Nationalization pedantry

[quarrel]

In late February, ex-Canadian Dafna Linzer wrote an article, published on two different sites, on oddities she encountered in the United States Naturalization Test while becoming a United States citizen. Armchair experts couldn't wait to dive in on one side or the other.

Question 1: What is the supreme law of the land?

Official Answer: The Constitution.

Alleged Actual Answer: That's only one-third correct. The Constitution itself says it's the Constitution, federal laws, and treaties combined.

Alleged Actual Actual Answer: The official answer is correct. If Document X says "the ultimate authorities are Documents X, Y, and Z", then Document X is the real ultimate authority. Also, it's not all federal laws. It's just those "made in pursuance [of the Constitution]". Likewise, the Constitution defines how the U.S. makes treaties and has been ruled to trump treaties when the two conflict. Any way you look at it, saying "just the Constitution" is at least as acceptable, if not moreso, than giving that whole list.

Question 96: Why does the flag have 13 stripes?

Official Answer: For the 13 original colonies.

Alleged Actual Answer: For the 13 original states. The stripes couldn't be for the 13 original colonies because there weren't 13. There were more than 13 colonies in North America, even if you only count British ones. In fact, you still get more than 13 even if you only count colonies that became original states because Delaware was a combination of three.

Alleged Actual Actual Answer: The official answer is correct. The first official U.S. flag specification had 13 stars and 13 stripes but didn't give a reason for either. Both the stars and the stripes rose to 15 when the first two new states were added, so neither represented the original count of anything. It wasn't until 1818, a year after the state count hit 20, that the stripes were officially returned to 13 and held constant, and the person who proposed this expressly had the colonies in mind.

Question 12: What is the "rule of law"?

Official Answer: Leaders/Government/Everyone must obey the law. / No one is above the law.

Alleged Actual Answer: Possibly that judges decide cases without considering the social status, attractiveness, etc. of the parties or their lawyers. Possibly that laws are written, publicly knowable, and applied objectively rather than being determined by fiat on a case by case basis by an arbitrary authority (i.e., the "rule of man"). The phrase "rule of law" does not seem to have a well-defined conventional meaning recognized by the legal profession.

Alleged Actual Actual Answer: Short version: the official answer is correct. (Long version: Ugh. People were quoting Hayek and Voltaire and flinging Roman and Greek history on this one. It was over-my-head crazy. See the Volokh Conspiracy blog thread if you must.)

Questin 16: Who makes federal laws?

Official Answer: Congress.

Alleged Actual Answer: Congress, plus the President, since he needs to sign them.

Alleged Actual Actual Answer: The official answer is correct. Approving a law isn't the same as making it. Plus, once a bill is approved by Congress, it becomes law automatically in ten days unless the President vetoes it. He can sign it if he wants, but it's not required. A presidential signature only makes it a law a few days faster.

Question 36: Name two members of the presiden't Cabinet.

Official Answer: One correct answer is Vice President.

Alleged Actual Answer: Vice President is a Cabinet-level position but is not a member of any Cabinet. In fact, the USCIS's own prep material says, "no elected official may serve on the cabinet while in office," and the Vice President is elected.

Alleged Actual Actual Answer: Vice President is not an elected position because citizens cannot vote for one independently of their other votes. He's appointed, just like Cabinet heads; he's just appointed before the election instead of after.

And anyway, the current wording of this question is, "What are two Cabinet-level positions?" so this issue is moot. Ms. Linzer either misreported the question or simply had an older version. The timeline is tight. Her article was published February 23rd and talks about taking the test "last month", and the PDF was updated in January. It could be that the question was wrong but got fixed.

Meta-Question: Is the Nationalization Test full of errors?

Official Answer: No.

Alleged Actual Answer: Yes.

Alleged Actual Actual Answer: Seriously, these quibbles are a waste of time, and the original article is poor journalism. These are minor details. They're pedantic points you'd need to be a lawyer to fuss over. The core concepts being tested are sound, and the official answers are sufficient to identify comprehension of these middle school-level issues.