Constitution.
B) of the emergency powers granted these cities by the Texas Legislature.
C) the local governing authority afforded them as home-rule cities.
D) of the commerce clause found in Article I, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution.
E) such authority is given all city and county governments under the Texas Local
Government Code.
________ is generally considered to have been the most influential chief justice of the
Supreme Court of the United States.
A) William H. Rehnquist
B) Earl Warren
C) Roger Taney
D) John Marshall
E) John G. Roberts Jr.
The nature of federalism was changed forever by
A) Chief Justice John Rutledge.
B) the Civil War.
C) Missouri v. Department of Interior.
D) Texas v. Johnson.
E) Marbury v. Madison.
_________ is an example of a government corporation.
A) Federal Express
B) The Better Business Bureau
C) The Environmental Protection Agency
D) Amtrak
E) The Securities and Exchange Commission
________ attempts to influence how its members vote by distributing voter guides in
conservative churches.
A) The Christian Coalition
B) The National Rifle Association
C) NARAL Pro-Choice America
D) The League of Women Voters
E) The National Education Association
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a 1982 confrontation between the United States and Iran
over the secret sale of weapons to Cuba.
Guns are banned in the District of Columbia.
The Framers of the Constitution primarily were concerned that members of Congress
A) make laws.
B) represent their constituents.
C) make policy.
D) check and balance the other branches of government.
E) guide public opinion.
A warrantless search is permissible if
A) consent is given.
B) a search warrant is difficult to obtain.
C) the officer thinks stolen goods may be in a house.
D) a parked car is involved.
E) illegal drugs are involved.
Until the 1970s, city council elections in Texas tended to be
A) single-member district elections.
B) specialized district elections.
C) at-large-by-place elections.
D) partisan elections.
E) ward elections.
A party’s precinct and ward committees are located in
A) Congress.
B) state conventions.
C) Washington, D.C.
D) the localities.
E) the national committee.
Overall, in terms of approval ratings of individual representatives, people
A) have dismal views toward them.
B) like their own member of Congress, but not Congress as a whole.
C) have very positive views of them, often topping 70 percent approval.
D) have lower approval ratings than they do toward Congress as a whole.
E) hold their own members in about equal regard as they do Congress as a whole.
The record for raising the most money in a single day for a presidential campaign is
currently held by
A) Barack Obama.
B) John McCain.
C) Mike Huckabee.
D) Ron Paul.
E) Hillary Clinton.
Every ________ years, ________ of members of the Senate are up for re-election.
A) two/one-quarter
B) two/one-third
C) six/one-third
D) six/one-half
E) six/three-quarters
Under the Articles of Confederation, the bureaucracy consisted of
A) a handful of individuals without any formal staff.
B) two departments: Domestic and Foreign Affairs.
C) two departments: War and Treasury.
D) three departments: Foreign Affairs, War, and Treasury.
E) four departments: War, Treasury, Foreign Affairs, and Justice.
In 1955, the Montgomery bus boycott began after ________ refused to give up his/her
seat on a public bus.
A) Rosa Parks
B) Linda Brown
C) W.E.B. DuBois
D) Martin Luther King, Jr.
E) Thurgood Marshall
One of a governor’s strongest legislative tools is the ability to nullify legislative action
by
A) using the veto power.
B) calling a special session.
C) exercising control over the agenda in a special session.
D) issuing an executive order overriding a bill.
E) declaring a bill unconstitutional.
Which of the following is a media effect?
A) Government spending on social policies instead of the military
B) Campaign finance reform
C) A sense of democratic legitimacy
D) Changing, not shaping, public opinion
E) Agenda setting
The pinnacle of the party system in the United States is
A) the president.
B) the national party chair.
C) local party precincts.
D) the Senate.
E) state party headquarters.
Why is the cost of health care an increasing problem for governments?
A) As a result of recent reforms, the federal government will eventually have to pay for
the skyrocketing health care costs.
B) State governments have decreased Medicaid payouts substantially in the past two
years.
C) The number of Medicare beneficiaries is decreasing substantially.
D) The federal government cannot run a budget deficit to pay for the rising cost of
health care.
E) Local governments are increasingly providing health insurance.
The current Texas Constitution of 1876 was written under the governorship of
A) Richard Coke.
B) Anson Jones.
C) E. J. Davis.
D) Pat Neff.
E) Sam Houston.
The Presidential Election Campaign Fund is made up of contributions from
A) corporations.
B) PACs.
C) individual taxpayers.
D) political parties.
E) public interest groups.
Most contributions from Political Action Committees go to
A) challengers.
B) incumbents.
C) independents.
D) gubernatorial candidates.
E) Democrats.
Initiatives and referenda often result in unintended consequences because
A) interest groups have co-opted the process.
B) they depress voter turnout.
C) citizens do not have the experience to understand the connection between process
and policy.
D) uninformed voters do not understand the policies that appear on the ballot.
E) surveys show that voters have no interest in voting on them.
The Environmental Protection Agency is a/an
A) independent regulatory agency.
B) independent executive agency.
C) government corporation.
D) Cabinet department.
E) iron triangle.
Which of the following is NOT a type of election in Texas?
A) Primary
B) Special
C) General
D) Run-off
E) Regional
AIM and FAIR are
A) partisan watchdogs of the media, checking the accuracy of news stories.
B) governmental agencies designed to seek out dishonest journalism.
C) blogs similar to the Drudge Report.
D) divisions of the Pew Research Center for Research and the Press.
E) partnerships between the networks to improve journalistic accuracy.
The local government code contains
A) the password needed by county officials in case of a nuclear or other emergency.
B) state laws about local governments.
C) the names of all those who have been convicted or acquitted by the county
commissioners court..
D) information about past elected officials.
E) information for accessing otherwise secret government information.
The ratification of the ________ Amendment in 1913 gave Congress the authority to
implement a federal income tax, and thus allowed government to grow even more.
A) Tenth
B) Eleventh
C) Twelfth
D) Sixteenth
E) Nineteenth
The late Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) was known as the “Prince of Pork” because
A) he was the president pro tempore of the Senate.
B) of his ability to get federal aid for farmers in his home state.
C) of his seniority in the Senate.
D) his family wealth came from massive hog farms.
E) of his ability to get earmarks that benefited the economy of his state.
In 2008, the Republican National Convention was held in
A) Denver.
B) Washington, D.C.
C) Minneapolis.
D) Dallas.
E) San Diego.
Of the approximately ________ bills introduced during the 111th session of Congress,
fewer than ________ were made into law.
A) 10,000/5 percent
B) 12,000/50 percent
C) 15,000/3 percent
D) 19,000/1 percent
E) 20,000/10 percent