POLS-Y103 Chapter 14

Class-Action Lawsuit

A case brought by a group of individuals on behalf of themselves and others in the general public who are in similar circumstances

Precedent

A legal norm established in court cases that is then applied to the future cases dealing with the same legal questions.

Senatorial Courtesy

A norm in the nomination of district court judges in which the president consults with his or her parts senators from the relevant state in choosing the nominee.

Solicitor General

A presidential appointee in the justice department who conducts all litigation on behalf of the federal government before the supreme court and supervides litigation in the federal appellate courts.

Strict Construction

A way of interpreting the constitution based on its language alone.

Living Constitution

A way of interpreting the constitution that takes into account evolving national attitudes and circumstances rather than the text alone

Attitudinalist Approach

A way of understanding decisions of the supreme court based on the political ideologies of the justices

Common Law

Law based on the precedent of previous court rulings rather than on legislation. It is used in all federal courts and 49 out of the 50 state courts.

Standing

Legitimate justification for bringing a civil case to court

Plea Bargaining

Negotiaing an agreement between a plaintiff and a defendant to settle a case before it goes to trial or the verdict is decided. In a civil case, this usually involves an admission of guilt and an agreement on monetary damages; in a criminal case, this oftern involves an admission of guilt in return for a reduced charge or sentence.

Oral Arguments

Spoken presentations made in person by the lawyers of each party to a judge or an appellate court outlining the legal reasons their side should prevail.

Judicial Review

The Supreme Courts power to strike down a law or an executive branch action that it finds unconstitutional

Original Jurisdiction

The authority of a court to handle a case first, as in the Supreme Court's authority to initially hear disputes between two states. However, original jurisdiction for the supreme court is not exclusive; it may assign such a case to a lower court.

Appellate Jurisdiction

The authority of a court to hear appeals from lower courts and change or uphold the decision

Judicial Activism

The idea that the supreme court should assert its interpretation of the law even if it overrules the elected executive and legislative branches of government

Judicial Restraint

The idea that the supreme court should defer to the democratically elected executive and legislative branches of government rather than contradicting existing laws

Appeals Courts

The intermediate level of federal courts that hear appeals from district courts. More generally, an appeals court is any court with appellate jurisdiction.

Mootness

The irrelevance of a case by the time it is received by a federal court, casuing the court to decline to hear the case.

Most of the details abut the supreme court were established in _____.

The judiciary act of 1789

Judiciary Act of 1789

The law in which Congress laid out the organization of the federal judiciary. The law refined and clarified federal court jurisdiction and set the original number of justices at six. It also created the Office of the Attorney General and established the lower federal courts.

Writ of Certiorari

The most common way for a case to reach the supreme court, in which at last four of the nine justices agree to hear a case that has reached them via an appeal from the losing party in a lower courts ruling.

Defendant

The person or party against whom a case is brought

Plaintiff

The person or party who brings a case to court

Constitutional Interpretation

The process of determining whether a piece of legislation or governmental action is supported by the constitution

Jurisdiction

The sphere of a courts legal authority to hear and decide cases.

Original Intent

The theory that justices should surmise the intentions of the founders when the language of the constitution is unclear

Statutory Interpretation

The various methods and tests used by the courts for determining the meaning of a law and applying it to specific siutations. Congress may overturn the courts interpretation by writing a new law; thus, it also engages in statutory interpretation.

Cert Pool

a system initiated in the supreme court in the 1970s in which law clerks screen cases that come to the supreme court and recommend to the justices which cases should be heard.

In general, the court _______ challenges with the elected branches and often _____ to act on "political questions".

avoids; refuses

Marbury v. Madison is significant because it _______.

established judicial review

Advocates of _____ argue that the court must defer to the elected branches and not strike down thier laws

judicial restraint

The courts application of national and state laws to particular cases is called ______.

judicial restraint

Amicus Curiae

latin for "friend of the court", referring to an interested group or person who shares relevant information about a case to help the court reach a decision

District Courts

lower-level trial courts of the federal judicial system that handle most U.S. federal cases.

______ means that the controversy is not relevant when the court hears the case.

mootness

Generally, the chief justices or the _____ justice decides who writes the majority opinion; justices individual areas of expertise _____ a factor in making this assignment.

most senior; are

Oral arguments generally last _____ , and justices _______ wait until the end of the arguments to ask questions.

one hour; do not

The perspective that when the constitution is not clear the justices should be guided by what the founders wanted is called ______.

original intent

When one has suffered direct and personal harm from the action addressed in a case, it is called ______.

plea bargaining

The president appoints federal judges with the "advice and consent" of the ______.

senate

A system of _____ relies on legal decisions that are built from precedent established in previous cases.

statutory law

Judicial review enables the supreme court to ____.

strike down laws passed by congress

The most important impact of a case having a large number of amicus curiae briefs is ______.

the case is more likely to be heard

When a litigant who lost in a lower court files a petition, the cases reaches the supreme court ______.

through a writ of certiorari

Most justices ______ in initially deciding which cases should be heard.

use of cert pool