The Texas Constitution of 1876 and subsequent actions by the Texas legislature give the
governor almost absolute power in clemency.
Vice presidential vacancies are filled by presidential nomination with confirmation of
three-fifths of the House.
The Supreme Court has found that the president has “inherent power” to halt the
publication of news.
Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the size of the U.S. Supreme Court was
increased from nine to thirteen.
Incumbent members of Congress often win elections by overwhelming margins.
News and broadcasting executives believe that the Internet is a positive force in
journalism.
A theocratic government with absolute power is a totalitarian regime.
A party platform must not only outline its own policy but also compare it to that of the
other party, whether explicitly or implicitly.
By the late 1940s, the Hispanic population had replaced the African American
population as the largest ethnic minority in Texas.
Indigenous peoples had been living in North America for more than 30,000 years before
the arrival of the first European colonists.
Although governors have the power to pardon, the president does not.
The mass media is an important agent of political socialization.
In 2009, the United States, the European Union, and Asia each represented between 25
and 30 percent of the world’s GDP.
The bulk of funding for public schools comes from local property taxes.
The president’s party often loses a substantial number of seats in the House during
midterm elections.
Public housing is an example of an entitlement program.
Rationing gasoline was a key part of environmental policy in the 1970s.
President Richard M. Nixon was impeached for his role in the Watergate scandal.
The Texas Supreme Court performs several administrative duties in addition to the civil
appellate responsibilities, including establishing the rules and procedures governing
trials and appeals in Texas civil cases.
There was a budget surplus in 2006.
Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama finished Super Tuesday in a close tie for
the Democratic presidential nomination.
Immigration sparked the growth of political machines.
The battle over the Edwards Aquifer in San Antonio was settled largely to the benefit of
rural ranching and farming interests.
The civil service system covers only half of all federal employees.
Approximately one-fourth of Texans lack health insurance.
The bulk of the judicial work in the federal system takes place in the Supreme Court.
Interest groups give Americans another opportunity to take their claims to government.
State statutory rape laws that apply only to women have been found to be constitutional
by the Supreme Court.
In Baker v. Carr, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the one person, one vote principle
should never guide redistricting efforts.
Caucuses can be held in schools and community centers, but they are more likely to be
held at local political party headquarters.
Natural law is a doctrine that argues that society should be governed by certain ethical
principles.
The attitudinal model of Supreme Court decision making posits that
A) attitudes give us little insight into how justices make decisions.
B) as justices grow older, they become more conservative.
C) a conservative justice appointed by a conservative president would be more likely to
vote in a conservative way.
D) the facts of the case influence judicial outcomes.
E) the positions of Congress and the president on political issues affect judicial
outcomes.
The Texas judiciary has its roots primarily in __________ legal traditions.
A) English
B) Mexican
C) Spanish
D) Coahuilan
E) Confederate
Concerns at the local level tend to be
A) partisan.
B) ideological.
C) nonpartisan.
D) vague and unspecific.
E) national in scope.
Between 1966 and 1969, which Texas governor led an effort to revise the Texas
Constitution?
A) James Ferguson
B) Beauford Jester
C) John Connally
D) Preston Smith
E) Mark White
The Seneca Falls Convention was
A) called to draw additional attention to slavery.
B) called to help implement the Missouri Compromise.
C) a meeting in preparation for the World Anti-Slavery Society convention.
D) held to discuss the civil and political rights of women.
E) actually held in the city of New York.
A member of Congress will often have trouble voting on an issue such as abortion
because
A) few people care about the issues, so a vote may be seen as wasted time.
B) there is a clear majority opinion.
C) members do not know the intricacies of abortion law.
D) state policies vary dramatically.
E) people feel passionately on both sides of the issue, so the member will always upset
a large group of people, not matter how he or she votes.
In 1991, the Texas legislature limited the annual amount that a lobbyist could spend on
a public official to
A) $500.
B) $5,000.
C) $10,000.
D) $80,000.
E) $120,000.
Texas public schools are run by
A) counties.
B) municipalities.
C) municipal utility districts.
D) special districts.
E) wards.
A typical rate of reelection in the House of Representatives is _____ percent.
A) 75
B) 82
C) 85
D) 90
E) 97
The largest public interest group is _____.
A) the League of United Latin American Citizens.
B) the Human Rights Campaign.
C) AARP.
D) Common Cause.
E) Concerned Women for America.
Although the Internet was first used in presidential campaigns in 1992, it was not until
____ that the role of Internet transcended the role of a virtual brochure.
A) 1996
B) 2000
C) 2004
D) 2008
E) 2010
A major goal of the writers of the U.S. Constitution was to
A) empower the national government.
