Notes

1. What is the news media? How have newspapers, radio, tv broadcasts, and the internet affected public consumption of knowledge about the government?
2. Clarence Taylor’s article “Hurricane Katrina and the Myth of the Post–Civil Rights Era”
discusses a new set of problems facing Black America. What are the different views on the post-civil rights era proposed by various scholars? How do these views differ from the civil rights era a generation ago? How has the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina highlighted the new issues that black Americans are facing?
3. What is the Bureaucracy? How do Congress, the President, and the Judiciary control the Bureaucracy? Make sure to describe how each actor can exert control over the Bureaucracy.
4. Define what is a civil liberty? What is the freedom of speech? Where in the Constitution is it found? What does freedom of speech entail? When might speech not be protected?
5. What is public opinion? What is scientific polling? Discuss three potential problems with scientific polling?
6. In “Ten Scenarios for the Future of Civil Liberties along the Road to the Twenty-Second Century” Barton Kunstler discusses ten potential paths that civil liberties might take in the future. Name five of them and discuss what they entail?
7. What are the three levels of the federal judiciary? Be sure to name and describe what each level does.
8. What is an interest group? Compare and contrast lobbyists and PAC’s? What do each do,
how are they organized, and what activities do they support?
9. In “Ideological Divergence and Public Support for the Supreme Court” Robert Durr and coauthors measure public opinion of the US Supreme Court. Why is public support for the Supreme Court so difficult to measure? How does the ideological preference of the Supreme Court affect the public opinion of Supreme Court according to the authors?
10. Describe the seven steps in selecting a Supreme Court Justice? Be sure to include what actors are involved in each step.
11. Define what is a civil liberty? What is freedom of the press? What is libel? When might the press not be protected? Can the gov’t tell the press not print something (prior Restraint)?