Week of February 27: Congress - The American Political System, Chapter 5 - The Federalist 52, 53, 62-65 Week

of March 5: The Presidency - The American Political System, Chapters 6, 7 - The Federalist 67-70 Week of March 12: Spring Break Week of March 19: The Courts - The American Political System, Chapters 3, 8 - The Federalist 78 - Brutus XV Week of March 26: Committing Social Science and Exam 2 - Predicting Presidential Elections and Other Things by Ray C. Fair, Chapters 1, 2 - Exam 2 Review Session: Wednesday, March 28 - Exam 2: Friday, March 30

Test 2 Notes 2/27/2012 Congress is a they not an it Almost everything about Congress is not in the Constitution o Congress writes the rules and procedures about themselves Anthropology: study of societies and cultures o Social science o Mostly done through field observation Richard Fenno o Greatest living scholar of congress o Anthropologist o Study method Soak and Poke Follows members of congress Wants to be an observer without changing the usual actions Asks questions o Must understand congress members lives so that he can understand their motives and decisions Politicians o 535 members of congress o Have a negative image (not 100% accurate) Politicians in Real Life o Serious candidates for congress are accomplished, smart, principled people Lots of accomplished, smart, principled people do not run for congress o Why do some run and some not? Candidates o Have a common interest in politics o Do not have a common frustrated ambition This frustrated ambition can be fixed by being successful in public office o Most common background is law But few of them are bug city, big money lawyers nd o 2 most common profession is business But not executives from big corporations Candidates as People

Impressive, ambitious people without a path for ambition Not big city lawyer, so no chance of partnership Not a mid-level worker hoping to become manager Not professor hoping for tenure and promotion o Ones that run for congress have no way out o Seductive to run for congress All of our impressions/ideas about campaigns are presidential campaigns o None of this happens in congressional campaigns Reasons: No money No direct press coverage Few professional campaign workers o Volunteers Retail Politics: o Shaking hands, kissing babies, knocking on doors o TV and radio ads are expensive Campaign Traumas o Meet as many people as possible o Long hours o Borrow money o Cant work their old job o Lots of travel o Emotionally straining Congressional Context o Candidates are not sought out by public, instead they have to go to the public o Hard to sell themselves o Only give small speeches o Rarely win votes, but do get checks sometimes Campaigns and Congress o Time consuming, expensive, destructive process o Only accomplished, smart, principles, tough minded even try o Incumbents win 99% of time o Running is an enormous investment To understand congress you have to understand the investments congressmen have made Congress is an institution motivated to protect their individual investments

2/29/2012 Behavioral Insights in Congress o Protectionism: shared interest in securing reelection Reelection is a public good with in congress; it will go away without institutions o Primacy of election and reelection o Single minded seekers of reelection They have to be in order to have the time to do anything that they care about Mayhew: Congressional scholar o If you are trying to create institutions that protect incumbents, then the House and the Senate have been incredibly successful.

Senate is slightly less secure for incumbents because new potential senators are highly qualified

Reelection o The incumbent advantage in the house and senate is not an accident o Types of incumbent advantages Name recognition Related and build off of each other: endogenous Fundraising Implications o Because Time is scarce Members are rational o Congressmen will use everything to promote reelection Activities to Promote Themselves o Advertising: name recognition Franking privilege: able to send mail without postage Credit claiming: member claims credit for things that happened in government Position taking Name recognition, builds relationship-I believe what you believe Goals o Create positive impression Your man in Washington o Services and benefits will be created without costs Policy o Distributive policy Diffuse costs with specific benefits All people pay a little (unnoticeable) Someone gets a lot (noticeable) Ex. Agricultural subsidies Congressmen will claim credit for the noticeable good Effects of Distributive Policy o Typrical citizen does not connect the benefit to the costs He likes his member who brought the good He dislikes congress who made him pay o This is proven in polls: called Fennos Paradox High approval of congressman Low approval of congress Why would a city congressman who wants money for a subway vote for money for a farm? o He wants the farmers vote for the subway o Logrolling: Vote for me. Ill vote for you o Bundling: combing legislation Why not amend bills and cut out wasteful spending? o Committees Committee that is being wasteful will never agree for their money to be cut Committees are self-selected Interested members have control over various policy domains that they are interested in Logroll threats between committees

