AP Government Unit 2: Interactions Among Branches of Government

Which of the following may the president do to limit the Supreme Court’s power?

• Fire and replace justices

• Refuse to enforce a ruling by the Court

• Adopt new constitutional amendments

• Veto parts of the Court’s decisions

Members of the United States House of Representatives Committee on Veterans Affairs are concerned about the quality of services at hospitals run by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Which of the following is an action the committee can take to address the problem?

• Holding a hearing and subpoenaing high-level officials in the Department of Veterans Affairs to testify

• Impounding funding for veterans hospitals until problems are resolved

• Placing a referendum on the ballot in each state to increase health-care funding for veterans

• Appointing a new secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs

A member of the House of Representatives has introduced a bill to raise the minimum wage, but it has been in committee for 36 days and is unlikely to make it to the floor. Which of the following is the best course of action for the representative to take to get a vote on the bill?

• Presenting a cloture motion

• Placing a hold on the bill

• Introducing a concurrent resolution

• Filing for a discharge petition

Which of the following statements describes a difficulty presidents face in the policy implementation process?

• Members of the bureaucracy often lack the expertise to carry out the president’s preferred policies.

• Members of the president’s Cabinet can be removed at any time by Congress.

• Because of civil service laws, it is not easy for the president to remove professional bureaucrats when they disagree with the president’s agenda.

• Congress generally gives specific details about how the laws they pass will be executed by members of the professional bureaucracy.

A new president has been elected and has a number of positions to fill within the federal bureaucracy. Which of the following is an example of filling a position based on political patronage?

• Choosing a secretary of state to appease members from the opposition party

• Nominating a high-level campaign fundraiser to serve as an ambassador to New Zealand

• Reappointing the secretary of defense even though he or she was appointed by the previous president, who is a member of the opposite party

• Asking the chair of a prestigious university’s economics department to serve as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers

Senator Smith votes her conscience on bills that her constituents care little about, but she votes according to the wishes of the majority of her constituents on other bills. Which model of representation do her actions embody?

• The politico model

• The trustee model

• The majoritarian model

• The delegate model

Appointments to the federal judiciary are often contentious for which of the following reasons?

• The House of Representatives can undermine presidential authority by overriding judicial appointments.

• Life terms for federal judges mean that presidential appointments will continue to have influence long after the president’s term is over.

• The president selects nominees based on political orientation, while the Senate focuses on the academic credentials of nominees.

• Federal judges are given a platform to legislate from the bench, and the Senate is hesitant about relinquishing power to the judiciary.

Bureaucratic rule-making is best defined as

• legally binding decisions made by Congress to constrain regulatory agencies

• guidelines issued by government agencies, which provide specific details about how a policy will be implemented

• directions given by the president to the bureaucracy regarding how a specific policy will be applied

• review and supervision of departments and agencies conducted by congressional committees

The president is most likely to use an executive order to make important policy when

• Congress is dominated by the president’s party

• a compromise cannot be reached with Congress

• the Supreme Court is divided along ideological lines

• a negotiation with foreign heads of state reaches an impasse

The majority party in the Senate is concerned that the Supreme Court has made a number of ideologically dangerous and controversial rulings. Which of the following actions would the Senate take in their attempt to limit the Supreme Court’s power?

• Replace the chief justice of the Supreme Court with someone with whom they agree with ideologically

• Pass legislation that would limit the impact of the Supreme Court’s recent rulings

• Ratify a constitutional amendment limiting the Supreme Court’s power

• Enforce term limits for justices on the Supreme Court