All of the following comparisons between the House and the Senate are true EXCEPT
the House of Representatives was modeled after the British House of Lords whereas the Senate was modeled after the House of Commons
The Supreme Court has interpreted the ______ clause of the Constitution so broadly that there are very few restrictions on what Congress can do.
necessary and proper
The powers of the president include all of the following EXCEPT
he can declare war.
In Federalist No. 78, Hamilton argue that the judiciary would be the least threatening branch of government because
it does not control the military or the budget of the nation
Article III of the Constitution
creates the Supreme Court but allows Congress to establish lower courts
Aspects of the system of checks and balances include all of the following EXCEPT
presidents can force Congress to adjourn
Both the states and the national government may exercise all of the following powers EXCEPT
levying import or export taxes on goods
In McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), the Supreme Court held that
the federal government had the implied power to create a national bank
Gibbons v. Ogden increased the power of the national government by interpreting the
commerce clause of the Constitution very broadly
Federal orders that require states to operate and pay for programs created at the national level are called
unfunded mandates
According to the "Consider the Source" feature in Chapter 4, one should ask all the following questions about the op-ed section of the newspaper EXCEPT
does the author of the piece agree with me?
The founders established the Electoral College to choose the president for all of the following reasons EXCEPT
to minimize state influence in the selection of presidents
In Federalist No. 51, James Madison predicted that no single branch of government would become too powerful and oppress citizens, because
the other two branches would curb the possibly oppressive advances of each branch
In a parliamentary system the __________ is the dominant branch of government.
legislature
The rulings of the Supreme Court under John Marshall contributed to enhancement of
the power of the national government
Which of the following is NOT a disadvantage of federalism?
The states serve as policy laboratories.
The Supreme Court has interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment to
strike down racial segregation in the states
The federal government has been able to use categorical grants to coerce states into doing what it wants most of the time because
states have become financially dependent on this aid
What is the key difference between categorical grants and block grants?
Block grants provide states with more leverage and power over how to spend grants-in-aid than do categorical grants
According to John Locke and the Declaration of Independence, our rights are
natural
The source of authority cited by the Supreme Court for applying the Bill of Rights to the states is
the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution
The establishment clause guarantees
that government will not create and support an official state church
The Lemon test established that
there shall be no excessive entanglement of government and religion
The idea that language shapes behavior and, therefore, should be regulated to control its social effects is known as
political correctness
Written defamation of character is known as
libel
The Supreme Court has ruled that the Second Amendment
establishes an individual right to bear arms
The exclusionary rule is the Supreme Court rule that states that
illegally seized evidence cannot be used to obtain a conviction
The Supreme Court has ruled that what happens between consenting adults
is protected by the right to privacy
The difference between civil rights and civil liberties is
that civil rights involve government action to secure rights of citizenship, whereas civil liberties involve individual freedoms that limit the power of government
The rights the founders believed were essential to maintaining a representative democracy included all of the following EXCEPT
establishment of religion
The test that seems to provide the most protection for free speech is the
imminent lawless action test
Which of the following statements does NOT reflect the Supreme Court's view of freedom of expression?
Associations such as the NAACP can be required to make their membership lists public
The Supreme Court's ruling in Brandenburg v. Ohio is significant because it
created a new standard for regulating political speech
The Supreme Court has ruled that
public figures have less protection from the press than other members of the public
The Supreme Court has
generally protected freedom of expression on the Internet
The right against self-incrimination
applies at all stages of a criminal proceeding at the state and national levels
Which of the following statements best describes the constitutional right to privacy?
A right to privacy is not clearly spelled out in the Constitution, but many people argue the right is implied
The Supreme Court's ruling in Griswold v. Connecticut is significant because it
opened the door for a variety of claims regarding the right to privacy
Suspect classification
creates a very high barrier to laws treating a suspect group differently from others
Blacks were kept from exercising their rights in the South after Reconstruction by all of the following methods EXCEPT
civil suits
The decision in _______ overturned Plessy v. Ferguson
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas
_____ discrimination is discrimination in fact
De facto
Congressional policy toward Native Americans has historically varied between
assimilating Native Americans into a European-based culture and encouraging independence and self-government
During World War II, Japanese Americans
were placed in detainment camps for national security purposes
Laws that treat men and women differently are subject to
an intermediate standard of review
Women are
the most underrepresented group in Congress and state legislatures
In Lawrence v. Texas, the Supreme Court ruled that
state sodomy laws were a violation of the right to privacy
The Americans with Disabilities Act was controversial because
many of the required changes in physical accommodations are extremely expensive to install
The concepts of strict scrutiny and suspect classification are used by the Supreme Court to answer what question?
When can the law treat people differently?
The argument for affirmative action is that
there is no other decisive evidence for proving that discrimination has ended
The legal methods used to deny African Americans the right to vote, such as literacy tests and poll taxes, were overcome by
passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Twenty-fourth Amendment to the Constitution
The civil rights movement of the 1950s-1960s was most successful in eliminating ______ but was far less successful in eliminating ______.
de jure discrimination; de facto discrimination
The significance of the Regents of the University of California v. Bakke case is that it
signaled the approval of affirmative action
Native Americans face a particularly difficult task in winning battles in American politics for all of the following reasons EXCEPT
they do not have the right to vote
Which of the following statements is NOT true about Hispanic Americans?
Voter registration among Hispanic Americans is declining
All of the following statements concerning pay and price equity are true EXCEPT
The wage gap is growing wider
The women's movement was most successful with a strategy of ______ in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
changing laws state by state
Which of the following statements concerning gay and lesbian rights is NOT true?
Sodomy laws are constitutional according to the U.S. Supreme Court
A ___________ is a bill passed by a state legislature and submitted to voters for approval
Referendum
In a _________ system, the legislature selects and removes the executive
Parlimentary
The principle that states that national laws will be followed if state laws conflict with them is found in the _____________ clause
supremacy
The provisions of the Constitution that divide power between the states and the national government are located __________.
through out the document
The supremacy clause of the Constitution states that if a state law and a federal law conflict, the __________ law will be followed
national
_____ is the Supreme Court action that makes the protections of the Bill of Rights applicable to the states
Incorporation
Identify and describe the two positions concerning the separation of church and state
Seperationists beleive that there should be a wall bettween religion and the state, and accomidaionists beleive that the state should accomidate religion, but avoid favoring any type of religion
_____ states that evidence seized illegally may not be used to obtain a conviction
eclusionary rule
_____ is a heightened standard of review to assess the constitutionality of laws that limit some freedoms
Strict scrutiny
The _________ Act was designed to reduce or eliminate racial discrimination in public accommodations.
Civil Rights
_____ is a policy of creating opportunities for members of certain groups as a substantive remedy for past discrimination
Affermative action
______ are citizenship rights guaranteed to the people
Civil rights
Explain the significance of Brown v. Board of Education
It overturned Plessy and declared segregated schools to be inherently unequal. While little changed immediately after the Brown decision, it was a catalyst for the civil rights movement, yet Brown did NOT eliminate all segregated facilities.