3/2/2012 Laws o Fiscal policy: taxing, borrowing, spending o Congress directs the federal bureaucracy to use congressional authority to make laws Delegation o Article 1, section 8 enumerates the powers of congress o Includes the power to delegate the power to make laws to other parts of government Enabling statute: authorizes government agency to make and enforce rules to advance a policy goal Goal is stated in legislation and is often vague and unobjectionable o Leaves the dirty, unpopular work of making a tradeoff and imposing costs to the agency But congress can still take credit while avoiding the blame Why Does Delegation Exist? o Officially: Expertise: Congress lacks the time and expertise Implementation: Congress will establish a goal agency will create a law to achieve that goal agency will enforce the law o Politically: Serve electoral interests to advance congressmen Examples of Delegation o Occupational and Safety Act of 1970 Employers must furnish a safe workplace Workers must follow safety rules Does not specifically list these rules, but creates Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to write and enforce the rules o Result of Occupational and Safety Act OSHA is now a massive federal agency Budget is > billion each year Creates and enforces thousands of pages of regulations Implications for Congress o Members get to claim credit for easy part= the workers safety o Dodge blame for hard part= imposing costs on businesses and workers o Businesses and workers come to congress for help with OSHA This allows congressmen to take a position on what OSHA is doing to the workers and businesses Policy o Agency rules are not always bad Ex. Moving machine parts need to be covered o Rulemaking is much like distributive politics Costs are diffuse: business owners and customers pay costs for complying to the rule Benefits are delivered to the workers Delegation System Problems o Actual policies are set by unelected government officials Bureaucrat: unelected government official

o Congress has power without responsibility Delegation system serves congresses goal to secure reelection o Congress wins no matter what o So this system will continue as long as the public good is being served and incumbents are winning elections

3/5/2012 Richard Neustadts Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents o Worked for Roosevelt and Truman o Professor at Harvard o Interested in presidential power o Historian rather than political scientist o Saw that things had changed with the presidency That the president is the center of gravity in government Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents starts with three stories o 1st Story: Truman Firing MacArthur North Korea attacks South Korea MacArthur lands China intercedes MacArthur wants to fight China in China MacArthur wants wider war Truman says no Truman fires MacArthur nd o 2 Story: Steel Seizure Steel unions threaten strike Truman seizes the mills and make the workers government employees Supreme Court rejects Trumans claim of authority Truman brokers deal rd o 3 Story: Invading Arkansas Little Rock desegregation order State court rules against integration Orval Faubus (governor of Arkansas) orders national guard to prevent black children for entering school Federal judge order integration Faubus refuses Faubus meets with Eisenhower Nothing changes Faubus withdraws the national guards and allows a riot and then returns the troops to maintain order Eisenhower calls national guard into service and orders them out of Little Rock Sends 101st Airborne to escort blacks to school Powerful President o Sort of o These stories are not the best examples of presidential leadership o They were a last resort because the presidents original action was not enough Presidentail Power

Formal Powers: in Article II Informal Powers: charisma, leadership, personal influence Ability to influence above the formal powers o The environment allows for different influential powers to be used, but does not change the powers of the president Formal Powers o Veto legislation (can be overridden) o Appoint judges and executive officials (must be approved) o Negotiate treaties (requires confirmation) o Commander in Chief (but cant declare war) o All actions subject to judicial oversight Neustadt argues that the formal powers make the president a Clerk in Chief o For the president to be powerful he has to use more than his formal powers Informal Powers o Allow president to have influence beyond the formal powers o President is more influential when: He has a professional reputation Has a network of connections Bank of favors o Presidents rely on formal power when they have to, but use leadership and personality to accomplish goals o Use persuasion and bargaining to convince people to do what he wants Do favors, make deals, follow through on their end Big Picture o Presidents are expected to do more than their formal powers o Persuasion and bargaining are their means of transcending their limits o Bargaining necessary across and within institutions Sources of Bargaining Authority o Presidential prestige o Ability to do favors and make bargains o Public standing Neustadt o Loves: FDR o Would love: LBJ o Picks on: Ike o Would pick on: Nixon and Carter

o o

They do not know much about Washington and do not have connections with people in Washington

