American Government Key Terms
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| Term | Explanation |
|---|---|
| trial balloon | leaking a proposed decision (such as a nomination by the president of someone to the U.S. Supreme Court) to the media so it can be publicized in order to see how the public reacts before the decision is finally made and officially announced. This enables changing the decision without embarrassment if the public reaction to the trial balloon is negative. |
| lame duck | An elected official (or officials) who has not been reelected but still holds the official position until replaced by someone who was newly elected. Example: Congress in December 2010 is a "lame duck Congress" because the new representatives who were elected on Nov. 2 are not sworn into office until early January 2011. |
| interest group | |
| Citizens United v. FEC | |
| divided government | |
| midterm elections | |
| early voting | |
| judicial elections | |
| initiative | |
| granting cert. | |
| federal | |
| Bill of Rights | |
| The Equal Access Act (1984) | |
| impeachment | |
| think tank | |
| political party | |
| Middle East | |
| Second Amendment | |
| Tenth Amendment | |
| judicial activism | |
| U.S. Circuit Courts | |
| incumbent | |
| anti-Federalist | |
| federalism | |
| polling | |
| the Cabinet | |