What is the core of the Congress?
a. constituency
b. staff
c. committee system
d. party
committee system
What is it called when, often looking to wring concessions from the president, individual senators block the confirmation of a presidential nominee?
a. a pink slip
b. invoking cloture
c. a hold
d. recall election
a hold
Legislators who believe they have been elected to do the bidding of those who sent them to Congress act as
a. managers.
b. delegates.
c. principals.
d. trustees.
delegates
Agency representation refers to
a. a committee's oversight of an executive agency or department.
b. the kind of representation when constituents "hire" representatives to represent their interests and retain the ability to "fire" them if the representativ
the kind of representation when constituents "hire" representatives to represent their interests and retain the ability to "fire" them if the representatives fail to perform.
Which of the following is not a common task of unelected congressional staff?
a. formulate and draft legislation
b. handle constituency mail and requests
c. organize hearings and deal with administrative agencies
d. manage the campaigns of members of Cong
manage the campaigns of members of Congress
Which of these legislative stages allow the most influence by special interest groups?
a. committee
b. floor voting
c. referral
d. veto override vote
committee
To whom are members of Congress most responsible?
a. party leaders
b. their constituencies
c. the president
d. their alma mater
their constituencies
All of the following are true of executive agreements except that they
a. are equivalent to treaties.
b. are made between the president and a foreign power.
c. have the force of law.
d. require Senate approval within 60 days.
require Senate approval within 60 days.
All of the following are true about congressional standing committees except that they
a. have "jurisdiction" over certain policy areas.
b. exercise gatekeeping and after-the-fact authority on certain legislative matters.
c. have fixed memberships.
d. rar
rarely concern themselves with controlling their "turf.
What do we call a vote in which at least 50 percent of one party's members in Congress vote against at least 50 percent of the other party's members?
a. a gridlocked vote
b. a party vote
c. a filibuster
d. a caucused vote
a party vote
Who is the chief presiding officer in the House of Representatives?
a. the vice president
b. the majority leader
c. the Speaker
d. the president pro tempore
the speaker
Which of the following is an example of an "external" strategy employed by congressional party leaders?
a. setting the legislative agenda
b. raising and distributing money through "leadership PACs"
c. referring bills to committees
d. "whipping" members on
raising and distributing money through "leadership PACs
A pork-barrel project refers to which of the following?
a. legislation that awards contracts or other benefits to a legislator's constituents
b. legislation passed by the Agriculture Committee
welfare benefits
c. legislation that reduces the federal defic
legislation that awards contracts or other benefits to a legislator's constituents
When the House of Representatives charges an official with "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors" that person has been
a. indicted.
b. impeached.
c. removed from office.
d. persecuted.
impeached
After a bill passes both chambers, of all of the following steps, which must occur first?
a. It becomes law.
b. The president signs it.
c. It goes to conference committee.
d. The conference report goes to the House and Senate floors.
it goes to conference committee
The term for two or more members trading votes so that each may get what is most valuable to them is called
a. marking up.
b. deliberating.
c. logrolling.
d. whipping.
logrolling
All of the following are true of gerrymandering except that it is
a. intended to give an advantage to one political party.
b. unconstitutional to create predominantly minority districts.
c. highly political.
d. often an important factor in the outcome of
unconstitutional to create predominantly minority districts.
What do conference committees do?
a. produce reports that may be amended on the House floor
b. reconcile differences between chambers
c. override the veto of the president
d. monitor the bureaucracy
reconcile differences between chambers
Which of the following is not an important advantage congressional incumbents have when seeking re-election?
a. the franking privilege
b. devoting congressional staff time to casework
c. earmarking spending for district projects
d. federal funding of thei
federal funding of their campaigns
The use of hearings to insure that bureaucrats do what the Congress intended is an example of
a. oversight.
b. a conference committee.
c. scapegoating.
d. a sunset provision.
oversight
When House leaders want to limit floor debate and amendments, they may employ
a. the cloture rule.
b. a closed rule.
c. a caucus debate.
d. an open rule.
a closed rule
What tends to preserve the status quo in Congress?
a. incumbency advantage
b. term limits
c. diverse constituencies
d. geographic distribution
incumbency advantage
The tendency for congressional incumbents to get a higher percentage of the vote when they seek their second term in office is called:
a. the retirement slump.
b. the sophomore surge.
c. the second-year itch.
d. the ratings bounce.
the sophomore surge
The tendency for bills to be drafted or revised so as to spread benefits widely among districts and states is known as:
a. pluralization.
b. free-riding.
c. multiple referral.
d. the distributive tendency.
the distributive tendency
Which of the following is not a resource generally used by party leaders to secure the support of party members?
a. committee assignments
b. free mailing privileges
c. access to the floor
d. the whip system
free mailing privelges
The vote to end a filibuster is called
a. a hold.
