REVIEW: Supreme Court Vocabulary

1. Amicus curiae: a brief submitted by a "friend of the court"
2. Brief: a written summary by an attorney that summarizes a case and the laws and rulings that support it
3. Class-action Suit: a case brought by someone to help him or her and all other who are simarly situate.
4. Sovereign Immunity: The rule that a citizen cannot sue the government without the government consent.
5.  Concurring Opinion: a signed opinion in which one or more members agree with the majority view but for different reasons
6. Courts of Appeals: federal courts that hear appeals from district courts; no trials
7. Dissenting Opinion: a signed opinion in which one or more justices disagree with the majority view.
8. Constitutional Courts: A federal court authorized by Article III of the constitution that keeps judges in office during good behaviour and prevenst their salaries from being reduced. Supreme courts, appellate and district courts are all examples.
9.  District Courts: The lowest federal courts; federal trials can be held only here.
10. Judicial Review: the power of courts to declare laws unconstitutional.
11.  Litmus Test: An examination of the political idealogy of a nominated judge.
12. Writ of certiorari: an order by a higher court drecting a lower court to send up a case for review.
13. Marbury v. Madison: upheld judicial review of congressional acts.
14. Writ of mandamus: an extraordinary writ commanding an official to perform a ministerial act taht the law recognizes as an absolute duty and not a matter for the official's discretion
15. Senatorial courtesy: The president nominates a "qualified" person to be a judge, and the senate approves or rejects the nomination based on those qualifications.
16. Adversarial System: the tendency of the national media tobe suspicious of officials and eager to reveal unflattering stories about them.
17. Political Question: an issue the Supreme Court will allow the executive and legislative branches decided.
18. Judicial Activism: The steps that a federal courts takes toward correcting injustices.
19. Judicial Restraint: the view that judges should decide cases strictly on the basis of the language of the laws and the Constitution.
20. Plaintiff: the party that initiates a lawsuit.
21. Stare desisis: "let the decision stand", or allowing prior rulings to control the current case.
22. Remedy: a judicial order enforcing a right or redressing a wrong.

Reading Review: Vocabulary

1. Realigning Elections: an election that dramatically changes the political system.
2. Filibuster: an obstructive manner in a legislature by speaking at inordinate length.
3. Habeas Corpus: a writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court.
4. Plurality: The excess of votes cast for one candidate over those votes cast for any other candidate.
5. Rule of Four: The rule of four is a Supreme Court of the United States practice that permits four of the nine justices to grant a writ of certiorari.
6. Social Capital: refers to connections within and between social networks.
7. Pocket Veto: An indirect veto of a legislative bill by the president or a governor by retaining the bill unsigned until after the legislative session is over.
8. Senatorial Courtesy: A custom whereby presidential appointments are confirmed only if there is no objection to them by the senators from the appointee's state especially from the senior senator of the president's party from that state.
9. Concurrent Powers: held by both the states and the federal government and may be exercised simultaneously within the same territory and in relation to the same body of citizens.
10. Logrolling: the exchange of support or favors, especially by legislators for mutual political gain as by voting for each other's bills.
11. Rider: A schedule or writing annexed to a document such as a legislative bill or insurance policy.
12. Standing Committee: A permanent committee that meets regularly.
13. Expressed Powers: a list of nonspecific responsibilities found in Article 1 Section 8 of the United States Constitution, which iterates the authority granted to the United States Congress.
14. Trustee: A member of the board of the foundation who takes part in the decision making process.
15. Judicial Review: Review by the Supreme Court of the constitutional validity of a legislative act.
16. Delegate: A person sent or authorized to represent others, in particular, an elected representative sent to a conference.
17. Necessary & Proper Clause: establishes the "implied powers," by which Congress has authority to pass legislation in areas not specifically listed in the Constitution.
18. Political Agenda: a set of issues and policies laid out by an executive or cabinet in government that tries to influence current and near-future political news and debate.
19. Commerce Clause: states that the United States Congress shall have power "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes".
20. Deficit: An excess of expenditure or liabilities over income or assets in a given period.
21. Issue Network: an alliance of various interest groups and individuals who unite in order to promote a single issue in government policy.
22. National Debt: The total amount of money that a country's government has borrowed, by various means.
23. Iron Triangle: a term used by political scientists to describe the policy-making relationship among the congressional committees, the bureaucracy, and interest groups.
24. Divided Government: a situation in which one party controls the White House and another party controls one or both houses of the United States Congress.
25. Due Process: Fair treatment through the normal judicial system, esp. as a citizen's entitlement.
26. Executive Privelege: The privilege, claimed by the president for the executive branch of the US government, of withholding information in the public interest.
27. Eminent Domain: The right of a government or its agent to expropriate private property for public use, with payment of compensation.
28. Take-care Clause: imposes a duty on the President to take due care while executing laws.
29. Central Clearance: the sole agency charged with granting, denying, and revoking security clearance eligibility for the Army.
30. Stare decisis: The legal principle of determining points in litigation according to precedent.
31. PACs: political action committee.
32. Block Grant: A grant from a central government that a local authority can allocate to a range of services.
33. Coattail Effect: the tendency for a popular political party leader to attract votes for other candidates of the same party in an election.
34. Cloture: A procedure for ending a debate and taking a vote.
35. Incorporation: the act of forming and legally establishing a new corporation.
36. Political Efficacy: one's own influence or effectiveness on politics.
37. Devolution: The transfer or delegation of power to a lower level, esp. by central government to local or regional administration.
38. Nullification: doctrine that a state can refuse to recognize or to enforce a federal law passed by the United States Congress.
39. Political Ideologies: An organized system of political beliefs, values, and ideas.
40. Gender Gap: The discrepancy in opportunities, status, attitudes, etc. between men and women.
41. Silent Majority: an unspecified large majority of people in a country or group who do not express their opinions publicly.
42. Superdelegates: an informal term commonly used for some of the delegates to the Democratic National Convention, the presidential nominating convention of the United States Democratic Party.
43. Bully Pulpit: A public office or position of authority that provides its occupant with an outstanding opportunity to speak out on any issues.
44. Trial Balloon: A tentative measure taken or statement made to see how a new policy will be received.
45. Red tape: Excessive bureaucracy or adherence to rules and formalities, esp. in public business.
46. Laissez-faire: Abstention by governments from interfering in the workings of the free market.
47. Judicial Restraint: a theory of judicial interpretation that encourages judges to limit the exercise of their own power.
48. Judicial Activism: an interpretation of the U.S. constitution holding that the spirit of the times and the needs of the nation can legitimately influence judicial decisions.
49. Sovereign Immunity: an exemption that precludes bringing a suit against the sovereign government without the government's consent; "the doctrine of sovereign immunity originated with the maxim that the king can do no wrong"

