• Written as part of the Federalist Papers to convince people to ratify the Constitution.

• How will the new constitution protect the liberty of the citizens against the tyranny of the majority?

• Written by Madison.

2. About:

• FACTIONS: they are a threat to liberty.

• Proposes two possible solutions to protect against the danger of factions:

  • Stop factions from ever forming (bad option! -- destroys liberty).

  • Let them form but limit their power (and do this through a republican-style government).

3. Republican-style govt:

• The LARGE REPUBLIC makes it so that:

  • Factions will be diluted by the large population.

  • Competition among factions will lead to compromise.

• In contrast to Federalist 10 and against the ratification of the Constitution.

• Anti-Federalist Papers.

• Is a confederate government the best for the United States? (States had all the power and central government had little -- under Articles of Confederation).

About/Ideas:

• Argued that a confederacy (SMALL REPUBLIC) would be better than the republic that the Constitution would establish.

• The Necessary and Proper Clause and Supremacy Clause further exacerbated Brutus's fears (makes federal law > state law).

• Too much power, bad for state governments.

  • Example: How could you collect taxes for each separately?

  • Example: How would you regulate courts?

  • Example: The nation is so large, how would you regulate/represent a large republic?

• Majority rule vs minority rights!!!

• Discussion between how the government should be run with ratifying the Constitution.

• Groups: Feds vs anti-feds. (Explained in foundational docs).

• Had papers' arguments over liberty being based on centralized or state power for the government.

• In addition to Brutus 1 was the letters from the Federal Farmer that argued the same thing.

• (Explained in 1.8).

• First constitution after declaration on ind.

• State government had all the power

Weaknesses:

• Federal government only had one branch.

• All 13 states had to agree to amend.

• Congress couldn't raise taxes.

• No national currency.

• Congress couldn't raise an army.

• Shays' Rebellion.

  • Upset farmers in debt and not paid for service.

  • Gave no relief so stated a rebellion and raided a militia.

  • State militia took them down pretty easily.

  • *** Showed the need for a national army.

• First constitution, created the first government.

• Needed it to do business with other states/counties.

• Created a confederation, united multiple powers (the 13 states).

Weaknesses (detailed in 1.7*):

• One branch, one vote (equal rep based on population), restricted power of central govt, no national govt only state militias, congress can do very few things, 9/13 to declare war, amend with 13/13 votes.

• "Each state retains its sovereignty".

Problems led to the Constitutional Convention to eventually draft a new constitution.

• Originally to amend articles but decided to just rewrite the entire thing.

Compromises:

• Great Compromise: Over representation in congress.

  • Virginia Plan: Apportions by populations (duh Virginia was a big state).

  • New Jersey Plan: Each state gets one vote (figured NJ was small).

    • Took both of those ideas and combined them.

      • Solution: BICAMERAL LEGISLATURE: Congress with two houses.

      • House of Representatives: By populations.

      • Senate: Equal, 2 senators each.

Presidential elections debate:

• Some thought should be elected by the people others thought it should be by state legislatures and others thought Congress should.

  • Solution: ELECTORAL COLLEGE.

    • Each state is given the same number of electors as they have representatives in Congress, and it is the electors who put the president in office.

3/5ths compromise:

• How to count slaves for population in the House of Representatives.

• Southerners delegations threatened to leave the convention over this issue.

  • Solution: COUNT 3/5THS for both representation and taxation.

Debate over importation of slaves:

• Some thought it should be abolished others didn't.

  • Solution: WAIT 20 YEARS, slave trade won't be touched and then after that, it would be abolished. (It was in 1808).

Amending the articles:

• Needs to be easily possible.

• Proposal and ratification:

  • Either Congress or special State conventions can propose an amendment.

  • A 2/3 vote is needed to pass the amendment to the next stage.

  • Proposed amendment must be ratified or accepted by 3/4ths of the states.

• Now have 27 amendments.

Bill of Rights:

• Helped get the anti-feds to ratify the constitution.

Where we still see this debate today (not confined to a moment of time):

• Government surveillance.

  • 9/11 and the USA Patriot Act and tapping phones and emails.

  • Violated privacy.

• Education.

  • No Child Left Behind Act, must meet criteria to get funding.

  • Many thought it represented too much federal overreach within state power.

• Before, the Articles provided power solely to the states, with only the legislative branch.

• Established a Republican-style government, not a confederacy like the Articles.

Articles and Topics:

• Preamble

• Article I: Legislative Branch (longest section for "Most Important Branch")

  • Bicameral legislature

  • Section 8: Enumerated powers of Congress (taxes, borrow money, declare war, etc.)

