Edexcel Politics 8. US Politics: President and Supreme Court

Question or Term

Answer

That body in which Presidents try to ensure (though less so in Trump's) there is good representation of sex, race, region, age, and ideology, though region and age tend to reflect the President's own home state and age

The President whose cabinet was the most racially diverse in history

That body which if a member of Congress is to enter, they must retire or give up their seat, such as did Jeff Sessions from the Senate in 2017 to become Attorney General

Unilateral presidential appointments to a federal office while the Senate is in recess, hampered by the Senate via the holding of regular pro-forma session every few days during recesses

That position and formal power of the President to act as head of the military, important during the Second World War, Cold War, and War on Terror, to which the ability of Congress to check is unclear

The fourth and fifth stage of the Supreme Court appointments process in which the nominee appears before hearings by the Senate Judiciary Committee with witnesses (such as those with close knowledge of the individual, or interest groups) before a recommendatory vote and a final vote by the whole Senate

That which the Supreme Court has been said to be as judicial review allows it to declare points of law and establish precedent with the effect of law such as in Roe v Wade

That fundamental law which provides a check on the power of the President to negotiate treaties and make executive and ambassadorial appointments by requiring the approval of the Senate, except in the case of the National Security Advisor's appointment

Those members of Cabinet that consist of those appointed at the Presidents discretion

That body the principal strengths of which relative to the President are that it is the sole legislative body allowing it to develop its own legislative programme (particularly during divided government), and often responds to constituency views over presidential ones

Question or Term

Answer

A statement by the President on signing a bill which may challenge some of its provisions on constitutional or other grounds, effectively acting as line-item vetoes, decreasingly used since George W. Bush, though increasingly of a constitutional nature where used as opposed to commentary

That term the usage of which is problematic as it is often used to criticise a court for making a decision unpopular with the user of the term rather than as rational criticism

Those for whom Cabinet meetings are useful for getting to know one another, resolve interdepartmental disputes, speak with colleagues and/or the President, and for gaining status and knowledge from meeting the President

That which campaigners have sought to improve via Constitutional amendments, legislation, Supreme Court decisions, presidential leadership, and citizen action

That group the number of whom increase from 3.5 million in 1990 to 12.2 million in 2007, leading to much rhetoric from President Donald Trump

An 1810 Supreme Court case in which, for the first time, the court declared a state law unconstitutional

That President, whom all subsequent officeholders until President Trump issued a lower average yearly number of executive orders than

That president whom was successful domestically in imposing federal education standards on states and creating the Homeland Security Department, but not in part privatising social insurance for the elderly

That body which politicises appointments to the Supreme Court by increasingly voting along party lines, and focussing on scandal, innuendo, and political philosophy above competence, with little effective scrutiny, especially under unified government

The legislative and judicial authority granted to the President by the Constitution