Ch 12 Quiz Questions
Which of the following statements about the U.S. Courts of Appeals is INCORRECT?
***The appeals courts are able to hear all cases involving federal law, but not constitutional law.***
About ________ percent of all lower court cases are reviewed by federal appeals courts.
20
Under normal rules of oral argument, each lawyer has ________ to present his or her case before the Supreme Court.
30 minutes
Each Supreme Court justice is assigned ________ law clerks.
4
There are approximately ________ federal district court judges in the United States.
679
How many justices currently serve on the Supreme Court?
9
About ________ percent of all cases in the United States are heard in state courts.
99
________ occurs when a criminal case is resolved through a negotiated agreement before a full trial is completed.
A plea bargain
Which of the following statements about federal courts is most accurate?
Although the federal courts hear only a small fraction of all of the civil and criminal cases decided each year in the United States, their decisions are extremely important because they interpret the Constitution and the federal laws that govern all Americans.
Which of the following is part of the Miranda rule?
Arrested people have the right to remain silent.
The size of the U.S. Supreme Court is set by ________.
Congress
What is the significance of dissenting opinions?
Dissents are signs that the Court is in disagreement on an issue and could change its ruling.
________ is an example of a justice who advocated judicial restraint.
Felix Frankfurter
Which of the following statements about the Supreme Court is true?
In 2014, five of the nine justices were appointed by Republican presidents.
Why is Marbury v. Madison an important case?
In this case, the justices authorized the Supreme Court to exercise judicial review over laws passed by Congress.
What is the main function of the chief justice of the Supreme Court?
The chief justice presides over the Court's public sessions and private conferences.
Why has partisan conflict surrounded federal judicial appointments in recent years?
The federal courts play an important role in shaping American law and politics.
Which of the following statements best describes the Supreme Court?
The justices have broad latitude to decide which cases they will hear and generally hear only those cases they deem to raise the most important issues.
Which of the following best describes the role of the solicitor general?
The solicitor general is the lawyer who represents the United States before the Supreme Court in cases where the federal government is a party.
In recent years, federal court appointments have
been characterized by intense partisan and ideological efforts to support or defeat the candidate.
All of the following are part of the official jurisdiction of the federal courts EXCEPT
cases involving citizens of more than one state where less than $75,000 is at stake.
Which of the following kinds of cases are not likely to be accepted by the Supreme Court?
cases that address state laws but that do not raise constitutional issues
When a private individual brings a suit against a company for breaking a contract, this is an example of ________ law.
civil
In what type of law is the government always the plaintiff?
criminal law
The right of due process is best described as the right of
every person not to be treated arbitrarily by a government official or agency.
Activist judges believe that federal judges should
go beyond the words of a constitution or statute to consider the broader societal implications of their decisions.
The number of cases filed in the Supreme Court
has increased dramatically since 1940.
The assignment of the opinion in a Supreme Court case is
important because differences in wording and emphasis can have important implications for how the decision is interpreted in future litigation.
If someone is an advocate of the philosophy of judicial restraint, he or she believes
in looking only at the words of the Constitution in order to understand its meaning.
Through the exercise of ________, the Supreme Court has held actions or laws of the executive and legislative branches unconstitutional.
judicial review
The area of authority possessed by a court, in terms of either subject area or geography, is called its________.
jurisdiction
The party that brings a complaint in court is called the ________, and the one against whom the complaint is brought is called the ________.
plaintiff; defendant
A certiorari pool describes the
practice by which Supreme Court law clerks work together to evaluate each petition.
Senatorial courtesy describes the practice of
senators from a president's party approving of a judicial nominee from their home state.
The Supreme Court's power to review acts of Congress has not been seriously questioned because
the Court has been reluctant to strike down congressional laws and has overturned only a small number over the last 200 years.
What was known as the "court packing" plan?
the attempt by President Franklin Roosevelt to add sympathetic justices to the Supreme Court in order to get New Deal laws upheld as constitutional
If a man is arrested because his home was searched by police without a legal warrant, he could argue in court that he had been denied ________.
the due process of law
A writ of habeas corpus declares that
the government must show a legal cause for holding someone in detention.
Aside from the justices themselves, who or what has the greatest power in shaping the flow of cases to the Supreme Court?
the solicitor general
The solicitor general is the
third-ranking official in the Department of Justice.
