A state legislature sets the drinking age, licenses doctors and runs its own courts. The government in Washington issues passports, maintains the armed forces and regulates trade between the states. Neither can abolish the other. Which principle is this?

Congress passes a bill. The president refuses to sign it and returns it with objections. Congress votes again and passes it by two thirds in both the House and the Senate, and it becomes law anyway. Which constitutional principle does this show?

Voters in a state collect signatures and force a sitting governor onto a special ballot, where a majority votes to remove him from office before his term ends. Which principle is at work?

The residents of a district do not vote on the state highway budget themselves. They elect a legislator, and she debates and votes on it in their place, answering to them at the next election. Which principle does this arrangement rest on?

A mayor is furious at a newspaper that keeps criticizing her, and wants it shut down. No statute, city charter or constitutional provision gives any official the authority to close a newspaper, so she cannot do it. Which principle stopped her?

Congress writes a clean air statute, an executive agency inspects plants and enforces it, and judges decide the cases brought under it. No single body writes, enforces and judges the same law. What is this called?

A president negotiates and signs a trade treaty with another country. The Senate votes on it, falls short of two thirds, and the treaty never takes effect. Which principle does the Senate's role illustrate?

The Supreme Court hears a challenge to an act of Congress, decides the act conflicts with the Constitution, and declares it void so that no court will enforce it. What is this power called?

An unpopular senator's six-year term ends. She stands for re-election, loses, and leaves office; her successor holds the seat only because a majority chose him. What does this pattern of holding office rest on?

Article I opens: "All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States." Article II opens: "The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America." Which principle is that?

Article I, Section 9 provides: "No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law." The president cannot spend money Congress has not voted. Which principle is that?

Article I, Section 10 provides: "No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit." Which principle does listing these bans on the states put into effect?

Article I, Section 9 provides: "No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed." Congress may not punish a named person by statute, and may not make an act criminal after it was done. Which principle is stated there?

The Preamble reads: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union... do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Which principle do those opening words announce?

Article II, Section 2 says the president "shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint... Judges of the supreme Court." What does making the Senate share this power put into effect?

Article I, Section 2 provides that "The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States." The people choose Members; the Members then write the laws. Which principle is that?

The president orders troops into a conflict; Congress answers that only it may declare war and cuts off the money. No state government is involved and no court has ruled. Which principle does this quarrel turn on?

In one town a state trooper enforces the state's traffic code and answers to the governor, while a federal marshal in the same streets enforces national law and answers to Washington. Neither commands the other. Which principle explains this?

A state legislature refuses for years to pass a minimum wage increase. Voters gather signatures, put the measure on the ballot themselves, and pass it directly at the polls. Which principle did the voters use?

No citizen of a congressional district ever casts a vote on a farm bill. Each votes instead for one Member of Congress, who studies the bill, bargains over it and votes on it for the whole district. Which principle is this?

A state's highest court holds that a statute passed by that state's own legislature violates the United States Constitution and refuses to apply it. No branch of the national government took part. Which principle did the court use?

The House votes articles of impeachment against a federal judge for taking bribes. The Senate holds a trial, convicts him by more than two thirds, and he is removed from the bench. Which principle does this describe?

Coining money, declaring war, and making treaties with foreign nations: which government in the United States holds these powers?

Article VI says the Constitution and the laws made under it "shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the... Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding." In a conflict, what wins?

Article I, Section 8 ends by giving Congress power "To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers." What does this clause do?

Some powers belong to both levels of government at once. Which of these is held by the national government and by the states alike?

Issuing marriage licenses, setting up public schools and running elections are jobs the Constitution never assigns to Congress or the president. Who does them?

Article V requires an amendment proposed by Congress to pass both the House and the Senate by two thirds, and then to be approved by three fourths of the states. What does that double requirement mean in practice?

Congress has passed a proposed amendment by two thirds of both houses. Under Article V, what has to happen next before it becomes part of the Constitution?

Article V also provides a second way to propose an amendment, one that has never yet been used. What is it?