b. a closed rule.
c. cloture.
d. a discharge petition.
cloture
When facing a hostile Congress, the president can use which of the following powers to craft a policy agenda?
a. vetoes and executive agreements
b. regulatory review and executive orders
c. line-item vetoes and executive privilege
d. executive privilege a
regulatory review and executive orders
What is the traditional but informal name for the heads of all the major federal government departments?
a. cabinet
b. White House Staff
c. kitchen cabinet
d. Committee of Seven
cabinet
All of the following are contemporary bases of presidential power except
a. foreign governments.
b. popular mobilization.
c. political party.
d. administration.
foreign governments
The president's power and duty to see that all laws are faithfully executed is termed
a. military power.
b. judicial power.
c. executive power.
d. legislative power.
executive power
The president has all of the following powers except
a. declaring war.
b. acting as commander in chief.
c. receiving ambassadors.
d. appointing judges.
declaring war
Which president used signing statements most frequently to challenge legislative provisions passed by Congress?
a. Richard Nixon
b. Ronald Reagan
c. Bill Clinton
d. George W. Bush
George W. Bush
Which of the following is not true of the War Powers Resolution?
a. It requires the president to inform Congress of any planned military campaign.
b. It requires that forces deployed by the president be withdrawn after sixty days in the absence of specifi
It has been weakened by a series of Supreme Court decisions undermining its constitutionality
During which period did the shift from chief clerk to chief executive occur?
a. the 1870s
b. the New Deal era
c. the Great Society era
d. the Reagan Revolution
the new deal era
Which branch of government was expected by the Founders to be the dominant branch?
a. legislative
b. executive
c. judicial
d. bureaucratic
legislative
Which of the following is not one of the duties of the vice president?
a. preside over the Senate
b. succeed the president
c. add political support to the electoral ticket
d. serve as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors
serve as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors
Presidents often issue signing statements in all of the following occasions, except when
a. signing a congressional enactment into law.
b. announcing a treaty negotiated with a foreign government.
c. trying to negate congressional actions to which they ob
announcing a treaty negotiated with a foreign government
Popular mobilization as a technique of presidential power has its historical roots in the presidencies of
a. Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.
b. Andrew Jackson and Warren Harding.
c. Woodrow Wilson and Calvin Coolidge.
d. George Washington and John
Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.
Which Court case cemented the expansion of government under the New Deal, after which the Supreme Court "has never again seriously questioned the legitimacy of interventions of the national government in the economy or society"?
a. Mapp v. Ohio
b. Miranda
NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation
Which is the largest and most important agency within the Executive Office of the President?
a. Council of Economic Advisers
b. Office of Management and Budget
c. Office of National Drug Control Policy
d. Office of the United States Trade Representative
Office of Management and Budget
The presidency was strengthened somewhat in the 1830s when
a. the Constitution was amended to solidify the two-party system.
b. the national convention system of nominating presidents was introduced.
c. the system of direct primaries took hold as the domi
the national convention system of nominating presidents was introduced.
Analyzing and approving all legislative proposals and budgetary requests before they are submitted to Congress is the duty of which institution?
a. Office of Independent Regulatory Affairs
b. Council of Economic Advisers
c. Office of Management and Budget
Office of Management and Budget
What formal power gives the president a role in the legislative process?
a. breaking ties in the Senate
b. appointing committee members
c. vetoing
d. removing corrupt legislators from office
vetoing
How does an executive agreement differ from a treaty?
a. It cannot be vetoed by the president.
b. It does not require a two-thirds vote of approval by the Senate.
c. It can be used to declare war.
d. It involves international trade instead of national sec
It does not require a two-thirds vote of approval by the Senate.
Powers given to the president by Article II, Sections 2 and 3, of the Constitution are known as
a. expressed powers.
b. delegated powers.
c. inherent powers.
d. executive privilege.
expressed powers
What power of the president is often invoked during times of war or emergency to justify the executive's actions to protect the nation?
a. inherent power
b. expressed power
c. executive privilege
d. delegated power
inherent powers
Why were some of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal programs declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court?
a. The Roosevelt administration had been too closely involved in the legislative process.
b. The programs violated the Bill of Rights.
c. The programs
The programs seemed to reach beyond interstate jurisdiction into intrastate matters.
Which of the following is not one of the factors that limited presidential power from 1800 to 1933?
a. The national government was not very powerful.
b. The presidency was not closely linked to major national and political forces.
c. Congress kept a tight
Presidents could not rely on the vice president for support.
