Which of the following statements best describes the relationship between Congress
and the Judiciary?
a. Congress has the ability to review the constitutionality of Supreme Court decisions.
b. Congress must be increasingly mindful of the Supreme Court’s reaction when it
enacts new laws for the nation.
c. Congress sets the jurisdiction of federal and state courts.
d. In recent years, the Supreme Court has struck down congressional legislation at a rate
of five laws per term.
e. The Supreme Court has typically had an antagonistic relationship with Congress.
Which of the following affirmative action programs would be a clear violation of the
Supreme Court’s decision in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)?
a. considering race as a factor in university admissions decisions
b. considering how an applicant would contribute to the diversity of the university
c. considering applicants’ academic and extracurricular achievements
d. admitting some minority applicants with lower academic achievement than some
rejected white applicants
e. setting aside a certain percentage of admissions slots for African American students
Which of the following is an example of a faction, as conceptualized by Madison in
Federalist No. 10?
a. the media
b. women
c. an interest group
d. the legislature
e. the executive branch
A __________ is a special committee created to reconcile differences in bills passed by
the House and Senate.
a. conference committee
b. joint committee
c. select committee
d. special committee
e. standing committee
This individual keeps close contact with all members of his or her party, counts votes
for key legislation, prepares summaries of bills, and acts as a communications link
within the party.
a. committee chairperson
b. majority/minority leader
c. majority/minority whip
d. president pro tempore
e. Speaker of the House
__________ is an economic theory designed to increase a nation’s wealth through the
development of commercial industry and a favorable balance of trade.
a. Nationalism
b. Socialism
c. Mercantilism
d. Republicanism
e. Commercialism
Which clause provides that the Constitution shall be the supreme law of the land?
a. full faith and credit
b. legal
c. primacy
d. due process
e. supremacy
What are the two types of powers given to the national government under the United
States Constitution?
a. enumerated; implied
b. enumerated; suggested
c. implied; explicit
d. suggested; explicit
e. suggested; implied
The president pro tempore __________.
a. has the power to nullify legislation with a pocket veto
b. has the power to select the majority leader
c. is an honorific office awarded to the senior senator of the majority party
d. is a role bequeathed to the vice president by the Constitution
e. personally presides over the Senate floor when it is in session
Which Supreme Court case developed the exclusionary rule?
a. Parker v.Gideon
b. New York Times Co. v. Sullivan
c. Mapp v.Ohio
d. Wolf v.Colorado
e. Gideon v.Wainwright
What role is the Environmental Protection Agency taking when it sets limits on air
pollution from power plants?
a. adjudication
b. deliberation
c. intervention
d. oversight
e. regulation
Presidents with high levels of __________ have an easier time influencing Congress,
while those with low levels find influencing Congress more difficult.
a. public approval
b. executive privilege
c. impeachment power
d. treaty negotiation techniques
e. third-party connections
In the House of Representatives, the __________ decides who will speak on the floor,
and rules on points of order.
a. majority leader
b. majority whip
c. minority leader
d. president pro tempore
e. Speaker
What was the primary focus at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention for activists like
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucretia Mott?
a. the prohibition of alcohol
b. women’s rights
c. rights for former slaves
d. ending the Civil War
e. the New Deal
In 1987, the Senate refused to confirm the nomination of which of the following to the
Supreme Court?
a. Antonin Scalia
b. Harlan Fiske
c. Earl Warren
d. Robert Bork
e. David Souter
What was the Supreme Court’s rationale in the Civil Rights Cases (1883) for why
Congress could not prohibit discrimination in public accommodations?
a. Congress cannot regulate public accommodations because they involve interstate
commerce.
b. Congress cannot regulate public accommodations because they tend to be owned by
private individuals.
c. Congress cannot regulate public accommodations because it lacks the authority to
spend money without the permission of the states.
d. Congress cannot prohibit discrimination because doing so violates the First
Amendment right to freedom of speech.
e. Congress cannot prohibit discrimination because there was insufficient evidence that
discrimination exists.
How did the Pendleton Act reform the system of hiring and firing federal employees?
a. It required hiring and firing decisions to be based on partisan loyalty rather than
merit.
b. It required hiring and firing decisions to be based on merit rather than partisan
loyalty.
c. It continued to allow hiring on the basis of merit, but made firing federal employees
easier.
d. It continued to allow hiring on the basis of partisan loyalty, but made firing federal
employees more difficult.
e. It allowed hiring on the basis of partisan loyalty, and made firing federal employees
easier.
