Quiz 1 Review - 5/21

Question 75

Define

Bill of Rights

Answer 75

The first ten amendments to the US Constitution, ratified in 1791, concerned primarily with individual rights and liberties.

Question 76

Define

bills of attainder

Answer 76

a legislative act imposing punishment without trial upon persons deemed guilty of treason or felonies. (Prohibited by US Const.)

Question 77

Define

checks and balances

Answer 77

Refers to constitutional powers granted each branch of government to prevent one branch from dominating the others.

Question 79

Define

coercive federalism

Answer 79

Refers to the efforts by the federal government to use its spending power to induce the states to adopt policies they would not otherwise adopt, such as raiding the legal drinking age to twenty-one

Question 83

Define

cooperative federalism

Answer 83

A modern approach to American federalism in which powers and functions are shared among national, state and local authorities

Question 90

Define

dual federalism

Answer 90

A concept of federalism in which the national and state governments exercise authority within separate, self-contained areas of public policy and public administration

Question 91

Define

due process of law

Answer 91

Procedural and substantive rights of citizens against government actions that threaten the denial of life, liberty or property

Question 93

Define

enumerated powers

Answer 93

Powers specified in the text of the federal and state constitutions.

Question 94

Define

equal protection of the laws

Answer 94

Constitutional requirement that the government not engage in prohibited forms of discrimination against persons under its jurisdiction

Question 95

Define

ex post facto laws

Answer 95

A retroactive law that criminalizes actions that were innocent at the time they were taken or increases punishment for a criminal act after it was committed

Question 98

Define

executive power

Answer 98

The power to enforce the law and administer the government

Question 101

Define

federalism

Answer 101

Constitutional distribution of government power and responsibility between the national government and the states

Question 110

Define

impeachment

Answer 110

A legislative act bringing a charge against a public official that, if proven in a legislative trial, will cause his or her removal from public office OR impugning the credibility of a witness by introducing contradictory evidence or proving his or her bad character

Question 111

Define

implied powers

Answer 111

Powers not specifically enumerated by implied by an instrument such as a constitution, statute or contract

Question 114

Define

intentions of the Framers

Answer 114

The intentions of the Framers of the United States Constitution with respect to the meanings of its provisions

Question 115

Define

judicial activism

Answer 115

Defined variously, but the underlying philosophy is that judges should exercise power vigorously

Question 116

Define

judicial review

Answer 116

Generally, the review of any issue by a court of law. In American constitutional law, judicial review refers to the authority of a court to invalidate acts of government on constitutional grounds

Question 119

Define

the living Constitution

Answer 119

The idea that original intent should not control contemporary decision making but that the meaning should evolve according to the “felt necessities” of the times

Question 122

Define

power of the purse

Answer 122

Refers to Congress’ ability to pull funding , its most effective means of controlling a President’s ability to sustain a long war effort in the face of public disapproval

Question 129

Define

right of privacy

Answer 129

Right to be let alone, that is free from governmental interference

Question 132

Define

right to keep and bear arms

Answer 132

Right to posses certain weapons, protected against federal infringement by the 2nd Am.

Question 135

Define

separation of church and state

Answer 135

The 1st Am states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The SC has sometimes used a “wall of separation” metaphor, per Thomas Jefferson, to describe the relationship.

Question 136

Define

separation of powers

Answer 136

Constitutional assignment of legislative, executive, and judicial powers to different branches of government