AP GOVERNMENT CHAPTER 13: THE SUPREME COURT

Roe v. Wade

(1973) legalized abortion on the basis of a woman's right to privacy

Describe the Supreme Court's procedures for hearing a case.

-Justices prepare by reading Briefs before oral arguments -After oral arguments, the justices meet to discuss and votes on the cases -Majority Opinion explains how the decision was reached

Analyze the factors that influence Supreme Court decisions.

-Legal factors such as precedent and informal norms -Political Factors such as justices' own ideologies and positions on the role that the Court plays in government -Original Intent of the Constitution

Brown v. Board of Education

1954 - The Supreme Court overruled Plessy v. Ferguson, declared that racially segregated facilities are inherently unequal and ordered all public schools desegregated.

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.

Ripeness

A criterion that federal courts use to decide whether a case is ready to be heard. A case's ripeness is based on whether its central issue or controversy has actually taken place.

Precedent

A legal norm established in court cases that is then applied to 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 party's senators from the relevant state in choosing the nominee.

Solicitor General

A presidential appointee in the Department of Justice who conducts all litigation on behalf of the federal government before the Supreme Court and supervises litigation in the federal appellate courts.

Describe the process through which the Court grants a writ of certiorari.

A reference to lower courts • A reference to the rule of 4

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.

a. common law

A system of _____________ relies on legal decisions that build on precedent established in previous cases. a. common law b. civil law c. statutory law d. stare decisis e. plea bargaining

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.

a. judicial restrain

Advocates of __________ argue that the Court must defer to the elected branches and not strike down their laws. a. judicial restrain b. judicial activism c. judicial limitation d. legal maximization e. the strategic model

Plea Bargain

An agreement between a plaintiff and 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 it often involves an admission of guilt in return for a reduced charge or sentence.

Writ of Certification

Cases where an appeals court asks the court for instructions on a point of law never before decided (least common)

Outline the structure of the court system.

Divided between state and federal courts Courts of original jurisdiction and appeals courts

d. most senior; are

Generally, the chief justice or the __________ justice decides who writes the majority opinion; justices' individual areas of expertise ___________ a factor in making this assignment. a. most junior; are not b. most junior; are c. most senior; are not d. most senior; are e. dissenting; does not

Rule of 4

How the Supreme Court decides whether to hear a case. Requires four or more justices to "grant certiorari" (agree to hear an appeal). Supreme Court agrees to hear <1% of cases.

b. avoids; refuses

In general, the Court ________ challenges with the elected branches and often ____________ to act on "political questions." a. avoids; agrees b. avoids; refuses c. pursues; agrees d. pursues; refuses

b. strike down laws passed by Congress

Judicial review enables the Supreme Court to __________. a. submit legislation to Congress b. strike down laws passed by Congress c. Revise laws passed by Congress d. oversee presidential appointments to the bureaucracy e. approve judicial appoints to lower courts

Explain how Stare decisis (Precedent) influences decisions made by individual justices when deciding cases heard by the Court.

Justices defer to prior Supreme Court decisions. • Justices apply precedent to current cases and rule based on past decision

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.

Common Law

Law based on the precedent of previous court rulings rather than on legislation. It is used in all federal courts and forty-nine of the fifty state courts.

Standing

Legitimate justification for bringing a civil case to court.

District Courts

Lower-level trial courts of the federal judicial system that handle must U.S. federal cases.

d. established judicial review

Marbury v. Madison is significant because it ___________. a. established the Supreme Court b. introduced the process of selective incorporation c. changed the manned of judicial selection d. established judicial review e. gave Supreme Court justices lifetime appointment

e. use a cert pool

Most justices _______________ in initially deciding which cases should be heard. a. personally review all cases b. personally review a random sample of cases c. follow the recommendations of the chief justice d. use a random selection process e. use a cert pool

a. the Judiciary Act of 1789

Most of the details about the Supreme Court were established in ___________. a. the Judiciary Act of 1789 b. Article I of the Constitution c. Article II of the Constitution d. The Federalist Papers e. Marbury v. Madison

b. one hour; do not

Oral arguments generally last ________, and justices __________ wait until the end of the arguments to ask questions. a. one hour; will b. one hour; do not c. one day; will d. one week; will e. one week; do not