  • Necessary and Proper Clause!!! = Enumerated powers (very different from Articles)

• Article II: Executive Branch

  • Method of electing president with Electoral College

  • Section 2: President is commander-in-chief

  • Section 3: "Makes sure laws are faithfully executed"

  • Establishes presidential signature for a bill to become a law

• Article III: Judicial Branch

  • Established Supreme Court, gives Congress the power to create more (did later with the Judiciary Act of 1789)

  • Has original and appellate jurisdiction

• Article IV: State Relations

  • The federal government's relationships to the states and the relationships of states themselves

• Article V: Amendment Process

  • Proposal and ratifications

  • Proposed by 2/3 in both houses or 2/3 of state legislatures ---and 3/4ths of states need to agree to ratify

  • Have 27 amendments

• Article VI: National Supremacy

  • Supremacy Clause: Constitution is the supreme law of the land

    
    

  • Article VII: Ratification Process

Legislative: Two houses = Congress.

• Checks executive branch with advice and consent (Senate must vote to approve appointments).

• Impeach president.

Executive Branch: President and bureaucracy.

• President can veto bills (can override with a 2/3 vote).

Judicial: Supreme Court.

• Judicial review - declare laws unconstitutional.

Federalist 51: Checks and balances to control abuses, each branch must work independently, but keep other branches in their lane -- danger of too much power in one branch.

Stakeholders and Access Points:

• People are stakeholders.

  • Legislative Branch: Interest groups and lobbyists meet with representatives.

  • Executive Branch: Access to bureaucratic agencies and file a complaint.

  • Judicial Branch: Challenge unjust laws or appeal unjust convictions.

• Written by Madison

• Human need a govt to protect the liberties of the people without the govt infringing on the peoples liberties.

  • solution= separation of powers and checks and balances

  • interior checks to keep in the places

  • each branch needs and independent powers

    • congress is divided into a bicameral legislatures as a check

    • power is divided by the branches and also divided the the national and state govt (federalism!)

  • also still talks about dangers of factions applying to separation of powers

• exclusive powers: powers by constitution to the federal govt alone

• reserved powers: powers kept by the states (10TH AMD)

• concurrent powers: state and national powers shared (ex: taxes)

Fiscal Federalism: congress establishes national standards direct their funds only to states that comply --> in the form of grants

• Categorical grant: STRINGS ATTACHED-- gives money if compliant with federal standards

  • ex: education w LBJ and the civil rights acts with segregation schools integrations

• block grants: NO STRINGS ATTCHED-- fed govts gives money to be spend inn a broad category and states choose where the money goes (lot of power)

• Mandates: Govt gives money towards carrying out of required mandates

  • ex: clean air act standards gives money to implement mandate

• Unfunded mandate: sets the mandate but gives no funds

  • ex: no child left behind act

  • unfunded mandate reform act: restricts it

• federal bank tired to establish a branch in Maryland

  • law made to make un uncharted Maryland bank have a crazy expective tax

  • federal bank said unjust and goes to court

• Maryland argues establishment of bank was unconstitutional because its not in article one section 8

• McColloch argues necessary and proper clause

DECISON: BANK WAS CONSTITUTIONAL because of necessary and proper clause--> national >>>state.

• Lopez carried gun to school and lopez was arrested under a state law

• next day state charges were dropped because there was also a federal law against guns in school zones

• the next day Lopez was found guilty of violating the federal law

fed govt used commerce clause to give fed govt the power to regulate guns with the act (a state power normally)

• US argues guns are related to commerce clause so act it constitutional

  
  

• Lopez argues that gun regulations is reserved to the states and that congress had no power to pass the act regulating it

DECSION: Sided with Lopez, congress can't use the commerce clause for everything.

• Case about balance of federalism

• STATE power>>>>> fed power

• 
  

  • 10th amd.- reserved powers for states

  • 14th amd: applies the boll of rights to all the states to protected citizens who faced racial discrimination

  • article 1 sec 8- Commerce clause: congress can regulate interstate commerce

  • Necessary and proper clause: powers to make all laws necessary and proper

  • article 4- Full faith and credit clause: each state must respect the others laws

  • McCulloh v Maryland: used necessary and proper clause and supremacy clause (NATIONAL POWER)

  • US v Lopez: Commerce clause (weak) (STATE POWER)

• Environmental regulations

  • Paris agreement

  • Obama enters it w execute order

  • more regulations on states

  • Trump left the Paris agreement

• Legalization of Marijuana

  • is illegal federally but can be used and legalized in states

  • not enforcing laws in states

• ideological divisions

  • liberal v conservatives, and politization creates gridlock

  • important to be a part of the same party to pass anything

  • divided govt: slows things down

• models of representation:

  • delegate model: will of the people

  • trustee: own conscience

  • politico: combo of both

• redistricting

  • baker v carr:

    • rural votes had more voting power and the violated the 14th amd equal protection clause, "one person one vote"

  • gerrymandering

    • Shaw v Reno

      • no racial gerrymandering-- unconstitutional

• Tennessee hadn't redrawn districts and rural voters had much more voting power

• 14th amendment equal protection clause: DISTICTS weren't EQUAL

outcome:

• Issuers of reapportionment were justiciable (capable of settlement by judicial branch)

• Supreme court did have the authority to rule on questions of legislative reapportionment

• established "one person one vote"

• many states had to redraw their districts after this

55 Questions | 1 Hour 20 Minutes | 50% of Exam Score

Section II: Free Response

4 Questions | 1 Hour 40 Minutes | 50% of Exam Score

• Concept Application: Respond to a political scenario, describe and explain the effects of a political institution, behavior, or process

• Quantitative Analysis: Analyze quantitative data, identify a trend or pattern, or draw a conclusion from a visual representation and explain how it relates to a political principle, institution, process, policy, or behavior

• SCOTUS Comparison: Compare a nonrequired Supreme Court case with a required Supreme Court case, explaining how information from the required case is relevant to the nonrequired one

• Argument Essay: Develop an argument in the form of an essay, using evidence from required foundational documents and course concepts

• NC had no black representatives even though 20% of their population was black, so drew a 2 gerrymandered districts

• EQUAL PROTECTION clause 14th

• Shaw argues it violated, reno argued it was not violated

• colorblind interpretation of constitution

outcome:

• ruled against reno and justice department

• districts drawn based of race were unconstitutional***because it set a dangerous precedent

• Formal powers; explicitly given in constitution (article II)

  • veto bills

  • pocket veto: not signed within last 10 days

  • Commander and chief: foreign policy

• Informal powers: not listed in constitution

  • bargaining and persuasion on people and congress

  • executive order: like a law connected with bureaucracy

  • signing statement: how president interprets a law and plans to execute it (often differs from congresses interpretation)

  • executive agreements: agreement between president and another head of state, informal treaty (ex: Paris agreement)

Senate has advice and consent and the power to approve/deny presidential appointments

• President can appoint: ambassadors, white house staff (NO SENATE APPROVAL), cabinet, federal courts (HIGH STAKES, getting Borked)

If the senate ties VP breaks it

• overtime presidents use more and more of this power

• Federalist 70: energetic executive is necessary

• Many presidents had different opinions on the understanding of executive power, differences in the number of vetoes

state of the union: "required from time to time"

Changes with tech and the president:

• Fireside chats: FDR- radio

• Television

• -----filtered

• Social Media-------unfiltered and fast

• supreme court (SCOTUS)

  • article III established it

  • appointed by president, confirmed by senate

  • has original and appellate jurisdiction (majority=appeals)

  • 12 justices

• Court of appeals

  • 13 total

  • judiciary act of 1789 established it

  • appellate jurisdiction

  • 3 judges and no jury

• district courts

  • 94 total

  • Original jurisdiction

  • 1 judge and jury

Judicial review: power of supreme court

• federalist 78: argues independence of judicial branch protects it, lifetime appts help insulate form political pressure, exercise JUDICAL REVIEW

• Marbury v Madison: established precedent of judicial review.

• LIFETIME TENTURE are a necessity to keep court independent of will

• JUDICAL REVIEW argues it should give it power it check on legislature, doesn't make it more powerful

facts:

• Adams packed the federal judiciary full of judges who who likely frustrate the recently Jeffersons's policy agenda, Madison did not commission these judges and Marbury (one of them) sued

outcome:

• prior the supreme court only had original jurisdiction

• Marbury won, had legal right to commission, so he can use writ of mandamus for commission, HOWEVER, The supreme court doesn't have the authority to grant a writ of mandamus--> --> --> said it conflicted with article III of the constitution ---> article 3 of the judiciary act is unconstitutional and therefore NULL AND VOID

Makes Judicial final interpreter of laws and constitutional

Role of PRECIDENT

• similar cases based on president and stare decisis: let the decision stand

• sometimes they can be overturned

  • some facts include strict/loose constructionists

  • ideological makeup of the court

    • Burger court: more liberal

      • Roe v wade

      • US v Nixon

    • Rehnquist court: more conservative

      • planned parenthood v Casey

      • DC v Heller

• establish the ideological will of the majority and that's not a conservative or a liberal thing justice of both ideologies have been accused of judicial activism

