The Supreme Court

Procedure of the Supreme Court

- October - June/July

- prepare for block of cases, hear block of cases, decide and write opinions on block of cases (rinse, lather, repeat)

- law clerks do tremendous amounts of work for justices

- Court decides which cases it will hear during term (original and appellate)

- Justices must decide which appeals they want to take up (rule of 4)

- Court grants certiorari to cases it will hear

- Justices prepare by reading case briefs, studying law, researching and reviewing precedent

- Court may consult amicus briefs in preparation for oral arguments

- Oral arguments before the Court (30 minutes per side); Justices pepper with questions

- Justices meet behind closed doors to review/discuss case

- Chief Justice assigns duty of writing majority (if not unanimous) and dissenting opinions

- Many justices often offer concurring opinions

- Court opinions are detailed legal explanations of reasoning for the decision that was reached

- Opinions of case become part of Court precedent

                         

The process of appointing a Supreme Court nominee is the same as what we have examined before regarding judicial appointments. However, the harshness of the critique of the nominee is much greater.

- legal expertise

- party affiliation

- judicial philosophy

- acceptability to Senate

All of these are unofficial requirements to be a justice of the Supreme Court. There are no formal qualifications. But because of the scrutiny of being appointed to the highest court in the land, the Senate is usually much more deliberate about confirming a nominee.(See Table 15-1 on p.532 for background on 112 recent justices of the Court) 

Confirmation hearing of Justice Elena Kagan

The Federal Court System

Before we begin, let us consider for what purpose courts exist. They are a way for people to resolve conflict without having to resort to violent measures.
Where does this conflict come from? It comes from the fact that someone feels that an offense has been committed.
That offense is, in a certain legal context, referred to as a tort. (Hence, if you hear the phrase 'tort reform', they are talking about legal reforms)
Once we have established that there has been an offense, the next question is then "Who has been offended?" Is it
     - an individual  (civil matter)
     - society as a whole   (criminal matter)
If it is a criminal matter (society has been offended), then what segment of society has been offended?
     - the municipality
     - the state
     - the nation
The prosecution of the offender in these matters often then comes down to which level of society that has been offended is willing to devote its limited resources (time, money) to hold the offender accountable.
The court system for that society that has been offended and seeks to hold the offender accountable is then considered to have jurisdiction in that matter.
jurisdiction - the authority to hear and decide a case

Okay...what does all of that have to do with the judicial branch of the federal government?

What is the offense is related to a Constitutional matter? Then we must look at the Constitution to see what is says regarding this issue based on the facts present.
Who gets to interpret the Constitution?  What's that called? Where did it come from?
What if the offender or the offended party is the United States of America?

In these matters, and a few others, the United States Federal Court system has exclusive jurisdiction. They are the only ones with the authority to hear and decide these cases.

So, if you feel that your Constitutional rights have been violated, you would take that grievance to the federal court system. The first court to hear you case in that process would be considered to have original jurisdiction.



Article III Section 1
- established a Supreme Court and "such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish"

Judiciary Act of 1789
- established a three-tiered court structure (district, appeals, Supreme)

notes on the Federal Court structure
- 94 Federal District Courts spread throughout the United States
- 12 Federal Courts of Appeal (appellate courts, circuit courts)

District Courts
- 94 districts nationwide
- minimum of 2 judges per district (Southern District of NY has 44)
- each has separate bankruptcy court

Appellate Courts
- 13 courts (12 circuits plus DC)
- mostly hear appeals from District Courts (US govt cannot appeal rulings)
- majority of cases are civil/criminal
- most rulings of lower courts upheld (fewer than 4% overturned)
- do not retry case; reexamine facts, court proceedings, and legal briefs of litigants (on occasion, oral                   argument is allowed)

Supreme Court (court of last resort)
- appellate jurisdiction
- original jurisdiction in certain cases
- does not hear all cases appealed; justices choose
- hear roughly 100 cases of 8,000 petitions per year

Various other federal courts
-Article I courts (various other courts created by Congress for specific matters)
- Federal Tax Court
- FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) Court



All federal judges, whether they be at the district, appellate, or Supreme Court level, are appointed by the President (with...guess what).
When deciding who to nominate for appointment, the President usually considers 4 things
  - legal expertise
             integrity, competence, experience, knowledge
  - party affiliation
             usually affiliated in party politics before serving as a judge; people associated with
  - judicial philosophy
             loose interpretationist (judicial activism) or strict constructionist (judicial restraint)
  - likelihood of confirmation by the Senate
             senatorial courtesy with lower positions; non-divisive for SC

