AP Unit 2 President Quiz

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

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

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.

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

Generally, when is a president more likely to get congressional approval of proposed policies?

• After midterm congressional elections

• In the second term rather than the first

• In social policy areas rather than in economic policy areas

• In foreign affairs rather than in domestic affairs

Executive agreements have been cited as evidence that

• modern presidents often try to avoid legislative checks and balances on their authority.

• the executive branch has become too large and bureaucratic.

• interest groups have too much power in the contemporary governmental system.

• the courts have few means of limiting presidential power.

Which of the following describes the president’s Cabinet?

• It consists of career civil servants with decades of experience in government service.

• Its members have varying levels of influence on presidential decisions.

• Its members hold office for fixed terms that coincide with the president’s.

• Its members must be selected from among current or former members of Congress.

The expansion of the executive branch since 1939 has affected the separation of powers by

• increasing presidential control over the legislative process.

• increasing the power of the media as a result of more frequent presidential press conferences.

• reducing the power of the Supreme Court through the use of executive orders.

• making senatorial approval of presidential appointees ceremonial.

Which of the following is an example of presidential use of informal powers?

• President Ronald Reagan nominating Sandra Day O’Connor to the United States Supreme Court.

• President John F. Kennedy negotiating the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty with the Soviet Union

• President George W. Bush deploying United States troops to Iraq

• President Bill Clinton advocating for public policy reforms on his Health Security Express bus.