Skowronek: The Politics Presidents Make

This is a short summary of Skowronek's 1993 article "The Politics Presidents Make"

i. There is a cycle to all presidencies, and so presidents in similar political times can be compared with each other, even through they may be separated by decades of time.

1. The idea of great presidents and incompetent presidents is not a difference of individual skills and ability (Neustadt) but arises out of the current political order (see below).

ii. Presidents can be classified over two dimensions

1. Their affiliation with, or opposition to, a given regime order

2. The extent to which that order is robust or vulnerable

a. Reconstruction: the great regime over-throwers and builders – opposed to a vulnerable order.

i. Thomas Jefferson is best example because he operated in a near void of organized opposition at a very early moment in government development.

ii. Jackson, Lincoln, FDR, Regan

1. Can reconcile the order-shattering and order-affirming needs by creating new constitutional governance – so they are successful.

b. Articulation: affiliated with a robust order.

c. Disjunction: affiliated with a collapsing order.

d. Preemption: opposed to a robust order

iii. The presidency is order-shattering, order-affirming, and order-creating in its properties.

iv. Finds there are 4 eras in presidential time (secular time)

1. Patrician Era (1789-1832)

a. Leaders who stood above faction and interests and governed on the strength of their personal reputation among notables.

2. Partisan Era (1832-1900)

a. Leadership was a form of executive patronage to party factions and local machines.

3. Pluralist Era (1900-1972)

a. The rise of bureaucracy and institutional elites required more complex bargaining and negotiating between competing interests.

4. Plebiscitary Era (1972 – current)

a. More candidate-centered presidential campaigns and a greater emphasis on direct political relationships with the public.

b. Government has become so “thick” that it resists presidential initiatives and change – impasse is the result.

v. Closes with the idea that all presidents should be preemptors now because the government is robust, and they should stand in opposition to this.

1. Gives no examples or descriptions of someone who would be this way.

2. Gives no clear reasons why there should be a preemptor.

Review Questions: The Judiciary in American Government

Here are the review questions for the judiciary. If you can answer all these questions, you will know a general overview of the role of the judiciary in American Government.

1. Why does the public express more support for the Supreme Court than for Congress and the President?
2. What is the structure of the federal courts in the Constitution?
3. What is the difference between federal district courts and federal courts of appeal?
4. What is the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and how does it operate? What is its jurisdiction?
5. What is jurisdiction?
6. What is the jurisdiction of the United States Supreme Court?
7. What is a writ of habeas corpus?
8. What is the importance of habeas corpus to democracy?
9. How did Benjamin Franklin want judges chosen?
10. How did the rest of the founders want the judges chosen? What was the expectation of the Founders as it relates to selecting judges?
11. What is senatorial courtesy as it relates to judicial selection?
12. How can senatorial courtesy affect who the President wants to select as a Justice?
13. What are the mechanics of selection for a federal court judge or a Justice?
14. What does the term “Justice” refer to?
15. What is the “Ordain and Establish Clause” and where can it be found?
16. What are some of the criteria Presidents use for selecting judges?
17. Who is Thurgood Marshall?
18. Who is Sandra Day O’Conner?
19. What is the strategy Ronald Reagan used during Confirmation Hearings?
20. Who is Clarence Thomas?
21. What are the implications for democracy when judges refuse to reveal their views on issues during Confirmation Hearings?
22. What is the traditional background of judges? What implications does that have for democracy?
23. What is the tenure for federal judges?
24. What are some of the qualifications to be a federal judge?
25. How do interest groups help provide access to the federal courts?
26. What is a writ of certiorari?
27. What is the “Rule of four?”
28. What does it mean that the Supreme Court can only adjudicate “cases and controversies?”
29. Does the USSC issue advisory opinions? Why or why not?
30. What is a statute and what role do they have in judicial decision?
31. What is stare decisis and what role does it have in judicial decisions?
32. What is a restrained judge, and what characterizes their decisions?
33. What is an activist judge and what characterizes their decisions?
34. Does the USSC hear political questions? Why or why not? What constitutes a political question?
35. What is a precedent?
36. What is Justice Souter’s famous argument against precedent in Roe v. Wade?
37. Do judges make law? How?
38. What is a brief?
39. What is an amicus brief?
40. What happens during oral arguments?
41. What is an opinion, and what types of opinions are there?
42. Who assigns the writing of the majority opinion?
43. What were the Founders’ expectations of the judiciary?
44. What did Hamilton think of the judiciary in the Federalist Papers?
45. What is judicial review and what case established it?
46. Explain Marbury v. Madison.
47. Which case established national supremacy?
48. What factors characterized the Warren Court?
49. What was the issue in Bush v. Gore and how/why did the USSC decide what they did?
50. What is the role of judicial review?

