Rakestraw - AP GOV blogs

1. What question will be added to the Census in 2020? The 2020 census will ask every American household to record which members of their family are US citizens. 2. How does the government justify this addition? The government’s justification for the question sounds simple enough: Asking about citizenship will provide more information about who is in the United States, and more information is always good. 3. Why do people have a problem with this addition? The critics are skeptical that the Trump administration intends to use citizenship data for good reasons. The not-so-subtle implication, critics say, is that that it’s part of a broader project by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and company to take America back to the pre-civil rights era. 4. Why is it important to states that the undocumented immigrants that live there answer the Census? The census is used to determine congressional apportionment for the next decade, allocate federal funding for infrastructure...

1.  Why does Shira Scheindlin argue that due process rights for men like Rob Porter have not been violated? The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, provides, inter alia, that “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.” This legal standard means what it says. Certainly, Rob Porter and others who have been accused of sexual abuse or harassment are not being deprived of their life or their liberty as a result of the allegations made against them. 2.  How does she describe the steps in the process when a legal action is brought against a person? The due process of a court action is often a very complicated and lengthy affair, involving pretrial discovery, witnesses, and a judicial proceeding. But given the stakes of loss of life or liberty, that makes sense. In context, the accusations that cause a person to lose his job must be evaluated by the employer, who must make a judgment call based on the strength of those alle...

1. Why was it strange for the Democratic candidate to win in the Pennsylvania district? One reason that the results are especially scary for Republicans — Democrat Conor Lamb is the apparent winner in a district that President Trump won by 20 percentage points — is because it came on reasonably high turnout, the sort of turnout one might expect in this year’s midterms. 2. On the chart, what is "Democratic swing"? Democratic swing is the difference between the special election result and the district’s partisan lean. Partisan lean is the average difference between how the constituency voted and how the country voted overall in the last two presidential elections. 3. Which special elections so far have had the largest Democratic swing? Alabama U.S. Senate election, Kansas 4th election, and the Pennsylvania 18th election 4. How is the generic ballot polling different from the results to far in these special elections? Those special election results consist of actual pe...

1. Where do the district court and appellate court fit into the organization of the federal courts? T he district court is a trial court within the Ninth Circuit; the appellate court is one step higher on the ladder and oversees all individual districts. 2. What makes the 9th Circuit stand out from the other circuit courts? The Ninth Circuit is by far the largest federal appellate court, with 29 judges. (The Fifth Circuit, covering Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, is second, with 17.) The Ninth covers a population of 64.3 million people, according to the latest Census data, or nearly 20 percent of the US. 3. What historical cause may make this Circuit Court more liberal than others? The Court’s reputation arguably derives from its transformation under President Jimmy Carter. While Carter was the only the fourth president to make no appointments to the Supreme Court, he did appoint 15 people to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, out of 23 judges total at the time. 4. Give two ...

1. What are the disadvantages for Scott Pruitt of using rule making? Much of EPA’s work is governed by statute, so dismantling most environmental regulations requires an arduous rule-making process that requires public comments, as well as new rules to comply with the law. The whole endeavor is inevitably beset by lawsuits at every step. 2. How has the enforcement of environmental regulations changed from the Obama Administration to the Trump Administration? During the Obama Administration, environmental policy was far more enforced than it has been during the Trump Administration. Environmental law enforcement has declined. By September, the Trump administration launched 30 percent fewer cases and collected about 60 percent fewer fines than in the same period under President Obama. 3. What change has Pruitt made to the process for investigating potential violations of environmental regulations? The agency’s enforcement division now has to get approval from headquarters befor...

