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President Biden discussed infrastructure and the impact of his administration’s “Investing in America” ag…

"Stand By Your Ad" requirements, a provision of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (AKA McCain-Feingold), mandates that "radio and television communications (or any broadcast, cable or satellite transmission) that are authorized or paid for by a campaign require [that]...the candidate must deliver an audio statement identifying themself and stating that the candidate has approved of the communication. For example, 'I am [candidate’s name], a candidate for [federal office sought], and I approved this advertisement.' "In a television ad, the disclaimer must be conveyed by: A full-screen view of the candidate making the statement; or A voiceover by the candidate with an image of the candidate occupying no less than 80 percent of the vertical screen height." (FEC; linked below) Following the Supreme Court's Citizens United v. FEC decision, increased proliferation of advertising paid for by independent advocacy groups motivated members of Congress to propose updated legislation requiring similar provisions for all campaign advertising.

Presidential signing statements are written comments issued by the President when signing a bill into law…

The United States government is organized on the principle of federalism, the sharing of power between na…

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer explained the power of judicial review and how Hamilton's Federalist…

Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense explains the meaning of an omnibus bill, including the process …

Grove City College president Paul McNulty explained how the meeting of the Constitutional Convention occu…

National Constitution Center’s Jeffrey Rosen discussed the electoral college and explained what faithless…

Robert Griffin, Democracy Fund Voter Study Group Research Director, and Kristen Soltis Anderson, Co-Found…

University of California, Berkeley Law Professor and former deputy assistant attorney general in the Geor…

Institute for Justice attorney Sam Gedge discussed the Supreme Court’s recent Timbs v. Indiana decision. …

Former Senator Bob Graham (D-FL) provides statistics from 2018 and trends of youth civic engagement. In …

Demand Justice co-founder Brian Fallon talked about the ideas of stare decisis and judicial restraint. He…

Chief Judge Roger Gregory of the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals discussed the idea of Judicial Revi…

"Bureaucratic Discretion" refers to the authority exercised by members of the bureaucracy (unelected poli…

The federal bureaucracy, encompassing millions of employees and hundreds of agencies, departments, and co…

In 1963, based on a handwritten petition from an indigent Florida prisoner, the Supreme Court decided the…

The 1961 Supreme Court case of Mapp v. Ohio originated when police officers demanded entry into the home …

Voter turnout, or the choice by voters whether or not to participate in a given election, is impacted by …

Libertarian political ideology places a strong emphasis on individual freedom, a very limited role for go…

Offensive content that appears in television or radio broadcasts can be regulated by the Federal Communic…

Obscene content falls in the category of speech unprotected by First Amendment guarantees. Over the 20th …

While speech enjoys broad First Amendment protections in the United States, it is not an unlimited right.…

While free speech, assembly, and petition are protected under the First Amendment, the Supreme Court has …

Symbolic speech, defined as expression by conduct rather than words, has come before the United States Su…

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that "Congress shall make no law...abridgi…

The First Amendment guarantees that "Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech." Alth…

"Civil Liberties" is a broad umbrella term referring to individual freedoms and guarantees that are large…

The broad umbrella term "civil rights" refers to legal protections founded in a commitment to equality, o…

Former Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) discussed the role and duties of the Senate Appropriations Committ…

The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, adopted as a condition of ratification, are c…

The First Amendment begins "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." Referr…

The term "midterm election" refers to the election held midway through a presidential term of office, whe…

Poll taxes, along with literacy tests and grandfather clauses, were structural barriers to voting employe…

Grandfather Clauses were a structural barrier to voting imposed by several states during the Jim Crow Sou…

The term "Third Party" in the United States represents any political party other than the two that domina…

Literacy tests were a barrier to voting in common usage in Southern states, as well as other parts of the…

Retrospective voting is the notion in political science that voters make their decisions in a given elect…

Political efficacy is defined as the sense of an individual citizen that he or she is capable of effectin…

The Nineteenth Amendment, providing that "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be…

Political Participation refers to the efforts of individual citizens to directly or indirectly impact pub…

Political Polarization is defined by a division of people along party lines - in the United States, it's …

Political Ideology is generally defined in social science as a set of beliefs about what an effective soc…

In the first clip, Democratic strategist Steve McMahon and Republican strategist Todd Harris talked about…

In these two clips, National Conference of State Legislatures' Tim Storey talked about the process of red…

Nicholas Stephanopoulos, an associate professor at the University of Chicago Law School, talked about his…

