Distinctiveness of the United States Bureaucracy-size, scope, and political context

1. Distinctiveness of the United States Bureaucracy-size, scope, and political context The Constitutional system and traditions make the US bureaucracy distinctive. -political authority over the bureaucracy is shared by the president and congress -federal agencies share functions with related state and local government agencies. -adversary culture leads to closer scrutiny and make court challenges more likely

2. The Appointment of Officials -Officials affect how laws are interpreted, tone and effectiveness of administration, and party strength -Patronage in the 19th and early 20th centuries rewarded party supporters, induced congressional support, and built party organizations -Civil War beginning of bureaucratic growth, it pointed out the administrative weakness of the federal govt. and increased the demands for civil service reform -Post-Civil War begins industrialization, becomes necessary to regulate interstate trade- controversial

3. The Change in Role 1861-1901 new agencies performed mainly a service role due to: -constraints of limited govt., states’ rights, and limited power -laissez fare policies -Supreme Court held that executive agencies could only apply statutes passed by Congress -Wars led to reduced restrictions on administrators and an enduring increase in executive branch personnel Depression and WWII lead to government activism -Supreme Court reverses position and upheld laws that granted discretion to administrative agencies -introduction of income taxes supports a larger bureaucracy- 16th amendment - 1913 -public believes in need for military preparedness and social programs

4. III. The Federal Bureaucracy Today Direct and indirect growth: -modest increase in number of direct government employees -significant increase in the number of employees through use of private contractors, state and local government employees Growth in discretionary authority Defined as-the ability to choose courses of action and make policies not set out in the statutory law -Delegation of undefined authority greatly increased

5. Recruitment and Retention • A.The Competitive service: bureaucrats compete for jobs through OPM: • Appointment by merit based on written exam • 1900- less than 15% 1952-86% 1996-54% • Departments are moving away from OPM due to: • -OPM is cumbersome and not geared towards individual department needs • -agencies have need of professionals who cannot be ranked by an examination- particular skill set • -agencies face pressure to diversify

6. B. The excepted service: 46% today - Those employees hired outside the OPM -Only about 3 % of employees are appointed on grounds other than merit- presidential appointments, Schedule C jobs, and non-career executive assignments -Pendleton Act (1883)- changed the basis of government jobs from patronage to merit -Merit system protects president from pressure and protects patronage appointees from removal by new presidents

7. Why make it difficult to fire a bureaucrat? Positives -Agencies are dominated by lifetime bureaucrats who have worked for no other agency -assures continuity and expertise Negatives: -gives subordinates power over new bosses -workers know how to work behind their boss’s back through sabotage and delay methods

8. So who are the bureaucrats? Critics say that political appointees and upper-level bureaucrats are unrepresentative of the US society and believe that they work in their own occupational self interest Reality -bureaucrats are somewhat more liberal or conservative, depending on the appointing president -they do not take extreme positions -correlation between the type of agency and the attitude of the employee Example-activist agency tends to attract more liberal employees- Policy views reflect the type of work they do

9. Do bureaucrats sabotage their bosses? -most carry out policy regardless of personal beliefs -most have highly structured jobs -each agency has its own culture, an informal understanding among employees about how they are supposed to act -strong agency culture motivates employees, but it makes agencies resistant to change

10. Constraints on the bureaucracy -constraints much higher than on private business -hiring, firing, pay, and other procedures established by law, not by the market General Constraints: -Administrative Procedure Act-1946 -Freedom of Information Act- 1966 National Environmental Policy Act -1969 Privacy Act- 1974 Open Meeting Law-1976

11. Effects of Constraints - government moves slowly -government sometimes acts inconsistently -easier to block action than to take action -reluctant decision making by lower ranking employees -red tape Why so many constraints? -constraints come from the demand of the citizens -agencies try to respond to citizen demands for openness, honesty, and fairness

12. Agency Allies: Iron Triangle- Agency, Committee, Interest Group Issue Networks- Interest Groups, Congressional staffs, Universities and think tanks, Media

13. Congressional Oversight • Congress creates agencies and authorizes their programs • Congress appropriates monies to allow agency to spend money on programs • -Appropriations committee approves most expenditure requests • -House tends to recommend an amount lower than the agency requests • -House can influence an agency’s policies by “marking up” their budget

14. Appropriations committee becoming less influential because: • trust funds operate outside the regular government budget • Annual authorizations allow the legislative committee greater oversight • Budget deficits necessitate cuts • Informal controls over agencies: • -individual members of Congress seek privileges for constituents • -Congressional committees may seek committee clearance, the right to be consulted before certain agency decisions are made ie. expenditures