Appointees to any of the three tiers of the Federal Court System have a lifetime appointment. That does not mean, however, that there is no check on the power of the judiciary. While the Courts wield the power of judicial review, their power can be checked by
 - appointment (executive and legislative)
 - impeachment (legislative)
 - amendments to the Constitution (legislative)
 - inability to create action (nature of the institution)


Sources for deciding federal court cases
- Principle of Judicial Review (Marbury v Madison)
- Constitution
- Statutes and Administrative Regulations
- Case Law (precedent : principle of stare decisis)

The Iron Triangle: Bureaucrats & Policy Makers

AP Government & Politics loves the topic of the iron triangle. That is, the relationship between executive departments/agencies, interest groups & lobbyists, and Congressional committees.

Watch these videos (I don't know why I couldn't get them embedded)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u3th3ixQes&list=PL0kBVa_Bm8E0ofjvVXsoP6O-W3PVxv0UT


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APd9N71klhM&list=PL0kBVa_Bm8E0ofjvVXsoP6O-W3PVxv0UT

Reforming the Bureaucracy

There have been various efforts to reform the bureaucracy in order to make it more efficient and less costly. These efforts include:
- Sunshine laws
     laws designed to create transparency within the agency
     Freedom if Information Act of 1966; Government in the Sunshine Act of 1976

- Sunset laws
    laws designed to review a program regularly for possible reforms and/or termination
    never adopted nationally but adopted in many states

- Privatization
    replacing government agencies/employees with that of private firms
    contracting out various government duties; offering vouchers instead of services

- Offering incentives for productivity and/or efficiency
    performance-based budgeting practices; requiring justification for programs
    e-government options
    Government Performance and Results Act of 1997

- Protecting whistleblowers
    establishing safe-guards for those who expose agency inefficiency or corruption
    Civil Service Reform Act of 1978; Whistle-Blower Protection Act of 1989
    Garcetti v Ceballos

Discussions on various problems with and solutions to traditional bureaucracies

   

Agencies of the Bureaucracy

These are independent organizations tasked with doing something on behalf of the government.
- Can only be created by an act of Congress
- Usually created for specialized tasks to complex or cumbersome to be legislated
- Congress retains oversight
- Agencies have quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial power

The text identifies 3 types of agencies
   - independent executive agencies
   - independent regulatory commissions
   - government corporations

See Figure 14-3 on p.488 and note all of the Executive Departments & Government Agencies

Okay, technically Education and Commerce are Executive Departments, not agencies. But still, a classic moment.

Independent Executive Agencies
- Similar to executive departments
- Not Cabinet level
- Administered by the executive branch; President appoints head of agency
- Congress retains oversight
- Example: NASA

Independent Regulatory Commission
- Created to help regulate some aspect of the economy
- Governed by board; members of board nominated by President (and ......)
- Board composition must be bipartisan
- Creates rules and enforces rules (judge, jury, and executioner)
- Examples: ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission), SEC (other SEC: Securities & Exchange Commission), FCC (Federal Communications Commission) 

Government Corporations
- Operate under traditional business model
- Differences: owned by government; service v profit
- Purpose: provide service to American people
- Examples: Amtrak, USPS


What is the Civil Service?
  the civilians who carry out the work of the federal government (i.e.-postal carrier)
Originally staffed by people friendly with the President (spoils system)
Reformed by the Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883 (competitive hiring based on merit)
Even still, many top-level bureaucratic positions are political appointees

Bureaucracy & The Cabinet Departments

If it is associated with the federal government and has:
  - a formal structure
  - a division of labor
  - a set of rules/procedures by which it operates
then it is most likely a part of the bureaucracy.

3 models of bureaucracy
- Weberian model
   bureaucracies are rational, hierarchical organizations in which decisions are made based on logival reasoning
- Acquisitive model
    bureaucracies are led by people who seek to grow their budget and staff to gain greater power
- Monopolistic model
    bureaucracies lack competition, leading them be inefficient and costly operations




All organized under the Executive Branch
Employs about 2.7 million people
Top administrators are political appointees
Most other bureaucrats are knowledgeable/skilled employees



Executive Departments
Major units of administration and policy making
Headed by Secretary
Account for roughly 60% of all government employees (see Figure 14-1 on p.486)
Often smaller departments within each executive department
Only 3 departments to start with (State, Treasury, War)
New departments often created when issues became to big for Congress to legislate solutions
Currently 15 departments
Homeland Security is the most recent addition
Defense Department is largest Executive Department by far
     over 3 million employees and budget of $480 billion in 2008

