_____ describes the following step in a civil lawsuit: For many civil lawsuits, both sides are given a period in which both sides are required to share information and evidence with each other.

_____ is anything the government does to achieve a particular outcome.

Criminal law refers to which of the following?

True or False: Constitutional laws are laws passed by a legislature. In Texas, constitutional law can consist of National Laws (laws passed by the national Congress) Texas State Statutes (laws passed by the Texas State Legislature)

Original jurisdiction is the power for a higher court to review a lower courts decision. For example, the Texas District Court has appellate jurisdiction over the trial courts.

True or False: If a court has exclusive jurisdiction, it means that only that court can hear a specific case. For example only the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Court can hear appeals for death penalty sentences.

True or False: Even the best-intended policies can have unintended consequences and may even ultimately harm someone, if only those who must pay for the policy through higher taxes.

Court precedents is ______.

_____ occurs when a story focuses on isolated details or specifics rather than looking broadly at a whole issue.

Civil law refers to which of the following?

True or False: Common-law legal systems place great value on deciding cases according to consistent principled rules, so that similar facts will yield similar and predictable outcomes, and observance of precedent is the mechanism by which that goal is attained.

What is judicial federalism?

True or False: State courts hear both criminal and civil cases.

True or False: With a long list of challengers, candidates must find more ways to stand out, leading them to espouse extreme positions or display high levels of charisma.

True or False: Statutory law is the body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, including the executive, legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and the relationship between the central government and state, provincial, or territorial governments.

True or False: Concerns about the effects of media on consumers and the existence and extent of media bias go back to the 1920s.

How many Justice of the Peace (JP) courts does Harris County have?

_____ normally last four to five days, with days devoted to platform discussion and planning and nights reserved for speeches.

How many criminal courts-at-law does Harris County have?

How many civil courts-at-law does Harris County have?

_____ describes the following step in a civil lawsuit: If no settlement is agreed upon, a _____ is held. Juries decide not only who wins, but often the specific financial amount of damages awarded.

A civil case results from a disagreement or dispute between two or more individuals or organizations. The party bringing the civil suit is the _____. The party being sued is the -----.

Most of the goods you interact with in your daily life are _____, which means that they can be owned by a particular person or group of people, and are excluded from use by others, typically by means of a price.

True or False: State courts hear 90% of day-to-day cases.

True or False: Congressional representatives have a harder time attracting media attention for their policies than presidents.

True or False: In Federalist No. 43, written in the late nineteenth century, Abraham Lincoln noted that the formation of self-interested groups, which he called factions, was inevitable in any society, as individuals started to work together to protect themselves from the government. Interest groups and political parties are two of the most easily identified forms of factions in the United States.

_____ describes the following step in a civil lawsuit: In an initial petition to a civil court, the plaintiff must describe the facts of the situation and what relief is being sought from the court.

True or False: primary and caucus voters are often more extreme in their political beliefs, and it is easy to see why fewer moderates become party nominees.

Which of the following is the most important factor in a candidate's likelihood of winning an election?

True or False: Statutory law overrules constitutional law which in turn overrules administrative regulations which finally overrules local codes and ordinances.

How many courts of appeal does Texas have?

_____ policy is common when society feels there is a social benefit to individuals obtaining certain private goods, but that the upfront cost may be too high for the average citizen. One example of the way _____ policy works is the story of the Transcontinental Railroad.

_____ takes a broad look at an issue and skips numbers or details. It looks at how the issue has changed over a long period of time and what has led to it.

When did Republicans first win all state-wide offices in Texas?

_____ is the process by which we select our government officials and determine matters of policy.

_____ occurs when the voter looks at the candidate’s past actions and the past economic climate and makes a decision only using these factors.

Which of the following is the most common shortcut voters use to simplify voting decisions?

True or False: State governments can place additional requirements to vote on citizens aside from federal requirements.

Which of the following abolished racial discrimination in elections as well as literacy tests as a requirement to vote?

The media also engages in _____, which is the act of choosing which issues or topics deserve public discussion.

What is the difference between a primary election and a general election?

_____ is the process by which we are trained to understand and join a country’s

political world.

_____ occurs when the voter applies information about a candidate’s past behavior to decide how the candidate will act in the future.

True or False: State voter registration laws can affect voter turnout.

A _____ is a meeting of party members in which nominees are selected informally.

True or False: Most politics during the time of the nation’s founding were local in nature and based on elite politics, limited suffrage (or the ability to vote in elections), and property ownership.

True or False: Municipal elections in Texas are nonpartisan in the sense that candidates do not appear on the ballot on party lines, and do not run as party tickets.

In Texas, cities with a population of less than 5000 people can only exist as _____.

_____ are the efforts of candidates to secure positions in the government or the efforts to get policy matters adopted.

Which of the following was a method to prevent certain people from voting in the South after the Civil War?

True or False: A voter does not have to be registered to vote in Texas primary elections.

What are the general requirements to vote in the United States?

True or False: The requirements to vote in Texas elections are as follows:

Must be a U.S. citizen

• Must be a resident of the county

• Must be at least 23 years old (a person may register to vote at 19 years and 10 months)

• Not a convicted felon (Eligible to vote once the person’s sentence, to include probation and restitution are complete)

• Not declared mentally incapacitated by a court of law

• Must present an acceptable form of photo identification

_____ the drawing of district lines to guarantee a desired electoral outcome.

Which of the following eliminated poll taxes?

In Texas a voter must register how long before an election in which they wish to vote?

_____ are state laws limiting the powers of local governments.

In recent Texas elections, urban areas have grown increasingly _____ as rural areas have grown more _____.

Our _____, made up of the attitudes and beliefs that help shape our opinions on political theory and policy, is rooted in who we are as individuals.

True or False: The proliferation of online news has also increased the amount of poorly written material with little editorial oversight, and readers must be cautious when reading Internet news sources.

True or False: Public relations is a neutral form of information.

The national party with the _____ holds the later convention, so in 2016, the Democrats held their convention after the Republicans.

_____ occurs when the voter looks at his or her personal finances and circumstances to decide how to vote.

Some refer to the media as the_____.

A _____ is a corporation made up of a number of companies, organizations, and media networks.

Which of the following best describes the system of checks and balances in the Texas government?

Which of the following describes a power the Texas Legislature holds over the Governor of Texas?

Which of the following describes a power the Governor of Texas holds over the Texas Legislature?

Which of the following best descrbes a power that the Lieutenant Governor of Texas holds over the Texas Legislature?

Which of the following best describes a power the Texas judicial system has over the Texas Legislature?

Which of the following best describes the dominant political ideology of Texas government?

According to Daniel Elazar, Texas political culture is described as _____.

Which of the following is a currently important (widely debated) policy area in Texas?

Which of the following best describes a sunset policy in Texas government?