Ex: 

Warren court: brown v board

Roberts court: citizens united v FEC

judicial restraint:  justices who adhere to this idea believe that judges are not appointed to make policy like that's the job of the legislature therefore a law should be struck down not inconsideration of its effects on society but only to the degree that it violates the actual written word of the Constitution

• huge emphasis on president and the principle of stare decisis

Controversial cases: 

• Dred scott v sandford

• Korematsu v US

• Roe v wade

How other branches check court

1. Legilates pass laws to modify the impact of past decisions 

2. Constitutional amendments 

3. Legislation that impacts courts jurisdiction, alter appellate jurisdiction

4. Pres: judicial appts

5. Pres: not enforcing the decision

Structure:

• cabinet departments (15)

  • ex: dept. or defense, dept. of edu

• Agencies

  • work together to accomplish the goals of the department

• independent regulatory commissions

  • created for specific purpose of regulating some aspect of society

• govt corporations

  • mix of govt agency and private business

  • offers service to public but free market is the best way to do it

what they do:

• write and enforce regulations

• issue fines for non-compliance (compliance monitoring)

• interact with congress and interest groups (iron triangle!!)

  • more prevalent today: issue networks!!

SPOILS system: not qualified ---> called for civil service reform and crated the Pendleton civil service act and the MERIT system (qualified people, increased effectiveness), civil service reform act expanded this

rule making authority: make specific rules for how the law will be carried out

7 examples:

• 1) dept of homeland security

  • Protects Americans from terrorism and maintains and controls borders

• 2) dept of transportation

  •  manages all kinds of Transportation like Highway and air travel

• 3) dept of veteran affairs

  •  manages the general welfare of Nations veterans

• 4) dept of education

  •  manages States and their implementation of the federal educational standards

• 5) EPA (environmental protection agency)

  •  protects the environment and human health through environmental regulations

• 6) FEC (federal elections commission)

  •  administers and enforces campaign finance laws

• 7) securities and exchange commision

  • Regulates the stock market and prevents fraud 

• needs to make sure the agencies are implementing the laws as they intended

• oversight

  • committee hearings: testify and give reports on progress

  • power of the purse: gives agencies money and authorization of spending

president checks

• appointment of new heads for their public policy/agenda

• executive order to help the bureaucracy

compliance monitoring: slows down process, make sure following rules

judicial checks:

• people can appeal to court when rule/regulation is deemed unconstitutional

• liberties: Protection FROM the govt

• rights: Protections BY the govt

bill of rights

• first ten amendments to the constitution

• to help the anti-feds ratify the constitution

  • george mason was for, madison was against

• more amendments were presented only ten were ratified

• to protect people FROM the FEDERAL GOVT (14th amendment later makes the bill of rights apply to the states)

  • 1st amendment protects the freedom of religion speech press assembly and petition

  • 2nd Amendment predicts the right to keep and bear arms

  • 3rd amendment protect citizens from having soldiers quartered in their homes

  • 4th amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures of personal property and effects

  • 5th Amendment deals with the rights of citizens when they are accused of crimes

  • 6th amendment explains how the process will go when a person is accused of a crime and explains the protections to which they are entitled the

  • 7th amendment guarantees the right to trial by jury

  • 8th amendment protects against cruel and unusual punishment and excessive bail

  • 9th amendment acknowledges that if there are other rights not mentioned in the first 10 amendments they're exclusion from the list does not mean that such rights are not protected and

  • 10th Amendment says that any powers not explicitly granted by the Constitution to the federal government belong exclusively to the states

    
    

SEP of church and state

• Johnson amendment: if church receives tax exempt status it cannot endorse political candidates

Cases:

• Engle v Vitale

  • violated establishment clause--> State sponsored prayer in schools is unconstitutional 

• Wisconsin v Yoder

  • Violated Free excessive--> amish children not required to stay in school

• objected to the prayer, which read, “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers, and our country,” and sued the school board president

• nondenominational prayer

• ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE

Outcome:

• Court ruled that the school-sponsored prayer was unconstitutional because it violated the Establishment Clause

• ruled in favor in individual liberties

• precedent for wallace v. jaffree

  • minute of silence in school

• Wisconsin's compulsory school attendance law was required applied to the Amish in schools (up to 16) and Yoder family was fined for taking kids out of school

• Felt concerned about ideas in high school against their religion

Outcome:

• Compulsory school attendance law was unconstitutional under FREE EXERCISE CLAUSE

• Clash between state law and exercise of religion

symbolic speech

• Tinker v Des Moines

  • black armbands to protest vietnam war at school

  • school made them remove arm band

  • students argues this violated their free speech

  • decision agreed violation, no actual disruption, upheld right to symbolic speech