1. What action (or lack of action) caused the government shut down? The most basic reason for the shutdown is that the government gets funded by laws that have to go through Congress — and this time, Congress failed to pass a new government funding law before the old one expired. 2. In a shutdown, which government functions continue? Which ones stop? The entire federal government certainly doesn’t shut down. Military and law enforcement activities continue. Social Security checks still go out. Air traffic controllers still go to work. Activities the government has deemed “nonessential” stop, and employees tasked with those activities are furloughed. 3. How were Democrats able to force Republicans to address the DACA issue? One obvious point of potential leverage over Republicans is that Democratic votes are needed to fund the government. So these activists argued that Democrats shouldn’t vote for any government funding bill without a DACA deal. 4. Why were some Democ...

1.  If the vice president and majority of the cabinet decide the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, what step do they take first? The amendment states that if, for whatever reason, the vice president and a majority of sitting Cabinet secretaries decide that the president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” they can simply put that down in writing and send it to two people — the speaker of the House and the Senate’s president pro tempore. 2. How many people does it take to make the vice president the acting president? One vice president and any eight Cabinet officers can, theoretically, decide to knock the president out of power at any time. Nine people. 3. What happens if the president disagrees with the VP & cabinet? If the president wants to dispute this move, he can, but then it would be up to Congress to settle the matter with a vote. A two-thirds majority in both houses would be necessary to keep the vi...

1. Why did the Trump administration decide to end the Voter Fraud Commission? The Trump administration determined that backing off was better than the alternative of endless legal battles at taxpayer expense, and it would cost too much money to continue. 2. What claims had Trump made about voter fraud? Trump claimed on Twitter, without any evidence whatsoever, that “millions” of people voting illegally had cost him the popular vote in the 2016 election. 3. What rate of voter fraud was found by a Loyola Law School study? Loyola Law School professor Justin Levitt studied voter impersonation, the type of fraud that strict voter ID laws (which Trump supports) aim to curtail. Levitt found 35 total credible accusations between 2000 and 2014, constituting a few hundred ballots at most. During this 15-year period, more than 800 million ballots were cast in national general elections and hundreds of millions more were cast in primary, municipal, special, and other elections. ...

1. What problem did General Electric have with the version of the tax reform bill passed by the House of Reps? It could cost the company more than 1 billion dollars in new taxes. 2. How is the Senate version different than the House version of this tax reform bill regarding the provision GE was worried about? The senate version would allow the company to factor in losses when calculating its tax liability. 3. How do foreign owned airlines and Delta want the tax bill to be different? They are fighting for a provision that would make pay taxes earned on U.S. flights in certain cases. 5. What will happen to the bill after it is debated and voted on in the Senate? It will be merged with the House bill and sent to the White House. 6. What problem do real estate company lobbyists have with the House version of this tax bill? They do not like that it will make home buying less effective and weaken the housing market. 7. Who does the Build Coalition represent? They protect corp...

1. Which two senators does the article single out as being potential obstacles to the passing of the tax bill & where are they from? Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, and Susan Collins from Maine. 2. What indications has Murkowski made about how she may vote on this tax bill? She told Roll Call she would consider voting for the bill if the Senate also passed a bipartisan Obamacare stabilization bill — then walked it back a few hours later. She clarified in a statement she supports a stabilization measure but “one should not assume this is a precondition for my support for the tax bill.” A few days later, she wrote an op-ed for a local newspaper declaring she supported repealing the individual mandate. But then her office said the same day that did not necessarily mean she would support the tax overhaul. 3. What did Republicans add to the bill that would specifically encourage Murkowski to vote for the bill? the bill contains a big sweetener for Murkowski — a provision that co...

1. How many total Republicans in Congress have already announced that they will not run for reelection in 2018? 14 republicans have said they will not be running for reelection 2. How many total Democrats in Congress have already announced that they will not run for reelection in 2018? Only two Democratic House members are retiring and not running for another office. 3. What is so unique about the discrepancy between these two groups? The discrepancy in retirements between the two parties suggests that many Republicans fear a backlash against their party due to President Donald Trump’s poor approval rating. 4. What factors do the authors of the article suggest are behind these decisions not to run for reelection? They can be old and are just retiring. They could also be scared of a challenging election. They could also not want to participate when the party is soon going to be in the minority. 5.  Why might the elections for those in "safe red districts...

