AP Government Reading Questions 2015/2016
You will have seven assigned readings each grading period. You may chose to read
all of them (which I highly recommend) or you may use the following grading scale
to decide how many you would like to read. You must answer all assigned
questions to the best of your ability. Partial work does not count and all questions
must be answered in order to receive full credit. This is an individual
assignment (unless your group is presenting that reading); I do not want to
see identical papers with word for word answers.
THIS WILL COUNT AS ONE TEST GRADE PER NINE WEEK GRADING PERIOD.
7
6
5
4
reading
reading
reading
reading
assignments
assignments
assignments
assignments
=
=
=
=
100
90
80
70
3 reading assignments = 55
2 reading assignments = 40
1 reading assignment = 20
***When reading court cases a useful website is www.oyez.com ***
UNIT II: CONSTITUTIONAL FOUNDATIONS AND
UNDERPINNINGS
(1) Jonathan Walters and Donald Kettl “The Katrina Breakdown”
1. What factors lead to the failure of various levels of government to respond
adequately in the Katrina catastrophe?
2. According the article how can such obstacles be overcome in the future?
3. Should the role of the federal government expand as the nation plans how to deal
with future catastrophes?
4. What objections might be raised about an increased federal role?
5. What lessons might the local, state, and national governments learn from Katrina
and its aftermath?
(2) United States v. Lopez (1995)
1. Cite the relevant facts behind the case.
2. Discuss the Supreme Court’s decision in Lopez. Is there a role for Congress
on the issue of guns in schools? Explain why or why not?
3. Identify and explain the three broad categories of activity Congress may
regulate under its commerce powers?
4. Explain the reasoning behind the dissent in the Lopez.
5. What does this decision say about the difficulty in implementing policy in our political
system (this must be answered satisfactorily in order to receive an “A” if you’re doing
the presentation).
Grosenbacher
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AP Reading Assignments
UNIT III: THE JUDICIARY, CIVIL LIBERTIES AND CIVIL RIGHTS
(3) William J. Brennan, Jr. "How the Supreme Court Arrives at Decisions",
How does a case get docketed with the Supreme Court?
1. Evaluate Justice Brennan’s statement that the Court is not a council of Platonic
guardians, nor involved in making social, political, economic, philosophical decisions;
rather, those are rightfully the concern of “the people’s elected representatives.” Is
this true? Why or why not? Provide examples to support your opinion.
2. How does a case get on the Court’s docket?
3. What types of opinions can be written for a case and why are the opinions so
significant?
4. Select two recent Supreme Court cases and assess the role of the Court in regard to
Brennan's statement in question one. (Only group presenting has to answer
this question)
(4) Gonzales v. Raich (2005)
1. What are the facts of the case?
2. What were the issues the Court had to decide on?
3. What was the Court’s decision and who were the dissenters?
4. What reasons did the Court use to reject the state’s arguments?
5. Do you agree with the Court’s decision in Gonzales v. Raich? Why or why not?
(5) City of Boerne v. Flores (1997)
1. What is meant by the “compelling governmental interest test” as it applies to the
facts in this case?
2. Identify and explain what Congress required in the Religious Freedom Restoration
Act of 1993.
3. Briefly summarize the key facts of the case.
4. The statute was constitutional/unconstitutional. What were the main reasons given
by the majority of the Court?
5. The dissenters argued that the statute should have been upheld/overturned. What
were their reasons?
(6) Santa Fe ISD v. Doe (2000)
1. Cite the relevant facts behind the case.
2. What activity did the Court find had civic weight and importance attached to it that
the Court felt compelled to protect a potential rights of minority students?
3. What Amendment does the majority cite in their opinion?
4. What is the basis for the minority’s dissent?
5. How would the “Lemon Test” be applied in this case?
Grosenbacher
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AP Reading Assignments
UNIT IV: MEDIA, PARTIES & INTEREST GROUPS
(7) James Madison - "The Federalist Papers, No. 10”
1. According to Madison, what are factions?
2. According to Madison, why is a constitutional government important in a society of
factions?
3. What, according to Madison, is the principal cause of faction in society, and do you
feel that his view accurately reflected his own times?
