Air Midterm

Relax. This “air midterm” does not count toward your grade; do not even turn it in. Instead, use it to appraise your own progress in the course. Try out this test, either in your head or on paper. If you flounder, then you should take more care with class sessions and assigned readings.

I. Identifications: Identify the meaning and significance of the following items. On the real final exam, I shall ask you to write a short paragraph on each item that you choose. What is fair game for an identification?

1. Items that we have discussed in class or on the blog;
2. Items that appear in bold or italics in the readings;
3. Items that cover several pages in the readings.

• Hayes-Tilden race (1876)
• Faithless electors
• Martin Van Buren
• Front-loading
• The nuclear freeze
• The Hepburn Act
• Helvidius
• Line Item Veto
• The Roosevelt Corollary
• The Fair Deal
• Benghazi
• Youngstown v. Sawyer
• The “Revolution” of 1800
• The Palmer Raids

II. Short essays:   In a couple of paragraphs each, answer the following.

• Who made the following statement and why? "The bank is professedly established as an agent of the executive branch of the Government, andits constitutionality is maintained on that ground. Neither upon the propriety of present action nor upon the provisions of this act was the Executive consulted. It has had no opportunity to say that it neither needs nor wants an agent clothed with such powers and favored by such exemptions. There is nothing in its legitimate functions which makes it necessary or proper."
• Who made the following statement and why? "I did understand however, that my oath to preserve the constitution to the best of my ability, imposed upon me the duty of preserving, by every indispensable means, that government -- that nation -- of which that constitution was the organic law. Was it possible to lose the nation, and yet preserve the constitution? By general law life and limb must be protected; yet often a limb must be amputated to save a life; but a life is never wisely given to save a limb."
• What was the pattern of "discovery, scrutiny, and decline" in the 2012 GOP primaries?

III. General essays (2-3 bluebooks pages each)

• Resolved: President Obama won the 2012 election primarily because of underlying features of American electoral politics, and his campaign made relatively little difference.Do you agree or disagree? Explain, with reference to the Side-Vavreck book, along with other class material.
• Is it possible to devise an objective measure of presidential greatness? Explain.

Bonus Questions

• Estes Kefauver
• Herb Klein
• Alan Keyes
• Nicholas Katzenbach
• Michelle Kahn

Presidents and Judicial Politics

How do presidents try to influence the courts? Once way is through legal arguments. Note the role of the Solicitor General.

Lower court nominations and The Reid Rule

Obama Administration Selection of Lower Court Nominees: Chronology of Usual Steps

If neither Senator in a state is of the President’s party, each usually, by custom, plays a secondary role in recommending district court candidates for the President’s consideration, with the primary  role assumed by other officials from the state who are of the President’s party.)

• White House Counsel’s Office receives nominee recommendations from home state Senators; for each district court vacancy, the office asks Senators to send three recommendations.
• Senators send one or more recommendations to the Counsel’s Office.
• Counsel’s Office does preliminary check of the recommended candidates, then selects one to be thoroughly vetted by the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy (OLP).
• OLP does detailed vetting of the candidate, including exhaustive reading of candidate’s past writings, speeches,interviews, etc., and making “about 25 to 50 phone calls.”
• Counsel’s Office and OLP jointly interview the candidate.
• Counsel’s Office and OLP jointly review OLP’s detailed vetting and interview record and decide whether to send candidate’s name for ABA and FBI investigations.
• FBI and ABA’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary conduct separate evaluations of the candidate and then report their findings to the Administration.
• OLP and Counsel’s Office sign off informally on the candidate.
•  President selects the candidate for nomination.

Supreme Court nominations can be crucial.

Who votes with whom.

• See the story behind Justice Fortas.
• See the story behind Justice O'Connor.