Court Politics

Branches

• Legislative
  • Makes laws
  • Consists of
    • Senate
      • Upper chamber
      • 100 members
      • Equal representation
      • 6years
      • Approve treaties
      • Supreme court stuff
      • more federal
      • VP in case of tie
      • Presiding officer
        • Only if tie
        • (currently mike pence)
      • Majority leader
        • Responsible for community rules
    • House of rep
      • Lower chamber
      • 435
      • population
      • 2 year term
      • Selects a president if tie
  • Draft a bill
  • If anyone in the senate objects to bill, it goes to next day
  • legislative committee
  • bills are placed on a calendar for comittee
  • chamber
  • fillibuster is a extended debate of a senate to delay
    • if cloture, debate is limited to 30 hrs
    • requires 3/5
  • Rider can be about anything, and adds on to another peice
    • meant to make legislation go faster
    • Rider DA: Bad riders will be passed to the plan
  • Concurrence
    • If both house and senate pass, they go to president
  • Bill becomes law if signed by president
  • not if not signed in 10 days
    • (pocket veto)
    • resubmitted to congress, and if congress overrides/amends, goes back to president
  • Intrest groups can inform these departments
    • lots of power
• Stealing elections
  • Gerrymandering
  • 
  • Racial redlining is illegal
    • Gerrymandering by race
  • Gerrymandering in general is allowed
• Executive branch
  • President
    • Military
    • electred no more than 2 times
    • 4 year terms
  • VP
    • alternate president
    • unlimited 4 year terms
  • Cabinet members
    • Advisors to president
    • heads of departments
    • nominated by president and approved by senate
• Judicial Branch
  • SCOA
    • The supreme court
    • lifetime position
    • nominated by president
      • so they don't care about public popularity
    • Judges aren't political, but they can lean one way or another
    • recieve cases from apellate courts
    • or general things that they want to
  • Federal courts are lower courts
  • handle lower courts
  • Federal court districts
    • 
  • patent approval
  • drug dealing
  • State => federal if the supreme court wants to hear your
  • Court packing
    • Packs federal courts and with federal judge positions
    • senate checks, but senate is same as president right now
  • SCOA
    • only hears 1% of all submissions in US
    • 
    • Why not?
      • if its political
      • if too new
      • prefers to let things be
    • oral arguments
    • 30 minutes to present the case
    • US is rep by general solicitor
    • not always odd number of justices
    • if tie its whatever the apellate court ruled
    • once opinion is cast, it is counted
    • up to 9 months

Federalism

• power distributed away from tyranny
• vertical split vs horizontal (branches)
• states cfan make own laws
• have to obey federal laws