2 pages per question

Directions: You will answer ALL FIVE of the following free response questions.Please make sure to illustrate your free response answers with substantive examples where appropriate. Make certain to number each of your answers as the question is numbered below.You will answer all FIVE questions in ONE document.

1. Identify and explain THREE influences on how member of Congress vote.Of the THREE, which do you think is the MOST influential?Explain.

 

 

1. The power of the President is a hotly debated issue. Some scholars refer to an “imperial Presidency” despite the Founder’s intention to make Congress the “first and most powerful branch.” From the material in our readings, argue THREE reasons why the President and Executive Branch is indeed a more powerful branch of government than the Legislative Branch.

 

1. The United States Supreme Court receives many appeals, but it hears and rules on a small percentage of cases each year. Numerous factors influence the actions of the Court, both in deciding to hear a case and in the decisions it hands down.

1. Define judicial review.
2. Explain how judicial review empowers the Supreme Court within the system of checks and balances.
3. Describe the process through which the Court grants a writ of certiorari.
4. Explain how each of the following influences decisions made by individual justices when deciding cases heard by the Court. -Stare decisis AND Judicial activism

4.Many scholars have argued that the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution has become the single most important amendment to the Constitution.

1. Identify which provision of the Fourteenth Amendment was applied in TWO of the following three Supreme Court cases. For the cases you select, explain the significance of the decisions in United States politics.
   • Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansans (1954)
   • Baker v. Carr (1962)
   • Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)
2. Identify which provision of the Fourteenth Amendment was applied in TWO of the following three Supreme Court cases. For the cases you select, explain the significance of the decisions in United States politics.

• Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
• Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
• Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

5.The Supreme Court has attempted to balance society’s needs of protecting its citizensand the rights of the accused. For EACH of the following cases evaluate how the decision affected society and the accused:

1. Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
2. Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
3. Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

• In your answer, make sure that you explain the constitutional provision(s) used by the Court in rendering its majority opinion.