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SPENCE APGOPO TERMS
APGOPO Vocabulary
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Federalism | The division of power between the federal government and state governments |
| Amicus Curiae | A Latin term meaning "a friend of the court". Refers to interested groups or individuals, not directly involved in a suit, who may file legal briefs or make oral arguments in support of one side |
| Appropriation | A legislative grant of money to finance a government program |
| Bill of attainder | A law that declares a person, without a trial, to be guilty of a crime. The state legislatures and Congress are forbidden to pass such acts by Article I of the Constitution |
| Block grants | Money from the federal government to states for programs in certain general areas rather than for specific kinds of programs. |
| Brief | A legal document prepared by an attorney representing a party before a court. The document sets forth the facts of the case, summarizes the law, gives the argument for its side, and discusses other relevant cases. |
| Categorical grants | Money given by the federal government for specific purposes defined by federal law. Such kinds usually require that the state or locality put up money to "match" some part of it. |
| Caucus | An association of memeber of Congress created to advocate a political ideology or a regional, ethnic, or economic interest. |
| Circular Structure | A method of organizing a presidnet's staff in which several presidential assistants report directly to the presidnet. |
| Closed primary | A primary election limited to registered party members. Prevents memebers of other parties from crossing over to influence the nomination of an opposing party's candidate. |
| Closed rule | An order from the House Rules Committee that sets a time limit on debate and forbids a particular bill from being amended on the legislative floor. |
| Compensatory action | An action designed to help members of disadvantaged groups, especially minorities and women, catch up, usually by giving them extra education, training, or services. |
| Competitive service | The government offices to which people are appointed on the grounds of merit as ascertained by a written examination or by having met certain selection criteria. |
| Concurrent resolution | An expression of congressional opinion without the force fo law that requires the approval of both the House and Senate but not of the president. Used to settle housekeeping and procedural matters that affect both houses. |
| Concurring opinion | A Supreme Court opinion by one or more justices who agree with the majority's conclusion but for different reasons. |
| Cost overruns | Actual payments that are several times greater than estimated payments. |
| Cue | A signal telling a congressional representative what valuesare at stake in a vote and how that issue fits into his or her own set of political beliefs or party agenda. |
| De facto segregation | Racial segregationin schools that occurs not because of laws or administrative decisions, but as a result of pattterns of residential settlement. |
| De jure segregation | Racial segregation that occurs because of laws or administrative decisions by public agencies. |
| Delegate model | The view that an elected representative should represent the opinions of his or her constituents. |
| Devolution | The current effort to scale back the size and activities of the national government and to shift responsiblity for a wide range of domestic programs from Washington to the states. |
| Discharge petition | A device by which any member of the House, after a committee has had a bill for thirty days, may petition to have it brought to the floor. If a majority of the members agree, the bill is discharged from the committee. |
| Discretionary authority | The extent to which appointed bureaucrats can choose courses of action and make policies that are not spelled out in advance by laws. |
| Dissenting opinion | A Supreme Court opinion by one or more justices in the minority to explain the minority's disagreement with teh Court's ruling. |
| Diversity cases | Cases involving citizens of different states over which the federal courts have jurisdiction as described in the Constitution. |
| Divided government | A government in which one party controls the White House and another party controls one or both houses of Congress. |
| Dual federalism | A constitutional theory that the national governments each have defined areas of authority, especially over commerce. |
| Due-process clause | Protection against arbitrary deprivation of life, liberty, or property as guaranteed in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. |
| Entitlement | A claim for government funds that cannot be abridged without violating the rights of the claimant |
| Entrepreneurial politics | Policies benefiting society as a whole or some large part that impose a substantial cost on some small identifiable segment of society. |
| Environmental impact statement | A report required by federal law that assesses the possible effect of a project on the environment if the project is subsidized in whole or part by federal funds. |
| Equality of opportunity | A view that it is wrong to use race or sex either to discriminate against or give preferential treatment to minorities or women. |
| Equal time rule | A rule of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) stating that Congress shall make no law "respecting an establishment of religion". |
| Establishment clause | A clause in the First Amendment to the Constitution stating that Congress shall make no law "respecting an establishment of religion". |
| Exclusionary rule | A rule that holds that evidence gathered in violation of the Constitution cannot be used in a trial. |
| Ex post facto law | A Latin term meaning "after the fact". A law that makes criminal an act that was legal when it was committed, that increases the penalty for a crime after it has been committed, or that changes the rules of evidence to make a coviction easier. |
