AP U.S. Government and Politics · Past multiple choice · Question 6
Presidential response to a court ruling
Pick the step a president could actually take to limit a Supreme Court decision's effect.
The lesson this question tests
1 Read the question
The question is College Board's: sample question 6 in AP U.S. Government and Politics Course and Exam Description. It starts on page 180 of the PDF.
Open Question 6 (PDF, page 180)
2 Pick your answer
3 Check the explanation
Why the answer is B open once you have picked
The president leads the executive branch, and the executive branch enforces the law, including court rulings. The Supreme Court has no police or troops of its own, a point Hamilton made in Federalist 78 when he called the judiciary the branch with neither the sword nor the purse. So the president's realistic tool against a ruling is enforcement: directing the Department of Justice to go slowly in carrying out part of it.
The other choices name powers that belong to Congress, or that no one has.
Each choice
- A. Justices serve during good behavior and can be removed only by impeachment in the House and conviction in the Senate. The president has no removal power over them.
- B (correct). Enforcing court rulings is an executive job, so slowing that enforcement through the Department of Justice is a step the president can actually take.
- C. The president does not pass legislation, Congress does. The president can propose a bill or sign one, but passing it belongs to the legislative branch.
- D. Article III lets Congress set the Court's appellate jurisdiction. This mixes up a congressional check with a presidential one.
Question and answer key: College Board. The title and summary are ours, and so is the explanation.