4. How does Madison propose to deal with the problem of faction? Can faction be
eliminated? How is it to be controlled?
5. What other constitutional devices, besides those mentioned by Madison, tend to
prevent the control of government by a faction?
(1) John H. Aldrich, “Why Parties”
1. What objectives do political parties help office seekers and officeholders to achieve?
2. How do parties help these politicians achieve their objectives?
3. What roles do voters play in the American party system, according to Aldrich?
4. In what ways are parties useful to voters? To politicians?
5. “Not all problems are best solved, perhaps even solved at all, by political parties,”
writes Aldrich. “The party may even be part of the problem.” What problems might be
better solved by other institutions and actors, such as interest groups? What problems
does the American party system create rather than solve?
(2) Paul S. Herrnson, etc. “Interest Group Connections in Changing Political
Environments (2005)
1. What is the goal of an interest group?
2. What strategies do organized interest groups use in their attempts to influence
officials in the three branches of government?
3. Why do different groups employ different strategies?
4. What are the disadvantages and weaknesses of the interest group system?
5. According to the authors, what are its countervailing strengths and advantages?
UNIT V: CAMPAIGNS, ELECTIONS, AND VOTING BEHAVIOR
(3) V.O. Key, “The Responsible Electorate”, p. 214
1. Why does Key argue that the “voice of the people is but an echo”?
2. What are the conclusions on the research as to why people vote the way they
do? What conclusions does Key draw from this?
3. Why is it important to study the theories as to how voters behave?
4. Identify and explain Key’s “perverse and unorthodox argument”?
5. Provide a specific example from recent congressional or presidential elections
that supports Key’s thesis.
Grosenbacher
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AP Reading Assignments
UNIT VI: CONGRESS
(4) Jonathan Cohn, “Roll Out the Barrel”
1. What is a pork-barrel project?
2. Are all pork-barrel projects contrary to the national interest?
3. Consider the following saying, “All politics is local.” Do we want members of
Congress to be focused primarily on broad national issues rather than local
priorities?
4. List Cohn’s 6 major arguments for “pork.”
(5) Thomas E. Mann & Norman Ornstein, “The Broken Branch”
1. What do the authors mean when they labeled Congress “the broken branch”?
2. How should the Congress act to restore its power and status?
3. What lead to the Institutional Decline?
4. Is the Congress doomed to lose power to the president in this era of globalization, in
which the chief executive’s role often seems to transcend domestic politics? Explain
5. Can the Congress re-establish itself as a truly coequal branch of government by
exercising its considerable powers, such as the power of the purse? Explain how.
UNIT VII: THE PRESIDENCY AND THE BUREAUCRACY
(6) Federalist No. 70 and Presidential Power (1960)
1. Why is a unitary executive necessary, according to Hamilton?
2. What characteristics does a single individual possess that a body of individuals –
Congress, for example lacks?
3. Have Hamilton’s arguments become stronger or weaker over the past two hundred
years? Has the modern presidency borne out of his views or those of his
opponents?
4. What advantages does a president have in the bargaining process, according to
Neustadt?
5. Does he have any significant advantages or disadvantages in dealing with Congress?
With the bureaucracy? With the American people?
6. List a few examples of bargaining and persuading according to Neustadt.
(7) Max Weber “Bureaucracy (1922) & James Q. Wilson “The Rise of the
Bureaucratic State”,
1. What are the characteristics of the bureaucratic form of governmental power?”
2. Why are rules so important in a bureaucracy? What are the advantages and
disadvantages of making decisions on the basis of general rules, rather than on a
case-by-case basis?
3. Wilson suggests that government officials operate under very different constraints
from their counterparts in the private sector. What are these differences, and what
is their effect? Put another way, why does Wilson assert that “the government can’t
say ‘yes’”?
4. What values other than economic efficiency do we demand of government?
Notes: Articles are pulled from the following Readers:
1 – Perspectives on American Politics by William Lasser 5th edition
2 – American Politics by Allen Cigler & Burdett Loomis 7th edition
Grosenbacher
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AP Reading Assignments