AP Government Flashcards: 1st Nine Weeks Exam Review

All 64 terms for the chart as a review for the Exam!

227498111	Brown v. Topeka	Supreme Court decision that declared state laws establishing the separation of public schools based on race or ethnic background unconstitutional. This desegregated schools around the country and is still in place today.
227498112	Tinker v. Des Moines	Supreme Court decision that applied a system to determine if it was fair and unfair to punish children based on their first amendment rights n the classroom based on already established principles.
227498113	Americans with Disabilities Act (of 1990)	Law that prohibits against discrimination based on disability in a range of circumstances, such as when employing certain people.
227498114	Schenck v. United States	Supreme Court decision that concluded a defendant did not have a First Amendment right to freedom of speech against the draft during World War I. It also established the "clear and present danger" test of speech that may be against the US government. This eventually faded out and was replaced with a less serious sanction in 1969.
227498115	Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)	Supreme Court decision that ruled the Constitution protected a right to privacy to citizens. This would be further referenced in other future landmark cases.
227498116	Elastic Clause	Established in the US Constitution that gave Congress the power to make laws that were necessary to execute the powers given to the US government.
227498117	House Rule Committee	A part of the US House of Representatives that instead of being responsible for a specific area of policy, they pick what "rule" gives the right for a bill to be brought to the floor.
227498118	Soft Money	Instead of money going directly to a specific candidate for their election, it's given to a Political party as a whole to help improve its' overall image to the public.
227498119	September 11th	A series of four Al-Qaeda (Terrorist group) hijacked planes that crashed into the two World Trade Centers, the Pentagon, and a failed attempt that was stopped in Pennsylvania by the plane's passengers. In total, there were 2,977 American lives lost and then the 19 hijackers. These attacks symbolized the start of our involvement in the war on terror in the Middle East, where we are still fighting today.
227498120	December 7th (Pearl Harbor)	A surprise military strike by the Japanese on the US in Pearl Harbor, a US base in Hawaii. In total, there were 2,402 Americans killed and the US declared war on Japan, which led to Nazi Germany and Italy declaring war on the US.
227498121	Thurgood Marshall	First African-American Supreme Court justice in United States history, serving from 1967 until 1991. Marshall was also a Lawyer in the Brown v. Board of Education case that he helped win.
227498122	Sandra Day O'Connor	First female Supreme Court justice in United State history, serving from 1981 until her retirement in 2006. Nominated by Ronald Reagan, O'Connor was considered the swing vote in many landmark cases that she was a part of.
227498123	Korematsu v. United States (1944)	A landmark Supreme Court case involving the constitutionality of Japanese Americans into internment camps so that there would be no harm done by US citizens that might have intelligence for the Japanese. They ruled that this exclusion was indeed constitutional.
227498124	Patriot Act	As a response against the September 11th attacks on the US, laws on restriction of enforcement agencies' ability to use personal information based on the idea that groups followed may cause harm to America. This is also known as the "USE PATRIOT act."
227498125	Establishment Clause	Found in the First Amendment, it says Congress cannot make a law that establishes a religion. This means that the US doesn't have an official national religion, and also means that the government is not allowed to put a preference of one religion over another.
227498126	Free Exercise Clause	Established the right of US citizens to practice any religion that they want to without prosecution for their personal beliefs. There was also a clause on the practice of polygamy in America.
227498127	Casework	Also known as constituent services, like social services for families dealt with by people called "caseworkers" that decide whether or not people are eligible for government help.
227498128	Incumbency	A word used to describe an existing holder of a political office. The incumbent often has an advantage in elections over other candidates because of name exposure during their term.
227498129	Gerrymandering	A practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating geographic boundaries to create a favorability among citizens.
227498130	Gibbons v. Ogden	Supreme Court case that held the power to regulate interstate commerce was granted to Congress by the Commerce Clause in the US Constitution. It lasted in the US legal system until 1895.
227498131	Martin Luther King Jr.	Leading civil rights activist during the movement in the 1960s to get equality among all groups. He was assassinated after giving a speech in 1968.
227498132	Rosa Parks	Said to have "started" the civil rights movement with her stand against moving from her seat on a bus that was labeled specifically for "whites only." She was later arrested but spurred outcry throughout all of the US, calling for equality.
227498133	Lemon v. Kurtzman	Supreme Court case that ruled a superintendent of public schools was violating the Establishment Clause by giving funding to teachers that taught secular material to students in nonpublic schools.
227498134	Iron Triangles	A concept in politics which refers to a three-sided relationship between Congress, a Federal agency, and an industry or interest group working together to accomplish a common goal.
227498135	Warren Court	Supreme Court that served from 1953 to 1969 with Earl Warren as the Chief Justice. They were able to expand civil rights, civil liberties, and judicial and federal power throughout all of America. The policies passed have influenced our nation even today, like the Brown v. Topeka case in 1954.
227498136	Mandate Theory (of elections)	A formal order or ruling from a higher court, like the US Supreme Court over the Florida Supreme Court, and that whatever they find to be the verdict supersedes any found in a lower court.
227498137	Gideon v. Wainwright	Supreme Court case that ruled state courts are required under the Sixth Amendment to provide counsel in criminal cases for defendants who are unable to afford their own attorneys.
227498138	New York Times v. Sullivan	Supreme Court case that established actual malice standard which has to be met before press reports about private officials or public figures can be considered libel or defamation. This allowed for free reporting of civil rights in the campaigns that took place in the South US.
227498139	Regents of CA v. Bakke	Supreme Court case that held that while affirmative action systems are constitutional, a quota system based on race is indeed unconstitutional.
227498140	Checks and Balances	The idea that to prevent an increased amount of power in one branch of government, all act in specific ways to balance out power to one another, thus making the branches equal.