***These questions go along with Chapter 13 of "Understanding American Government" 12th edition by Welch, Gruhl, Comer, Rigdon, Gerston and Christensen.

Chapter 10 - The Essentials Of American Government

Vocabulary and definition from Chapter 10 - Congress

appropriations Budget legislation that specifies the amount of authorized funds that will actually be allocated for agencies and departments to spend.

authorizations Budget legislation that provides agencies and departments with the legal authority to operate; may specify funding levels but do not actually provide the funding (the funding is provided by appropriations).

Cannonism The attributes of a strong Speaker of the House of Representatives, based on the tenure of Joseph Cannon (R—Ill.), speaker from 1903-1911, who controlled the House with the force of his personality and his use of the rules at the time. He blocked legislation he did not like, controlled debate, and punished those who opposed him.

casework The assistance members of Congress provide to their constituents; includes answering questions and doing personal favors for those who ask for help. Also called constituency service.

cloture A method of stopping a filibuster by limiting debate to only 20 more hours; requires a vote of three-fifths of the members of the Senate.

conference committee A committee composed of members of both houses of Congress that is formed to try to resolve the differences when the two houses pass different versions of the same bill.

constituency Both the geographic area and the people a member of Congress represents. For a senator, the state and all its residents; for a member of the House, a congressional district and all its residents.

constituency service The assistance members of Congress provide to residents in their districts (states, if senators); includes answering questions and doing personal favors for those who ask for help. Also called casework.

earmark A specific amount of money designated—or set aside—at the request of a member of Congress, for a favored project, usually in his or her district. The dollar amount may be included in one of the budget authorization bills, but more commonly is in the committee report attached to the bill that instructs the relevant executive branch agency how to spend the money authorized for its operations.

enumerated powers Explicit grants of authority to Congress in the Constitution.

filibuster A mechanism for delay in the Senate in which one or more members engage in a continuous speech to prevent the Senate from voting on a bill.

gerrymander A congressional district whose boundaries are drawn so as to maximize the political advantage of a party or racial group; often such a district has a bizarre shape.

going public The process in which Congress or its members carry an issue debate to the public via the media; e.g., televising floor debates or media appearances by individual members.

implied powers The clause in the U.S. Constitution that gives Congress the power to make all laws “necessary and proper” for carrying out its specific powers.

informal norms Unwritten rules designed to help keep Congress running smoothly by attempting to diminish friction and competition among the members.

majority leader The title of both the leader of the Senate, who is chosen by the majority party and the head of the majority party in the House of Representatives who is second in command to the Speaker.

markup The process in which a congressional subcommittee rewrites a bill after holding hearings on it.

minority leader The leader of the minority party in either the House of Representatives or the Senate.

pork barrel Funding for special projects, buildings, and other public works in the district or state of a member of Congress. Members support such projects because they provide jobs for constituents and enhance the members’ reelection chances, rather than because the projects are necessarily wise.

reapportionment The process of redistributing the 435 seats in the House of Representatives among the states based on population changes; occurs every 10 years based on the most recent census.

redistricting The process of redrawing the boundaries of congressional districts within a state after a census to take account of population shifts.

Rules Committee The committee in the House of Representatives that sets the terms of debate on a bill.

seniority rule The custom that the member of the majority party with the longest service on a particular congressional committee becomes its chair; applies most of the time but is occasionally violated.

Speaker of the House The leader and presiding officer of the House of Representatives; chosen by the majority party.

special-interest caucus Groups of members of the House of Representatives and Senate who are united by some personal interest or characteristic; e.g., the Black Caucus.
standing committees Permanent congressional committees.

whips Members of the House of Representatives who work to maintain party unity by keeping in contact with party members trying to ensure they vote for party-backed bills. Both the majority and the minority party have a whip and several assistant whips.