1. What three observations did the study find about media outlets with a right leaning audience? The journalists listed fewer types of sources, were less likely to criticize Trump, and were more focused on character than policy. 2. How did right leaning media outlets and left leaning media outlets use sources differently? The left leaning outlets used a wider variety of sources and cited them more often. 3. How much more likely were left leaning outlets to include negative coverage of Trump? 7 times more likely. 4. How often did left leaning and right leaning outlets refute something said by Trump? Left wing outlets refuted 15% of the time, while right wing outlets refuted 2% of the time. 5. What five topics accounted for most of the media coverage about Trump? Political skills, immigration, appointments/nominations, U.S.- Russia relations, health care 6. Are journalists more likely to cover the president's character or his policies? Why do you think this is? Charac...

1. What news events are being covered by major outlets at the same time as Hurricane Maria? covered topics include a health care bill that failed to pass, a primary election in Alabama, and a "spat" between the president and sports players. 2. Use the first chart to estimate about how many fewer times Hurricane Maria & Puerto Rico are mentioned online than the hurricanes that hit the mainland US. Irma and Harvey were mentioned four to five times more online than Maria was! 3. Use the second chart to estimate about how much less time was devoted to  Hurricane Maria & Puerto Rico in TV coverage than the hurricanes that hit the mainland US. The U.S. hurricanes also had almost four to five times more mentions than the Puerto Rican hurricaanes 4. Which two networks mentioned Hurricane Maria the most? CNN and BBC. 5. What do some cite as the reason for Puerto Rico being treated differently by the media? Many observers are speculating that Puerto Rico’s status a...

1. According to the research, who is more likely to become a lobbyist, a member of the House or the Senate? A member of the house. 2. Why were Congressmen less likely to become lobbyists in the 1970s and 1980s? The lobbying industry was not nearly as big then. 3. Why does this research likely underestimate the revolving door? They only looked at 98 issues and could not find a reliable predictor, but saw that groups that hired a revolving door lobbyist tended to win about 63% of the time 4. Why do you think committee chairmen are more likely to become lobbyists?  They have more influence, knowledge, and connections with the policy they are advocating. 5. Does the author think that registration requirements help prevent former Congressmen from lobbying?  Why?  No, because they can still get things done without registering. 6. What is the difference in money spent on lobbying between "public interest lobbies" and corporations? For every 1 dollar spent for int...

1. What was the overall general finding of Broockman and Kalla’s analysis of campaign activities? In general elections, campaigns’ attempts to win swing voters appear to not work at all. 2. What two time frames did Broockman and Kalla analyze in their study? The 2015 and 2016 elections 3. At what rate did they find that people were actually persuaded with campaign activities close to the election? 11% 4. How were the results different in the study between activities months before the election, and those that occur close to the election day? Kalla and Broockman found that, if the campaign actions such as canvassing, and phone calls happen within two months of election day, the average effect on voter preferences was effectively zero. About one in 800 people reached were persuaded, they estimate. By contrast, when the campaign action happens well before election day, and the effects are measured quickly thereafter, there's a real impact on opinions, but it disappears before electi...

1. Why do conservatives want to hold this event at Cal-Berkeley? They want to lay down a marker at what they regard as a center of intolerance for conservative views. And they probably expect some disruptions that will, they hope, discredit their opponents. 2. What is the initial position a public university should take when they get a request to host a speaker? “Sure, in principle. But we have to think about some things before we can sign off on this.” 3. What are "content neutral" rules? Rules that apply to any group, disregarding what a particular demonstrator is going to say. 4. In what ways might there be conflict between school officials and the group requesting to speak over the site of the event? There’s a lot of misunderstanding about what public universities and cities can do when faced with requests to use their facilities for demonstrations, particularly when officials reasonably think the events might turn violent. The people requesting the use of ...