Understanding U.S. Government: Constitution, Rights, and More

Posted on Mar 27, 2025 in Police Sciences and Public Security

The U.S. Constitution: Foundation of American Governance

The Constitution, the nation’s rulebook, is the product of conflict and compromise.

Key Historical Events

  • Continental Congresses:
    • 1774—First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia with the goal of reconciling with Great Britain.
    • April 19, 1775—Tensions between colonists and British soldiers result in the Battles of Lexington and Concord.
    • May 1775—Second Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia with divided sympathies. Some were for the King, and some were for the colonies. For a year, the delegation debates sovereignty—independent political power and authority.
  • Declaration of Independence: June 1776—The Virginia delegation with Thomas Jefferson as a member proposes a resolution to declare independence from Great Britain. The Declaration of Independence was approved on July 4, 1776. The document is just 1,300 words long and contains 5 parts:
    1. The preamble
    2. A discussion of basic human rights based on philosophy
    3. A list of Britain’s acts of oppression against the colonies
    4. A discussion of the colonists’ repeated attempts at reconciliation with the British
    5. The actual Declaration of Independence from Britain
  • Articles of Confederation: Had many problems:
    1. A weak central government
    2. No national executive branch
    3. The decisions Congress made were not enforceable
    4. Unanimous consent was required for ratification and amendment to any article

Core Principles of American Government

  • Bill of Rights: The first ten amendments to the Constitution. They contain civil liberty guarantees to states and individuals.
  • Federalism: The division of power between the national government and individual state governments. The Federalists and the Anti-Federalists would argue over who should have more power: the states or the federal/national government.
  • Separation of Powers: Requires three independent branches of government (a Legislative, executive, and judicial) who all check and balance each other (can review and impact the decisions of the other branches).
  • Supremacy Clause: The Constitution (Article VI) says the Constitution is the SUPREME law of the land, not the states, and every judge or person in office must be bound by it.

Federal, Shared, and State Powers

  • Federal: Declares war, regulates foreign trade, coins money, admits new states.
  • Shared: Maintain order, provide for public welfare, establish courts, charter banks.
  • State: Establish and maintain schools, make marriage laws, establish local governments, provide public safety, assume other powers not delegated to the federal government.

New Federalism and Devolution

Republicans in the 1990’s started a push to get rid of what they termed the unfunded mandates of the federal government. This ushered in a New Federalism.

New Federalism: Devolution: Reassigning power from the national government back to the states. The leader of this movement was the policies of President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. A series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions also shift power back to the states. The Constitution establishes a federal system, or the division of power, between the national government and the state governments.

Civil Liberties vs. Civil Rights

  • Civil Liberties: Restraints on government found in the Bill of Rights and the “Due Process” Clause of the 14th Amendment. Primarily concerned with individual freedoms.
  • Civil Rights: Protect citizens from discrimination. Primarily rooted in the “Equal Protection” Clause of the 14th Amendment. Primarily concerned with equality of citizenship.

Key Amendments

  • Amendment 1: Freedom of Religion, Speech & Press.
  • Amendment 2: Right to Bear Arms.
  • Amendment 3: Privacy rights.
  • Amendment 4: Search & Seizure.
  • Amendment 5: Due Process.
  • Amendment 6: Fair Trial.
  • Amendment 7: Right to a jury.
  • Amendment 8: No Cruel or unusual punishment.
  • Amendment 9: Rights not enumerated in the Constitution. (Abortion rights, assisted suicide.)
  • Amendment 10: Rights of the state (Local law enforcement, medical marijuana, divorce laws.)

Supreme Court Cases and Abortion Rights

The abortion case of Roe v. Wade (1978) by giving women reproductive choices. States may impose a 24-hour waiting period and require viability testing for abortions, but they may not require spousal consent. (Webster v Reproductive Health Services – 1989; Planned Parenthood v Casey – 1992).

Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022) held there is no right to an abortion in the Constitution and gave authority back to the states and to the voters to decide.

Political Parties and the Electoral Process

Major Political Parties in the U.S.