Which of the following is the best definition of federalism?
a. A constitutional arrangement by which power is distributed between a central
government and state governments.
b. A constitutional arrangement by which sovereign states create a limited central
government.
c. A constitutional arrangement concentrating power in a central government.
d. A loose association of states constitutionally created by a strong central government.
e. A loose association of states with mutually recognized compacts but no central
government.
How are critical elections and party realignments interrelated?
a. A party realignment occurs before a critical election, and may involve a national
crisis.
b. A party realignment occurs during a critical election, and is characterized by gradual
change.
c. A party realignment occurs after one or more critical elections, and is characterized
by gradual change.
d. A party realignment occurs before a critical election, and is characterized by gradual
change.
e. A party realignment occurs after one or more critical elections and may involve a
national crisis.
The years 1860″1928 saw the ascendency of which party?
a. Democratic-Republicans
b. Democrats
c. Federalists
d. Republicans
e. Whigs
The Supreme Court briefly outlawed which of the following in the 1970s by asserting
that it was being imposed in an arbitrary manner?
a. capital punishment
b. school prayer
c. access to court-appointed counsel
d. symbolic speech protection
e. the exclusionary rule
Who serves on the Joint Chiefs of Staff?
a. the Cabinet secretaries
b. the leaders of the armed forces
c. the president’s foreign policy advisors
d. the White House military intelligence corps
e. the secretary of defense, the secretary of Homeland Security, and the director of the
Central Intelligence Agency
How many tiers does the federal judiciary have?
a. two
b. six
c. four
d. three
e. five
According to the box, “Who Owns the News Media,” over the last thirty years, media
ownership __________.
a. has broken up across dozens of corporations
b. has been split between Viacom and Disney
c. has been split between Comcast and Time Warner
d. has consolidated
e. has come under the control of News Corp.
The post of press secretary to the president has existed since the administration of
__________, the power of which has __________over time.
a. Franklin D. Roosevelt; grown tremendously
b. Woodrow Wilson; grown tremendously
c. Herbert Hoover; diminished
d. Ronald Reagan; diminished
e. Herbert Hoover; grown tremendously
Congress can remove a president through __________.
a. veto
b. executive privilege
c. executive order
d. impeachment
e. filibuster
A form of journalism, popular in the late nineteenth century, featuring pictures, comics,
color, and sensationalized, oversimplified news coverage was called __________.
a. muckraking
b. popular journalism
c. penny journalism
d. blue dog journalism
e. yellow journalism
Which response best reflects the dilemma of pork in legislation?
a. Programmatic requests are always wasteful expenditures but are useful to politicians.
b. Programmatic requests are beneficial to taxpayers but detrimental to reelection.
c. Programmatic requests are typically beneficial to districts but allow the federal
government to collect an undue share of tax revenue.
d. Programmatic requests favor federal employees at the expense of state employees.
e. Programmatic requests favor one district at the expense of all American taxpayers.
Who heads the entire federal judiciary?
a. the president
b. the attorney general
c. the solicitor general
d. the Supreme Court clerk of courts
e. the chief justice of the Supreme Court
The __________ party favored a strong national government.
a. Anti-Federalist
b. Federalist
c. Libertarian
d. Progressive
e. Republican
The __________ Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence.
In the role of __________, presidents have argued that they have inherent power to
respond to emergencies and protect the safety of Americans and the security of the
United States.
How do we know that the U.S. Constitution is federalist? Cite specific clauses or
articles.
How do block grants differ from categorical grants?
Since the early months of 2011, Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad has sought to suppress
domestic dissent through the extensive use of deadly force. If President Obama sought
to involve the United States in the crisis, what formal and informal powers could he use
to enlist congressional and public support?
What kinds of gains have been made in the struggle for gay rights, and what setbacks
have been experienced? How has public opinion opened the door for greater legal and
constitutional protection? How might it eventually affect the issue of same-sex
marriage?
Justices who do not agree with the outcome of a case write __________ opinions.
Article III of the Constitution establishes a __________ and defines its jurisdiction.
Explain the process for amending the Constitution.
Choosing to vote based on a candidate’s campaign policy promises is a form of
__________ judgment.
The United States entered the war in Afghanistan in order to topple the __________
government.
The largest Cabinet department is the __________.
The money supply __________ when the Federal Reserve Board increases interest
rates.
The tendency of people already holding office to be reelected in known as the
__________ advantage.
The process through which individuals acquire their beliefs is known as __________.
__________ programs are designed to help remedy continued inequality by giving
special treatment to members of previously discriminated-against groups.
What is the difference between substantive and procedural due process?