Government and Civics
Government and Civics
This domain tests the U.S. constitutional system and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship: federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, the amendment process, civil liberties and civil rights, elections, political parties, interest groups, and the media. Questions often ask you to apply a constitutional provision to a scenario rather than recite it.
Core rules
- Federalism divides power between national and state governments; the supremacy clause makes federal law supreme, while the 10th Amendment reserves powers not delegated to the states or the people.
- Separation of powers assigns legislative, executive, and judicial functions to Congress, the president, and the courts; checks include veto, override, Senate confirmation, judicial review, and impeachment.
- The Bill of Rights originally limited the federal government; the 14th Amendment’s due process clause later became the vehicle for incorporating most protections against the states.
- Civil liberties protect individuals from government action; civil rights protect against discrimination and guarantee equal treatment.
- Elections are shaped by the electoral college, single-member districts, primary systems, and campaign finance rules; the media perform watchdog, agenda-setting, and gatekeeping functions.
Worked example
A state law requires public schools to lead a prayer each morning. A student challenges it. The best answer is that the law likely violates the Establishment Clause as applied to the states through the 14th Amendment, because school-sponsored prayer is treated as government endorsement of religion. Reasoning: the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause originally bound Congress, but incorporation doctrine applies it to states; the school setting adds coercion and the appearance of official endorsement, so the law fails.
Traps
Confusing the elastic clause (implied federal powers) with the supremacy clause; saying the Bill of Rights applied to states from 1791; mixing up civil liberties and civil rights; and treating judicial review as explicitly written into the Constitution rather than established in Marbury v. Madison (1803).