Unit 6 Chapter 18 The Supreme Court

dissenting opinion

A dissenting opinion (or dissent) is an opinion in a legal case in certain legal systems written by one or more judges expressing disagreement with the majority opinion of the court which gives rise to its judgment. When not necessarily referring to a legal decision, this can also be referred to as a minority report.

Writ of certiorari

A writ of certiorari orders a lower court to deliver its record in a case so that the higher court may review it.

Inferior Courts

An inferior court is a court of limited jurisdiction, and it must appear on the face of its proceedings that it has jurisdiction, or its proceedings

appellate jurisdiction

Appellate jurisdiction is the power of a higher court to review decisions and change outcomes of decisions of lower courts.

Article III

Article Three of the United States Constitution establishes the judicial branch of the federal government. The judicial branch comprises the Supreme Court of the United States and lower courts as created by Congress.

Concurrent jurisdiction

Concurrent jurisdiction is the ability to exercise judicial review by different courts at the same time, within the same territory, and over the same subject matter.

Exclusive Jurisdiction

In civil procedure, exclusive jurisdiction exists where one court has the power to adjudicate a case to the exclusion of all other courts. It is the opposite situation from concurrent jurisdiction (or non exclusive jurisdiction), in which more than one court may take jurisdiction over the case.

Judicial Activism

Judicial activism refers to judicial rulings suspected of being based on personal or political considerations rather than on existing law. It is sometimes used as an antonym of judicial restraint.

Judicial Restriant

Judicial restraint is a theory of judicial interpretation that encourages judges to limit the exercise of their own power. It asserts that judges should hesitate to strike down laws unless they are obviously unconstitutional, though what counts as obviously unconstitutional is itself a matter of some debate.

Marbury vs. madison

Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137, was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court formed the basis for the exercise of judicial review in the United States under Article III of the Constitution.

Judiciary Act of 1789

The Judiciary Act of 1789, officially titled "An Act to Establish the Judicial Courts of the United States," was signed into law by President George Washington on September 24, 1789. Article III of the Constitution established a Supreme Court, but left to Congress the authority to create lower federal courts as needed.

Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest federal court of the United States. Established pursuant to Article III of the United States Constitution in 1789, it has ultimate (and largely discretionary) appellate jurisdiction over all federal courts and over state court cases involving issues of federal law, plus original jurisdiction over a small range of cases

concurring opinion

a concurring opinion is in certain legal systems a written opinion by one or more judges of a court which agrees with the decision made by the majority of the court, but states different (or additional) reasons as the basis for his or her decision.

majority opinion

a majority opinion is a judicial opinion agreed to by more than half of the members of a court. A majority opinion sets forth the decision of the court and an explanation of the rationale behind the court's decision. Not all cases have a majority opinion.

Plaintiff

a person who brings a case against another in a court of law.

criminal Law

a system of law concerned with the punishment of those who commit crimes.

precedent

an earlier event or action that is regarded as an example or guide to be considered in subsequent similar circumstances.

Defendant

an individual, company, or institution sued or accused in a court of law.

Judicial Review

review by the US Supreme Court of the constitutional validity of a legislative act.

Jurisdiction

the official power to make legal decisions and judgments.

original Jurisdiction

the original jurisdiction of a court is the power to hear a case for the first time, as opposed to appellate jurisdiction, when a higher court has the power to review a lower court's decision.

Civil Law

the system of law concerned with private relations between members of a community rather than criminal, military, or religious affairs.