The Cabinet & the Vice Presidency

3 main roles of the Vice President per the Constitution
- presiding over the Senate
- opening and counting electoral votes after presidential election
- serving as President should the President become incapacitated

Throughout American history, the role of the Vice President has changed. Early on, it merely entailed performing those tasks laid out above and waiting around in case the President may die. After the ratification of the 12th Amendment (requiring electors to cast one vote for President and one vote for Vice President), political parties started to pair the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidate together on 'the ticket'. This pairing of candidates led politically minded leaders to start trying to balance their ticket to make the candidacy of 'the ticket' more attractive to more voters. The Vice Presidency itself however, was still not seen as a job opportunity one would desire. The role of the Vice President has grown since the 70s into a position that serves as an extension of the President himself. The Vice President is often consulted regularly on policy decisions and will be tasked with executing certain duties (being point-man / head executive) on behalf of the President.

The Best of Joe Biden

And don't forget former Vice President Dick Cheney

Advisory: Censored word (based on exchange between VP Dick Cheney & Sen Patrick Leahey)

The Cabinet
- consists of the heads (Secretary) of each of the executive departments (State, Defense, Treasury, etc)
- serves as advisory council to the President
- Secretary is nominated by President ( and ......)
- 16 official Cabinet positions, incl Vice President
- advice sought but not relied upon
- "kitchen cabinets"
- Cabinet Secretaries often more loyal to their department than the President

The Executive Office of the President

Who is "the administration" that they are always talking about?
Many of these people work in the Executive Office of the President (EOP).

I don't know what's up with the foreign subtitles.

Executive Office of the President
- The White House Office (The West Wing)
see chart on p.182

There was a television show: The West Wing

- National Security Council (NSC)

- Council of Economic Advisers (CEA)

yawn

- Office of Management & Budget (OMB)

Term Paper notes

Here are a few notes to remember as you are tweaking and polishing your term paper.
- refer to the grading guidelines
- 'A' papers have a good numbers of sources with supporting evidence (5-6 high quality sources)
- if you need more high quality supporting evidence, refer to the policy center links provided
- your target audience is someone involved in government
- your objective is to persuade them to support a change (or perpetuation) of current government policy
- your analysis of the issue and analysis/argument for your policy must be thorough
- proofread!! (spell check will not catch everything)
- double-check to make sure that your paper is correctly formatted

Also remember, the term paper is due on Monday.
- it must be submitted to TurnItIn
- a hard copy must be submitted in class

Good luck!

Unique Presidential Powers

Unique powers of the President of the United States
- emergency powers
- executive orders
- executive privilege

Emergency Powers
Based on the principle of inherent powers and supported by the Court decision US v Curtiss-Wright Export Corp
Usually invoked in cases of foreign affairs or national security

Executive Orders
Executive orders carry the force of law with them and
    - enforce legislative statutes
    - enforce the Constitution or treaties w/ foreign nations
    - establish or modify rules and practices of executive administrative agencies
Only legal requirement is that executive orders be published in the Federal Register
Unlike laws, executive orders can be revoked by subsequent executives (see Hyde Amendment)

Executive Privilege
Perhaps the most controversial because it allows the executive to withhold information from the other branches
Often invoked when claiming disclosure would threaten national security
Principle has been upheld by the Court
Extent of privilege famously upheld in case of US v Nixon

While the President has unique powers, the position is not all powerful. Review process of and reasons for impeachment from Unit III.

The Political President

The President is, in essence, a super-politician. The President has reached the pinnacle of the American political game. Therefore, you cannot separate the President from politics despite the wishes of some. The President uses political power in a number of ways including as the leader of his political party and through access to the media.

- Chief of Political Party
  The President has, historically, engaged in political patronage by appointing loyal party supporters to certain government jobs. While much of that was done away with in the late 1800s through the creation of the civil service, it still exists in less noticeable ways. (i.e. - US Ambassador to _name that tropical location_ )

- Power for Persuade
  The President, by the nature of the position and the media, has access to "the bully pulpit". This affords the President the opportunity to try and persuade people and/or direct the tone and nature of the debate. To be President, you have to have some ability to do this.

The President & Public Approval
The President needs the support of certain constituencies in order to get things done.
- national electorate
- party members
- key members of opposing party
- Washington

Public approval is the ultimate check on Presidential power.
- high approval ratings = get lots of stuff done
- low approval ratings = Congress won't work with you
- all Presidents start with highest approval ratings they will likely achieve (honeymoon effect)
- military action can increase popularity (rally around the flag effect)
- prolonged military action will decrease popularity
- President may "go public" to gain popular support for agenda (pressure Congress)

How has the recent Syria crisis and response illustrated the above?