B) prohibit state governments.
C) prohibit national government.
D) establish a constitutional monarchy.
E) empower local governments.
Which of the following Texas Republican intraparty coalitions believes most strongly in
promoting conservative political ideology over winning elections?
A) Pragmatists
B) Economic conservatives
C) Moderates
D) Social conservatives
E) Realists
Elections held to fill positions in county and municipal governments are known as
A) special elections.
B) mid-term elections.
C) local elections.
D) run-off elections.
E) primary elections.
A body impaneled by a district judge to sit and consider felony criminal cases presented
by the prosecutor for possible indictment in a given jurisdiction is known as a
A) petit jury.
B) trial jury.
C) grand jury.
D) hung jury.
E) tryer of fact.
One of the consequences of having a statutory constitution is that it
A) makes governing more efficient since the legislature passes laws to expand on the
foundational laws set in the constitution.
B) limits executive budgetary prerogative.
C) requires a constitutional amendment to make major and even minor changes in
government.
D) grants more budgetary control to the citizens.
E) protects judicial independence.
In ________, the Supreme Court ruled that there could be no limits placed on
candidates’ expenditures of their own funds since such spending is considered free
speech.
A) Buckley v. Valeo
B) Nixon v. U.S.
C) Rockefeller v. U.S.
D) Perot v. Reno
E) Kerry v.U.S.
Roger Williams
A) was the second vice president of the United States.
B) was a major author of the U.S. Constitution.
C) believed that there needed to be a wall of separation between church and state.
D) argued that slavery was a right guaranteed by the Constitution.
E) advocated for religious taxation in the colonies.
The trend toward a greater role for the president in policy making began with
A) Theodore Roosevelt.
B) Franklin D. Roosevelt.
C) Lyndon B. Johnson.
D) George W. Bush.
E) Ronald Reagan.
What was Governor Rick Perry’s stated rationale for vetoing a bill that would have
notified former prisoners when their voting rights were restored?
A) “Just become someone has served their time, doesn”t mean they have paid their debt
to society.”
B) Texas should not “make a greater effort to register former inmates to vote than we
would any other group of citizens in this state.”
C) Former prisoners “are mostly Democrats and we don”t really want them to vote, now
do we?”
D) “It is unfathomable that the state of Texas would waste its time and money to aid
those who have wasted their lives away instead of being contributing members of
society.”
E) “A poll tax is a poll tax is a poll taxeven if you dress it up and act like it’s about
helping those in need.”
George Washington wanted the United States to ‘steer clear of permanent alliances,” but
he was not an isolationist. He recognized the need for the United States to engage the
rest of the world to do what?
A) Protect human rights
B) Fight communism
C) Trade
D) Encourage cultural exchanges
E) End international conflicts
Which of the following is an example of going public?
A) Calling members of both parties to the White House
B) Issuing executive orders
C) Appearing on Anderson Cooper 360.
D) Hosting t-ball games at the White House
E) Holding Cabinet meetings
About ________ percent of the U.S. Supreme Court’s docket comes from the state
supreme courts.
A) 10
B) 25
C) 33
D) 50
E) 73
Which of the following is NOT one of the functions of the county sheriff?
A) Serve of warrants and civil papers
B) Operate the county jail
C) Vote on county ordinances related to law enforcement
D) Hire and supervise deputies
E) Contract with small cities to provide law enforcement in small cities
Efforts to diversify the Texas economy began about fifty years ago and have
A) failed to transform the economy’s basic structure.
B) transformed the economy’s basic structure.
C) increased the number of jobs in the cattle industry.
D) stabilized petroleum prices.
E) eliminated the need for high technology training for Texas workers.
The firing of public-office holders representing a defeated political party, and replacing
them with loyalists of the victorious political party, is called the
A) replacement doctrine.
B) merit system.
C) civil service.
D) spoils system.
E) nepotism system.
Legislative courts are
A) Article III courts.
B) courts created by Congress for special purposes.
C) courts of appellate jurisdiction.
D) Article II courts.
E) Article IV courts.
As a result of immigration, the cultural traditions in Wisconsin today are most closely
aligned with those of which of the following countries?
A) Norway
B) Mexico
C) England
D) Ireland
E) Italy
The most numerous type of government in the United States is the
A) county.
B) city.
C) municipality.
D) special district.
E) township.
The highest percentage of imported oil in the United States comes from
A) South America.
B) Canada.
C) Russia.
D) Africa.
E) Australia.
Any legislature with two houses is referred to as
A) Congress.
B) bifurcated.
C) bimodal.
D) bicameral.
E) bipolar.