| Faction | According to James Madison, a group of people who seek to influence public policy in ways contrary to the public good. |
| Fairness doctrine | A former rule of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that required broadcasters to give time to opposing views if they broadcast a program giving one side of a controversial issue. |
| Federal-question cases | Cases concerning the Constituion, federal law, or treaties over which the federal courts have jurisdiction as described in the Constitution. |
| Federal system | A system in which sovereignty is shared so that on some matters the national government is supreme and on others the state, or provincial governments are supreme. |
| Fee shifting | A law or rule that allows the plaintiff (the party that initiates the lawsuit) to collect its legal costs from the defendant if the defendant loses. |
| Filibuster | An attempt to defeat a bill in the Senate by talking indefinitely, thus preventing the Senate from taking action on the bill. |
| Fiscal policy | An attempt to use taxes and expenditures to affect the economy. |
| Fiscal year (FY) | The period from October 1 to September 30 for which government appropriations are made and federal books are kept. |
| Franking privilege | The ability of members of Congress to mail letters to their constituents free of charge by substituting their facsimile signgature for postage. |
| Free-exercise clause | A clause in the First Amendment to the Constitution stating that Congress shall make no law prohibiting the "free exercise" of religion. |
| Gerrymandering | Drawing the boundaries of political districts in bizarre or unusual shapes to make it easy for candidates of the party in power to win elections in those districts |
| Good-faith exception | Admission at a trial of evidence that is gathered in violation of the Constitution if the violation results from a technical or minor error. |
| Grandfather clause | A clause added to registration laws allowing people who did not meet registration requirements to vote if they or their ancestors had voted before 1867 (before African Americans were legally allowed to vote). |
| Grants-in-aid | Federal funds provided to states and localities. |
| Ideological interest groups | Political organizations that attract members by appealing to their political convictions with coherent sets of (usually) controversial principles. |
| Incentive | A valued benefit obtained by joining a political organization. |
| Independent expenditure | Spending by political action committees on political matters that is done directly and not by giving money to a candidate or party. |
| Initiative | A procedure allowing voters to submit a proposed law to a popular vote by obtaining a required number of signatures. |
| Interest group | An orgainization of people sharing a common interest or gaol that seeks to influence the making of public policy. |
| Interest group politics | The politics of policy-making in which one small group bears the costs of the policy and naother small group receives the benefits. |
| Iron triangle | A close relationship between an agency, a congressional committee, and an interest group that often becomes a mutually advantageous alliance. |
| Issue network | A network of people in Washington-based interest groups, on congressional staffs, in universities and think tanks, and in the mass media who regularly discuss and advocate public policies. |
| Joint committees | Committees on which both representatives and senators serve in order to resolve differences in the Senate and House versions of the same piece of legislation before final passage. |
| Joint resolution | A formal expression of congressional opinion taht must be approved by both houses of Congress and by the president. |
| Judicial review | The power of the courts to declare acts of the legislature and of the executive to be unconsitutional and hence null and void. |
| Keynesianism | An economic philosophy that assumes that the government should intervene to create the right level of demand by pumping more money into the economy (when demand is low) and taking it out (when it is too great). |
| Legislative court | A court that is created by Congress for some specialized purpose and staffed with judges who do not enjoy the protection of Article III of the Constitution. |
| Legislative veto | The rejection of a presidential or administrative agency action by a vote of one or both houses of Congress without the consent of teh president. The Supreme Court delcared it unconstitutional in 1983. |
| Liberal | A person who favors a more active federal government for regulating business, supporting social welfare, and protecting minority rights, but who prefers less regulation of private social conduct. |
| Libertarians | People who wish to maximize personal liberty on both economic and social issues. They prefer a small, weak government that has little control over either the economy or the personal lives of citizens. |
| Line-item veto | The power of an executive to veto some provisions in an appropriations bill while approving others. The president does not have the right to exercise this and must approve or reject an entire appropriations bill. |
| Litmus test | A test of ideological purity |
| Lobby | An interest group organized to influence government decisions, especially legislation. |
| Logrolling | Mutual aid among politicans, whereby one legislator supports another's pet project in return for the latter's support of his. |
| Majoritarian politics | The politics of policy-making in wihc almost everybody benefits from a policy and almost everybody pays for it. |
| Malapportionment | Drawing the boundaries of political districts so that districts are very unequal in population. |