Writ of certiorari

Order by the Supreme Court directing a lower court to send up the records of a case for review

Civil Cases

Person v. Person

Oral Arguments

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

Criminal Cases

State v. Person

Miranda v. Arizona

Supreme Court held that criminal suspects must be informed of their right to consult with an attorney and of their right against self-incrimination prior to questioning by police. Miranda rights

Asses the Supreme Court's power in the political system.

The Court is occasionally able to force its views on the elected branches, though more often it requires support

e. statutory interpretation

The Court's application of national and state laws to particular cases is called ___________. a. constitutional interpretation b. judicial restraint c. judicial activism d. original jurisdiction e. statutory interpretation

Explain how the President Selects Judges

The Presidents want judges that reflect their political views -Wants to reward voter coalition --rewarding those who voted for him

Judicial Review

The Supreme Court's power to strike down a law or 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, this type of 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, causing the court to decline hearing the case.

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 to 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 least four of the nine judges agree to hear a case that has reached them via an appeal from the losing party in a lower court's ruling.

Plaintiff

The person or party who brings a case to court

Defendant

The person or party whom a case is brought

c. original intent

The perspective that when the Constitution is not clear, the justices should be guided by what the Founders wanted is called ________________. a. judicial activism b. strict construction c. original intent d. attitudinalist approach e. interpretive statute

Explain how the power of judicial review was established.

The power of judicial review was established by the Supreme Court Case Marbury v. Madison in 1803. This was established by Chief Justice Marshall.

b. Senate

The president appoints federal judges with the "advice and consent" of the ____________. a. House of Representatives b. Senate c. Supreme Court d. attorney general e. vice president

Constitutional Interpretation

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

Jurisdiction

The sphere of a court's 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 situations. Congress may overturn the courts' interpretation by writing a new law; thus it also engages in this type of interpretation

Marbury v. Madison

This case establishes the Supreme Court's power of Judicial Review (1803) Marbury was a midnight appointee of the Adams administration and sued Madison for commission. Chief Justice Marshall said the law that gave the courts the power to rule over this issue was unconstitutional. established judicial review

c. through a writ of certiorari

When a litigant who lost in a lower court files a petition, the cases reaches the Supreme Court ____________. a. as a matter of right b. through a writ of certification c. through a write a certiorari d. as a matter of original jurisdiction e. through senatorial courtesy

e. standing

When one has suffered direct and personal harm from the action addressed in a case, it is called _________. a. precedent b. appellant c. plea bargaining d. jurisdiction e. standing

Describe how cases reach the Supreme Court.

Writ of Certioriari -mootness -ripeness -collusion -standing

a. mootness

_____________ means that the controversy is not relevant when the Court hears the case. a. mootness b. ripeness c. collusion d. standing e. precedent

Plessy v. Ferguson

a 1896 Supreme Court decision which legalized state ordered segregation so long as the facilities for blacks and whites were equal

Contructionism

norms that have served us well for hundreds of years are being out aside by either party for political gain

Collusion

the requirements that the two opposing sides cannot want the same outcome

Explain how judicial review empowers the Supreme Court within the system of checks and balances.

• It gives the Court the power to overturn laws passed by Congress/legislative branch or actions taken by the president/executive branch. • It gives the Court the power to limit actions taken by Congress/legislative branch or the president/executive branch.

Explain how judicial activism influences decisions made by individual justices when deciding cases heard by the Court.

• Justices are more likely to strike down laws and policies as unconstitutional. • Justices are influenced by the future/societal ramifications/needs of the nation