  • Republicans (GOP – Grand Ole’ Party, represented by an elephant, was the party that freed the slaves via Abraham Lincoln, conservative (became so after the Civil Rights movement when the southern voters left the Democratic party claiming it was forcing segregation), party of big business, red states)
  • Democrats (represented by a donkey, liberal, blue states, favors bigger government and more expansive social policies)
  • Green Party (believe corporations exploit American interests for gain, support radical & economic reform)
  • Libertarian (support extremely limited government, believes government should protect our borders and maintain civil order, very little else)

Advantages and Disadvantages of a Two-Party System

  • Advantages:
    • Simplifies the political process for voters
    • Promotes stability in democratic politics
    • Guarantees a clear winner
  • Disadvantages:
    • Slow to change
    • Restricts voter choice
    • Discourages coalition building
    • May encourage polarization

Voting and Elections: Key Factors

  • College graduates turn out to vote at higher rates than those with just a high school education.
  • Voter registration is highest with those who make over $150,000 or more
  • Only 60% of those between 18-24 vote versus over 79% of those over 65
  • Women tend to turn out to vote more than men
  • Voter turnout is lower in the U.S. than it is in many industrialized nations.
  • The loss of social capital (the degree to which we are connected) has been the culprit for low voter turnout.

The Effectiveness of Protests

Protests Work?

  • Organization (When protestors are organized in a way that lets them keep pushing for the movement’s goals)
  • Messaging (Does the message resonate with more people than just the core supporters of the movement?)
  • Nonviolence (Non-violent movements are twice as effective as violent ones).

House of Representative elections occur every 2 years (435 members), Senate every 6 years (100 members) and Presidents every 4 years.

The Legislative Branch: Congress

Congress is a bicameral (two house) legislature composed of a House of Representatives and a Senate. The House has the power to introduce tax legislation and initiate impeachment proceedings. The Senate has the power to try impeachment cases, ratify treaties and approve major presidential appointments.

House of Representative districts are drawn in a process called redistricting.

How a Bill Becomes a Law

How a bill becomes a law is a long and drawn-out process. Only a member of Congress may introduce a bill. Any bill may be debated endlessly to get it to not pass (filibustered). Filibusters can only be stopped by cloture (a vote of 60 votes to end it.) Once a bill passes both houses, it goes to Conference Committee to reconcile any differences in the bills. The President has ten days to either sign the bill (it becomes law), veto (reject) the bill (it returns to Congress), or do nothing (after 10 days are up, it just becomes a law).

In the House, the institutional leader is the Speaker, who is typically a member of the majority party.

Key Terms in Congress

  • A constituent is a citizen who lives within the district.
  • A legislator means engaging in both casework (services provided by members of Congress and their staff to assist constituents in dealing with bureaucratic agencies) and logrolling (exchanging political favors, such as votes, to achieve mutually beneficial legislative outcomes)
  • A delegate is a model of representation calling for members of Congress to serve as the mouthpiece of their constituents.
  • A trustee is a model of representation calling for members of Congress to protect the interests of their constituents.

The Executive Branch: Presidency

Some of the president’s expressed powers are to execute laws, appoint department heads, veto legislation, deliver a State of the Union, make policy recommendations, convene and adjourn Congress, appoint justices to the Supreme Court, appoint judges to federal courts, grant pardons, enter into treaties with foreign nations and serve as Commander in Chief.

  • president’s implied powers are issue executive orders, exercise executive privilege, enter into executive agreements, serve as head of state.
  • One of the president’s delegated powers is to recommend department budgets.

A president can also be impeached if he is suspected of committing treason, bribery or high crimes and misdemeanors.

The Electoral College

Who is in the Electoral College? Each state gets as many electors as it has members of Congress (House and Senate). Including Washington, D.C.’s three electors, there are currently 538 electors in all. Each state’s political parties choose their own slate (group) of potential electors.

The Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy: A set of structures and procedures used by government (or other large organizations) to administer policies and programs.

  • Iron Triangle: A term describing the coordination among congressional committees, bureaucratic agencies, and interest groups.
  • Devolution is the delegation of power by the federal government to state and local governments. It is a strategy for reducing the size of the federal bureaucracy.
  • Privatization: A shift in responsibility for service provision from the public sector to the private sector. These services are supported through federal funds, and private service providers must operate under a certain degree of federal oversight.
  • Limits of Bureaucratic power include the president checking bureaucratic power.

