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| A presidential directive requiring that all executive agency proposals, reports, and reccomendations to Congress - mostly in the form of annual repots and testimony at authorization and appropriation hearings - be certified by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as consistent with the president's policy |
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| the title that is given to the president by the constitution and that denotes the president's authority as the head of the national military |
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| a term used to descrie the government when one political party controls the executive branch and the other political party controls one or both houses of the legislature |
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| a bill that has been passed by both the House and the Senate and has been sent to the president for approval |
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| an agreement between the president and one or more other countries. an executive agreement is similar to a treaty, but unlike a treaty, it does not require the approval of the senate |
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| Executive Office of the President |
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a collection of agencies that help the president oversee department and agency activities, formulate budgets and monitor spending, craft legislation, and lobby Congress |
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a presidential directive to an executive agency establishing new policies or indicating how an existing policy is to be carried out |
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the president's right to withhold information from Congress and the courts |
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| an executive order prohibiting all federal employees from communicating directly with Congress |
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| presidents do this when they engage in intensive public relations to promote their policies to the voters and thereby induce cooperation from the other elected officeholders in Washington |
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| a legislative "traffic jam" often precipitaed by divided government. this occurs when presiddents confront opposition-controlled Congresses with policy preferences and political stakes that are in direct competition with their own and those of their party. Neither side is willing to compromise, the government accomplishes little, and federal operations may even come to a halt. |
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| a procedure, available in 1997 for the first time, permitting a president to cancel amounts of new discretionary appropriations (budget authority), as well as new items of direct spending (entitlements) and certain limited tax benefits, unless Congress disapproves by law within a limited period of time. It was declared unconstitutional in 1998 |
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| National Security Council (NSC) |
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Definition
| The highest advisory body to the president on military and diplomatic issues. Established in 1947, this agency in the Executive Office of the President helps the president coordinate the actions of government agencies, including the State and Defense Departments and the Joint Chief of Staff, into a single cohesive policy for dealing with other nations |
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| Office of Management and Budget |
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Definition
is the most important agency in the Executive Office of the President. it was created in 1921 to act as a central clearinghouse for all budget requests, was renamed and given increased responsibilities in 1970. it advises the president on fiscal and economic policies, creates the annual federal budget, and monitors agency performance, among other duties |
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| State of the Union address |
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a presidential message to Congress under the constitutional directive that he shall from time to time give congress information concerning the union and recommend to their consideration such measures he shall judge necessary and proper |
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| the provision in article II, section 3 of the consitution instructing the president to ____ ____ that the laws be faithfully executed |
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agency in the Executive Office of the President that serves as the president's personal staff system. this agency consists of the president's personal advisers, who oversee the political and policy interests of the administration |
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a complex structure of offices, tasks, and rules in which employees have specific responsiblities and work within a hierarchy of authority. |
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the norms and regualar pattens of behavior found within a bureacratic organization. Different agencies often develop their own norms, which shape the behavior of those who work in the agency |
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| the category of people, or groups, served by a bureacratic agency |
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| Committee and conference reports |
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| documents submitted by committees that often instruct agencies how Congress expects them to use their "discretion". Though not legally binding, bureacrats ignore such instructions at their peril |
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| principle that the government, no less than individual citizens, is bound by law |
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| a government publication listing all proposed federal regulations |
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| Govenment Accountability Office |
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Definition
| Office with a staff of more than five thousand that audits programs and agencies and reports to Congress on their performance |
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| hearings and investigations |
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Definition
| meetings in which bureacrats are called before subcommittees to explain and defend their decisions, and outsiders are sometimes invited to criticize them. Most agencies testify annually about their activities before the House Appropriations subcommittee that has jurisdiction over their budgets |
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| positions with independent offices (outside the normal bureaucratic chain of command) in virtually every government agency, who audit agency books and investigate activites on Congress's behalf |
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| a stable, mutually beneficial politicial relationship among a congressional committee (or subcommittee), administrative agency, and organized interests concerned with a particular policy domain |
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| a loose, informal, and highly variable web of relationships among representatives of various interests who are involved in a paticular area of public policy |
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| a procedure that allows one or both houses of Congress to reject an action taken by the president or an executive agency. was declared unconstitutional in 1983, but Congress continues to enact legislation incorporating this. |
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method by which Congress keeps its bureacratic agents in line, in this case requiring executive agencies - even the president - to report on programs |
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| excessive paperwork leading to bureacratic delay. |
