US Government 5.4 Congressional Committees

Drill:  Filibuster  & Cloture 
Filibuster—is a legislative weapon, which allows unlimited debate to defeat a bill.
Cloture - limits senators’ speaking time

OBJECTIVE: Students will be able to identify different types of congressional committees and analyze the principles by which members of Congress serve on these committees.

I. Purposes of Committees
A. Committees ease the workload by dividing work among smaller groups,.
B.	Committees allow members to discuss and select the most important bills

II. Kinds of Committees 
A. Standing committees deal with the issues continuing from one Congress to the next.
B. The majority party in each house controls standing committees 
C.	Subcommittees handle special subcategories of the standing committees’ work, 
D. Select committees are special committees created in both houses of Congress, usually for one term only, to study a specific issue and report their findings.
E. Joint committees are made up of members of both houses to act as study groups.
F. Conference committees are temporary committees set up to resolve the differences in the House and Senate versions of a bill by working out a compromise 

Odds & Ends
A.  Standing, select, joint, and conference are all types of Congressional committees.
B. Human Resource is an example of a subcommittee.
C. A. conference committee is set up when the House and Senate have passed different versions of the same bill.
D. In the House one of the most prestigious committees is the Ways and Means. 	
E. The seniority system has guided the selection of committee chairpersons
F. Standing committees are permanent groups in Congress
G. Joint committees act as study groups
H. Select committees are temporary
I. Committees are key power centers in Congress
J. V-chip is the legislators’ answer to violent television

US Government 5.4 Congressional Committees

1. D 		6. D
2. E 		7. A
3. A 		8. B
4. C 		9. A
5. B 		10. C	BCR 11. Advantages: wider support for a bill in Congress and it provides more care in crafting legislation.
Disadvantages: bill loses original focus; it takes a longer time.
12. Conference Committee-This committee is set up when the House and Senate have passed different versions of the same bill.
13. Seniority System – Committee appointments are based on the number of years in office.
14. Standing Committees - deal with certain issues continuing from one Congress to the next.
15. Joint Committees - made up of members of both houses to act as study groups.	

Court Cases: Dred Scott v. Sandford, 1857
1. When the Supreme Court ruled that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional, it held that Congress had no power to ban slavery in the territories. Thus Scott’s claim that he had been in free territory where slavery was not permitted was invalid. 
2. The Dred Scott decision severely hampered legal efforts to end slavery through court procedures.
3. Slave holders were obviously pleased with the decision because it foreclosed legal efforts by abolitionists to end slavery. 
4. The Court said that since African Americans were not citizens of the United States, they did not have the legal right to sue in a federal court.
5. The Dred Scott decision is important because although it was intended to settle the question of slavery, it adopted an extreme view and unleashed a storm of protest against the Court, which ultimately became a factor in the coming of the Civil War.

Summary: In today’s lesson, we identified different types of congressional committees and analyzed the principles by which members of Congress serve on these committees.

Homework: Seniority System & Standing Committee
Seniority System: appointments are based on the number of years in office.
Standing Committees - deal with certain issues continuing from one Congress to the next.

Name ____________________________________________Class ___________ Date______________
American Government-5.4 Congressional Committees 4 
Match each item in Column A with the items in Column B. Write the correct letters in the blanks. 
Column A
____1. key power centers in Congress
____2. legislators’ answer to violent television
____3. permanent groups
____4. temporary committees
____5. act as study groups	Column B
A. standing committees
B. joint committees
C. select committees
D. committees
E. V-chip	

In the blank at the left, write the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question. 
____6. Standing, select, joint, and conference are all types of Congressional
A. sessions. 				C. hearings.
B. agencies. 				D. committees.
____7. This is an example of a subcommittee.
A. Human Resources 			C. Ways and Means
B. Veterans’ Affairs 			D. National Security
____8. This committee is set up when the House and Senate have passed different versions of the same bill.
A. joint committee 			C. select committee
B. conference committee 		D. standing committee
____9. In the House one of the most prestigious committees is the
A. Ways and Means. 			C. Finance.
B. Labor and Human Resources.	D. Foreign Relations.
____10. This has guided the selection of committee chairpersons.
A. presidential appointments 		C. seniority system
B. majority leader’s rule 		D. party elections

BCR 11. Identify some advantages and disadvantages to working out a compromise on a bill. 

