Includes summary notes on the constitution, checks and balances, entrenched rights, limited government, separation of powers, Supreme Court, Federalism, PACs, Parties, Voting, President, Judiciary, Cabinet, and legislation
US POLITICS REVISION -
Constitution:
● The US constitution is made up of articles which each outline specific elements of the US,
and within each Article are sections and within each section are clauses.
● The US has a codified constitution = key constitutional provisions are provided for within a
single document.
● 3 key principles of the constitution - Authoritative = a constitution can be seen as a higher
law than standard legislation. It sets out the rule by which the political institutions including
those who create the legislation. Entrenched = a codified constitution is referred to as
entrenched meaning it is incredibly difficult to amend or abolish. Judiciable = as the
constitution occupies a place in higher law it allows other laws to be judged against it as
to whether or not they are constitutional or not this function is performed by the judiciary.
● Advantages to constitution - limited government; the rules for the government are
established so it becomes clear when government oversteps the mark, protection of rights;
basic rights are enshrined in the constitution such as freedom of speech / meaning
legislation cannot trample over these rights, clear rules for political procedure; unlike the
UK a codified constitution allows for removal of precedent as a form of procedure things
become far more clear-cut.
● Disadvantages of constitution - rigidity; codified constitutions are notoriously difficult to
amend; the US constitution has only had 27 amendment since 1787, judicial tyranny; a
codified constitution is interpreted by the judiciary and as such it can be the case that
judges can ‘legislate from the bench’.
Checks and Balances:
● Can be defined as the abilities and powers that are exclusively given to one
branch of government in order to ‘check’ the actions of the other branches. These
powers are constitutionally enshrined.
● Often given in the form o flowers that are reserved exclusively to that branch
● Congress confirms judicial appointments to the Supreme court and makes laws and
allocates funds for the President
● The President veto’s legislation from congress and appoints justices for the Supreme
court
● The Supreme court rules on legislation from congress and rules on executive action
of the President
● Checks from congress - passes laws, power of the purse, declaration of war,
congressional hearings and investigations, executive appointment hearings ‘advice
and consent powers’, power of impeachment, veto override
● Checks from executive = Presidential veto, commands armed forces in military
action, use of executive orders, executive appointments such as judges
● Checks by Supreme court = rules whether laws are unconstitutional, determines
whether executive actions are unconstitutional
, ● Checks and balances were introduced in order to prevent a government from
becoming too tyrannical, this was the paramount fear of the Founding Fathers after
their experiences of British rule
Entrenched rights:
● Defined as rights which are explicitly protected by the constitution. They have special
status and will be immune from change by political whims through legislation. In order to
change them Constitutional Amendments are required.
● The Bill of Rights (First 10 amendments) is the best example of entrenched rights in the US
as within the 10 amendments., numerous rights are given to US citizens. These include
freedom of speech, assembly, region, legal protections, right to fair trials, protection of
discrimination etc…
● Any piece of ordinary legislation would be immediately struck down by the US supreme
court as unconstitutional if an entrenched right was to be changed by constitutional
amendment.
Limited government:
● Principle that overarching and overreaching government is unacceptable
● Belief that a government should operate a minimalist intervention policy where it concerns
a person’s individual liberties / economy
● Idea for limited government is enshrined in the US constitution, because when being written
the founding fathers were concerned at the possibility of tyrannical government. Based
upon the experiences colonies faced under British rule
● In the US constitution, limited government is shown in the 9th and 10th amendment. In the
9th amendment it asserts that the rights of the people do not explicitly have to be written
in the constitution for those rights to apply. The 10th amendment reinforces limited
government through the instruction that powers are not given to the federal government
are reserved ‘to the states or to the people’
● But it is open to an expanded government through the Necessary and Proper clause in the
constitution - elastic clause. The ambiguous clause can allow congress to legislate in areas
that are not specifically mentioned in the constitution.
Separation of powers:
● Idea that political power is distributed among the 3 branches of government, all acting
independently and interdependently - contrast to the UK which has a fusion of powers.
● Under the separation of powers political power is divided into; Executive branch -
President, Legislative branch - Congress, Judicial branch - Supreme Court
● No member of one branch may sit or operate in another branch, the President as a
member of the executive branch may not sit in the legislature and introduce legislation
● Separation of powers is backed by the series of checks and balances
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