Quiz 5

What are the two kinds of county courts?

constitutional county courts and county courts at law

The _______ Amendment guarantees citizens in each state due process and equal protection of the law regardless of race, ethnicity, or gender.

Fourteenth

A justice of the peace court is a/an:

Magistrate court

Judges appointed by governors are typically:

More competent and less responsive

According to a 2006 Texans for Public Justice study, the Texas Supreme Court

is more that 7 times as likely to hear cases filed by large contributors

The strict procedural rules that govern courts:

might disallow evidence gathered in an illegal manner.

All Texas judges are selected by partisan elections EXCEPT:

municipal judges

What is the primary attribute voters use to select judges?

name familiarity

How are supreme court judges selected in Texas?

partisan election

How are trial court judges selected in Texas?

partisan election

Which method for removing judges for misconduct is used by the fewest states?

removal by the governor after a hearing

If a court makes a ruling based on a previous ruling from another court, this is an example of the principle of:

stare decisis

What is the highest court for criminal cases in Texas?

the Court of Criminal Appeals

All of the following are concerns about Texas judicial selections EXCEPT:

vacancies from death or resignation require expensive special elections

Courts differ from legislatures in that:

Courts cannot initiate policy changes

In Texas, appellate courts:

Decide whether procedure was followed

The highest number of states courts use this method for selecting judges:

a merit plan

In most states, which courts hear major criminal and civil cases?

all of the above

The highest percentage of Texas inmates are

black

Texas uses ________ to review the facts and decide whether enough evidence exists to try cases.

both grand juries and administrative hearings

Most voters go to the election booth with scant knowledge about the qualifications of judicial candidates, and they often end up voting

by name familiarity

Most court cases in Texas deal with

controversies between individuals

Across all fifty states, the most common method for selecting trial court judges is:

partisan elections

What is the most important difference between trial and appellate courts?

deciding points of fact versus points of law

A murder case would most likely first be tried in a/an:

district court

Which method of judicial selection is a system left over from colonial America?

election by the legislature

Why does the U.S. have a dual court system?

federal system of government

Cases heard in trial de novo courts can be appealed

for any reason

Justices of the peace in Texas can do all of the following except:

hear traffic ticket appeals

In 1984, many incumbent Democratic judges lost their seats in large urban counties to unknown Republican challengers because of

straight ticket voting