Fed Gov (judicial Politics) Flashcards
has taken the lead in deciding many of the most heated issues of American politics.
the Supreme Court, and the federal judiciary
it is the______ that ultimately decides whether Congress, the president, the states, and their local governments have acted constitutionally.
Supreme Court
The power of_____ is the power to invalidate laws of Congress or of the states that conflict with the U.S. Constitution.
judicial review
Winch court case is an example of judicial review and the most important judicial check on congressional power.
Marbury v. Madison (1803)
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
declaring segregation of the races in public schools to be unconstitutional, struck down the laws of 21 states
Roe v. Wade
the constitutional right to abortion, struck down antiabortion laws in more than 40 states.
the general trend has been for the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down more_____ laws as unconstitutional. In contrast, the Court has been relatively restrained in its rejection of ______ laws
state, federal
In Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, in 1952, it declared President_____’s seizure of the nation’s steel mills during the Korean War to be illegal.
Harry Truman
In 1974, it ordered President_____ to turn over taped White House conversations to the special Watergate prosecutor, leading to his forced resignation.
Richard Nixon
And in 1997, the Court held that President_____ was obliged to respond to a civil suit even while serving in the White House
Bill Clinton
which means the issue has already been decided in earlier cases, is a fundamental notion in law
Stare decisis
gives stability to the law
Precedent
is the power of a court to hear a case in question.
Jurisdiction
refers to a particular court’s power to serve as the place where a given case is initially argued and decided.
Original jurisdiction
is a particular court’s power to review a decision or action of a lower court.
Appellate jurisdiction
are requests that a higher court review cases decided at a lower level. In the Supreme Court, certain cases are designated as appeals under federal law; formally, these must be heard by the Court.
Appeals
are the original jurisdiction trial courts of the federal system. Each state has at least one______, and larger states have more (New York, for example, has four). There are about 800 federal district judges, each appointed for life by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
District courts
called to hear evidence and, if warranted, to indict a defendant by brining formal criminal charges
Grand juries
Regular juries
Petit
which determine guilt or innocence
Juries
Federal______ are appellate courts. They do not hold trials or accept new evidence but consider only the records of the trial courts and oral or written arguments (briefs) submitted by attorneys.
Circuit courts
are documents submitted by an attorney to a court, setting out the facts of the case and the legal arguments in support of the party represented by the attorney.
Briefs
Because victims require compensation for actual damages, incurred by the wrongdoing of others, liability laws protect all of us. When someone sues over a “civil duty” (rather than over a contract) it is called a
Tort claim
is an area of legislation dedicated to limiting either the circumstances under which one can sue, the amount of financial compensation (damages) someone can receive, or the circumstances under which someone is responsible for attorneys’ fees in an unsuccessful lawsuit.
Tort reform
Courts enforce contracts and award damages to victims of negligence in
Civil cases
The _______ depends on quality of argument on each side, which means it often depends on the capabilities of attorneys.
Adversarial system
To bring an issue into court as a case, individuals or firms or interest groups must have______; that is, they must be directly harmed by a law or action.
Standing
The party initiating a suit and claiming damages is the
Plaintiff
the party against whom a suit is brought is the
Defendant
are cases brought into court by individuals on behalf of not only themselves but also of all other persons “similarly situated.” That is, the party bringing the case is acting on behalf of a “class” of people who have suffered the same damages from the same actions of the defendant.
Class action suits
A _______ generally refers to recruitment based on a nominee’s stand on a single issue. Since the Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade (1973), however, the single issue of abortion has come to dominate the politics of judicial recruitment.
Litmus test
Most cases reach the Supreme Court when a party in a case appeals to the Court to issue a_____ (literally to “make more certain”), a decision by the Court to require a lower federal or state court to turn over its records on a case.
writ of certiorari
Once the Supreme Court places a case on its decision calendar, attorneys for both sides submit written briefs on the issues. The Supreme Court may also allow interest groups to submit_____(literally, “friend of the court”) briefs. This process allows interest groups direct access to the Supreme Court.
amicus curiae
In the case of a split decision, the Chief Justice may take on the task of writing the______ or assign it to another justice in the majority. If the Chief Justice is in the minority, the senior justice in the majority makes the assignment. Writing the opinion of the Court is the central task in Supreme Court policy making.
majority opinion
A______ is an opinion by a member of a court that agrees with the result reached by the court in the case but disagrees with or departs from the court’s rationale for the decision.
concurring opinion
A _______ is an opinion by a member of a court that disagrees with the result reached by the court in the case.
dissenting opinion
