Exam 2

Question 1

judicial review

Answer 1

The power of the supreme court to declare actions of the other branches and levels of government unconstitutional.

Question 2

original jurisdiction

Answer 2

The authority of a court to be the first to hear a particular kind of case.

Question 3

constitutional courts

Answer 3

Federal courts created by congress under the authority of Article III of the constitution.

Question 4

legislative courts

Answer 4

Highly specialized federal courts created by congress under the authority of Article I of the constitution.

Question 5

grand juries

Answer 5

Groups of citizens who decide whether there is sufficient evidence to bring an indictment against accused persons.

Question 6

petit (trial) juries

Answer 6

Juries that hear evidence and sit in judgment on charges brough in civil or criminal cases.

Question 7

circuit courts

Answer 7

The 12 geographical jurisdictions and one special court that hear appeals from the federal district courts.

Question 8

appellate courts

Answer 8

Courts that hear cases on appeal from other courts.

Question 9

briefs

Answer 9

Documents setting out the arguments in legal cases, prepared by attorneys and presented to courts.

Question 10

opinion

Answer 10

The explanation of the majority’s and the minority’s reasoning that accompanies a court decision.

Question 11

precedents

Answer 11

Past rulings by courts that guide judicial reasoning in subsequent cases.

Question 12

stare decisis

Answer 12

The legal doctrine that says precedent should guide judicial decision making.

Question 13

senatorial courtesy

Answer 13

The practice of allowing the senior senator from the president’s party to approve nominees from the state where the district court is located.

Question 14

separate but equal doctrine

Answer 14

The principle articulated in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) that laws prescribing separate public facilities and services for nonwhite Americans are permissible if the facilities and services are equal to those provided for whites.

Question 15

plaintiffs

Answer 15

One who brings suit in a court.

Question 16

in forma pauperis

Answer 16

Describing a process by which indigents may file a suit with the supreme court free of charge.

Question 17

writ of certiorari

Answer 17

An announcement that the supreme court will hear a case on appeal from a lower court; its issuance requires the vote of four of the nine justices.

Question 18

rule of four

Answer 18

An unwritten practive that requires at least four justices the supreme court to agree that a case warrants review by the court before it will hear the case.

Question 19

amicus curiae

Answer 19

Latin for “friend of the court”; a legal brief in which individuals not party to a suit may have their views heard in the court.

Question 20

opinion of the court

Answer 20

The majority opinion that accompanies a supreme court decision; also called the majority opinion.

Question 21

concurring opinion

Answer 21

The opinion of one or more judges who vote with the majority on a case but wish to set out different reasons for their decision.

Question 22

dissenting opinion

Answer 22

The opinion of the judge or judges who are in the minority on a particular case before the supreme court.

Question 23

test case

Answer 23

A case brought by advocacy or interest groups to try to force a ruling on the constitutionality of some law or executive action.

Question 24

class-action suits

Answer 24

A suit brought on behalf of a group of people who are in a situation similar to that of the plaintiffs.

Question 25

judicial activism

Answer 25

Actions by the courts that purportedly go beyond the role of the judiciary as interpreter of the law and adjudicator of disputes.

Question 26

remedy

Answer 26

An action that a court determines must be taken to rectify a wrong done by the government.

Question 27

strict construction

Answer 27

The doctrine that the provisions of the constitution have a clear meaning and that judges must stick closely to this meaning when rendering decisions.

Question 28

original intention

Answer 28

The doctrine that the courts must interpret the constitution in ways consistent with the intentions of the framers rather than in light of contemporary conditions and needs.

Question 29

originalism

Answer 29

The doctrine that judges must interpret the constitution based on the exact meaning of the words and phrases in the document as understood by the framers.

Question 30

civil liberties

Answer 30

Freedoms found primarily in the Bill of Rights, the enjoyment of which are protected from government interference.

Question 31

habeas corpus

Answer 31

The legal doctrine that a person who is arrested must have a timely hearing before a judge.

Question 32

bills of attainder

Answer 32

A law that declares a person or group of people guilty of a crime or punishes them without a trial.

Question 33

ex post facto law

Answer 33

A law that retroactively declares some action illegal.

Question 34

privileges or immunities clause (14th amendment)

Answer 34

Says states may not make laws that abridge the rights granted to people as citizens of the united states.

Question 35

due process clause (14th amendment)

Answer 35

Prohibits states from depriving anyone of life, liberty or property “without due process of law”, a guarantee against arbitrary or unfair government action.

Question 36

equal protection clause (14th amendment)

Answer 36

Requires states to provide equal treatment for all persons within their boundaries.

Question 37

selective incorporation

Answer 37

The gradual and piecemeal spread of the protections of the Bill of Rights to the states by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Question 38

prior restraint

Answer 38

A government action prohibiting publication or broadcast of materials (rather than punishing publication afterward).

Question 39

free exercise clause

Answer 39

The portion of the First Amendment to the Constitution that prohibits Congress from impeding religious observance or impinging on religious beliefs.

Question 40

establishment clause

Answer 40

The part of the First Amendment to the constitution that prohibits Congress from establishing an official religion, the basis for the doctrine of the separation of church and state.

Question 41

“lemon test”

Answer 41

Supreme Court standard that in order for a law with a religious element to be constitutional it must have a secular purpose, its primary effect cannot be to advance or impede religion, and it must not foster excessive entanglements between a government and religion.

Question 42

probable clause

Answer 42

Legal doctrine that refers to a reasonable belief that a crime has been committed.

Question 43

exclusionary rule

Answer 43

A standard established by the supreme court that prevents police and prosecutors from using evidence against a defendant that was obtained in an illegal search.

Question 44

capital crime

Answer 44

Any crime for which death is a possible penalty.

Question 45

civil rights

Answer 45

Guarantees of equal treatments by government officials regarding political rights, the judicial system, and public programs.

Question 46

poll tax

Answer 46

A tax to be paid as a condition of voting; used in the south to prevent African Americans from voting before the passage of the voting rights act of 1965, which banned its use; usually interpretation of a section of a state’s constitution.

Question 47

grandfather clause

Answer 47

A device that allowed whites who had failed the literacy test to vote anyway by extending the franchise to anyone whose ancestors had voted prior to 1867.

Question 48

white primaries

Answer 48

Primary elections open only to whites in the one-party south where the only elections that mattered were the democratic party’s primaries; this effectively disenfranchised blacks.

Question 49

strict scrutiny

Answer 49

The assumption that actions by elected bodies or officials violate the constitution

Question 50

suspect classification

Answer 50

The individuals, arbitrary, or irrational designation of a group for a special treatment by government, whether positive or negative; historically, used in laws to discriminate against visible minorities without the power to protect themselves.

Question 51

de jure discrimination

Answer 51

Unequal treatment based on government laws and regulations.

Question 52

de facto discrimination

Answer 52

Unequal treatment by private individuals, groups, and organizations.

Question 53

affirmative action

Answer 53

Programs of private and public institutions favoring minorities and women in hiring and contracting, and in admissions to colleges and universities, in an attempt to compensate for past discrimination or to create more diversity.

Question 54

intermediate scrutiny

Answer 54

A legal test falling between ordinary and strict scrutiny relevant to issues of gender; under this test, the Supreme Court will allow gender classifications in laws if they are substantially related to an important government objective.