Exit polls are surveys of small groups of voters taken as they leave selected voting sites. The results o…

A focus group is a collection of individuals with some commonality brought together to provide in-depth, …

POLLING DATA - a measure of citizens' views on issues or candidates at a given time, and overall trends f…

Unlike a traditional opinion poll, which seeks to measure public sentiment on a particular issue or regar…

The term "political culture" refers to a shared set of views and values within a society as they pertain …

Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution begins "The Congress shall have Power To" and goes on to delinea…

The Constitution provides a description of the powers of the Commander in Chief in Article Two Section Tw…

Elected at the beginning of each Congress by members of their respective party conferences to represent t…

In this bell ringer, students will examine the Constitutional Convention and focus on the establishment o…

In Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, Congress is granted the expressed power "To regulate Commerc…

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens discussed the legal precedent commonly referred to a…

A mandate is a federal order imposed upon states in order to meet a federal government goal; an unfunded …

Issue One’s Michael Beckel talked about the findings of the group’s year-long investigation into dark mon…

BLOCK GRANTS are provided by the federal government to support collections of general programs administer…

CATEGORICAL GRANTS are the primary source of federal aid to states and are provided for specific programs…

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas discussed the idea of stare decisis and its history in the legal tr…

Unite America Executive Director Nick Troiano talked about why a growing number of citizens are choosing …

Georgetown University Law Center professor Heidi Li Feldman discusses the history of the 25th Amendment.

Federal grants are funding provided to state and local governments by the federal government toward a wid…

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh explained the concept of federalism and how the 10th Amendment to t…

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh discussed his definition of judicial activism.

Concurrent powers are those shared by the state and federal government - as opposed to reserved powers, t…

Ratification is the action of signing or giving formal consent to a treaty, contract, or agreement, makin…

Article IV, Section 2 of the United States Constitution provides that "The Citizens of each State shall b…

The United States Electoral College is a body of electors established by the United States Constitution. …

Bill of attainder is an act of a legislature declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime…

Ex post facto law retroactively changes the legal consequences of actions that were committed or relation…

Inherent powers are those not explicitly stated in the Constitution that allows the government to take a…

Peter Sagal explains that enumerated powers are the expressed powers the federal government has. The foun…

In a system of dual federalism, the national government and state governments are co-equal, with each bei…

During the Constitutional Convention, a debate arose over the future of the forced importation and subseq…

A social contract (AKA a social compact) refers to an agreement among members of a society, and between g…

Sampling error in polling describes the difference between the results of random samples taken at the sam…

CBS Elections and Surveys Director Anthony Salvanto discussed how polling and surveys work and addressed …

In Federalist 51, Publius argued in favor of "contriving the interior structure of the government as that…

Article IV, Section. 1 of the United States Constitution provides that "Full Faith and Credit shall be gi…

In a system of cooperative federalism, both federal government and state governments cooperate in solving…

In these two clips, the political ideology of conservatism is explained. The first clip of Lee Edwards of…

David Rubenstein and Jeffrey Rosen describe the Virginia Plan, New Jersey Plan, and the Connecticut Compr…

Senator James Lankford (R-OK) discussed the concept of devolution and how it relates to the Every Student…

Syracuse University professor Danielle Thomsen discussed the decline of moderates in national political o…

Issue One’s Meredith McGehee talked about leadership Political Action Committees (PACs) which allow elect…

Opposition research is used by candidates during campaigns in order to find out information about their o…

A definition of natural rights is provided and expanded upon through the examination of human rights. Exa…

This bell ringer provides a definition of implied powers and reinforces the concept by including an examp…

This bell ringer provides a definition of the 10th Amendment, a statement from a presidential candidate o…

This video clip explains who the Anti- Federalists were and what beliefs they held that challenged the cr…

This video clip explains the Federalists’ beliefs that it was a necessity for a strong central government…

A look at the results of a new Pew Research poll showing that the political divide between Americans has …

Dave Levinthal, reporter for the Center for Public Integrity, discussed the Federal Election Commission a…

Former Representatives Jason Altmire (D-PA) and Tom Davis (R-VA) talked about the concept of open primari…

In the first clip, Jennifer Johnson gave a tour of the National Archives “Amending America” exhibit. She …

Senate Associate Historian Don Ritchie discussed the history behind poll taxes and the 24th Amendment.

These clips help explain the concept of the free exercise of religion. The first clip gives a explanation…