But, also consider this....

When evaluating Presidential approval....


Americans tend to look at their wallets.

Agree or disagree??

A Good Example of Policy Writing

Follow the link below and you will find the work of Leia Guccione (Mrs Guccione's daughter). She is writing of a possible solution to climate change that she is in favor of. Regardless of your position on the issue or interest in the issue, you should read it and pay attention for the way in which she writes it. You will notice how she:
- Introduced the issue
- Gave a bit of background
- Clearly identified the problem that exists currently
- Overwhelmingly argued in favor of her position
- Provided evidence (through the use of statistics and hyperlinks to sources)

http://blog.rmi.org/blog_2013_10_02_microgrid_solution_to_macro_challenge_of_climate_change

Remember, your objective in this paper is to try and convince people in government to adopt your position concerning this policy issue. This is exactly what Ms Guccione is doing in this work.

psst.... it is also what Mr Edghill does in his writing.... just saying

How to be a Foreign Policy Genius

This was shared with me by a friend of mine who graduated from Nolan, taught at Nolan for a year, got his MA from Yale, and now works for the State Department. Oh, and he has also been published in The Atlantic. So pay attention.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/09/30/how_to_be_a_foreign_policy_genius_in_7_minutes?page=full&wp_login_redirect=0

Think Tanks & Sources for the Term Paper

Below is a partial list of 'think tanks' and policy centers that may be of use to you.

For focusing on domestic issues:
The Brookings Institute - http://www.brookings.edu/
The Cato Institute - http://www.cato.org/
The Heritage Foundation - http://www.heritage.org/
Center for American Progress - http://www.americanprogress.org/
American Enterprise Institute - http://aei.org/

For focusing on foreign policy:
Council on Foreign Relations - http://www.cfr.org/
Center for Strategic & International Studies - http://csis.org/
Wilson Center - http://www.wilsoncenter.org/

Wikipedia has an extensive list of think tanks. You may want to look through it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_think_tanks_in_the_United_States

High-quality journalist sources
The Atlantic - http://www.theatlantic.com/
The Economist - http://www.economist.com/
Foreign Affairs - http://www.foreignaffairs.com/
The Christian Science Monitor - http://www.csmonitor.com/

Don't forget that all of the Executive Departments (State, Treasury, etc) have their own studies and publications as well as all if the Congressional Committees (Foreign Affairs, Budget, etc).

Good luck.

The American Presidency

What does the President do?

What are the roles of the President of the United States?









Roles of the President of the United States of America
- Head of State
- Chief Executive
- Commander in Chief
- Chief Diplomat
- Chief Legislator







Formal Qualifications to be President of the United States
- minimum 35 years of age
- resident of US for minimum of 14 years
- natural-born US citizen

Unofficial qualifications??

- wealthy
- male
- WASP
- prior executive experience
- good communicator
- charisma






How does the President get elected?
Win the electoral college (not the popular vote....though it doesn't hurt to win that one too)
See graphic on p.165

Presidential succession was defined by both the Presidential Succession Act (1947) and the 25th Amendment.  (See chart on p.166)
- Vice President
- Speaker of the House
- President Pro Tempore of the Senate
- Secretary of State
- Secretary of the Treasury


Head of State
Serves in this role in addition to duties as head of government. Includes ceremonial duties as well as receiving foreign dignitaries and making official state visits to other countries.

Chief Executive
Role as head of government to make sure that the laws of the United States are faithfully executed. Includes overseeing all executive departments and the civil service of the government. To assist, the President may appoint individuals to various positions in the executive branch, federal judiciary, regulatory commissions, government corporations, etc (with the consent of the Senate). There are also a handful of unique executive powers and/or privileges.
  - grant reprieves
  - grant pardons
  - issue signing statements on laws

Commander in Chief
Unique power of the President as commander of all United States armed forces. (civilian control of the military) Commander in Chief role versus the Congressional power to declare war (A1 S8 C11) has been a tricky dynamic. War Powers Resolution/Act creates some clarity.

Chief Diplomat
Power to make treaties with foreign nations (with consent of .....), offer diplomatic recognition to foreign governments, forge executive agreements with foreign heads of state, nominate ambassadors to foreign nations, and generally lead United States foreign policy.

Chief Legislator
While not an active part of legislating (not a part of the legislative branch), the President can influence legislation in various ways.
  - suggesting/ passing along legislation to Congress
  - recommendations in addresses, especially the State of the Union (bully pulpit)
  - veto (pocket veto / line-item veto) see Table 13-1 on p.458