Final Exam Notes

Identification
California Assembly: CA's version of House of Reps there
are 80 seats in the Assembly and they can only serve 3 2-yr
terms. Right now there are 440,000 constituents per district lines
and every 10-yrs the districts are re-drawn according to the
census population.
The Assembly has impeachment power over state elected
officials.
Charter Counties:
Counties that adopt mini-constitutions known as charters. They
adopt it by having a majority vote of electors in favor of it must
have governing body of at least 5 per constitution.
Civil rights: Rights of all ppl to be free from irrational
discrimination such as that based on race, religion, gender or
ethnic origin.
Article III: Establishes Judicial branch which is comprised of
Supreme Court and lower courts created by Congress.
U.S Census Bureau: Every 10-yrs they count population of
U.S in 1990 the count was flawed and they failed to count 10
million ppl and double counted 6 million.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo:

Largest acquisition of land since the Louisiana Purchase
All of southwest became a part of U.S
allow Mexicans to live on land they already had for centuries
Westerners tried to take the land it got caught in courts Mexicans
didn't get their land back
you can keep your land, j/k.
the treaty was ratified in 1848 and it conceded South West
including CA To U.S was largest acquisition of land since
Louisiana Purchase and it promised Mexican Californians
constitunal privileges as well as right to stay on the land that
they'd had for centuries. Westerners came and tried to take the
land and it got caught up in courts with the Mexicans not getting
their land back so the treaty was violated.
Original Jurisdiction: Authority of a Court to hear a case "in
the 1st instance"
Lieutenant Governor: becomes acting Governor, if
Governor dies or vacates office another way. When the Governor
is out of state the Lieutenant Governor serves as temporary
acting Governor. Serves as head of the state Senate and as a tie
breaker in that position. Also serves on several boards and
commissions.
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): In 1890 Louisiana adopted a
law providing for equal but separate accommodations for the
white and colored races on its railroads. There was an 1892
incident where an African-American train passenger Homer

Plessy refused to sit in a Jim Crow car, breaking the 1890

Louisiana law.
In 1892, passenger Homer Plessy was brought before Judge
John H. Ferguson of the Criminal Court for New Orleans, who
upheld the state law.
In the 1896 The law was challenged in the Supreme Court on
grounds that it conflicted with the 13th and 14th Amendments.
The U.S. Supreme Court case upheld the constitutionality of
segregation under the separate but equal doctrine. Rejecting
Plessys argument that his constitutional rights were violated, the
Court ruled by a 7-1 vote against Plessy's case that a state law
that implies merely a legal distinction between whites and blacks
did not conflict with the 13th and 14th Amendments. John
Marshall Harlan was the vote in favor of Plessy he was the
dissenting opinion that, 'The Courts majority opinion, gave power
to the states to place in a condition of legal inferiority a large
body of American citizens.' Restrictive legislation based on race
continued following the Plessy decision, its reasoning not
overturned until Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954.

Short Answer q's

1) In order for Supreme Court to accept and decide
cases/8 steps to Judgement
1.1)Reviewing Appeals: Reviews either Writ of Certiorari
which is a formal document stating that you want to appeal to the
Supreme Court or an In Forma Pauperis which is a petition
allowing party to file as a pauper to avoid paying court fees
usually In Forma Pauperis are used by prisoners.
1.2) Granting Appeals: The approved cases are put onto a
docket/list of potential cases
1.3) Briefing Case: Written Summaries (Legal Arguments,

Relevant Precedents and History) outside groups interested may

file Amicus Curiae Briefs (friend of the court) where they make
arguments specific to their members and of interest to the
justices.
1.4) Holding Oral Argument: 30 minutes counsel per side
to convince the justices of Argument in which Justices may or
may not be paying attention and can interrupt to ask questions at
any time.
1.5) Meeting in Conference: Private meeting held Friday
mornings regarding all cases the Justices have heard that week 9
justice quorum 5 to 4 ruling no one else present but the Justices.
1.6) Explaining Decision: Announces + explains decisions in
the "opinions of the Court" principle method of expressing it's
views and reasoning to the world. Dissenting opinions are a
Justice's appeal to the intelligence of the future that a different
judgment be had in a similar case overthrowing the previous rule.
Concurring opinion agree with the majority on how case should be
decided but differs in reasoning.
1.7) Writing Opinion: One Justice is assigned the task of
drafting an opinion and must get the support of four or more
justices with the drafts circulation among other Justices, if they're
lucky minimal editing occurs if not the whole document needs
redrafting.
1.8) Releasing Opinion: Entire Justice individual opinions
used to be read but now just a brief summary sometimes when
they are unusually upset with a ruling they'll read portions of their
dissenting opinions. Copies of the Court's Opinions are
immediately made available to reporters and the public as well as
published in the official U.S Supreme Court Reports.
2) Industries essential to continuing CA's Status as
an Economic Leader in the Country/World: Simple fact

