Back to AI Flashcard MakerLaw /AP Gov Vocab-All Part 12
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Key Terms
Term
Definition
sample
A relatively small proportion of people who are chosen in a survey so as to be representative of the whole.
sampling error
The level of confidence in the findings of a public opinion poll. The more people interviewed, the more confident one can be of the results.
Schenck v. United States
A 1919 Supreme Court decision upholding the conviction of a socialist who had urged resistance to the draft during World War I. Justice Holmes declare...
School District of Abington Township, Pennsylvania v. Schempp
The 1963 Supreme Court decision holding that a Pennsylvania law requiring Bible reading in schools violated the establishment clause of the First Amen...
Scott v. Sandford
The 1857 Supreme Court decision ruling that a slave who had escaped to a free state enjoyed no rights as a citizen and that Congress had no authority ...
search warrant
A written authorization from a court specifying the area to be searched and what the police are searching for.
Related Flashcard Decks
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
sample | A relatively small proportion of people who are chosen in a survey so as to be representative of the whole. |
sampling error | The level of confidence in the findings of a public opinion poll. The more people interviewed, the more confident one can be of the results. |
Schenck v. United States | A 1919 Supreme Court decision upholding the conviction of a socialist who had urged resistance to the draft during World War I. Justice Holmes declared that government can limit speech if the speech provokes a 'clear and present danger' of substantive evils. |
School District of Abington Township, Pennsylvania v. Schempp | The 1963 Supreme Court decision holding that a Pennsylvania law requiring Bible reading in schools violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment. |
Scott v. Sandford | The 1857 Supreme Court decision ruling that a slave who had escaped to a free state enjoyed no rights as a citizen and that Congress had no authority to ban slavery in the territories. |
search warrant | A written authorization from a court specifying the area to be searched and what the police are searching for. |
secretary of defense | The head of the Department of Defense and the president's key adviser on military policy and, as such, a key foreign policy actor. |
secretary of state | The head of the Department of State and traditionally the key adviser to the president on foreign policy. |
select committees | Congressional committees appointed for a specific purpose, such as the Watergate investigation. |
selective benefits | Goods that a group can restrict to those who actually join. |
selective exposure | The process through which people consciously choose to get the news from information sources that have viewpoints compatible with their own. |
selective perception | The phenomenon that people's beliefs often guide what they pay the most attention to and how they interpret events. |
self-incrimination | The situation occurring when an individual accused of a crime is compelled to be a witness against himself or herself in court. The Fifth Amendment forbids involuntary self-incrimination. |
Senate Finance Committee | The Senate committee that, along with the House Ways and Means Committee, writes the tax codes, subject to the approval of Congress as a whole. |
senatorial courtesy | An unwritten tradition whereby nominations for state-level federal judicial posts are usually not confirmed if they are opposed by a senator of the president's party from the state in which the nominee will serve. The tradition also applies to courts of appeals when there is opposition from a senator of the president's party who is from the nominee's state. |
Senior Executive Service | An elite cadre of about 9,000 federal government managers at the top of the civil service system. |
seniority system | A simple rule for picking committee chairs, in effect until the 1970s. The member who had served on the committee the longest and whose party controlled the chamber became chair, regardless of party loyalty, mental state, or competence. |
separation of powers | A feature of the Constitution that requires each of the three branches of government-executive, legislative, and judicial be relatively independent of the others so that one cannot control the others. Power is shared among these three institutions. |
Shays' Rebellion | A series of attacks on courthouses by a small band of farmers led by Revolutionary War Captain Daniel Shays to block foreclosure proceedings. |
single-issue groups | Groups that have a narrow interest on which their members tend to take an uncompromising stance. |
Sixteenth Amendment | The constitutional amendment adopted in the 1913 that explicitly permitted Congress to levy an income tax. |
Sixth Amendment | A constitutional amendment designed to protect individuals accused of crimes. It includes the right to counsel, the right to confront witnesses, and the right to a speedy and public trial. |
Social Security Act of 1935 | Created both the Social Security program and a national assistance program for poor families, usually called Aid to Families with Dependent Children. |
Social Security Trust Fund | The 'account into which Social Security employee and employer contributions are 'deposited' and used to pay out eligible recipients. |
social welfare policies | Policies that provide benefits, cash or in-kind, to individuals, based on either entitlement or means testing. |
soft money | Political contributions earmarked for party-building expenses at the grassroots level or for generic party advertising. For a time, such contributions were unlimited, until they were banned by the McCain-Feingold Act. |
solicitor general | A presidential appointee and the third ranking office in the Department of Justice. The solicitor general is in charge of the appellate court litigation of the federal government. |
sound bites | Short video clips of approximately 10 seconds. Typically, they are all that is shown from a politician's speech on the nightly television news. |
Speaker of the House | An office mandated by the Constitution. The Speaker is chosen in practice by the majority party, has both formal and informal powers, and is second in line to succeed to the presidency should that office become vacant. |
standard operating procedures | Better known as SOPs, these procedures for everyday decision making enable bureaucrats to bring efficiency and uniformity to the running of complex organizations. Uniformity promotes fairness and makes personnel interchangeable. |