GOV 310L Chapter Notes - Chapter 9: Bicameralism, Justiciability, Majority Minority
Government AP Chapter 8 Institutions of Government
Congressional Structure
Congress: the bicameral (two-house) legislature responsible for writing the laws of the
nation. House of Representatives (435 members) and Senate (100 members).
Other functions: overseeing the bureaucracy, consensus building, clarifying policy,
legitimizing, and expressing diversity.
Every 10 years a census is taken by the federal government to count the population to
determine the number of each state’s congressional districts. Each state must then
redraw its congressional boundaries to ensure that each district is equal in population.
Congressional redistricting is done by each state legislature. The political party in
control of the state legislature controls how the districts are drawn.
The legislature will gerrymander the district boundaries to give the majority party an
advantage in future elections.
Congressional Elections
Elections for all the 435 seats of the House of Representatives occur every two years
and takes place within each congressional district. House incumbent election rates are
very high, averaging more than 90%. Many House members have safe seats and are
not seriously challenged for reelection.
Requirements: House members must reside in the district they represent, be a citizen of
the state and be at least 25 years old.
Elections for 1/3 of the Senate occur every 2 years, with a senator’s term lasting 6
years. Every state is guaranteed 2 senators, elected on a staggered basis in statewide
elections. More competitive, expensive, high profile, and draw candidates from other
elected offices.
Congressional Districts and Representation
Descriptive Representation: the elected legislature should reflect the demographic
characteristics of the constituency.
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Voting Rights Act of 1965: encouraged states to take measures to increase minority
representation in Congress. Amended in 1982 to encourage states to create majority-
minority districts, concentration African Americans and Hispanic populations into distinct
congressional districts and make it more feasible for minority candidates to get elected.
Shaw v. Reno: Court ruled that any racial gerrymandering by the state required a
compelling state interest.
African Americans and Hispanics are predominately Democrat -> critics claim that
Republican controlled state legislatures were not motivated by any sense of duty and
tried to remove racial minority Democrats from other districts to ensure that more
Republicans get elected.
Congress draws its members primarily from the legal and business wolds.
Congressional Powers
Responsibilities of the legislative is written more in detail than those of the executive
and judicial branches. Both houses have unique but complementary powers in order to
guard against legislative usurpation (control of one house over the other).
Delegated powers of both houses: taxing, borrowing money, regulating commerce,
raising an army, creating and making rules for the federal courts, establishing
naturalization laws, establishing post offices, providing for a militia, and making any law
that is deemed necessary and proper for carrying out these powers.
House of Representatives powers: initiate tax laws and spending bills. only the House
Ways and Means Committee oversees taxing and spending legislation.
Senate powers: Amending powers on revenue bills, confirmation of presidential
nominations to the federal courts and ambassadorships to foreign countries, ratify all
treaties signed by president.
Congress cannot levy export taxes or grant titles of nobility or pass:
Bills of attainder: Laws that find people guilty of a crime and sentence them to prison
without a trial.
Ex post facto laws: laws that punish people for actions that occurred before the behavior
was made criminal.
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Non-legislative Tasks of Congress
-Oversight: Congress reviews the work of the federal agencies through its committees
and subcommittees. Helps check the executive branch by investigating charges of
corruption and waste, and holds hearings where experts and citizens discuss the
government’s problems and suggest solutions. All committee chairs have the power to
subpoena (legally compel) witnesses to appear and testify.
-Public education: Committee hearings and floor debates increase public awareness of
government and societal problems. Floor debates about gun control, tax cuts, Social
Security reform, etc help to focus national attention.
-Representing constituents within the government: Help constituents in their dealings
with the government. Can receive and act on complains about federal services, sponsor
voters who seek scholarships or federal contracts, and solicit constituents’ suggestions
on how to improve the government. Delegate model/ representational view: members
consider themselves delegates whose job is to mirror the views of their home districts.
Trustee Model/ attitudinal view: members see themselves as trustees who should
consider their constituents’ views but should ultimately use their best judgment as
experts when deciding how to vote.
The Legislative Process:
Final versions of bills are often radically different from the initial versions.
Introducing the bill: 10,000 bills are introduced on the floor of Congress each year.
Sponsors: written by members of Congress, or drafted by executive branch, introduced
by a sympathetic member of Congress, written by interest groups or lawyers.
Bills can only be proposed by a member of Congress.
All bills must pass both houses in exactly the same form.
House Rules Committee: Most powerful committee in the House. Responsible for
determining how long a bill will be debated and whether to allow an open (allow
amendments) or closed (prohibit amendments) rule for amending the bill. Can kill a bill
by delaying a vote or by making it easy for opponents to add poison-pill amendments, or
bring up bills for an immediate floor vote.
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Document Summary
Congress: the bicameral (two-house) legislature responsible for writing the laws of the nation. House of representatives (435 members) and senate (100 members). Other functions: overseeing the bureaucracy, consensus building, clarifying policy, legitimizing, and expressing diversity. Every 10 years a census is taken by the federal government to count the population to determine the number of each state"s congressional districts. Each state must then redraw its congressional boundaries to ensure that each district is equal in population. Congressional redistricting is done by each state legislature. The political party in control of the state legislature controls how the districts are drawn. The legislature will gerrymander the district boundaries to give the majority party an advantage in future elections. Elections for all the 435 seats of the house of representatives occur every two years and takes place within each congressional district. House incumbent election rates are very high, averaging more than 90%.