| Mandates | Rules imposed by the federal government on the states as conditions for obtaining federal grants or requirements that the states pay the cots of certain nationally defined programs. |
| Marginal districts | Political districts in which candidates elected to the House of Representatives win in close elections, typically with less than 55 percent of the vote. |
| Means test | An income qualification that determines whether one is elligible for benefits under government programs reserved for lower-income groups. |
| Monetarism | An economic philosophy that assumes that the proper thing for government to do is to have steady, predictable increase in the money supply at a rate about equal to the growth in the economy's productivity. |
| Motor-voter law | A bill passed by Congress in 1993 to make it easier for Ameicans to register to vote. |
| National convention | A meeting of party delegates elected in state primaries, caucuses, or conventions that is held every four years. Its primary purpose is to nominate presidential and vice presidential candidates and to ratify a campaign platform. |
| "Necessary and proper" clause | Authorizes Congress to pass all laws if they are this in order to carry out the enumerated powers. Sometimes it is called theh "elastic clause" because of the flexibility that it provides to Congress. |
| Open primary | A primary election that permits voters to choose on election day the primary in which they wish to vote. They may vote for candidates of only one party. |
| Open rule | An order from the House Rules Committee that permits a bill to be amended on the legislative floor. |
| Opinion of the Court | A Supreme Court opinion written by one or more justices in the majority to explain the decision in a case. |
| Ordinance | A law passed and enfored by a city government |
| Per curiam opinion | A brief, unsigned opinion issued by the Supreme Court to explain its ruling |
| Plaintiff | The party that initiates a lawsuit to obtain a remedyfor an injury to his or her rights |
| Plurality system | An electoral system, used in almost all American elections, in which the winner is the person who gets the most votes, even if he or she does not receive a majority of the votes |
| Policy entrepreneurs | Those in and out of government who find ways of pulling together a legislative majority on behalf of unorganized interests |
| Political action committees | A committee set up by and representing a corporation, labor union, or special-interest group that raises and spends campaign contributions on behalf of one or more candidates or causes |
| Political culture | A broadly shared way of thinking about political and economic life that reflects fundamental assumptions about how government should operate. |
| Political editorializing rule | A ruel of the Federal Comunications Commission taht if a broadcaster endorses a candidate, the opposing candidate had a right to reply |
| Political efficacy | A citizen's belief that he or she can understand and influence political affairs. |
| Political ideology | A more or less consistent set of views as to the policies government ought to pursue |
| Political question | An issues that the Supreme Court refuses to consider because it believes the Constitution has left it entirely to another branch to decide. |
| Pork-barrel legislation | Legislation that gives tangible benefits to constituents in several districts or states in the hope of winning their vote in return |
| Position issue | An issue dividing the electorate on which rival parties adopt different policy positions to attract voters |
| Primary election | An election prior to the general election in which voters select the candidates who will run on each party's ticket |
| Prior restraint | The traditional view of the press's free speech rights as expressed by William Blackstone, the great English jurist. It says the press is guaranteed freedom from censorship-that is, rules telling it in advance what it can publish. |
| Progressive | A person who believes that moral rules are derived in part from an individual's beliefs and the circumstances of modern life. |
| Prospective voting | Voting for a candidate because one favors his or her ideas for addressing issues after the election |
| Purposive incentive | The benefit that comes from serving a cause or principle from which one does not personally benefit |
| Pyramind structure | A method of organizing a president's staff in wich most presidential assistants report through a hierarchy to the president's chief of staff |
| Quorum | The minimum number of memebers who must be present for business to be conducted in Congress |
| Random sample | A sample selected in such a way that any member of the population being surveyed has an equal chance of being interviewed |
| Reaganomics | The federal economic policies of the Reagan administration. They combined a monetarist fiscal policy, supply-side tax cuts, and domestic budget cutting. Their goal was to reduce the size of the federral government and stimulate economic growth. |
| Recall | A procedure, in effect in over twenty states, whereby the voters can vote to remove an elected official from office |
| Red tape | Complex bureaucratic rules and procedures that must be followed to get something done |
| Referendum | The practice of submitting a law to a popular vote at election time. |
| Remedy | A judicial order preventing or redressing a wrong or enforcing a rigt. |
| Representative Democracy | A political system in which leaders and representatives accquire political power by means of a competitive struggle for the people's vote. |
| Republic | A form of democracy in which power is vested in representatives selected by means of popular competitive elections. |
| Restrictive rule | An order from the House Rules Committee that parmits certain kinds of amendments but not others to be made into a bill on the legislative floor. |
| Retrospective voting | Voting for or against the candidate or party in office because one likes or dislikes how things have gone in the recent past. |
