Institutions Flashcards

2545448624	Appropriation	money that Congress has allocated to be spent	0
2545449573	Appropriations Committee	congressional committee that deals with federal spending	1
2545450671	Appellate jurisdiction	authority of a court to hear an appeal from a lower court	2
2545451516	Bully Pulpit	any highly visible public office whose incumbent uses it as a platform to influence public opinion (primarily connected with the president)	3
2545454105	Bureaucracy	departments agencies, bureaus and commissions in the executive branch of government	4
2545456003	Casework	personal work done by a member of Congress for his constituents	5
2545457123	civil law	concerns noncriminal disputes between private parties	6
2545781396	class action lawsuits	lawsuit brought on behalf of a class of people against a defendant	7
2545783160	Closed rule	rules committee rule that bans amendments to a bill	8
2545784542	cloture	Senate motion to end a filibuster that requires a 3/5 vote	9
2545785638	concurring opinion	written by Supreme Court Justice who voted with the majority but for different reasons	10
2545788785	Conference committee	works out compromise between differing House-Senate versions of a bill	11
2545790686	Constituents	the people who are represented by elected officials	12
2545792542	discharge petition	a motion to force a bill to the House floor that has been bottled up in committee	13
2545794140	Dissenting opinion	written by Supreme Court Justice who express a minority viewpoint in a case	14
2545795768	Executive agreement	an agreement between the President and another head of state that unlike a treaty does not require Senate consent	15
2545797703	Executive order	presidential rule or regulation that has the force of law	16
2545798787	Executive privilege	the privilege of a president and his staff to withhold their "privileged" conversations from Congress or the courts	17
2545801230	Filibuster	nonstop Senate debate that prevents a bill from coming to a vote	18
2545804385	Finance Committee	Senate committee that handles tax bills	19
2545806016	Franking privilege	allows members of Congress to send mail postage free	20
2545807822	Gerrymandering	redrawing district lines to favor one party at the expense of the other	21
2545810227	Impeachment	refusal of a President to spend money that has been appropriated by Congress	22
2545813008	Injunction	court order that forbids a party from performing a certain action	23
2545814938	Judicial activism	philosophy that the courts should take an active role in solving problems	24
2545817439	Judicial restraint	philosophy that the courts should defer to elected lawmakers in setting policy, and should instead focus on interpreting law rather than making law	25
2545820187	Judicial review	power of the courts to review the constitutionality of laws of government actions	26
2545822674	Legislative oversight	ongoing process of congressional monitoring of the executive branch to ensure that the latter complies with the law	27
2545826620	Legislative veto	process in which Congress overturned rules and regulations proposed by executive branch agencies struck down in 1983	28
2545831991	Line item beto	power of most governors to delete or reduce funding in a bill on a line by line basis	29
2545835126	Logrolling	when two members of Congress agree to vote for each other's bill	30
2545836446	Majority opinion	written to express the majority viewpoint in a Supreme Court case	31
2545838373	Mark up	committee action to amend a proposed bill	32
2545839679	Merit system	system of hiring federal workers based upon competitive exams	33
2545840667	Open rule	House Rules Committee rule that allows amendments to a bill	34
2545843251	Original jurisdiction	authority of a court to first hear a case	35
2545846049	Patronage	power to appoint loyal party members to federal positions	36
2545911486	Pocket veto	presidential killing of a bill by inaction after Congress adjourns	37
2545913859	Political appointees	those who have received presidential appointments to office.	38
2545915337	Pork barrel	wasteful congressional spending	39
2545916539	Quorum	minimum number of members needed for House or Senate to meet	40
2545918774	Reapportionment	reallocation of House seats to the states on the basis of changes in state populations, as determined by the census	41
2545920352	Redistricting	redrawing of congressional district boundaries by the party in power of the state legislature	42
2545922219	Red tape	complex rules and procedures required by bureaucratic agencies	43
2545924958	Remand	the Supreme Court's sending of a case back to the original court in which it was heard	44
2545926556	Rider	amendment to a bill that has little to do with the bill	45
2545927492	Rule of four	the Supreme Court will hear a case if four Justices agree to do so	46
2545928794	rules committee	the "traffic cop" of the House that sets the legislative calendar and issues rules for debate on a bill	47
2545933746	Senatorial courtesy	traditions in which the president consults with the senators within a state in which an appointment is to be made	48
2545935639	Seniority system	traditions in which the Senator from the majority party with the most years of service on a committee becomes the chairman of that committee	49
2545938808	Standing committee	the permanent congressional committees that handle legilsation	50
2545941107	Stare decisis	Latin for "let the decision stand" Supreme Court policy of following precedent in deciding cases	51
2545943078	Sunset laws	Laws that automatically expire after a given time	52
2545944100	Ways and Means Committee	House committee that handles tax bills	53
2545949693	Whistle blower	an employee who exposes unethical or illegal conduct within the federal government or one of its contractors	54
2545951725	Writ of certiorari	issued by the Supreme Court to a lower court to send up the records of a case so that it can be reviewed by the high court	55
2545955228	Writ of habeas corpus	court order that the authorities show cause for why they are holding a prisoner in custody	56
2545958216	Write of mandamus	court order directing a party to perform a certain action	57