Reading Review

1. Political Culture:  The attitudes, beliefs, and values which underpin the operation of a particular political system.
2. Political Ideology:  Someone's views about government policy.
3. Equality Of Opportunity: Political ideal that is opposed to caste hierarchy.
4. Equality of Results: Makes sure that everyone turns out the same in the end.
5. Civic Duty: The responsibilities of a citizen
6. Progressive Culture: Reform movement.
7. Orthodox Culture: A culture that sticks to its original beliefs.
8. Political Efficacy:  theoretical concept used to explain political behavior in Political Science.
9. Middle America: average middle-class Americans as a group, as distinguished from the rich or poor or the politically extreme.
10. Silent Majority: any group of people who are not outspoken and who are considered to constitute a majority.
11. Social Status: position in a social hierarchy.
12. Christian Coalition: a US Christian advocacy group, which includes Christian fundamentalists, neo-evangelicals and conservative charismatics.
13. Gender Gap: The differences between men and women reflected in politics.
14. Liberal: Favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs.
15. Conservative: Cautiously moderate or purposefully low.
16. Libertarian: A person who maintains the doctrine of free will.
17. Populist: A member of the People's party.
18. Political Elite: Any society where power is not distributed equally.
19. New Class: Describes the privileged ruling class of bureaucrats and Communist Party functionaries.
20. New Deal Coalition: The alignment of interest groups and voting blocs that supported the New Deal and voted for Democratic presidential candidates.
21. Random Sample: A method of selecting a sample (random sample) from a statistical population.
22. Sampling Error: A statistical error to which an analyst exposes a model simply because he or she is working with sample data rather than population or census data.
23. Weighting: to burden with or as if with weight.
24. Quota Sample: Convenience sample with an effort made to insure a certain distribution of demographic variables.
25. Focus Groups: A representative group of people questioned together about their opinions on political issues.
26. Instant Response Polling: Polls done in the days following a debate or other political event to get immediate public opinions.
27. Push Polls:  Seemingly unbiased telephone survey that is actually conducted by supporters of a particular candidate and disseminates negative information about an opponent.
28. Bandwagon Effect: The phenomenon of a popular trend attracting even greater popularity.
29. Refusal Rate: In the sampling of human populations, the proportion of individuals who, though successfully contacted, refuse to give the information sought.
30. Exit Polls: A poll taken of a small percentage of voters as they leave the polls.
31. Tracking Poll: A type of poll repeated periodically with the same group of people to check and measure changes of opinion or knowledge.
32. Skewed Question: Phrased in such a way that a certain answer is more likely to be given.
33. Context Effect:  The aspect of cognitive psychology that describes the influence of environmental factors on one's perception of a stimulus.
34. Saliency: A projection of the forward line into enemy-held territory.
35. Help America Vote Act 2002: Passed by Congress in October 2002 to making sweeping reforms to the nation's voting process.
36. Motor-Voter Law 1993: Law that enables prospective voters to register when they obtain or renew a driver's license.
37. 15th Amendment: Prohibiting the restriction of voting rights “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
38. Literacy Test: An examination to determine whether a person meets the literacy requirements for voting
39. Poll Tax: A tax levied per head of adult population.
40. Grandfather Clause:A clause in the constitutions of several Southern states that waived electoral literacy requirements for lineal descendants of people voting before 1867, thus ensuring the franchise for illiterate White people: declared unconstitutional in 1915
41. White Primary: In 1920 Southern states used the white primary as a way of limiting African Americans playing a part in the politics.
42. Voting Rights Act: Eliminated literacy tests and stated that federal examiners could enroll voters who had been denied suffrage by local officials.
43. 19th Amendment: An amendment to the U.S. constitution, ratified in 1920, guaranteeing women the right to vote.
44. 26th Amendment: An amendment to the U.S. constitution, ratified in 1971, lowering the voting age to 18.
45. 23 Amendment: An amendment to the U.S. constitution, ratified in 1961, allowing District of Columbia residents to vote in presidential elections.
46. Disfranchisement: To deprive a person of the right to vote or other rights of citizenship.
47. Australian Ballot: A ballot containing the names of all the candidates for public office, handed to the voter at the polling station to be marked in secret.
48. Activist: Advocating or opposing a cause or issue vigorously, especially a political cause.
49. Demographics:  The statistical data of a population, especially those showing average age, income, education, etc.