What are independent regulatory agencies AP?

Bureaucracy – A form of organization that operates through impersonal, uniform rules and procedures.

Bureaucrat – A career government employee.

Department – Usually the largest organization in government with the largest mission; also the highest rank in Federal hierarchy.

Independent agency – A government entity that is independent of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

Independent regulatory commission – A government agency or commission with regulatory power whose independence is protected by Congress.

Government corporation – A government agency that operates like a business corporation, created to secure greater freedom of action and flexibility for a particular program.

Senior Executive Service – Established by Congress in 1978 as a flexible, mobile corps of senior career executives who worked closely with presidential appointees to manage government.

Spoils system – A system of public employment based on rewarding party loyalists and friends.

Merit system – A system of public employment in which selection and promotion depend on demonstrated performance rather than political patronage.

Office of Personnel Management (OPM) – Agency that administers civil service laws, rules, and regulations.

Hatch Act – Federal statute barring Federal employees from active participation in certain kinds of politics and protecting them from being fired on partisan grounds.

Implementation – The process of putting a law into practice through bureaucratic rules or spending.

Administrative discretion – Authority given by Congress to the Federal bureaucracy to use reasonable judgment in implementing the laws.

Regulations – The formal instructions that government issues for implementing laws.

Rule-making process – The formal process for making regulations.

Uncontrollable spending – The portion of the Federal budget that is spent on programs, such as Social Security, that the president and Congress are unwilling to cut.

Entitlement programs – Programs such as unemployment insurance, disability relief, or disability payments that provide benefits to all eligible citizens.

Indexing – Providing automatic increases to compensate for inflation.

Oversight – Legislative or executive review of a particular government program or organization. Can be in response to a crisis of some kind or part of routine review.

Central clearance – Review of all executive branch testimony, reports, and draft legislation by the Office of Management and Budget to ensure that each communication to Congress is in accordance with the president’s program.

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Judicial review – The power of a court to refuse to enforce a law or government regulation that in the opinion of the judges conflicts with the U.S. Constitution or, in a state court, the state constitution.

Adversary system – A judicial system in which the court of law is a neutral arena where two parties argue their differences.

Criminal law – A law that defines crimes against the public order.

Civil law – A law that governs relationships between individuals and defines their legal rights.

Justiciable dispute – A dispute growing out of an actual case or controversy and that is capable of settlement by legal methods.

Defendant – In a criminal action, the person or party accused of an offense.

Plea bargain – Agreement between a prosecutor and a defendant that the defendant will plead guilty to a lesser offense to avoid having to stand trial for a more serious offense.

Public defender system – Arrangement whereby public officials are hired to provide legal assistance to people accused of crimes who are unable to hire their own attorneys.

Original jurisdiction – The authority of a court to hear a case “in the first instance.”

Appellate jurisdiction – The authority of a court to review decisions made by lower courts.

Court of appeals – A court with appellate jurisdiction that hears appeals from the decisions of lower courts.

Precedent – A decision made by a higher court such as a circuit court of appeals or the Supreme Court that is binding on all other federal courts.

Writ of habeas corpus – A court order requiring explanation to a judge why a prisoner is being held in custody.

Senatorial courtesy – Presidential custom of submitting the names of prospective appointees for approval to senators from the states in which the appointees are to work.

Judicial restraint – Philosophy proposing that judges should interpret the Constitution to reflect what the framers intended and what its words literally say.

Judicial activism – Philosophy proposing that judges should interpret the Constitution to reflect current conditions and values.

Stare decisis – The rule of precedent, whereby a rule or law contained in a judicial decision is commonly viewed as binding on judges whenever the same question is presented.

Writ of certiorari – A formal writ used to bring a case before the Supreme Court.

Docket – The list of potential cases that reach the Supreme Court.

Amicus curiae brief – Literally, a “friend of the court” brief, filed by an individual or organization to present arguments in addition to those presented by the immediate parties to a case.

Opinion of the Court – An explanation of the decision of the Supreme Court or any other appellate court.

Dissenting opinion – An opinion disagreeing with a majority in a Supreme Court ruling.

Concurring opinion – An opinion that agrees with the majority in a Supreme Court ruling but differs on the reasoning.

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Writ of habeas corpus – A court order requiring explanation to a judge why a prisoner is being held in custody.

Ex post facto law – Retroactive criminal law that works to the disadvantage of a person.

Bill of attainder – Legislative act inflicting punishment, including deprivation of property, without a trial, on named individuals or members of a specific group.

Due process clause – Clause in the Fifth Amendment limiting the power of the national government; similar clause in the Fourteenth Amendment prohibiting state governments from depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

Selective incorporation – The process by which provisions of the bill of rights are brought within the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment and so applied to state and local governments.

Establishment clause – Clause in the First Amendment that states that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. The Supreme Court has interpreted this to forbid governmental support to any or all religions.

Vouchers – Money government provides to parents to pay their children’s tuition in a public or private school of their choice.

Free exercise clause – Clause in the First Amendment that states that Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion.

Bad tendency test - Interpretation of the First Amendment that would permit legislatures to forbid speech encouraging people to engage in illegal action.

Clear and present danger test – Interpretation of the First Amendment that holds that the government cannot interfere with speech unless the speech presents a clear and present danger that it will lead to evil or illegal acts.

Preferred position doctrine – Interpretation of the First Amendment that holds that freedom of expression is so essential to democracy that governments should not punish persons for what they say, only for what they do.

Nonprotected speech – Libel, obscenity, fighting words, and commercial speech, which are not entitled to constitutional protection in all circumstances.

Libel – Written defamation of another person. For public officials and public figures, the constitutional tests designed to restrict libel actions are especially rigid.

Sedition - Attempting to overthrow the government by force or use violence to interrupt its activities.

Obscenity – Quality or state of a work that taken as a whole appeals to a prurient interest in sex by depicting sexual conduct in a patently offensive way and that lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

Fighting words – Words that by their very nature inflict injury on those to whom they are addressed or incite them to acts of violence.

Commercial speech – Advertisements and commercials for products and services; they receive less First Amendment protection, primarily to discourage false and misleading ads.

Prior restraint – Censorship imposed before a speech is made or a newspaper is published; usually presumed to be unconstitutional.

Civil disobedience – Deliberate refusal to obey law or comply with orders of public officials as a means of expressing opposition.

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