that Livestock and livestock products accounted for 7.5% of US

revenue. Agricultural industry is a high revenue industry, tourism
revenue is lucrative, electronics+Cpu industry, high-technology
industries, are essential to continuing CA's status as an economic
leader and to a lesser extent aerospace industry which downsized
after the Cold War.
3) Difference between Civil Liberties + Rights: Civil
Rights are not in the Constitution but are granted/guaranteed by
the Government. Civil Liberties are protected by the Bill of
Rights/1st 10 amendments of the constitution.
4) Bureaucracy: Administration Units (important in Federal
Bureaucracy)
4.1) Departments: Headed by a cabinet level secretary 1st
Established were war, state + Treasury. there are 15 departments
and an inner cabinet.
4.2) Agencies and Bureaus: Are subdivisions of Depts.
Level of control over these differs and they have their own
relationships. They are not weaker but may be even stronger than
Departments.
4.3) Independent Executive Agencies: They report
strictly to the president and their sole job is to give greater carry
out policy control to the president.
4.4) Government Corporations: Operate like private
companies, they sell stock, as well as borrow money.
4.5) Quasi-Governmental Organizations: They are
hybrids of Public and Private organizations which allow federal
government to be involved in one general area. they are partially
funded by the government but also privately funded by the public
like PBS for example.
4.6) Independent Regulatory Commissions: Are

responsible for regulating parts of the Economy. some examples

are the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Security +
Exchange Commission.
4.7) Foundations: Protect arts and Sciences from political
influence/prevents politics from driving research.
5) CA Judiciary v. Federal Judiciary: CA's courts are
structured much like Federal courts there are Trial (Criminal
Court/Civil Court) which have original Jurisdiction and Appellate
courts like the CA Supreme Court that reviews questions of law
and due process and have appellate Jurisdiction/2nd Instance,
hearing cases on appeal or in some cases actually having original
Jurisdiction which differs from the Federal Supreme Court in the
fact that the Federal one is the court of last resort rather than an
occasional first response. Another way they differ is that the CA
Supreme Court's ruling is only 'Supreme' within California where
as the Federal Supreme Court's ruling is throughout all the states
and can overturn State Supreme Court rulings.
Essays:
1) Founders +Progressives different views on direct
democracy:
1.2+4 Magleby Book Founders: Saw Direct democracy as
unruly groups/mobs and a system that encouraged leaders to
gain pwr by appealing to the emotions/prejudices of the people.
Democracy wasn't a word found in the Constitution in the time of
the founders, in his writing of the Federalist no.10 James Madison
in particular feared that empowering citizens to decide policy
directly would be dangerous to freedom, minorities and property
that would result in violence from one group to another much like
Greek city-states and the Roman Republic which devolved into
mob rule that then resorted to dictatorships and aristocracy. So

our type of democracy was founded on Representative

democracy where you vote on someone to represent the people's
opinions [vote on a voter for you]. (Electoral College[=effective
democracy]->President)
Progressives: Progressives wanted to return pwr to the ppl.
B/c powerful RxR worked through pol.parties that they'd
dominated, progressives sought to give voters more control over
parties and restrict what those parties could do. they
accomplished this through direct primaries/elections (voters
choose party nominees), crossfiling which was identifying w/ both
pol.parties and is now illegal. Restrictions on party donations +
endorsements + non-partisanship in local elections, were
intended to weaken pol.parties pwr. Progressives gave women
the right to vote they created conservation laws to protect CA
natural resources. People having the power by way of direct
democracy = effective democracy.
2) How Democratic are we?: Athenian democracy
developed around the fifth century B.C. in the Greek city-state
(known as a polis) of Athens, comprising the city of Athens and
the surrounding territory of Attica and is the first known
democracy in the world. Other Greek cities set up democracies,
most following the Athenian model, but none are as well
documented as Athens.
It was a system of direct democracy, in which participating
citizens voted directly on legislation and executive bills.
Participation was not open to all residents: to vote one had to be
an adult, male citizen who owned land and wasn't a slave. The
U.S originally used this form to vote on representatives who
decided on legislation and executive bills those land owners were
educated and knew how to read. Then it grew into adding former

slaves who owned land and were registered to vote then it

became males 18 and older who were registered to vote. From
there women won the right to vote and it was extended to all
citizens 18 and older that are registered to vote can vote. Just
from that we appear to be pretty Democratic even if it's a combo
between Direct and Representative Democracy.
Voting: [Caucus(meeting of local party members to choose party
officials/candidates for public office and to decide the platform)>Direct Primaries(Election where voters choose party nominees)>Electoral College(Electoral System used in electing
President+Vice President where voters vote for electors pledged
to cast their ballots for a particular party's candidates)-> votes
from electoral college tallied= Elected Official],
Political Party/Interest Group: Caucus(meeting of local party
members to choose party officials/candidates for public office and
to decide the platform). Caters to certain opinions of the people
Republican (Conservative), Democrats (Liberal) may lean towards
some what may seem opposite party views. Garners support
based on opinions and are responsible for selecting few
candidates to represent people for the people to then narrow it
down to one pair/official to run representing that party.
Voting is democratic but not the same as direct
democracy/traditional/true democracy where everyone is voting
all the time on things sometimes the opinion of the people is
outright ignored like in the case of CA's prop 8 where CA voting
no on Homosexual Marriage, then outlawing it in CA was
determined unconstitutional by the U.S Supreme Court. Direct
primaries it depends on whether it's an open or closed election to
determine if it's truly democratic. Electors are never ordinary

citizens, most come from political backgrounds and not all citizens
are politicians so can they truly adequately represent the people's
vote.
Political Party Caucuses may not particularly be considered truly
democratic because they only allow local party members to
choose running officials. Vote on the party member who is running
that best suits your own stance. What if the candidate you would
have voted for either doesn't make the running list or gets kicked
out of the running because of too few votes in direct primary or
too few local party members support.