  • * Banances and emphasis side of individual freedom

• counter to this case: Morse v Fredrick: "bong hits for jesus" --> ruled suspension was just because sign promoted drug use

  • * Banances and emphasis side of social order > individual freedom

HOW THE COURT DECIDES:

--- time place and manner restrictions--> Content neutral regulations, don't restrict actual words being said, only when and where and how

---Defamatory, offensive, and obscene speech (hard to define) regulations--> defamation is almost never protected speech 

--- Clear and present danger

• Schenck versus the United states, made pamphlets to encourage people to avoid the draft, arrested for violation of espionage act, The Court ruled that the  conviction was constitutional, no violation of his freedom of speech had occurred,  the pants also incited unlawful action which is a part of clear and present danger 

• *social order >>> civil liberties

  
  

  
  

CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER

• Made pamphlets to encourage people to avoid the draft, arrested for violation of espionage act

• In court he argued the the espionage act restricted his right of free speech

Outcome:

• The Court ruled that the conviction was constitutional, no violation of his freedom of speech had occurred,  the pamphlets incited unlawful action which is a part of clear and present danger

• "Words created clear and present danger"

• created clear standard for silencing of speech

• time of war= liberties go down

• Clear and present danger test has now been replaced by the Brandenburg test

DC v heller:

• heller could carry gun home for self-defense, argues strict guns laws violated 2nd and rights and court agreed. (oly applied to Dc not states)

Mcdonald v chicago:

• applied heller decision to all of the states

• Nixon Administration attempted to prevent the New York Times and Washington Post from publishing leaked Pentagon papers

• Showing nixon had lied to public, tried to use prior restraint to prevent the publication

Outcome:

•  about the first amendment's protection of the FREEDOM OF THE PRESS (against censorship)

• New York Times claimed that Nixon's invocation of PRIOR RESTRAINT violated their first amendment rights

• Nixon Administration argued that prior straight was justified in this case because the publication of these papers would threaten National Security

•  *the court agreed with New York Times and ruled Nixon's administration's restraining order was unconstitutional 

  
  

• discussions of the death penalty and cruel and unusual punishment

2nd Amendment: right to bear arms

• sandy hook elementary shooting

4th amendment: protects citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures of property, warrants must be secured before entering a person's home and are only issued by courts with probable cause

• digital privacy

• patriot act, fed govt could look through 3rd party cell phone carriers and metadata--> deemed necessary to public safety--> many disagreed

• In the case versus Heller v District of columbia it t ruled that Restrictive gun ownership laws were unconstitutional however it could not be applied to the States because it was in Washington DC

• Mcdonald wanted to have a gun for protection, had lots of restrictions on buying a handgun

• SECOND AMENDMENT PROTECTION

Arguments:

• McDonald architect Chicago's restrictive gun laws infringed on the people's right to own guns especially after the ruling in the Heller case

• The city of Chicago argued that restrictive gun laws were necessary to uphold public order and safety

Outcome:

• The court ruled in favor of McDonald and the other petitioners and argued that Chicago's gun laws were a violation of the Second Amendment 

• could apply to the states though the 14th amendment due process--> selective incorporation

  
  

• 5th amendment "No person shall...be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law"

  • About FEDERAL GOVT

  • The 14th Amendment also has a due process clause in which things are applied to state governments,  they both have a due process clause but the 14th applies to the state govt

• 4th amendment: "no unreasonable search or seizure"

  • exclusionary rule --> Any evidence that is gathered in violation of the Fourth Amendment without proper warrant will be excluded from a person's trial

    • Mapp v ohio

    • police were looking for gambling stuff but instead accidentally found obscene magazines, ruled that she couldn't be persecuted based on things not in the warrant.

    • also related to arguments with the patriot act and searching people phones also requires a warrant

• Case that incorporated the 5th amendment to the states :

  • miranda v arizona and established miranda rule however there is also the public safety exception--> if action is taken in defense of public safety before stating Miranda rights.