| Revenue sharing | A law providing for the distribution of a fixed amount or share of federal tax revenues to the states for spending on almost any government purpose. Distribution was intended to send more money to poorer, heavily taxed states and less to richer, ones. |
| Reverse discrimination | Using race or sex to give preferential treatment to some people. |
| Rider | An amendment on a matter unrelated to a bill that it will "ride" to passage through the Congress. |
| Right-of-reply rule | A rule of the FCC that if a person is attacked on a broadcast, that person has the right to reply over that same station. |
| Routine stories | Media reports about public events that are regularly covered by reporters and that involve simple, easily discribed acts or statements. |
| Safe districts | Districts in which incumbents win by margins of 55 percent or more. |
| Sampling error | The difference between the results of two surveys or samples. |
| Select committees | Congressional committees appointed for a limited time and purpose. |
| Sequential referral | A congressional process by which a Speaker may send a bill to a second committee after the first is finished acting, or may refer parts fo a bill to seperate committees. |
| Sequester | Automatic, across-the-board cuts in certain federal programs that are triggered by law when Congress and the president cannot agree on a spending plan. |
| Silent majority | A phase used to describe people, whatever their economic status, who uphold traditional values, especially against the counterculture of the 1960s. |
| Simple resolution | An expression of opinion either in the House of Representatives or the Senate to settle housekeeping or procedural matters in either body. |
| Soft money | Funds solicited from individuals, corporations, and unions that are spent on party activities, such as voter registration campaigns and voting drives, rather than on behalf of a specific candidate. These funds need not be reported to the FCC. |
| Solidary incentives | The social rewards that lead people join local or state political organizations. People who find politics fun and want to meet others who share their interests are said to respond to these. |
| Sophomore surge | An increase in the votes taht congressional candidates usually get when they first run for election. |
| Sovereign immunity | A doctrine that a citizen cannot use the government without its consent. |
| Sovereignty | Supreme or ultimate political authority; a _______ government is one that is legally and politically independent of any other government. |
| Split ticket | Voting for candidatesof different parties for various offices in the same election. |
| Standing | A legal concept establishing who is entitled to bring a lawsuit to court. |
| Standing committees | Permanently established legislative committees that consider and are responsible for legislation within a certain subject area. |
| Stare decisis | A Latin term meaning "let the decision stand". The practice of basing judicial decisions on precedents established in similar cases decided in the past. |
| Strict-constructionist approach | The view that judges should decide cases on the basis of the language of the Constitution. |
| Strict scrutiny | The standard by which the Supreme Court judges classifications based on race. To be accepted such a classification must be closely related to a "compelling" public purpose. |
| Superdelegates | Party leaders and elected officials who become delegates to the national convention without having to run in primaries or caucuses. |
| Supply-side theory | An economic philosophy that holds that sharply cutting taxes will increase the incentive people have to work, save, and invest. Greater investments will lead to more jobs, a more productive economy, and more tax revenues for the government. |
| Suspect classifications | Classifications of poeple on the basis of their race and ethnicity. The courts have rules that laws classifying people on these grounds will be subject to "strict scrutinty". |
| Symbolic speech | An act that conveys a political mesage, such as burning a draft card to protest the draft. |
| Teller vote | A congressional voting procedure in which members pass between two tellers, the "yeas" first and then the "nays". |
| Trial balloon | Information provided to the media by an anonymous public offical as a way of testing the public reaction to a possible policy or appointment. |
| Trustee approach | The view that an elected representative should act on his or her own best judgement of what public policy requires. |
| Trust funds | Funds for government programs that are collected and spent outside the regular government budget. |
| Unified government | A government in which the same party controls both the White House and both houses of Congress. |
| Valence issue | An issue on which voters distinguish rival parties by the degree to which they associate each party or candidate with conditions, goals, or symbols the electorate universally approves of or disapproves of. |
| Wall-of-seperation | A Supreme Court interpretation of the establishment clause in the First Amendment that prevents government involvement with religion, even on a nonpreferential basis. |
| Whip | A senator or representative who helps the party leader stay informed about what party members are thinking, rounds up members when important votes are to be taken and attempts to keep a nose count on how the voting on controversial issues is likely to go. |
| Writ of certiorari | An order issued by a higher court to a lower court to send up the record of a case for review. |
| Writ of habeas corpus | A court order directing a police officer, sheriff, or warden who has a person in custody to bring the prisoner before a judge and show sufficient cause for his or her detention. |
Created by:
CSpencer8
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