3/7/2012 Lyndon B. Johnson o Successful at passing legislation Jimmy Carter o Not a lot of political reputation or connections Ronald Reagan o Ambitious program to reduce federal tax rate from 78% to 28% o Doomed to fail in Neustadts eyes because he did not have experience in Washington

Neustadt and Bargaining o Ronald Reagan screwed up Neustadts theory Promised large economic reform Refused to bargain Was successful o Reagan represented a different way to be successful that was not in Neustadts model Something New: Going Public o Reagans strategy o Indirect contact urging support Direct appeals to public Frequent speeches on radios and televisions urging for support Indirect Contact o Works because it is a threat to congress Do what I want or the public will punish you next election Congress wants to be reelected Sam Kernell: wrote a series of articles on this new strategy: going public (indirect contact) Media plays key role in going public o Able to reach almost everyone in US o Also makes going public dangerous Popular presidents selling popular proposals can pull it off Hard for less popular presidents selling tough ideas to succeed by going public The Bargaining Renaissance o Going public cuts the president off from a tactical retreat o Failed Going Public Ex. Clintons health care reforms Bushs social security reforms Obamas healthcare (passed, but costly efforts) Why Going Public Fails o Some presidents not popular, not good communicators, or not talented o Media does not devote 100% of their channels to presidential speeches o Polarization: democrats are liberal; republicans are conservative o Other sides pick up on the power of campaigns Presidents on the Margins o When going public, president viewed as game changers In reality they are on the sidelines o Bigger forces at work than the president

3/9/2012 - If you are going to interact with someone, - your choices hinge on how you think that another person will act - Signaling games: ways to break down how the interaction will play out between the sender and receiver - Signal A Signal A - Type B Type A sender

Signal B

Signal B

Receive can only see the signals, so they do not know what type is being sent Pooling Equilibrium: o Both type A and B send the same signals o Receiver not able to make decision based on those signals Separating Equilibrium: happens when a signal is so costly that he would not send if his type was bad o Saying I love you = saying I am an conservative o Buying a ring = consistent conservative choices Lessons: o Political: Think about the ways the politicians send signals and consider the costliness of that signal o Life: think about the signals you receive o Life: Think about the signals that you are sending

3/19/2012 Article III Provisions o Establishes supreme court and congress can establish smaller courts o Judges serve life tenure Sometimes seen as a way to avoid politics o Paid at a steady rate o Original jurisdiction (controversies between states) A cases 1st appearance in court o Appellate jurisdiction (congress may restrict these cases) Most supreme court cases are appeals o Location of trials Court conducted in the same state which you committed the crime o Definition of and punishment for treason Bare Bones are Lacking o Article III is lease developed framework o Modern judiciary is formed by congress and evolution of traditions and practices Supreme court is a result of politics within congress o Whats left out: Qualifications for office These things Size of supreme court and other courts exist because Number, type, and organization of lower courts congress Enforcement mechanisms established There is no mandate to respect all supreme court decisions them Judicial review Supreme court has taken the responsibility to determine whether laws are unconstitutional Supreme Court Functions o Trail courts: answer questions of fact Main job is to build a record of evidence so that a verdict can be made o Appellate Courts Answers question of law Cannot appeal saying I did not do it There must be a problem with evidence