• Sixth Amendment: guarantees the rights of criminal defendants

  • including

    • the right to a public trial without unnecessary delay

    • the right to a lawyer

      • Giedion v wainwright applied to the states

      • gideon was not given a lawyer

    • the right to an impartial jury

    • the right to know who your accusers are and the nature of the charges and evidence against you

• gideon was tried and found guilty without a lawyer in Florida (state)

• 6TH AMDENDMENT: right to counsel (only then applied to the federal govt)

  • So technically this was not unconstitutional but the 14th amendments Equal protection Clause applies to all the Liberties contained in the Bill of Rights to the states--> sooo they used selective incorporation to apply to the states

Outcome:

•  Decision: argued that the sixth amendments provision for a lawyer does apply to the states via the 14th Amendment equal protection clause

• selectively Incorporated to the states and crated rules for states to fund the federal defense system

• Privacy is not in the bill of rights

• However, The Court established the right to privacy as an implicit right based on: 1st amendment, 4th amendment, 5th amendment, 9th amendment, and 14th Amendment

  • Clearly established in Griswold v Connecticut

    • married couple couldn't be denied contraceptives

• not enumerated rights are part of zone of privacy

• Roe v wade: biggest right to privacy case on abortion (next video)

• Women were getting illegal and unsafe abortions

• Many states changed laws to offer safer abortions

• also used as an argument of women's rights groups

• Roe was not allowed to get an abortion in texas

• constitutional principle: RIGHT TO PRIVACY, imbedded within 14th amd equal protection clause

  • was implicitly (not explicitly) mentioned in constitution

Outcome:

• The Court ruled that the restrictive abortion laws in Texas violated Roe’s constitutional right to privacy. namely the right to make decisions about her own body

• justices did acknowledge that there was a balance to strike between a woman's unmitigated right to privacy and the states potential interest in the child's life

  • first trimester:  no limitations

  • second trimester:  could make a restrictions as long as they're related to the mother's health

  • third trimester:  States could prohibit abortions entirely unless the mother's health and life were at stake

• States had to rewrite and liberalize their abortion laws which granted women easier access to abortions across the country

  
  

Nonviolent action, MLK arrested and brought to Birmingham jail. 

• “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”

• Justified nonviolent action→ meaningful negotiation will never occur unless the crisis raises the stakes 

• Cannot “wait’, urgency of present moment 

• Expresses disappointment in the white clergymen of birmingham for their moderation of the crisis

• Embraces being an extremist

• plessy established separate but equal

• Tried to enroll their daughter in a white school that was closer to their house

• Brown and other Advocates argue that racial segregation in schools was a violation of the equal protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. (thurgood marshall)

Outcome:

• Overturned Plessy precedent 

• The court agreed that separate facilities violated the equal protection Clause of the 14th Amendment thus overturning the precident in Plessy versus Ferguson 

• Argued that “the educational qualifications based solely on Race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community”

• No more separate but equal 

• Very influential for civil rights movement

• Integration took a while in southern states

  
  

• Debates over 1→ Is it constitutional to have minority quotas in various institutions 2→  is the Constitution color blind 

• De jure segregation- racial discrimination by law

• De Facto segregation- racial segregation by personal choice

• Generally when de jure is not clear the court rules against affirmative action

  • Regents v bakke: Race and gender quotas for admission to universities is unconstitutional based on the 14th Amendment, Can still be used as a factor,  but it cannot be the only factor

• Individualism: Places emphasis on self-reliance and Independence 

  • Conservatives value self-centered individualism

    • emphasizes the interest of the individual above interests of society

  • liberals value enlightened individualism

    • emphasizes the interests of society above the interests of the individual

• Equality of opportunity: Believe that every American regardless of their race, ethnicity, sex, religion, etc, deserves equal footing to go after life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

  • Conservatives believe in the power of mediocrity (everybody rises in America based on their own toil and sweat)

  • Liberals agree with the idea of mediocrity with condition (believe that not all groups start the climb in the same place)

• Free enterprise: Lassiez faire economics- as little government intervention in the economy as possible 

  • Conservatives want the government to stay out of the affairs of businesses and allow the free market to determine what's best

  • Liberals want the government to intervene with appropriate regulations to ensure safety and equality in the workplace

• Rule of law: Every citizen is a equal under the law, no one has special privileges

  • Conservative see laws themselves as embodying equality (emphasize letter of the law)

  • Liberals agree that laws embody equality with condition (emphasize the unequal application of laws in regards to minority groups)

• Limited government: A government whose limits are well defined and is restrained through the separation of powers and a system of checks and balances

  • conservatives: small fed govt, liberals: large fed govt

Conservatives:

• cherish established institution and seek to preserve them for the good of society

Liberal:

• push for new reforms to make society more just and equitable

• Family (biggest!!!)

