American Politics Commons^™

Congress's Domain: Appropriations, Time, And Chevron, Matthew B. Lawrence

Faculty Articles

Annual appropriations and permanent appropriations play contradictory roles in the separation of powers. Annual appropriations preserve agencies’ need for congressionally provided funding and enforce a domain of congressional influence over agency action in which the House and the Senate each enforce written unicameral commands through the threat of reduced appropriations in the next annual cycle. Permanent appropriations permit agencies to fund their programs without ongoing congressional support, circumscribing and diluting Congress’s domain.

The unanswered question of Chevron deference for appropriations demonstrates the importance of the distinction between annual appropriations and permanent appropriations. Uncritical application of governing deference tests that emphasize …

Oral Argument In The Time Of Covid: The Chief Justice Plays Calvinball, Tonja Jacobi, Timothy R. Johnson, Eve M. Ringsmuth, Matthew Sag

Faculty Articles

In this Article, we empirically assess the Supreme Court’s experiment in hearing telephonic oral arguments. We compare the telephonic hearings to those heard in person by the current Court and examine whether the Justices followed norms of fairness and equality. We show that the telephonic forum changed the dynamics of oral argument in a way that gave the Chief Justice new power, and that Chief Justice Roberts, knowingly or unknowingly, used that new power to benefit his ideological allies. We also show that the Chief interrupted the female Justices disproportionately more than the male Justices and gave the male Justices …

Political Uncertainty Moderates Neural Evaluation Of Incongruent Policy Positions, Ingrid J. Haas, Melissa N. Baker, Frank J. Gonzalez

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

Uncertainty has been shown to impact political evaluation, yet the exact mechanisms by which uncertainty affects the minds of citizens remain unclear. This experiment examines the neural underpinnings of uncertainty in political evaluation using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). During fMRI, participants completed an experimental task where they evaluated policy positions attributed to hypothetical political candidates. Policy positions were either congruent or incongruent with candidates’ political party affiliation and presented with varying levels of certainty.Neural activitywas modelled as a function of uncertainty and incongruence. Analyses suggest that neural activity in brain regions previously implicated in affective and evaluative processing (anterior …

Neither “Post-War” Nor Post-Pregnancy Paranoia: How America’S War On Drugs Continues To Perpetuate Disparate Incarceration Outcomes For Pregnant, Substance-Involved Offenders, Becca S. Zimmerman

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the unique interactions between pregnancy, substance involvement, and race as they relate to the War on Drugs and the hyper-incarceration of women. Using ordinary least square regression analyses and data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates, I examine if (and how) pregnancy status, drug use, race, and their interactions influence two length of incarceration outcomes: sentence length and amount of time spent in jail between arrest and imprisonment. The results collectively indicate that pregnancy decreases length of incarceration outcomes for those offenders who are not substance-involved but not evenhandedly -- benefitting white …

The Persistence And Disproportionate Impact Of Felon Disenfranchisement, Rebecca Jaffe

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This paper seeks to understand the persistence of disenfranchisement policies and the disproportionate impact these policies have on marginalized groups of the American electorate, specifically black Americans. Felon disenfranchisement, or the restriction of voting rights for criminals convicted of felonies, has been a long-standing policy throughout the United States. Using public opinion data from the 2014 General Social Survey (GSS), this paper analyzes how certain characteristics, such as race, age, and political party identification, can influence opinions about democratic rights and whether criminals should lose theirs once convicted. The results of this analysis could help explain why disenfranchisement policies have …

Care Ethics, Disability, And Public Policy, Piper Gibson

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Regulatory Agency Capture: How The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Approved The Mountain Valley Pipeline, Aakshi Agarwal

Harvey M. Applebaum ’59 Award

The FERC’s history of approving nearly 100% of pipelines and divisive pipeline cases like the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and Mountain Valley Pipeline have driven landowners’ long-standing claims of regulatory agency capture of the FERC. The present research substantiates the claim of capture with a case study of the Mountain Valley Pipeline and uncovers that the FERC is both culturally and corrosively captured. This research also suggests that the capture of the FERC began at its conception during the natural gas crisis and subsequent natural gas bubble, which caused the FERC to follow the industry’s lead. These findings indicate that the …

