Judiciary

Dn U.S. Supreme Court Justices

9

MM The new Republican president, Jefferson, found the commissions and ordered his secretary of state, James Madison, not to deliver them—thereby

retaliating against the Federalist effort to pack the judiciary, setting the stage for a confrontation between the executive and judicial branches..

Dn U.S. Court of Appeals

second tier of the three-tiered federal court system, 179, 13 circuits, 12 regional

CH A president's efforts to shape the Supreme Court would be limited by:

the Constitutional requirement that the Senate confirm his nominees the difficulty of predicting a nominee's future behavior on the Supreme Court the support of the public and Congress for an independent Supreme Court #all of the above

C Imagine that you were the political director of the National Right to Life Committee in late 1973 after the Supreme Court issued its Roe v. Wade decision. One of the options available to the Right to Life Committee would require convincing which segment or segments of government to act?

the federal district courts

P statutory interpretation

the judicial act of interpreting and applying the laws of congress and the states, rather than the constitution, to particular cases

P United States v. Nixon (1974), the Court ordered Nixon to turn over tapes containing material politically fatal to him. The president yielded to the Court's order, affirming that

the justices of the High Court were indeed the final arbiters of the Constitution—even in a direct confrontation with the chief executive.

MM In the case of Marbury v. Madison, who originally failed to deliver the judicial commissions and assumed the new Secretary of State would do it?

#Marshall

MM Regarding our examination of the Marbury v. Madison case, if Chief Justice John Marshall had issued the writ (the court order) William Marbury was demanding, what would have resulted?

#Secretary of State James Madison would have defied the writ.

CH One of the following "checks" against the Supreme Court requires the approval of a political body outside of Washington, D.C. Which "check" is it?

#controlling the Supreme Court's appellate jurisdiction

R Imagine that you were the political director of the National Right to Life Committee in late 1973 after the Supreme Court issued its Roe v. Wade decision. What would you have advised the organization to do?

#get to work on the difficult task of reshaping the composition of the Court

R The Supreme Court's original jurisdiction is given to it by:

#the Constitution

R Which branch has the duty of enforcing an unpopular Supreme Court decision like Brown v. Board of Education?

#the executive

PW In one of our PowerPoint videos we looked at the problem of non-compliance as a piece of evidence supporting

#the weak court argument

P What are the bases of judicial independence?

(1) Selection Process No direct electoral connection (2) Life Tenure Article III, Section 1 Judges "shall hold their offices during good behavior."

Cj Chase's acquittal in the Senate trial established what we might call the Samuel Chase precedent:

**Congress does not use its power of removal to punish SC justices for unpopular decisions **Congress does not use its power to subordinate the judiciary to the popular will

MM Problems with Marshalls ruling

1. the word only 2. congressmen that voted for Jud act were delegates at CC (unlikely to support a law that conflicted with Conts.)

P What makes American judges more powerful than their counterparts in many other countries?

-Const. and stat. interpretation -judicial review -life tenure

CH Congress checks Courts

-Creates size, -may remove through impeachment, -senate approves nominees -appellate jurisdiction

MM By his own negligence, Marshall was trapped. If he is-sued the writ_____ Declining to issue the writ, on the other hand would_____

-Madison would defy it. Having no way to physically compel Madison, Marshall and the Court would appear impotent. -appear a cowardly endorsement by default of Madison's dereliction of his duty as secretary of state.

R To reverse Supreme Court rulings, _____.

-amend Constitution -new justices

C critics of the nation's courts, judicial review is

-antidemocratic: When politically unaccountable federal courts invalidate legislation passed by duly elected members of Congress and signed into law by the president of the United States, the will of the people is denied.

D appellate courts "courts of appeals,"

-hear appeals from judicial decisions and jury verdicts in the trial courts. -divided into 11 numbered circuits, and a specialized federal circuit for patent and trade cases -There are no juries in appellate courts

PW weak court argument

-no power of purse or sword

R According to one of our PowerPoint videos, what are the chances that the Senate could confirm someone to a seat on the Supreme Court without the president nominating that person?

0

D dissenting opinion

A statement written by a justice who disagrees with the majority opinion, presenting his or her opinion

D Judicial Review

Allows the court to determine the constitutionality of laws

D The existence of two court systems within each state reflects

American federalism, state and federal government exercise authority over law and public policy.

D concurring opinion

An opinion that agrees with the majority in a Supreme Court ruling but differs on the reasoning.

D Majority opinion of the Supreme Court:

Explains the ruling of the high court for the lower courts to follow

MM In one of our PowerPoint videos we examined a problem with Chief Justice John Marshall's ruling which is that the word "only" is missing from the Constitution's description of the Supreme Court's original jurisdiction. We used the example of a beverage to illustrate the issue. Which beverage did we use as an example?

BEER

MM How did the Supreme Court exercise original jurisdiction M&M

Because Marshall agreed to hear Marbury's case before any lower court had examined it

P Which is correct about the independence of Supreme Court justices?