• Schools

• Peers

• Media

• Civic/religious organizations

• Globalization

• Generational effects

  • Silent generation

  • Baby boomers

  • Generation X

  • Millennials

• Older= more conservative, Younger= more liberal

Lifecycle effects

• Whatever stage of life you are in contributes to your political behavior

• Silent generation--> great depression and new deal

  • trust govt to intervene for safety

• Baby boomers--> Vietnam war and Pentagon papers

  • Moved to republican party and Regan "Govt is the problem"

• Millennials--> Sept 11

  • American over-intervention in middle east, for cooperation with foreign policy

Process: 1) Writing questions that are free from bias, 2)  presenting questions to a small randomized group of people, 3)  generalizing results to the larger population

Types of polls: -- to measure public opinion

• Opinion poll: Helps get a feel for the Public opinion on a certain topic or Discerning people's feelings on certain candidates or policies

• Benchmark poll: take it at the beginning of a candidate's run and gives the campaign a benchmark against which they can compare future polls to see how the candidate is faring

• Tracking poll: conducted over time, usually within the same group of people, gives information on how the group feels about a given issue

• Entrance/ Exit poll: conducted at voting sites that ask people how they voted (most desirable) 
  

Sample: Must be representative and random

Sampling error: +-3

Neutral questions: Big effect on results 

Mass survey (quantitative data)

Focus group (qualitative data)

-Political ideology is an interlocking set of ideas that form the basis for political decision making (liberal and conservative)

• Conservative

  • Emphasizes traditional social structures and existing structures of authority,  limited government in public affairs,  strong stances on crime and punishment

  • GOP - republican

• Liberal

  • Emphasizes civil rights for the marginalized and supports the efforts of social justice movements to ensure everyone has equal access to civil liberties,  government involved in public affairs- caring for the poor, regulations on business, and intervention in the economy

  • liberal

• libertarian (later)

Debate:

• Making english the official language of the united states

• Multiculturalism vs assimilation

Policies:

• Personal responsibility and work Opportunity Act: govt funds to the poor limited bc conservatives argued against it bc it took away incentives to work

• Dream act: addressed children illegal immigrants -- bill never passed but there was an executive order by obama

conservative and liberal: abortion, LGBTQ+, guns, drugs, education, religion

• favor govt intervention in some social issues and reject it in others

  • Planned Parenthood V Casey (abortion)

  • Zelman V Simmons-harris (vouchers for religious schools)

  • Obergefell V Hodges (Same sex marriage)

• states get to determine who gets the right to vote

• originally --> white men who owed property

• 1830: --> all white men

• Amendments that related to voting:

  • 15th Amendment- recognized the rate of black men to vote

    17th Amendment- granted the people the right to vote Senators into office

    19th- Recognized women's right to vote

    24th- Abolished Paul taxes which were used to suppress the minority vote

    26th- Lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 

• barriers to voting:

• limited convicted felons form voting

Voting models

• rational choice voting: -Person votes based on their individual self-interest,  carefully studies the issues and platforms

• retrospective voting:-Person votes based on the recent past track record of the politician in question

• prospective voting: -Person votes based on future predictions of how a party or candidate will perform in the future

• party-line voting:-Person votes for all the candidates in the voters party

Voter turnout effected by

• structural barriers

  • Policy or law that prevents or encourages people to vote

  • Ex: Voter ID law (Republicans argue that they decrease the possibility of voter fraud,  Democrats point to research that indicates voter fraud is not a serious threat and that these laws serve to keep minorities out of the voting booth)

• political efficacy

  • Belief about whether your vote matters 

    High efficacy= more likely to vote

    Can be affected by politicians performance (good or bad)

• demographics

  • ex: Senior citizens vote in highest numbers

• type of election:

  • More people vote in national than state and local elections

    Less people vote in midterms too

What factors affect voters choices: 

• Party identification

• Candidate characteristics

• Political issues

• religious, gender, race, ethnicity

• act as intermediates between average people and policymakers

4 linkage institutions:

1) political parties

2) interest groups

3) elections

4) media

1 ----POLITICAL PARTIES:

• An organization at least partially defined by certain ideological belief that puts forward candidates for election (WIN ELECTIONS)

• democratic, republican

• decide candidates the run and drawing legislative districts--> benefit the candidates

what parties do:

• mobilize and educate voters

  • voter registration drives

  • canvassing campaigns

• write and publish a party platform

  • kinds of policy's the party will enact

• find quality candidates

  • likable, significant following, unite different segments of the party, money

• provide campaign management and support for their candidates

  • fundraises, media strategies

(after election partes still have a role in selecting committee chairs, leadership roles in the legislature-speaker of the house and senate majority/minority leaders)

 -Past: the party mattered in the candidate was secondary

 -present: the candidate mattered in the party is secondary (new media tech)

*Parties have changed their platforms over time in order to appeal to a larger swath of the electorate (coalitions of voters- try to appeal so different coalitions they are trying to win)

*altering the entire party structure (party realignment)