Is the law permissible? Official History of Judicial Review o Judicial Act of 1789 established the basic framework for the court system we have today President appoints, senate confirms appointment of judges Authorizes people to appeal o Judicial review comes from Marbury vs. Madison Starts with election od 1800 (Federalists out of office, Republicans in) Federalists crowd the courts John Marshall is made Chief Justice Adams appoints, Senate confirms, Marshall signs and seals commissions No time to deliver commissions before Jefferson takes office Jefferson and new Secretary of State (Madison) take office and do not commission new Chief Justices Marbury sues under Judiciary Act of 1789 Asks supreme court for a writ of mandamus against Madison Supreme court and Marshall in a jam If they order Madison to deliver the commission they risk being ignored and undermining the court If they rule against Marbury they prove that they are weak Marshall solves problem: creates judicial review Marbury is entitled to his commission Court should issue writ of mandamus Court cannot issue writ because Judiciary Act of 1789 is unconstitutional

3/21/2012 Ever Since Marbury o Magical moment where judicial review was created and supreme court was made final and authoritative interpreter of the constitution = BAD WAY TO UNDERSTAND o Supreme court can interpret the constitution along with the other branches of government = BETTER WAY TO UNDERSTAND Alien and Sedition Act of 1789 o Allowed president to throw out foreigners without a trial o Punishment for saying bad things about the government o Used by Federalists to harass Republicans Judiciary Act of 1802 (Repeal Act) o Repealed Judiciary Act of 1789 o Eliminated the judges that were created by Federalists o Congress also told supreme court they could not meet that year Stuart vs. Laird o Challenged constitutionality of Judiciary Act of 1802 Claimed that congress cannot eliminate judges Republicans won over Federalists in election of 1802 o Republican house seats increase 68 to 103 o Federalists increase from 38 to 39 o No political cost for attacking the courts

Supreme Court was not trying to assert something new (judicial review) rather trying to protect supreme court from being over powered by president and congress Supreme court limits their own powers in Marbury when they declare Judiciary Act of 1789 unconstitutional o They can no longer issue a writ Federalist 78 o Courts were in place to limit legislature Federalist 81 o Even if courts start to misinterpret laws and constitution, it is not going to happen often enough for any real change to occur o Supreme court is politically incapable of disrupting the whole political system because if it did it is weak and has no way to enforce its decisions o Congress is invited to impeach judges if they are not doing their duty Designed as a safe guard o Congress had power to undermine supreme court in many ways John Marshall did not invent judicial review Judicial power rests on political choices made by congress not the constitution Competing Public Agency o In the people have a problem with one branch of government, they can go to another branch to be their agent o Allows people to have authority Confidence in supreme court moves parallel to confidence in congress o System on competing public agency really works More public confidence in congress, supreme court less likely to strike down laws Constitution is intentionally vague to allow competing public agency to play out

3/23/2012 Supreme court decisions are constrained by the law o The law: body of methods/principles that form a coherent statement of how a judge is going to apply the constitution Decision Making: Methods of Constitutional Interpretation o Textualism: read constitution with the original plain meaning of the words o Originalism: history minded; original intention of the writers Bork o Pragmatism: claim they are concerned with meaning of the text and intention of the writers but that they should allow themselves to consider other things like the affects the law has had on people o Popular constitutionalism: the constitution represents a statement of the limits ordinary people places in the government Should be interpreted as the wishes of the people Extralegal Factors o Oral arguments o Public opinion o Personal policy preferences of the justice- Attitudinal Model Ex. Of Attitudinal Model: Brown vs. Board of Education o 14th amendment overturned separate but equal in Plessey vs. Ferguson o Textualist: plain meaning supports desegregation positions, but is unclear o Originalism: leans towards separate but equal

Part of Radical Republican Agenda Congress segregated schools in DC so they must have wanted segregation Defer to Precedent Decide things in same way that things have already been decided Plessey vs. Ferguson 8 other spate but equal cases States adopted segregation and congress did not act against them Permit segregation Pragmatism: Separate but equal had negative effects on African American children Baby doll experiment Against segregation Court Ruling History of 14th amendment is inconclusive Things have changed in public education Segregation had hurt black children Plessey is overturned