America’S Presidential Crisis Of Legitimacy: How The Electoral College Became Obsolete And How We Can Fix It, Julia Rose Foodman

Scripps Senior Theses

The goal of this thesis is to critique the current American Presidential electoral system, the Electoral College, and to show what an alternative could potentially mean for the American people. This paper seeks to answer the following questions: What are the main arguments for the Electoral College, why are they troubling, and how can we mend American Presidential elections for the greater purposes of political equality, democracy, and freedom? To do so, core arguments made by conservative pundits in favor of the Electoral College are outlined in order to bring attention to their logical, political, and moral inconsistencies. The inequalities …

Presidents And The U.S. Constitution: The Executive’S Role In Interpreting The Supreme Law Of The Land, Mitchell Scacchi

Honors Theses and Capstones

In 1832, President Andrew Jackson issued a veto message claiming the same duty as the Supreme Court to interpret the U.S. Constitution. Do modern presidents exercise the principal role in interpreting the U.S. Constitution that President Jackson claimed was their duty, and, if so, in what ways do they choose to articulate their interpretations? The hypothesis is that modern presidents have exercised a principal role in interpreting the U.S. Constitution similar to the interpretative duty expressed by President Jackson, and they perform this duty, in part, through the issuance of veto messages and signing statements. After a content analysis of …

Stronger As One? Examining Us-Saudi Relations Since 9/11, Caroline Jenkins

CMC Senior Theses

In the first several years following the attacks on September 11, 2001, many in both the American political elite and general public questioned the merits of the US’s strong alliance with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as fifteen of the nineteen hijackers, as well as Osama bin Laden, were Saudi citizens. The Kingdom was known for its lax regulations surrounding terrorist financing, which played a role in al Qaeda’s ability to carry out the 9/11 attacks. Due to this, many called for the US to end its historic partnership with the Saudis.

However, under further examination, it becomes clear that …

[Introduction To] Race, Removal, And The Right To Remain : Migration And The Making Of The United States / Samantha Seeley., Samantha Seeley

Bookshelf

This work explores the conflicts over migration at the center of the social, political, intellectual, and physical landscape of the early United States. Examining the voluntary and forced migrations of Indigenous, African American, and Anglo Americans in the decades immediately following the Revolution, Samantha Seeley argues that the United States took shape as a white republic through contentious negotiations over who could move and where, who could remain and how. Removal was not sweeping, top-down federal legislation. Instead, it was a battle fought on multiple fronts. It encompassed tribal leaders' attempts to expel white settlers from Native lands and African …

Don't Change The Subject: How State Election Laws Can Nullify Ballot Questions, Cole Gordner

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Procedural election laws regulate the conduct of state elections and provide for greater transparency and fairness in statewide ballots. These laws ensure that the public votes separately on incongruous bills and protects the electorate from uncertainties contained in omnibus packages. As demonstrated by a slew of recent court cases, however, interest groups that are opposed to the objective of a ballot question are utilizing these election laws with greater frequency either to prevent a state electorate from voting on an initiative or to overturn a ballot question that was already decided in the initiative’s favor. This practice is subverting the …

To Believe Or Not To Believe: Voters’ Responses To Sexual Assault Allegations In Politics, Emily Brandes

Honors Theses

Since the viral 2017 #MeToo movement, public opinion on cases of sexual misconduct has been shaped by the mainstream media coverage of high-profile stories. A shift in public attitude towards these issues has encouraged more victims to come forward and share their stories, many detailing harrowing events perpetrated by successful businessmen and politicians. Credible accusations continue to come forward, and while some end in legal action, many do not, and perpetrators face little to no consequences. I examined how individuals respond to issues of sexual misconduct and assault in politics, and based on the severity of the accusation, how they …

