This unit covers how Congress, the president, the federal courts and the bureaucracy share power and check one another. It is the heaviest unit on the exam, 25–36% of the multiple-choice section. Expect scenarios about lawmaking rules, presidential powers, judicial review and agency rulemaking, plus two required documents (Federalist No. 70 and No. 78) and three required cases (Marbury v. Madison, Baker v. Carr and Shaw v. Reno).
- bicameral legislature
- A legislature with two chambers. In Congress, the Senate represents the states equally and the House represents the people, a design that reflects republicanism.
- Example: Wyoming and California each have two senators, but California has far more House members because House seats follow population.
- standing committees
- Permanent committees organized by policy area. Both chambers refer bills to them for hearings, debate and markup (revisions and additions). The majority party chooses committee leaders.
- Example: A farm bill goes to the House Agriculture Committee, which hears from farmers and rewrites sections before any floor vote.
- mandatory spending
- Federal spending required by existing law, mainly for entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. It continues each year unless Congress changes the law.
- Example: As more Americans turn 65, Medicare spending rises automatically, without any new vote by Congress.
- polarization
- The movement of political attitudes toward ideological extremes. In Congress it shows up as partisan voting, when members vote according to their party affiliation.
- Example: In a fictional Congress, nearly every major vote splits along party lines, with each party voting as a bloc.
- trustee model
- A view of representation in which a member votes on issues based on his or her own knowledge and judgment.
- Example: A representative who is a physician votes on a vaccine-funding plan based on her own study of the medical evidence.
- Executive Office of the President
- The president's advisers and staff agencies, such as the White House staff, the Office of Management and Budget and the National Security Council, who help carry out the policy agenda.
- Example: Office of Management and Budget staff prepare the president's annual budget proposal before it goes to Congress.
- Senate confirmation
- Senate approval, by majority vote, of the president's choices for Cabinet members, ambassadors, some Executive Office posts and federal judges. It checks the appointment power.
- Example: Judges confirmed during one presidency can serve for decades, so judicial picks are a president's longest-lasting influence.
- judicial review
- The power of courts to declare an act of the legislative or executive branch unconstitutional. The Constitution does not spell it out; Marbury v. Madison established it.
- Example: In United States v. Lopez (1995), the Court used judicial review to strike down a federal gun-free school zones law.
- stare decisis
- The doctrine that courts follow precedent when deciding cases with similar facts. New appointments that shift the Court's ideology can lead to new precedents or overturned ones.
- Example: Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) overruled Betts v. Brady (1942), which had let states refuse appointed lawyers to many poor felony defendants.
- federal bureaucracy
- The departments, agencies, commissions and government corporations that implement federal policy by writing and enforcing regulations, issuing fines and testifying before Congress.
- Example: The Department of Veterans Affairs (a department), the Federal Election Commission (a commission) and the Postal Service (a government corporation) are all part of it.
- power of the purse
- Congress's power to tax and spend. It checks the bureaucracy because Congress can appropriate or withhold the funds agencies need.
- Example: After an agency ignores a committee's requests for records, Congress cuts the agency's travel budget in the next appropriations bill.
- House of Representatives
- The larger chamber of Congress: 435 members, with seats divided among the states by population, all elected every two years. Debate is more formal, and revenue bills must start here.
- Example: Every even-numbered year, all 435 House seats are on the ballot, so members are always close to their next campaign.
