Answer the following questions on the American Government
Representative Isabella Wilkinson wants to introduce a new law authorizing the Federal
Government to begin spending $500 billion dollars in stimulus dollars to help Americans
out with the loss of income due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (10 points total)
a. Imagine that you are Representative Wilkinson’s political advisor and she has
approached you to explain the process that her bill will have to go through from the
moment that it is written until it reaches the President’s desk. Make sure that you
describe the process completely; making sure that you cover all the steps.
a. Assume the following things about your bill; that it makes it all the way to the
President AND that in the Senate the bill is amended to include additional
funding for low income families. (7 points)
b. Identify the two primary options that the President has once the bill reaches his desk.
(2 points)
c. Explain what the problem with the bill would be if Representative Isabella Wilkinson
was Senator Isabella Wilkinson. (1 point)
2. Elementary school students are often taught one main thing about the United State
Federal Government system; that the branches are “separate but equal.” (12 points total)
a. Explain what “separate but equal” means in this context. Then, in your own
words, identify whether you believe that the branches are “separate but equal.”
Make sure that you justify your answer and justify it with at least one piece of
evidence from the class. (4 points)
b. Identify at least one argument that a person who disagrees with you on whether
the three branches are “separate but equal might make. Then explain why you
disagree with that argument. (2 points)
c. Finally identify at least one “check” that each branch has on each of the other two
branches. (6 points)
3. Please define descriptive representation. (1 point)
a. Identify the six areas covered in class and in our outside readings where
descriptive representation has changed over time. In each case please provide an
explanation of how the representation of that group has changed over time. (12
points)
b. Explain whether you believe that Congress is doing a good job of being
descriptively representative. Make sure to justify your answer. (2 points)
c. Explain whether you believe that descriptive representation is important. Justify
your answer. Then please identify an argument that might be used by someone
who disagrees with you about the importance of descriptive representation and
explain why you disagree with that argument (4 points)
4. Identify two things that the Constitution says about the federal court system. (2 points)
a. What is the Supreme Court’s main power called? Please explain what the power
allows the Supreme Court to do. What Supreme Court case set the legal precedent
that gave the Court this power? (3 points)
b. What is a weakness of the Supreme Court related to the general public? Please
give at least one example from American history that was directly referenced in
the outside reading. (2 points)
The following questions only ask for short answers.
5. Explain what a filibuster is and where filibusters take place. (2 points)
6. In class we talked about how ending a filibuster required a certain number of voters but
that this number varied depending on what was being debated. Identify the term used for
ending a filibuster. How many votes are required to end a filibuster on a typical bill? (2
points)
7. What are the two different kinds of bills that have special rules related to filibusters and
how many votes are required to end the filibuster in each. (4 points)
8. Please identify each of the nine members of the United States Supreme Court in the
chronological order in which they were approved to be on the Supreme Court. (18
points)
9. Explain what it means that the United States has a dual court system. Explain why the
Supreme Court is special in our dual court system. (2 points)
10. Please identify two powers that the President has that are enumerated by the Constitution.
Please identify two powers that the President has that are not enumerated by the
Constitution. For each identified power explain what each power allows the President to
do. (8 points)
11. For each branch of government please identify whether the branches power has increased
or decreased over the past 230 years of American politics. (3 points)
12. Explain what hard money and soft money are. (2 points)
13. Please explain what pork-barrel politics are. Then identify one area of “pork” that
Lawton, Oklahoma benefits from. (2 points)
14. Please explain what Gerald Ford meant when he said that, “an impeachable offense is
whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment
in history.” (1 points)
15. Please identify and explain three kinds of decisions issued by the Supreme Court and
explain what each one does. (6 points)
16. Please describe what activist and restraint mean when talking about federal judges. (2
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