Department of Justice

The Attorney General is the chief law-enforcement officer in the United States. He represents the United States in legal matters generally, and gives advice and opinion when requested by the President or by executive-departments heads.

While the President has a special counsel, the White House also calls on the Attorney General for legal advice, particularly on bills and resolutions passed in Congress and sent to the chief executive for his signature. The President also calls on the Attorney General for legal opinions concerning the exercising of special emergency powers. This was particularly true during World War II and in the two years that followed.

The Attorney General has a wide discretion about what laws to enforce and about what actions he will regard as violations of the law. His decision will not be made without reference to the policies of the President; and those in turn are strongly influenced by politics.

With all the political forces that influence the interpretation of the Constitution and the laws, from the choices of the Attorney General to the personalities of the Supreme Court justices, the law is evidently not the simple block of enduring granite that the layman might wish he could have under his feet. The law, in fact, is less certain today than it was thought to be in 1787.

The Solicitor General is the second ranking officer of the Department of Justice assuming the duties of Attorney General in his absence. He represents the Government in cases "before the Supreme Court, and at the request of the Attorney General, in cases affecting the United States in state courts or elsewhere.

The main unit of the Justice Department is the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The Bureau is in effect an intelligence agency for the Justice Department, gathering information on criminal matters which come within the jurisdiction of the Department. Functions of the FBI include the investigation of espionage, sabotage, and matters pertaining to the internal security of the United States as well as investigations of alleged violations of approximately 100 Federal statutes. The FBI deals with kidnappers, bank robbers, and many other violators of Federal law, and is active in counterespionage. It does the field work of investigating the loyalty of Government employees. Other secret services, located in the Treasury, pursue counterfeiters, smugglers, narcotics traders, income-tax dodgers. All such persons when caught are prosecuted in Federal courts by the Department of Justice or the local United States attorneys under its supervision.

(Wright Patman, "Our American Government", New York, 1957)

Text F. Read and translate the text. Make up the summary of the text in writing.

Political Parties

The Republican and the Democratic Party are the two leading parties in the USA. There are some minor parties in the country, but they do not play any serious role in national politics. The political parties in the United States have much less actual power than they do in other nations.

Although the U.S. Constitution does not talk about political parties, they began their existence during George Washington’s term of office, in the eighteenth century. The framers of the constitution tried by the device of an electoral college to avoid having political parties control in the election of the President.

In 1796 Adams won the elections because two electors from Jefferson States voted for him. All this led to the formation of political parties. The parties formed so that they could choose electors pledged to support party candidates in national elections. Thus two lists of party candidates for electors were created in the 1800 election.

On one side were the Federalists. They wanted a strong federal government. On the other side, the Democratic-Republicans wanted to limit the power of the national government. Their leader was Thomas Jefferson, and their group later became the Democratic Party.

Some of the early political parties, such as the Federalists and the Whigs, no longer exist. The Federalist party practically disappeared after the War of 1812 and was succeeded by the National Republicans and Whigs. The Whig party in turn disintegrated after 1852 and the (present) Republican party took form in 1854, its first President candidate being John C. Flemont in 1856. Since that time the two major parties have been the Democrats and the Republicans. Smaller parties have lasted for only a short time. “Third parties” have won in local elections, but their candidates have never won a Presidential election.

Many people say that there is not much difference between the Republican and Democratic Parties. “Liberal” politicians usually favor reform (change) and progress. “Conservative” politicians usually oppose change. But both liberal and conservative members belong to the two major political parties, and their ideas often change with the times and the issues.

The Democratic Party is the oldest party in the United States. In 1829, Andrew Jackson became the first Democratic President. Since that time, the issues of the nation and the ideas of the party have changed. Both the major parties have liberal and conservative members, but in general people consider the Democrats today more liberal than the Republicans. Democrats often want the government to establish social programs for people in need, such as the poor, the unemployed, and the elderly. They usually say they believe in equal rights for women and minorities and they oppose nuclear weapons and too much military spending. The symbol of the Democratic Party (from political cartoons) is the donkey.

The Republic Party, sometimes called the G.O.P. (the Grand Old Party), began in 1854 over the issue of slavery. Republicans oppose slavery. The first Republican candidate to become President was Abraham Lincoln. After the Civil War, Republicans got interested in farm, land and business issues. In general, Republicans vote more conservatively than Democrats. They want government to support big business but not to control the lives of citizens. They often oppose government spending for social programs but support military spending. The party symbol is the elephant.

Both national parties remained in fact the parties supported and controlled by big business. The national Democratic Party tended to get more big business support when a course of compromise was deemed advisable or unavoidable. The national Republican Party was the greater recipient of this support when a policy of concessions was opposed, or when it was feared that the pressure for reform would get out of hand. Monopoly groupings and individual capitalists have leaned in one direction or the other, depending also upon the nature of their investments, their market problems, and the struggle within the ranks of finance capital for the lion's share of the yearly 100 billion dollars of federal spending.

Summing up

Discuss the main points of the Unit:

1. The Constitution of the USA

2. Congress

3. The Senate

4. The House of Representatives

5. Judicial Department

6. Political Parties in the USA