Assignment
Part I
Government Bureaucratic Oversight:
A. What strategies does Congress use for controlling the bureaucracy? What is their most powerful oversight tool?
B. What does the president do to control the executive? What role does the OMB play?
C. What role do citizens play in controlling the bureaucracy? What are the two most important laws that allow citizens to exercise control and what do they do?
D. What is government privatization? What do most governmental officials mean when they refer to privatization?
E. Describe how divestiture would work. Is it common at the federal level? Give an example.
F. What process of privatization grew to prominence during the Clinton administration?
G. Describe third-party financing.
H. What is a whistleblower and why are they protected? Which laws protect them?
Part II
As discussed in the chapter, Independent Regulatory Agencies (Commissions) are bureaucratic agencies that are created by Congress to regulate a specific economic activity or interest. Pick one of these agencies and describe a couple of paragraphs that discuss the following questions:
A. What is the history of the agency (how did it come to be, why did it come to be, when did it come to be, etc.)
B. What are the powers of the agency?
C. Has the agency been beneficial, or harmful in your opinion. Why?
Part III
A. Who is the current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court? Who are the other eight members? (NOTE: The video is a little dated. You can find the current justices on the SCOTUS website:)
B. What do clerks do?
C. What jurisdiction does the Supreme Court have?
D. When does the court term start and end?
E. What is a Writ of Certiorari?
F. Describe the Cert Pool and the Rule of Four.
G. Does the Supreme Court hear a lot of cases?
H. What types of cases are they more likely to choose?
I. How long does each lawyer get to talk during a Supreme Court hearing?
J. Why don't they allow public deliberations?
K. Define majority opinion, concurring opinion and dissenting opinion.
L. What influences judicial decision making?
M. What is the difference between judicial activism and restraint?