Federal v. State Law: Vocab

Question 1

Federal

Answer 1

Relating to the U.S. government (as opposed to U.S. state governments ).

Question 2

Federalism

Answer 2

A form of government, such as in the U.S., in which power is divided between a central (federal) government and regional (state) governments .

Question 3

Invalid

Answer 3

Not legally binding. In the context of this module, a law could be said to be invalid if it violates the Constitution.

Question 4

Constitutional Amendment

Answer 4

A change to the Constitution proposed either by the Congress , with a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the state legislatures.

Question 5

Duty to Retreat

Answer 5

Also known as a “retreat rule.” A requirement of the criminal law of some states that you may not claim self-defense if you could have safely retreated, but did not, before using deadly force against an attacker.