AP GoPo Unit 2 Set A

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Bill

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Proposed law, proposition, introduced to Congress for discussion, and once passed by both houses, signed by the president.

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Senate

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Upper chamber of Congress, made up of 100 senators, 2 members to represent for each state and their length of term is 6 years. They have the power to confirm presidential nominees to the federal judiciary and certain executive branch positions, amend bills, approve treaties.

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House of Representatives

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Proportionally represents citizens as part of the bicameral legislature. Can initiate impeachment and shares power of law making. 435 reps elected on 2 year cycles.

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Apportionment and Reapportionment

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The process by which seats in the legislative branch are distributed among administrative divisions such as states or different parties. This means that the 435 representative seats are distributed across the 50 states. Required by the Constitution, this process happens once every 10 years after the national census.

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Redistricting

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The redrawing of electoral maps, occurs every 10 years after the U.S. Census has established how many persons live in the United States and where. The boundaries of legislative districts are redrawn as needed to maintain similar numbers of voters in each while still maintaining a total number of 435 districts.

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Constituency

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Citizens who live in districts represented by an elected official / body of citizens eligible to vote for a representative.

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Voting Rights Act of 1965

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An act that was signed into a law by president Lyndon Johnson prohibiting racial discrimination in voting which outlawed practices like literacy test as a requirement to vote.

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Majority-minority districts

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Districts in which racial minorities are the majority and thus gain the electoral power to send representatives to Congress.

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Gerrymandering

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The process of making the boundaries of Electoral Districts, which causes one Political Party to have some sort of unfair advantage over another.

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Implied powers

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Political powers granted to the legislative branch that are not explicitly stated in the Constitution. The necessary and proper clause allows Congress to exercise these implied powers.