15. Five major complaints about the bureaucracy: Red tape, sometimes complex and conflicting Conflict- agencies work at cross purposes Duplication-two agencies doing the same thing Imperialism-tendency of agencies to grow Waste-spending more than necessary

16. Civil liberties become a major issue for three reasons: • Rights in conflict • Enflaming of passions by policy entrepreneurs • The political culture of the United States

17. Rights in conflict: -Sheppard Case/Zimmerman Case- free press vs. fair trial -NY Times and Pentagon papers/Wikileaks- common defense vs. free press -KKK rallies/Jerry Jones- free speech vs. public order Competing Rights- how do we know how to decide?

18. Policy Entreprenuers: • Individuals or groups trying to limit the liberties of another group or minority • Sedition act- Federalists in fear of TJ and anarchy • The Espionage and Sedition Acts of 1917-1918- Attorney General Mitchell Palmer-Palmer raids • Smith Act, Internal Security Act of 1950, and Communist Control act of 1954- Senator Joe McCarthy

19. First Amendment: -Freedom of Expression -Freedom of Religion- establishment clause and free exercise clause -Freedom of the Press-No Prior restraint -Clear and present danger test-Schenk v. US 4 forms not always protected: -Libel and slander -Obscenity -Symbolic speech -false advertising, commercial speech

20. Testing Restrictions on Expression -preferred position -prior restraint -imminent danger Limits: -neutrality -clarity -least restrictive means

21. Wall of Separation Principle: Religion Tests for Constitutionality: Government involvement is legal if- -It has a secular purpose -its primary effect neither advances nor inhibits religion -it does not foster an excessive government entanglement with religion

22. Crime and Due Process • -4th through 8th Amendments deal with rights of the accused. • 14th Amendment applies due process to the states • Exclusionary rule- when is a search reasonable? • Miranda and good faith exception

23. Civil Rights Lecture Why Civil Rights movement? *Rise of Urban Ghettos -isolated from economic mainstream- interest group politics -lacked political power- majoritarian politics *Emergence of Civil Rights was a painful process, but was speeded along because of: -the emergence of white allies -shifting to policy-making arenas where southern whites had less of an advantage -pressure from blacks themselves that rose civil rights to prominence -Liberal justice- Earl Warren

24. Civil Rights Issue: Group denied access to facilities, opportunities, or services available to other groups The issue is whether differences in treatment are reasonable. In some cases, they are- progressive taxes In some cases they are not- classifications by race or ethnicity are subject to strict scrutiny

25. Court Cases • Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) -Separate but equal Ambiguities of the 14th Amendment • Broad Interpretation: the Constitution is colorblind, so no differential treatment is acceptable • Narrow interpretation: equal legal rights, but blacks and whites could otherwise be treated differently The Court chose the narrow interpretation

26. NAACP Strategy • Three step process: • Persuade the Court to declare unconstitutional the laws creating schools that were separate but unequal • Persuade the Court to declare unconstitutional the laws creating schools that were separate but so obviously unequal • Persuade the Court to rule separate schools are inherently unequal and therefore unconstitutional

27. Step One: • Obvious inequalities addressed between 1938-1948 cases • Lloyd Gaines • Ada Lois Sipuel • Step Two: • Separation creates inequality in less obvious cases • -Heman Sweatt • -George McLaurin

28. Step three: Declaring that separation is inherently unequal Brown v. Board of Education (1954) -class action suit -schools could not be separated by race -integration is necessary -Earl Warren “in the field of public education the doctrine of separate but equal has no place.” -must correct with “all deliberate speed” -relied on social science rather than 14th Amendment because the Court wanted a unanimous decision Resistance: Southern Manifesto

29. Desegregation v. Integration -De jure segregation in the South -De facto segregation in the North How does the Court deal with this? Charlotte-Mecklenberg Case: sets guidelines for integration: -to violate the Constitution, a school system must have intended to discriminate -one-race schools create the presumption of intent -remedies for past discrimination can include quotas, busing, redrawn district lines -not every school must reflect the racial composition of the entire system White Flight creates single race schools

30. Four developments begin to turn the tide: • Public opinion starts to change • Violent white reactions of segregationists received extensive media coverage • Kennedy assassination • -1964 Democratic landslide allowed northern Democrats to prevail in Congress