The dumbed-down answers to the pilot questions end up penalizing applicants who actually understand the Constitution. Thus, anyone who wants to guarantee a passing score should probably memorize the many misconceptions found in the USCIS pilot answers, such as the following:
A member of Congress represents all citizens in that representative's district (wrong; he or she represents all people in the district, including noncitizens).
Only state governments can provide police protection and fire departments, issue drivers' licenses, and provide education (wrong; the federal government can, and does, provide those services on military bases and in the District of Columbia).
Elections in the United States are always held in November (wrong; federal elections are in November, but state and local elections -- and federal primaries -- are held in many other months).
It is the responsibility of U.S. citizens, and only citizens, to vote and serve on juries (idealistic, but still wrong; jury service can be legally required, but voting is strictly optional -- and in any event, noncitizens may be allowed to vote in certain state and local elections).
Only U.S. citizens may apply for federal jobs (seriously wrong, especially given the context; permanent resident aliens -- meaning pretty much everybody who takes the citizenship test -- are eligible for employment by many agencies of the federal government, including the U.S. Postal Service).
"Inalienable rights" are "individual rights that people are born with" (wrong; inalienable rights are those that cannot be denied by government; they may or may not arise at birth; and some rights at birth are, in fact, alienable).
Everyone has the right to bear arms. (This is basically wrong, and probably ideologically motivated; the Second Amendment makes it clear that the right to bear arms is connected to a "well regulated militia," and the Supreme Court has held that this right does not belong to individuals -- and in any event, it is an "alienable" right, as in the case of convicted felons.)
And so on. There are half a dozen more like these, ranging from the subtly misleading to cringe-worthy. Although only one-eighth of the 144 pilot questions have imprecise or erroneous answers, the threat to hard-studying immigrants is palpable. The actual test for any applicant includes only 10 questions, selected at random, of which six have to be answered correctly. Simply by luck of the draw, a hapless aspiring citizen might end up facing five or more questions for which the most accurate answers would be disallowed, making a passing grade impossible for the best students and the most critical thinkers.
Fortunately, this is only a pilot test. During a trial period early this year, it will be given in just 10 cities, and anyone who misses a question will be immediately permitted to take the regular exam. That will allow USCIS "to work out any problems and refine the exam before it is fully implemented nationwide." Refining the exam will presumably involve double-checking the answers and reading the text of the Constitution, but we still have to wonder why no one appears to have done that before issuing the test in the first place.
Then again, this is the Bush administration we're talking about, and it hasn't exactly demonstrated scrupulous respect for the Constitution in other settings. Come to think of it, President Bush (not to mention Vice President Dick Cheney and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales) would probably have a fair bit of trouble with some of the pilot questions, given their, shall we say, uniquely aggressive view of executive authority:
Pilot question: Why do we have three branches of government?
Pilot answer: So no branch is too powerful.
Bush answer: So the president can ignore the other two if he decides to wiretap American citizens or declare someone an unlawful combatant.
Pilot question: Who makes federal laws?
Pilot answer: Congress.
Bush answer: The president, pursuant to his inherent, unenumerated and unchallengeable powers as commander in chief.
Given the foul-ups, it's hardly surprising that USCIS is a division of the Department of Homeland Security (which also runs FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Administration). USCIS, you're doing a heckuva job!
About the writer
Steven Lubet is a professor of law at Northwestern University. His most recent book is "Lawyers' Poker: 52 Lessons That Lawyers Can Learn From Card Players" (Oxford University Press 2006).
Story finder (3 ways to search Salon)
Salon Directory (browse by topic)
