 Definition: lying under oath
 The victim was found guilty of perjury in the
courtroom, he lied straight to the judges face.
 Definition: The powers explicitly granted to Congress
by the Constitution, sometimes referred to as
enumerated powers
 Congress exhibits the expressed power to regulate
trade among states and with other nations.
 Definition: Article I, Section 8, Clause 18, of the
Constitution which gives the national legislature the
power to “make all laws that are necessary and proper”
to exercise the powers granted by the Constitution
 The Necessary and Proper Clause is sometimes called
the elastic clause and grants Congress the power to
pass any law necessary for carrying out the
enumerated powers.
 Definition: Proposed laws to authorize spending
money.
 An appropriation bill is an act that authorize use of
public funds for a specific purpose.
 Definition: Commerce among states
 Interstate commerce refers to the sale, exchange, or
purchase of materials, money or goods, transportation
of people and navigation of waters between different
states.
 Definition: Stated that when office of the Vice
President becomes empty, the president appoints a
replacement. If the President dies, the Vice President
becomes President
 The 25h Amendment deals with succession to the
Presidency and filling of vacant positions.
 Definition: An addition to a bill that often has little
relationship to the bill’s main topic
 A rider is a provision on a subject other than the one
covered by the bill and occurs at the end of a session.
 Definition: The refusal by the president or governor to
sign a bill
 When a President vetoes a bill, he returns it to
Congress including reasons for the action.
 Definition: The vote to end debate of a bill in the
Senate
 A cloture closes a debate.
 Definition: Permanent Committee of the House of
Representatives
 The standing committees address the major areas in
which most proposed laws fall such as agriculture, the
budget and armed services.
 Definition: A temporary committee of the House of
Representatives
 Select committees carry out tasks not already
completed by other existing committees.
 Definition: A committee made up of members of both
chambers of the bicameral legislature
 Joint committees are formed from members of the
House and Senate and address broad issues that affect
both chambers.
 Definition: A committee that has total jurisdiction on
taxation, tariffs and other revenue-raising bills.
 People who serve on the Ways and Means Committee
cannot serve on any other committees.
 Definition: Contacting a public official to persuade the
official to support the group’s interests
 People who partake in lobbying are trying to persuade
officials to support their views.
 Definition: This stands for political actions
committees which are an organization created to raise
and contribute money legally to campaigns of political
candidates.
 Examples of PACS include fund-raising organizations
established by corporations, labor unions, and other
special-interest groups
 Definition: Measures in which both houses of
Congress address matters that affect the operations of
both chambers
 Concurrent resolution deals with matters where laws
aren’t needed.
 Definition: The presiding officer of the House of
Representatives.
 The speaker of the house is the member who runs the
meeting, appoints some members to committees,
refers bills to the standing committee and puts
question to vote and follows up in succession.
 Definition: A bicameral legislature with the House of
Representatives based on population and a senate with
equal representation for all states.
 The Great Compromise combined the New Jersey and
Virginia plans, pleasing both small and large states.
 Definition: The system of government under which the
national and state governments share powers
 Federalism divides the power evenly between central
government and territorial subdivisions.
 Definition: A system in which many decisions are
made by an external member-state legislation
 A confederation is a united system by alliance.
 Definition: The powers that are not specifically
granted to the federal government nor denied to the
states that are reserved for the states
 Reserved powers are powers that belong exclusively to
the states.
 Definition: The powers shared by both the federal and
state governments.
 Concurrent powers are shared between the state and
national governments.
 Definition: The power of the supreme court to declare
laws and executive actions as unconstitutional
 Judicial Review helps keep checks and balances and is
a power of the judicial branch.
 Define: People who believe that individuals should be
responsible for their own well being
 Conservatives believe people should not rely on the
government for assistance
 Definition: People who believe that the government
should be used to remedy the social and economic
injustices of the marketplace
 A liberal supports government regulation of the
economy.
 Definition: Organized groups of people that seek to
win elections in order to influence the activities of
government
 Two common examples of political parties include
Democrats and Republicans.
 Definition: The day in which several US States hold
primary elections
 Super Tuesday is a day in which many primaries are
held on the same Tuesday in early March.
 Definition: The body of 538 people elected from 50
states and the District of Columbia to cast the offical
votes that elect the president and vice president.
 The framers created the electoral college as a means of
insulating the government form whims of a less
educated public.
 Definition: An act that encouraged states to take
measures to increase minority representation in
congress
 The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a landmark piece of
national legislation that prohibited discrimination in
voting.
 Definition: Provisions within legislation that
appropriate money to a specific project
 Earmarks are funds or resources that are designated for
a specific purpose.
 Definition: A means by which a President can reject a
bill, when Congress is not in session, by not signing it
 A pocket veto is in effect in the president doesn’t sign a
bill during the 10 days before a congressional session
ends.
 Definition: An agreement with the prosecution to
agree to a less serious crime and sentence
 Plea Bargaining is an agreement in a case between the
prosecutor and the defendant.
 Definition: The authority of some courts to review
decisions made by the lower courts
 Appellate Jurisdiction can only decide issues of law nt
the facts of the case.
 Definition: The concept that a judge should interpret
the Constitution according to the Framer’s original
intentions
 Judicial restraint is when judges are reluctant to
overturn the acts of legislature.
 Definition: The concept that the Constitution should
be interpreted more broadly.
 A judge who supports judicial activism is one who has
no qualms overturning legislature.
 Definition: Laws the Congress pass to appropriate
money for local federal projects
 A pork-barrel legislation is a government project that
yields its benefits to its representative of its political
party.
 Definition: The right to vote in political elections
 The 19th amendment grants women suffrage.
 Definition: A system of government in which the
people elect their representatives
 The United States is a country that’s government is an
example of a democracy.
 Definition: The drawing of district boundaries for
political advantage
 Gerrymandering is an act of manipulating electoral
districts so that they are in favor of one party.
 Definition: Being made to stand on trial twice for the
same offense
 A personal may have to participate in double jeopardy
even when new incriminating evidence has been
uncovered.