Which of the following is not true of Barack Obama's speechmaking early in his presidency?
a. He gave speeches on the financial crisis.
b. He spoke both in the United States and abroad.
c. He criticized some Bush administration security policies.
d. He dr
He dramatically changed the message from his campaign
The president must see that
a. Congress passes legislation.
b. all laws are necessary and proper.
c. all bills originate within the executive.
d. all laws are faithfully executed.
all laws are faithfully executed
Which president represents the real turning point in the history of the American national government and the beginning of modern presidential power?
a. Harry S Truman
b. John F. Kennedy
c. Theodore Roosevelt
d. Franklin Roosevelt
Franklin Roosevelt
Which type of agency is the Social Security Administration?
a. regulatory
b. clientele
c. maintenance
d. redistributive
redistributive
Which type of agency is the Department of Justice?
a. regulatory
b. clientele
c. maintenance
d. redistributive
maintenance
Which is the best geometrical representation of a bureaucracy?
a. circle
b. rhombus
c. square
d. pyramid
pyramid
The "distributive tendency" of politics that promotes increased and widely distributed government spending is exemplified in all of the following except
a. insulating the bureaucracy from legislative intervention in order to avoid coalitional drift.
b. gi
insulating the bureaucracy from legislative intervention in order to avoid coalitional drift.
Which type of agency is most associated with administrative legislation (that is, rules that have the force of law)?
a. regulatory
b. maintenance
c. redistributive
d. clientele
regulatory
What is the term for a policy that removes a program from the federal level and delegates it to the states?
a. deregulation
b. privatization
c. devolution
d. confederation
devolution
Which of the following presidents held a business degree and tended to delegate power to strong subordinates?
Jimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan
Bill Clinton
George W. Bush
George W. Bush
According to McCubbins and Schwartz, what type of oversight is most prevalent in Congress because it is more efficient?
police-patrol
fire-alarm
homeland security
metal detector
fire-alarm
Which of the following is not true of the size of the national government's bureaucratic workforce?
It has nearly quadrupled since the late 1960s.
It has hardly grown at all since the late 1960s.
It has decreased as a percentage of the total workforce sin
It has nearly quadrupled since the late 1960s.
Which type of agency is the Food and Drug Administration?
regulatory
clientele
maintenance
redistributive
regulatory
All of the following can be an effective means to reduce the size of bureaucracy except
termination.
centralization.
privatization.
devolution.
centralization.
Which is the only certain way to reduce the size of government?
privatization of programs
termination of programs
devolution to the states
bureaucratic drift
termination of programs
What is the term for an agency's implementation of policy outcomes closer to its own ideal than to the outcome intended by the Congress?
abdication
bureaucratic drift
oversight
coalitional drift
bureaucratic drift
The efforts of departments and agencies to translate laws into specific bureaucratic routines is known as
division of labor.
administrative adjudication.
implementation.
clientelism.
implementation.
Arguments in favor of privatization include
better pay and benefits for the workers.
always a competitive market to produce savings.
less costly than using public, unionized workers.
higher levels of accountability.
less costly than using public, unionized workers.
Which of the following is not a function of maintenance agencies?
a. collect government revenue
b. protect internal national security
c. provide educational assistance grants
d. protect nation against external threats
provide educational assistance grants
Which of the following is not a means by which bureaucracies allow governments to operate?
a. dividing up tasks and matching them to a particular labor force
b. routinizing procedures
c. providing an incentive structure to get a large number of people to
offering an easily accessible venue for legislators to manipulate policy
Agencies of redistribution are responsible for all of the following except
fiscal and monetary policy.
providing foreign aid to allies.
taxing and spending activities.
regulating banks, credit, and the supply of money.
providing foreign aid to allies
Which of the following is not an operating part of the bureaucracy?
cabinet departments
agencies
bureaus
caucuses
caucuses
What does William Niskanen mean when he claims that executive department bureau chiefs are "budget maximizers"?
They use an agency's monopoly on power to control the policy process.
They are motivated by salary, prestige, and belief in the agency's missio
They are motivated by salary, prestige, and belief in the agency's mission.
In general, what type of agency has most of its personnel in field offices?
regulatory
maintenance
redistributive
clientele
clientele
All of the following are true of the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008 and 2009, except that it
resulted after banks and other lenders provided unusually high-risk home mortgages.
reflected gaps and loopholes in banking regulations.
led to home foreclosure
involved activities regulated by clientele agencies.
The Department of Agriculture is which type of agency?
regulatory
clientele
maintenance
redistributive
clientele
When it comes to public unhappiness with the bureaucracy, all of the following are true except that
public unhappiness with the bureaucracy increased during the 1960s and 1970s.
public unhappiness with the bureaucracy was a key campaign theme of Ronald Re
public unhappiness with the bureaucracy has declined over the past 20 years.