Identify the following terms: 
12. Conference committee

13. Seniority system

14. Standing committees

15. Joint committees

Supreme Court Case Study The Right to Freedom of Enslaved Persons
Dred Scott v. Sandford, 1857
Background of the Case 
John Emerson, a United States Army surgeon, took enslaved African Dred Scott to live at military posts in Illinois, a free state in 1834, and then to posts in the territory of Upper Louisiana (now Minnesota), where slavery had been forbidden by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. In 1838 Emerson and Scott returned to Missouri. 
In 1846 Scott won a suit for his freedom against Emerson’s widow in a Missouri court. Scott claimed that by having lived in free territory, he had earned his freedom. This ruling was over-turned, however, by Missouri’s Supreme Court. Aided by various antislavery interests, Scott then started a new suit in a federal district court against Mrs. Emerson’s brother, John Sandford of New York, who had been acting as his sister’s agent. Since the case was a dispute between people who live in two different states, it could be heard in a federal court. When the federal court ruled that Scott was still a slave, he appealed to the United States Supreme Court.
Constitutional Issues 
The Constitution left questions such as the legal rights of slaves for later lawmakers to solve. In 1850 Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law, which stated that a slave was property and which required escaped slaves to be returned to their holders. Opponents of the law unsuccessfully challenged its legality before the Supreme Court.
The first major issue was whether Dred Scott—an African American—qualified as a citizen of the United States and was, therefore, entitled to sue in a federal court. The second issue concerned whether Scott had gained his freedom by moving to a free territory or state. The third issue focused on the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which banned slavery north of the southern boundary of Missouri (except for Missouri itself). Scott had lived in the non-slavery region. Did Congress have the power to prohibit slavery in the territories and to make the prohibition a condition of admission to the Union?
The Supreme Court’s Decision 
The Court’s decision was written by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, although each justice wrote his own opinion, with only one justice concurring with Taney in every respect. Two justices dissented. Taney’s first ruling was that former Africans, “whether emancipated or not,” did not qualify as United States citizens. Taney held that only those who were state citizens when the Union was formed became federal citizens. Even though a state may emancipate a slave, give him the right to vote, and admit him to state citizenship, Taney said, none of these actions gave a slave automatic federal citizenship. The right to grant federal citizenship belonged exclusively to Congress. Taney concluded that Scott was not, and never had become, a citizen of the United States, and was not, therefore, entitled to sue in a federal court.
Supreme Court Case Studies
Taney next examined the question of whether Scott had gained his freedom when he entered the Upper Louisiana Territory. The Chief Justice attacked the Missouri Compromise as an unconstitutional exercise of congressional authority. Congress cannot forbid a state or a territory from making slavery legal. Taney explained that as long as slavery is authorized by the Constitution, Congress cannot alter the right of a person to own slaves or any other kind of property. In viewing the Missouri Compromise as unconstitutional, the Court determined that Scott’s status did not change when he entered free territory. The Court held that Scott had been held in Illinois as a slave and had returned to Missouri as a slave. On his return to Missouri, he became subject to Missouri law alone. Taney ordered the suit dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
Dissenting Opinion
Justice Benjamin R. Curtis dissented. Curtis noted that free African Americans were among those who had voted to ratify the Constitution in a number of states. Nothing in the Constitution stripped these free African Americans of their citizenship. Curtis maintained that “under the Constitution of the United States, every free person born on the soil of a State, who is a citizen of that State, who is a citizen of that State by force of its Constitution or laws, is also  a citizen of the United States . . . . ”The Court’s decision is one example of judicial power being exercised in favor of racial segregation. It is also the first time that a major federal law was ruled unconstitutional.

DIRECTIONS: Answer the following questions 
1. What was the relationship between the Missouri Compromise and the Court’s decision in the Dred Scott case?

2. What effect do you think the Court’s decision in the Dred Scott case had on the efforts of many Americans to end slavery?

3. If you were a plantation owner in the South who held many slaves, how would you have reacted to the Dred Scott decision?

4. What did the Court say about enslaved African Americans’ position in the United States?

5. Why is the Dred Scott decision regarded as one of the most important cases in the history of the Supreme Court?
ASE STUDY 1CASE STUDY 5

In your own words, summarize today’s lesson.