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| the practice of citizens serving in public office for a limited term and then returning to private life |
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| a system in which newly elected officeholders award government jobs to political supporters and members of the same political party. |
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| the right to bring legal action |
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| a brief filed in a lawsuit by an individual or group that is not party to the lawsuit but that has an interest in the outcome. |
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| the head of the Justice Department. as the nation's chief legal officer, he/she represents the federal government's interests in law courts throughout the nation. he/she is also the chief law enforcement officer |
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| a written opinion by a Supreme Court justice who agrees with the decision of the Court but disagrees with the rationale for reaching that decision |
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| category of federal courts vested with the general judicial authority outlined in Article III of the constitution. the most important are the Supreme Court, the courts of appeals, and the ninety-four district courts. their authority derives from that of the Supreme Court, and they are supposed to conform to its decisions. |
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| the second tier of courts in the federal judicial system. |
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an attempt by Franklin Roosevelt, in 1937, to remodel the federal judiciary. it's purpose ostensibly was to alleviate the overcrowding of federal court dockets by allowing the president to appoint an additional Supreme Court justice for every sitting justice ove the age of 70. |
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the written opinion of one or more Supreme Court justices who disagree with the ruling of the Court's majority. The opinon outlines the rationale for their disagreement |
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| the trial courts of original jurisdiction in the federal courts system. The are the bottom tier of the federal judicial system |
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| the practice of prescribing in a decision a set of rules that are to guide future decisions on similar cases. Used by the Surpreme Court to guide the lower courts in making decisions. |
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| the authority of a court to declare legislative and executive acts unconstituional and therefore invalid |
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| principle of law that governs how the lowe courts do their work. |
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| an informal practice in which senators are given veto power over federal judicial appointments in their home states |
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| the official responsible for representing the US government before the Supreme Court. he/she is a ranking member of the US department of justice |
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| in court rulings, a reliance on precedents, or previous rulings, in formulating decisions in new cases. let the decision stand |
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| principle that guides judges on which party in a case should prevail - akin to policymaking |
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| an order that is given by a superior court to an appellate court and that directs the lower court to senf up a case the superior court has chosen to review. this is the central means by which the supreme court determines what cases it will hear |
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| a court-issued writ commanding a public official to carry out a specific act or duty |
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| policies or programs designed to expand opportunities for minorities and women and usually requiring that an organization take measures to increase the number or proportion of minorities and women in its membership or employment |
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| laws enacted by southern legislatures after the civil war that prevented former slaves from voting and holding certain jobs, among other prohibitions |
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| constitutional and legal protections from government interference into personal rights and freedoms such as freedom of assembly, speech, and religion |
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| the powers or privileges that are conferred on citizens by the constitution and the courts and that entitle them to make claims upon the government. these protect individuals from arbitrary or discriminatory treatment at the hands of the government |
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| segregation that results from practice rather than from law |
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| segregation enacted into law and imposed by the government |
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| the 1850 law compelling northerns to honor southern's property claims to slaves, passed in return for the south's agreeing to admit California as a free state |
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| a statute stating that only those people whose grandfather had voted before the reconstruction could vote, unless they passed a literacy or wealth test. After the Civil War this mechanism was used to disenfranchise African Americans |
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| a violent crime directed against individuals, property, or organizations solely because of the victims' race, gender, national origin, or sexual orientation |
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| a series of laws enacted in the late 19th century by southern states to institute segregation. these laws created "whites only" public accomodations such as schools, hotels, and restaurants |
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| a legal barrier used to exclude african americans from voting. local white registrars would require this and since few satisfied the registrars rigorous demands, only 10% of black males were voting in the south |
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| a tax imposed on people when they register to vote and this was used to keep african americans from voting. however, this became unconstitutional with the passage of the 24th amendment. |
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| specific shares of college admissions, government contracts, and jobs set aside for population groups that have suffered from past discrimination. The Supreme Court has rejected these wherever it has encountered them |
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| identifying the suspects of a crime solely on the basis of their race or ethnicity |
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| the political or social practice of separating whites and blacks into dual and higly unequal schools, hospitals, prisons, public parks, housing, and public transportation |
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| separate but equal doctrine |
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| the Supreme Court-initiated doctrine that separate but equivalent facilities for African Americans and whites are constitutional under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment |
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| women who campaigned in the early 1920s for the right of women to vote |
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| a practice that permitted political parties to exclude african americans from voting in the primary elections. because historically in the south winning the democractic primary was tantamount to winning the general election, this law in effect disenfranchised black voters in southern states |
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