Which government body is responsible for oversight of the national bureaucracy?
president
Congress
Supreme Court
states
Congress
What is the core of the bureaucracy?
staff system
committee system
bottom-up review
division of labor
division of labor
When bureaucrats apply rules and precedents to specific cases in order to settle disputes, they are engaged in
rule making.
precedential implementation.
quasi-legislating.
administrative adjudication.
administrative adjudication.
When judges match the facts of a specific case to judicial principles and statutory guidelines, they are engaging in
coordination.
dispute resolution.
rule interpretation.
gatekeeping.
rule interpretation.
The practice whereby the president checks with the home state's senators before nominating a judge is known as
senatorial courtesy.
political correctness.
pork-barrel politics.
coordination.
senatorial courtesy.
Which of the following is not a role played by the Court as a political institution?
coordination
dispute resolution
moderator of political discourse
rule interpretation
moderator of political discourse
When courts refer to and follow prior court decisions to render decisions on a current case they are
following the principle of referral.
engaging in oversight.
applying the doctrine of stare decisis.
acting in an appellate fashion.
applying the doctrine of stare decisis.
What clause in the Constitution is used to justify judicial review of state actions?
Tenth Amendment
establishment clause
supremacy clause
elastic clause
supremacy clause
Public law describes all of the following except
cases where the power of government or the rights of citizens are involved.
administrative law.
constitutional law.
cases involving disputes between individuals where no criminal violation is charged.
cases involving disputes between individuals where no criminal violation is charged.
Decisions written by justices who voted in the minority in a particular case are
special concurrences.
regular concurrences.
dissenting opinions.
writs of certiorari.
dissenting opinions.
Who is the top government lawyer in cases before the Supreme Court?
attorney general
chief counsel
secretary of the judiciary
solicitor general
solicitor general
Which of the following best explains why Harriet Miers, George W. Bush's first choice to replace Sandra Day O'Connor, failed to win confirmation?
Democrats blocked the nomination in the Senate judiciary committee.
Liberal groups objected.
A personal scand
There was vocal opposition from within the Republican Party.
Which of the following cases established judicial review?
Palko v. Connecticut
Barron v. Baltimore
Marbury v. Madison
McCulloch v. Maryland
Marbury v. Madison
Amicus curiae briefs are
sometimes submitted by interest groups.
never submitted by the solicitor general.
used to compel recusal by judges whose friends are litigants.
only submitted at the request of the Court.
sometimes submitted by interest groups.
The writing of the majority opinion in a case is assigned by the chief justice if he is in the majority and otherwise by
majority vote among those justices in the majority.
the deputy chief justice.
the most senior justice in the majority.
majority vote o
the most senior justice in the majority.
Lawsuits in which large numbers of litigants join together in a single suit are known as
illegal.
class action.
moot.
per curiam.
class action.
How many justices must agree that there are special and compelling reasons to grant a writ of certiorari in a particular case?
seven
five
nine
four
four
The requirement that, in order to initiate a court case, parties must be able to show that they have a substantial stake in the outcome is called
certiorari.
class action.
standing.
rightful petition.
standing.
What type of law is enacted to protect public health, safety, morals or welfare?
common law
criminal law
civil law
public law
criminal law
Which of the following were not part of the institutional changes fundamentally expanding the power of the courts in the 1960s and 1970s?
a. broadening the scope of remedies through class action cases
b. relaxing standing rules
c. courts gaining greater c
courts gaining greater control over their dockets
The 1946 Administrative Procedures Act did all of the following except
require federal agencies to notify parties likely to be affected by proposed administrative rules.
set up requirements that must be followed if the federal judiciary is to uphold the c
increase executive power to such a degree that the Supreme Court ruled it to be an impermissibly broad delegation of power.
Decisions made by federal appeals courts are final except
a. in civil cases, when the decision may be rescinded by state courts.
b. when they are heard "en banc."
c. when the case is selected for review by the Supreme Court.
d. in public law cases, when t
when the case is selected for review by the Supreme Court.
Once it has made a decision, the Supreme Court relies on all of the following to implement its decisions except
the executive branch.
state governments.
judicial enforcement officers.
lower courts.
judicial enforcement officers.
What helped spark Franklin D. Roosevelt's attempt to "pack" the Court with additional justices?
the Court's "attacks" on the New Deal, declaring parts unconstitutional
too many vacancies on the Supreme Court
his desire to have popularly elected justices
C
the Court's "attacks" on the New Deal, declaring parts unconstitutional
All of the following are true of law clerks except that they
a. file forma pauperis petitions.
b. are assigned to Supreme Court justices to conduct legal research.
c. assist justices in the preparation of judicial opinions.
d. help screen the thousands of
file forma pauperis petitions
How does the court system coordinate private behavior?
by interpreting the actions of others
by settling disputes between individuals
by providing incentives and disincentives for specific actions
by checking legislative and executive authority
by providing incentives and disincentives for specific actions