227498141	Mapp v. Ohio	Supreme Court case that decided evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment (protects against "unreasonable search and seizure"), may not be used in criminal prosecutions in state or federal courts.
227498142	Frontloading	States may seek an early date for their primary elections. This practice has been criticized for serving as an advantage for the front-runner at that time, who often has the most resources available to get a message out to the public as compared to their opponents.
227498143	Roe v. Wade	A pregnant single woman sued Texas regarding the constitutionality of their criminal abortion laws. The Supreme Court decided that state criminal abortion laws, like those involved here, that except from criminality only a life-saving procedure on the mother's behalf without regard to the stage of her pregnancy and other interests involved violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which protects against state action the right to privacy, including a woman's qualified right to terminate her pregnancy.
227498144	McCulloch v. Maryland	Maryland sued a bank cashier (McCulloch) of a Baltimore bank for not complying with Maryland's laws. The Supreme Court found that Congress does have the right to charter a bank, but Maryland does not have the right to tax an institution incorporated by Congress.
227498145	Electoral College	The voting school in which the President is actually elected. Normally they go with the public vote, but are not specifically forced or obligated to do so. Example, the 2000 general election, Bush won, but didn't have the popular vote.
227498146	Suffrage	Refers to the right to vote, usually in reference to Women's suffrage.
227498147	House Ways and Means	House committee is an organization within the government charged with writing tax legislation and bills affecting Social Security, Medicare, and other entitlement programs
227498148	Pluralist Theory	American politics is best understood through the generalization that power is relatively broadly distributed among many more or less organized interest groups in society that compete with one another to control public policy.
227498149	Affirmative Action	Political policies in which, race, gender, sexual orientation, and other factors are taken into consideration when making policy to help benefit an underrepresented group, usually to counteract discrimination.
227498150	National Conventions	Held during the election season by particular parties, like the GOP or the Democratic Party. These conventions usually held to highlight the party's political agenda and candidates.
227498151	Eminent Domain	Refers to the power possessed by the state over all property within the state, specifically its power to appropriate property for a public use.
227498152	Plessy v. Ferguson	Plessy was arrested to test the constitutionality of a separate car law in Louisiana. The Supreme Court ruled basically that segregation was legal by stating that the state should require "separate, but equal accommodations for blacks as for whites."
227498153	13th Amendment	Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude-except as a punishment to a crime for which the person must be convicted of- and made it illegal to have or own slaves.
227498154	4th Amendment	People shall be secure on their person and property against unlawful searches and seizures, and no warrant shall be issued, except with probably cause.
227498155	Federalist #51	The three branches of government, judiciary, legislative, and executive, should each have the same amount of power to check each of the other branches.
227498156	Federalist #10	A strong Constitution has the control to deal with violence and aggression caused by factions. Madison says these factions do not help those in favor of a democratic government because they cause instability in the government.
227498157	Pendleton Act	Says government jobs should be awarded on the basis of merit. The act provided selection of government employees' competitive exams, rather than ties to politicians or political affiliation.
227498158	Shay's Rebellion	Massachusetts farmers rebelled because they were being put further and further into debt because Massachusetts would not pass pro-debtor laws that would forgive their debt and print paper money.
227498159	Marbury v. Madison	Marbury and many others were appointed to government positions in the last days of the Adams' Presidency. This suit decision would be irrelevant, the fact was, that the Supreme Court decided that the Constitution was the final law, and that any act that was contradictory to the constitution was null and void, established judicial review.
227498160	Texas v. Johnson	Invalidated laws against flag burning in 48 of the 50 states. Happened after Johnson burned a flag at the RNC in Dallas, Texas in 1984.
227498161	Federalism	The idea that there should be a strong central government that should be the final word in the matters of taxation, making laws, and providing defense.
227498162	Great Compromise	Each state would receive two senators, but the House of Representative seats would still be based off population ratios.
227498163	Pork Barrel	Excess government spending, for example, Barack Obama going to Martha's Vineyard.
227498164	Amicus Curiae Briefs	Presented by someone interested in influencing the outcome of a lawsuit but who is not a party to it.
227498165	Scott v. Sandford	Scott sued a Missouri Widow for his freedom after his owner died. Sued on the grounds that since he was in Illinois, a free state, he was a free man. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the owner, saying that African Americans were not "citizens" and could not be treated as such; this case also cited the Missouri Compromise as unconstitutional.
227498166	Reed v. Reed	An equal protection case in which the Supreme Court ruled that the administrators of estates cannot be named in a way that discriminates between sexes.
227498167	Random Sampling Polls	Polls in which random people are sampled in relation to something, usually when talking about presidential candidates.
227498168	Elite Theory	The idea that our country has set classes, and that only the aristocratic and wealthiest of these classes controls the policymaking.
227498169	Miranda v. Arizona	Supreme Court case in which Miranda rights were violated because the police never read him his rights, including the right to council. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Miranda, and all charges were dropped. Stipulated that police have to read someone their rights when charged with a crime.
227498170	Writ of Habeas Corpus	The writ that a prisoner can be released from an unlawful imprisonment, a personally freedom that can only be suspended in times of war.
227498171	Judicial Activism	Judicial ruling suspected of being based on personal or political considerations rather than on existing law.
227498172	Congress Subcommittees	Used for delegating money, deciding things like taxes, federal-aid, military budgets, etc.
227498173	P.A.C's (Political Action Committee )	A name given to a private group, regardless of size, organized to elect political candidates or to advance the outcome of a political issue or legislation.
227498174	Social Security	An institution that gives aid to people 65 and older that was started during the Great Depression so that older people would have monetary security when they could no longer work. Every citizen pays out to Social Security when they start making a paycheck.