*campaign finance laws

*changes in communication and data management technology (do using demographics and psychographics)

1) political parties

2) interest groups

3) elections

4) media

------------

interest group: A group of people who gather around a policy issue in order to persuade policy makers to pass legislation favorable to the group

what they do/why they exist:

• Educate voters in office holders on the interest groups chosen issue

• Engage in lobbying- hold meetings with policymakers to try to influence them to pass legislation in their favor

• Draft legislation 

• Mobilize its members to apply pressure on and work with legislators and government agencies

Iron triangle: The strong mutually beneficial relationship between interest groups, Congressional committees, and government agencies

• Members of congressional committees are especially helped by interest groups (provide them with policy information and campaign donations to a representative sympathetic with the groups goals.)

Issue networks: an alliance of various interest groups and individuals who unite in order to promote a common cause or agenda in a way that influences government policy

Factors the hinder/help interest groups

• Inequality of political and economic resources- one of the most significant things an interest group can do for policy makers is help fund their campaigns and  this makes them much more incentivized to take meetings with well-funded interest groups (NRA AARP)

• Unequal access to decision makers

• Free-rider problem

Policymaking:

1) Social and protest movements get the nations attention on certain realities that need to be changed

2) Interest groups step in and draft potential legislation to present to lawmakers

3) When it comes to actually making laws, political parties and bureaucratic agencies get involved

4) When it comes time to implement and execute the law, bureaucratic agencies figure out how the rules and regulations will accomplish that

5) The law is either implemented well or not (if not implemented well the cycle repeats back to number one)

factors

• still incumbency advantage in congress (90% of incumbents win their elections)

  • name recognition, track record, established funding, safe districts (can gerrymander districts to benefit them)

• chosen by primary election (open of closed)

-political fundraising

• spending has increased a LOT over time

• increasing length of election cycle

  • gotten longer- causes more money spent

• modern campaigns have gotten so complicated they must be a large group of hired professionals to run them (PR)

• canvasing

• reliance of social media

• demographics, psychographics and political ads

• most of candidate funds go to advertising

• created a new federal Commission called the Federal Election Commission,

• oversee and regulate money being spent in political campaigns

• established limits for:

  • 1)  how much money a person can give to a political candidate

  • 2)  how much money candidates could spend on their campaign

• Buckley v Valeo- protection of free speech to not restrict spending-- uphed part of law that restricted amount of money individual could give, however limited how much a candidate could spend violated the 1st amendment

-hard money: Contributions given directly to a candidate

-soft money: Money donated to a party or interest group who can buy advertising on the candidates behalf

Bipartisan campaign Reform Act: increased the amount of hard money that could be donated And regulated the amount of soft money that could be given, “stand by your ad” provision

Citizens united v FEC-->

• Court Road that limits on contributions from individuals and corporations was a violation of free speech 

• Corporate funding of ads and broadcasts cannot be limited

• Political spending by corporations, associations, and labor unions is a form of protected speech under the First amendment

• after decision spending has gone way up

political action committee (PAC)

• Connected PAC- formed by a corporations or other entities like labor unions,  only collect funds from the members of their organization,  money can be donated directly to candidates in limited quantities,  can raise unlimited amounts of money provided the individual limits are obeyed

• Non connected PAC- formed independently of an organization usually around a specific public interest,  donations to non-connected Pacs are limited by law,  can accept donations from the public and donate directly to candidates

• Super PAC- can be formed by anyone,  can accept unlimited donations,  cannot directly coordinate with a candidate (most controversial)

• Bipartisan campaign reform act (BCRA)

  • Made it illegal for corporations or nonprofits to engage in electioneering communications for 60 days before an election or 30 days before a primary

• Citizens united movie about Hillary Clinton

• Constitutional principle: BCRA violates free speech (apply civil liberties to those "groups of individuals")

Outcome:

•  Ruled in favor of citizens united,  argued that limitations put upon corporations to run political advertisements and Communications were not materially different from government censorship of speech towards individuals

• that section (above) of BCRA was struck down

• says that it is fair for people with the most money to be able to have the loudest voices

-The media's is reporting of what the government does influences how citizens engage with politics

-holds govt responsible for the people

• papers--> telegraph--> Radio--> TV--> Internet/social media

social media just shows us news that we will like

• news events

• investigative journalism (muckrakers)

• election coverage and political commentary

  • horserace journalism - focus less on contest and more on popularity

how to detect media bias:

• Determine the ideological preference of the reporters themselves

• Examine the character of the reporting itself

main goal of media is for profit, appeals to the people who watch them

social media increases political participation but looser ties now, less active positive change