Lame Duck Congress

From The West Wing (Season 2, Episode 6)

Categories:

Run time: 3:48

Clip Description: A recently defeated Senator refuses to vote for a proposal he once supported, on the ground that the voters who sent him have now sent someone else.

American Politics Concepts Discussed/Connected To: This clip would work well in discussions about Congress, legislative procedures, and public opinion.

Possible Uses in Classroom: This clip discusses Congressional procedures and the influence of public opinions.

Discussion Questions

A legislator who votes his constituents’ latest verdict is acting as a delegate; one who votes his own judgment is acting as a trustee. Edmund Burke told the electors of Bristol in 1774 that he owed them his judgment and not his obedience — and Bristol turned him out. Which of the two did the voters who defeated this senator actually want from him, and is there any way to know?
A defeated legislator has been fired and still holds the vote. The 20th Amendment shortened that window in 1933 but did not close it. Give the honest case for letting a defeated member keep voting through the end of the term, and the honest case for stripping the power the day the result is certified. Both answers commit you to a view about whether a legislator’s authority comes from the last election or from the office itself.
The senator’s position is that the people have spoken and he has to honor it, even though he still thinks the policy is right. Test that on yourself. If you were fired from a job over a decision you still believe was correct, would you spend your last two weeks reversing it? Say what your answer reveals about whether you want a representative bound to the voters’ judgment or to their own.

For AP Students

AP U.S. Government and Politics
Unit 2: Interactions Among Branches of Government

Topics: 2.3 Congressional Behavior
Skill: Concept Application (1.D)
Anchors: Models of representation: trustee, delegate, politico

A senator who has just lost his seat refuses to vote for a measure he had supported, on the ground that the people who sent him have now sent somebody else. It is the cleanest illustration in the library of the trustee-and-delegate question, and it is sharper than most because he has nothing left to lose by either choice.

Discussion questions

A trustee votes their own judgment, a delegate votes the district’s preference, and a politico moves between the two. Which is the senator being here, and what is his stated justification?
He has already lost, and will never face those voters again. Does that make his position more principled or less?
If you were his constituent, would you rather he vote your preference or his judgment? Answer for one issue you actually care about, then say whether your answer would change on a different issue.

Short activity

Sort three votes (10 minutes). Three scenarios on the board. A representative votes against a popular bill she believes is bad policy. A representative votes for a bill he privately opposes because the district demands it. A representative votes with the district on a visible issue and with his own judgment on an obscure one. Students label each trustee, delegate or politico, then write one sentence on which they would want representing them, and why. The third scenario is the one that produces the argument, because most students want to call it hypocrisy before they have a name for it.

Clip hosted on Critical Commons.