Government Key Terms

2. A law passed in 1965 that banned discrimination in voter registration requirements.
3. A set of rules that govern how power will be distributed and used legitimately in a state.
8. A plan at the constitutional convention that gave each state equal representation in the legislature.
10. Discrimination against majority-status people due to affirmative action policies.
13. An opinion issued by a judge who votes with the winning side but disagrees with the majority or plurality opinion.
14. Segregation that exists due to economic and residential patterns, not because of law.
18. A law passed in 2001 that expanded federal funding to schools but required increased testing and accountability.
19. The ability of different branches of government to stop each other from acting; designed to prevent one branch from gaining too much power.
20. A system of government in which power is shared by national and state governments.
21. A plan at the constitutional convention to base representation in the legislature on population.

1. A court opinion that reflects the reasoning of the majority of justices.
4. The leader of the House of Representatives, elected by the majority party.
5. A loose relationship among a number of smaller political units.
6. A legal member of a political unit.
7. The body that elects the president of the United States; composed of electors from each state equal to that state’s representation in Congress; a candidate must get a majority of electoral votes to win.
9. The rights of equality under the law.
11. America’s first national constitution, which loosely bound the states under a weak national Congress.
12. Passed in 1920, it gave women the right to vote.
15. The men who wrote the Constitution.
16. A Supreme Court case that granted the federal government extensive power to carry out its enumerated powers.
17. A change to the Constitution.