The Judicial Branch

  • Original Jurisdiction The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction, the power to hear a case for the first time, in cases involving:
    • Two states
    • The federal government and one of the 50 states
    • Foreign ambassadors
    • Citizens of one state against citizens of another state
  • Appellate Jurisdiction: The power to review cases originally heard in a lower court. The Supreme Court has both original and appellate jurisdiction, but the majority of cases it hears falls under appellate jurisdiction. Congress can expand or restrict the types of cases that involve appellate jurisdiction.
  • Writ of Certiorari: Anyone seeking an appeal to the Supreme Court must file a writ of certiorari, a request from a high court to a lower court for records of a case to be sent for review. Justices compile and discuss, meet in conference and select cases based on the rule of four , lawyers submit briefs , lawyers submit oral arguments, justices meet in conferences, court issue decisions.
  • Fed court is U.S District Courts, U.S courts of Appeals, and U.S Supreme Court.
  • State Court is State trial cts, Interm appellate cts, state supreme ct, and U.S Supreme ct.
  • Civil: Plaintiff vs Defendant, Preponderance of Evidence, Rests with plaintiff, Restraining order financial compensation.
  • Criminal: Govt vs Plaintiff, Beyond a reasonable doubt, rests with the govt, Burglary DUI Murder Incarcerations restraining order.

Interest Groups

Advantages of Interest Groups

  • Interest groups pressure government for change.
  • Interest groups provide valuable resources and expertise on complex policy issues for political decision-makers and the general public.
  • Interest groups represent the policy preferences of minority segments of society to decision-makers and, in this way, link people to their government and make politics more democratic.
  • Interest groups foster communities of like-minded individuals and provide opportunities for networking, political engagement, and participation.
  • Interest groups provide the organizational framework necessary for mobilization of shared interest and collective action.

Disadvantages of Interest Groups

  • Interest groups encourage conflict.
  • Interest groups can slow down the policymaking process and sometimes obstruct policy action altogether.
  • Interest groups overemphasize minority interests to the neglect of majority preferences.
  • Interest groups advantage those with resources who can pay the necessary costs associated with lobbying and campaign activity.
  • Interest groups can foster a less transparent and accountable mode of politics, exacerbating public perceptions of closed-door policymaking, preferential treatment, and political bias in government.

Identity Politics

Identity politics: 2024 Replacement Theory, Gripes.

Public Opinion

  • Proveyou are not exhibiting sheer ignorance: Nancy Polocy.
  • Out of all of these which is a reliable source: None of the above.
  • WOODEN HEADEDNESS: Believing what we want regardless of the facts.
  • SHEER IGNORANCE Ignorant of critical facts about how the government works and who is in charge.
  • NEGLIGENCE: Failure to seek reliable sources of information.
  • WOODEN HEADEDNESS Believing what we want regardless of the facts
  • SHORT SIGHTEDNESS Supporting public policies contradictory to our long term interests
  • BONE HEADEDNESS Believing in meaningless phrases, stereotypes, simple diagnosis & solutions.

The Media

  • All of the following is adaptive tremendously except: the media is everywhere all the time.
  • At what stage of media totalitarian is america in? Omni-legitimate.
  • What examples of nonlegitimate simile? All of the above.
  • 1)Ubiquity 2) omnipresent 3) addictive 4) Self-replicating 5) Omni- Legitimate.

Public Policy

  • What is the most efficient way of supporting charity’s: sending people with business acumen.
  • What questions should we ask when donating to charity?: A and C.
  • What company benefits the most from charity trips: delta airlines.
  • Which step is not included in the six step process?: self relection.
  • Ally started with all As: Sloth Students cheat on paper: Greed and anger.

Seven Deadly Sins

Seven deadly sins: Sloth, Greed, Gluttony, Anger, Lust, Envy, Pride.

6 Step Process

6 step process: problem identification, agenda setting, formulate solutions, policy implementation, legitimizing the solution, policy evaluation.

California Politics

  • Because mining was main occupation of the 1800s gold rush obvious effect.
  • Why does prop 13 require 2 thirds majority? Simple majority.
  • One of the regressive taxes that is not tied to a person is property tax.
  • Hatred by the Washington party? Big Four.
  • What does California natural and tech resources include? All of the above.
  • How did the compromise of 1850 contribut? it included the fugitive act and admitted California as a free state