Regulating Cultural Expressions: A Comparative Case Study On Hair And Race In New York And South Africa, Michaela Shelton

Pomona Senior Theses

In the field of political science, there is an ongoing debate about the factors that determine political outcomes for disadvantaged groups. State governments in the United States have actively passed legislation to curb hair discrimination even though people of African descent are a minority. However, in South Africa, where people of African descent are a majority, neither the national government nor the provincial governments have passed legislation to curb hair discrimination cases. Why are the cultural rights of Black people being protected by legislation in the United States where Black people are a minority but not in South Africa where …

Backfire: How The Rise Of Neoliberalism Facilitated The Rise Of The Far Right, Jacob Fuller

Capstone Showcase

The U.S. far right has become increasingly mainstream in contemporary American politics. In this paper, I analyze the theory that the far right has gained ground due to a backlash from neoliberal policies beginning in the 1980s under Ronald Reagan. Using Process tracing, I operationalize claims made by those arguing that the white working class has moved towards the far right due to their loss of status, as well as the theory that specific wealthy actors have mobilized these groups and altered the movement against neoliberalism to suit their interests. I find that these arguments have merit, and further the …

The Impact Of The Prescription Drug User Fees Act (Pdufa) On The Food And Drug Administration (Fda), Gabriella Ravin

Capstone Showcase

This research questions the impact that the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) has had on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA is a regulatory system that was established in 1938 and created in order to manage and regulate standards related to food and drugs and to ensure that these standards are being followed by individuals and firms. The PDUFA was legislated in 1992 in order to provide more resources to the FDA through user fees. While the PDUFA was enacted in order to help the FDA process applications of new drugs and medicines and review standards more …

Let's Get Free: Family Policing, Prison Industrial Complex Abolition, And Transcendent Love, Emma Li

Scripps Senior Theses

My objective is to illuminate the painful, discriminatory, and avoidable effects of family separation underneath the American child welfare system and tradition of family policing. In this bureaucratically sprawling and interconnected system comprising of prisons, courts, social workers, and doctors, individual blame is assigned to parents, families, and communities facing long-running systemic problems. Family policing and the child welfare system have long been excluded from conventional discussions surrounding the harms of police and prisons. The everyday violence Black, Latinx, and low-income families face at the threat of/implementation of family separation - an immensely traumatic and agonizing process - must be …

Black Maoism, But Make It Fashion: How The Black Panther Party Utilized Mao Zedong’S Marxist Interpretations In Conjunction With Fashion To Redefine Us Militarism, Chiugo Akujuobi

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores the intersections present between the multifaceted, sociopolitical institutions of Marxism and communism with a highlight on their seedling Maoism; the revolutionary organization that is the Black Panther Party; and the art of fashion and processes that create modes of dress, that emblazon dress with identity, meaning, and purpose. The lenses with which these complex topics will showcase themselves and intersect are through militarism and militarization. These lenses and topics of intersection work in tandem to produce an examination of the Black Panther Party’s subversion and redefinition of the practices of militarism and militarization. Specifically, the main point …

Age, Political Affiliation, And Political Polarization In The United States, Anton Glocar

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This study analyzes the relationship between voter age and party affiliation with political polarization in the form of feelings towards both one’s own party and the opposing party. Using data from the 2020 American National Election Survey, the favorability ratings of voters from both parties towards both their own party and the opposing party were analyzed and grouped based on voter age. The results of this analysis indicate that positive feelings towards one’s own party and negative feelings towards the opposing party, and therefore polarization, tend to increase as age increases.

The Political Imagination: Introduction To American Government, Peter Kolozi, James E. Freeman

Open Educational Resources

The Political Imagination: Introduction to American Government provides realistic, critical analysis as well as a hopeful, engagement-oriented narrative that encourages students to understand the important role they can play in the political system and in crafting a society in which they want to live. The Political Imagination draws on social and political theory and history offering an analytical as well as normative framework to think about the substance of politics, the procedures and institutions of government, and a dynamic, socially contingent definition of political power.