Основы политической системы США (стр. 5 )

It does the field work of investigating the loyalty of Government employees. Other secret services located in the Treasury, pursue counterfeiters, smugglers, drug-traffickers, income-tax dodgers.

Task 1. Find in the text the English for:

1.  исполнение законов;

2.  вступать в должность;

3.  приводить к присяге (президента);

4.  президент, завершающий срок своих полномочий;

5.  резкое изменение курса государственной политики;

6.  срок полномочий президента;

7.  главный дипломатический представитель (посланник);

8.  иметь право на аудиенцию;

9.  правовые вопросы;

10. иметь широкие полномочия в чем-либо.

Section 2. Glossary

the Administration	исполнительная власть, правительство США
Secretary of State	государственный секретарь (министр иностранных дел США)
Secretary of the Treasury	министр финансов
Secretary of Defense	министр обороны
Attorney General	генеральный прокурор и министр юстиции
law-enforcement officer	представитель правоохранительных структур
emergency powers	чрезвычайные полномочия
to enforce law	проводить закон в жизнь
Solicitor General	заместитель министра юстиции
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)	Федеральное бюро расследований (ФБР)
to come within the jurisdiction	подпадать под юрисдикцию
income-tax dodger	лицо, уклоняющееся от уплаты подоходного налога
tax evasion	уклонение от уплаты налогов

Section 3. Texts to render and discuss.

Task 1. Read the text and answer the following questions.

1.  What does the term “impeachment” legally apply to? What does it embrace in popular usage?

2.  What is the only judicial power allotted to the US Congress? How do the two Houses divide their authority to bring impeachment charges and try impeached presidents?

3. Which of the US presidents faced impeachment? What impeachment charges were brought against them?

Impeachment

The House of Representatives has one judicial power. After a careful investigation, the House can accuse federal officials (including the President) of “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors [offences]”. This rarely used process is called impeachment. The impeachment charge is brought by a majority vote of the House of Representatives. An impeachment action by the House is similar to the indictment by a grand jury in a criminal case. It means only that sufficient evidence exists to justify prosecution of the accused. The trial itself takes place in the Senate. Only four impeached officials, all federal judges, have been convicted.

Although legally the term “impeachment” applies only to the indictment, in popular usage it embraces also the trial of the accused, conducted by the higher branch of a legislature.

Under the provisions of the US Constitution the House indicts, the Senate tries, and the chief justice of the United States presides over the inquiry in case of impeachment of the president. Once the House has voted an impeachment, it then selects members (managers) to present the case before the Senate. A two-thirds vote of the senators present is required to convict. Punishment is limited to removal from office. Disqualification from holding “any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States” may follow and requires only a majority vote.

As the US Constitution doesn’t clearly explain what “other high crimes and misdemeanors” are, these provisions have proved a fertile source of vexing questions. Partly because of these ambiguities, but chiefly because the trial ties up the Senate for as much as six weeks, impeachment has taken place infrequently at the national level.

Three presidents so far have faced impeachment. The first was Andrew Johnson who succeeded following Abraham Lincoln’s assassination in 1865. Johnson was accused of interfering with the social and racial revolution that the North tried to impose on the South after the Civil War. Republicans were determined to remove the president, three votes were taken and finally Johnson was acquitted.

Richard Nixon, another Republican, was the second president threatened by impeachment, in 1974. Nixon was accused of subverting the laws and the Constitution by setting up a secret and illegal organization to spy on the opposition – and then covering up the crime when his operatives were caught during the 1972 election campaign burgling the Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate building in Washington. Nixon resigned before the House could vote. It was clear by then that he would lose in both houses.

Bill Clinton will go down in history as the president who had an affair with a 22-year-old girl in his office – and lied about it under oath.

In an attempt to shield himself from Paula Jones’s* sexual harassment lawsuit and Monica Lewinsky’s revelations President Bill Clinton faced very serious charges of perjury (denying under oath that he had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky) and obstruction of justice.

On January 7, 1999 his case went on trial before the Senate. The House Managers (the representatives acting as prosecutors on the Senate floor) failed to gain a two-thirds vote necessary for conviction and the president was acquitted. Only 45 Senators found the President guilty of perjury and 50 Senators considered him guilty of obstruction of justice. The President himself admitted having an inappropriate intimate relationship with the former White House intern, but he maintained that his comments had been “legally accurate” and that he had not committed perjury. Political analysts observed negative and positive results of this impeachment fever. According to them, the one really bad result of all this would be if the Americans made a habit of it, impeaching a president every time the other party (the Republican Party) controlled the Congress.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION…

The best way to reach the White House is to have been chosen as vice president in an earlier election. The vice-presidency is not a powerful office but it gets a man recognized everywhere. He does not have to spend years introducing himself to every party official in the country and trying every trick of money and hype to get his face in front of television cameras and his name in the newspapers.

In the 16 elections since World War II, nine had a vice-president or former vice-president as candidate of one of the two parties.

Section 4. Reading assignment.

1.  Read the excerpt from “America and Americans” by J. Steinbeck on page __ and do the tasks which follow the text.

2.  Read “The Full Text of President Clinton’s TV Address” on page ___ and answer the questions.

3.  Read the excerpt from “The Moneychangers” by Arthur Hailey on page __ and answer the questions.

UNIT 3

THE JUDICIARY

Section 1. Read the text and answer the following questions.

TEXT

1.  Why do you think Americans see the role of lawyers differently as compared to other nations?

2.  Why was it necessary to establish the federal court system alongside the existing state system?

3.  What cases come under the jurisdiction of federal courts?

4.  How does the federal court system work? Do you think it is efficient?

5.  Which is the only stage within the federal court system where jury trials are held?

6.  For what purpose were the courts of appeals set up?

7.  The Constitution is silent on the qualification for the Supreme Courts justices. On what merit then do you think they are appointed?

8.  Why do you think the US is notorious for its high crime rates despite the time-tested legal system?

Issues of crime and justice have always held Americans’ attention. Americans are adjusted to bringing their claims for justice to the courts. There are very few countries where so many people treat the law as part of their everyday lives. Local, state, and federal courts handle approximately 12 million cases a year. The sheer number of Americans employed in the legal profession is overwhelming; there is one lawyer for every 440 Americans, whereas in Japan there is one lawyer for every 10,000 people.

Americans’ claims for justice rest on the provisions of the United States Constitution and the guiding principle of the US system of justice “Equal Justice under Law.” The Constitution, written in 1787, established a separate judicial branch of government which operates independently alongside the executive and legislative branches.

A system of state courts existed before the constitution was drafted. When the Constitutional Convention met in 1787, the delegates knew that the nation’s court system didn’t work well. Each state interpreted the laws of the United States as it saw fit. As a result, no court had the power to resolve conflicts among the states. In addition, court decisions made in one state had no legal force in any other state. The judicial anarchy led to the creation of the federal court system. Article III of the Constitution states:

The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.

Out of that Congressional mandate emerged a three-level federal court system – district courts, the courts of appeals, and the Supreme Court.

The separate system of federal courts, which operates alongside the state courts, handles cases which arise under the US Constitution or under any law or treaty, as well as any controversy to which the federal government is itself a party. Federal courts also hear disputes involving governments or citizens of different states. All federal judges enjoy life tenure, although a judge who commits an offense while in office may be granting federal judges life tenure the Constitution safeguards judicial independence. US judges are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.