Because the justices are not dependent upon presidents for re-nomination, or senators for re-confirmation, they can be independent to a great extent. Presidents who have made a serious effort to find nominees with views similar to their own have usually not been disappointed by the decisions of these justices. # A significant number of judges, once appointed to the courts, deviated from the president's expectations. all of the above

Cj Congress' first and last attempt to remove a SC justice

Chase was a partisan Federalist His views were unpopular with public and Congress He campaigned for Adams in the election of 1800 He made partisan and intemperate statements from the bench -mpeached by HOR 1804 Tried in the Senate Total in Senate = 34 23 required to convict

MM P Marshall's interpretation of the Constitution circumscribed

Congress' power and expanded that of his own Court.

Dn U.S. District Courts

Courts within the lowest tier of the three-tiered federal court system; courts where litigation begins.-67, 94 districts

MM To preserve Federalist influence against the Republican tide (Thomas Jefferson new pres.)

Federalist president, John Adams, create fifty‐nine new positions in the judiciary -Adams filled these posts with loyal Federalist Party judges, often referred to as "midnight appointments" to indicate the desperate and last‐minute nature of Adams's gambit.

MM According to Marshall's ruling and Federalist No. 78 if the Constitution says one thing and a law passed by Congress says another, which must give way?

Hamilton: no legislative act contrary to the Constitution can be valid because members of a legislative body cannot themselves be "the constitutional judges of their own powers." "To deny this would be to affirm . . . that the representatives of the people are superior to the people themselves" whose will is manifest in the Constitution. Marshall: Constitution is "superior to any ordinary act of the legislature," and if not the case, written constitutions would be nothing more than "absurd attempts, on the part of the people, to limit a power in its own nature illimitable."

MM John Marshall, a Federalist and Adams's secretary of state, was responsible for certifying and delivering commissions to the 17 new appointees authorizing them to take their seats on the bench. Unfortunately..

Marshall was in a hurry, Adams had nominated, and the Federalist Congress had confirmed, Marshall as the new chief justice of the Supreme Court. In his rush to step down as secretary of state and take up his new post, Marshall left the commissions on his desk, undelivered.

P Which is true about the relationship between the Supreme Court and public opinion?

No direct electoral mechanism exists to keep Supreme Court justices accountable to public opinion. Supreme Court justices must pay attention to public opinion so as not to undermine the public's respect and willingness to obey court decisions. A Supreme Court ruling that strayed too far beyond the boundary of what was acceptable to the general public might lead to a confrontation between the Supreme Court and the other branches. #all of the above

D Court Packing Plan

President FDR's failed 1937 attempt to increase the number of US Supreme Court Justices from 9 to 15 in order to save his 2nd New Deal programs from constitutional challenges

Cj If the Republican majority had voted to remove Chase, what precedent would have been established?

That the judicial branch was subordinate to the legislative branch and public opinion. -compromises independence of SC

C Describe how the frequency with which the Court strikes down acts of Congress has changed.

The Court struck down acts of Congress on average once every four years during its first century. On average, the Rehnquist Court declared acts of Congress unconstitutional over twice per year.

D Rule of Four

The Supreme Court will hear a case if four justices agree to do so.

P constitutional interpretation

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

MM Marbury v. Madison

This case establishes the Supreme Court's power of Judicial Review

P important source of SC power

public respect

D dual court system

a court system made up of both federal and state courts exist and operate at the same time in the same geographic areas Both court systems handle criminal prosecutions, both systems handle civil lawsuits,

R Impeachment of judges

a judge may be impeached only if they commit the same kind of impeachable offenses as the president

CH what is the presidents check on SC

absolute nomination power -use to shape and limit SC power

D flexible interpretation

an approach to interpreting the US Constitution that permits the meaning of the document to change with evolving values, social conditions, and problems

R What political processes are used to select judges in the federal court system

are nominated by the President and confirmed by the United States Senate, as stated in the Constitution.

D The highest appellate courts in the state and federal systems

courts of last resort. the U.S. Supreme Court is the court of last resort.

MM Marshall ruled that Section 13 of the Judiciary Act of 1789 had unconstitutionally bestowed on the Supreme Court a new power, to issue writs of mandamus— under its original jurisdiction —to public officials who failed to perform their official duties. Marshall argued that Section 13

expanded the original jurisdiction of the SC beyond specified in the Constitution, and that when an act of Congress conflicts with the Constitution, that legislation must not be allowed to stand.

D original intent approach to constitutional interpretation

holds that interpretation of a written constitution is (or should be) consistent with what was meant by those who drafted and ratified it. This is currently a minority view among originalists.

MM William Marbury and three other Adams appointees ("midnight appointments") waiting to receive their commissions sued to force Madison to deliver the documents. They took their case directly to the to the Supreme Court and demanded the Court

issue a writ of mandamus, compelling Madison to carry out his duty as secretary of state

C For proponents of judicial review

it is an essential restraint on the will of the majority, and a safeguard of individual liberties and minority rights.

Po Evidence that the courts are political can be seen when:

judges interpret the Constitution vacancies on the courts are filled judges exercise judicial review #all of the above