Judiciary Cards

Question 1

criminal law versus civil law

Answer 1

criminal law:
- violations of specific laws
- generally includes harm to others or society
- usually ends with fines or imprisonment

civil law:
- dispute between two parties
- deals with statutes and common law
- divorce, custody, property ownership

Question 2

who are three regular participants in the judicial system (other than judges)?

Answer 2

litigants, attorneys, and groups

Question 3

justiciable participants

Answer 3

classification of an issue as being capable of being settled in the matter of law

Question 4

constitutional courts versus legislative courts

Answer 4

const courts:
- lower federal courts
- general jurisdiction

legislative courts:
- specialized purposes
- Court of Military Appeal and Court of Federal Claims

Question 5

district court: how many courts and judges total?

Answer 5

• 91 courts total
• 678 judges total

Question 6

district courts: what do they deal with?

Answer 6

• deal with lots of different things that deal with the federal proceedings but are the only federal courts that hear original cases and decide the original jurisdiction
• a lot of cases at this level get appealed to higher courts

Question 7

district courts: policy implications?

Answer 7

no large policy implications but a lot of cases at this level get appealed

Question 7

court of appeals: how many court and judges?

Answer 7

12 courts and 6-28 judges

Question 7

court of appeals: what do they deal with?

Answer 7

focus on correcting errors in original proceedings of cases, DONT HOLD TRIALS

Question 8

court of appeals: policy implications?

Answer 8

set precedent for all courts and agencies below them

Question 8

supreme court: number of justices?

Answer 8

9 but can be changed if mandated

Question 9

Supreme Court: what do they deal with?

Answer 9

hear cases regarding bigger federal dealings, usually regarding states, foreign diplomats, and the USA

Question 10

supreme court: policy implications?

Answer 10

have the power of judicial review to review if things are constitutional or not
-overarching control over laws and amendments

Question 11

who assigns/nominates all federal judiciary positions?

Answer 11

the president

Question 12

what is the role of the US attorney?

Answer 12

• represents the fed. gov.
• prosecutes violations of federal law
• represents the USA in civil cases

Question 13

senatorial courtesy

Answer 13

• unwritten tradition
• basically if a senator of the presidents party opposes a judicial nomination in their state, the nomination usually won’t get approved by the rest of the Senate

Question 14

what power does senatorial courtesy give the senate?

Answer 14

basically gives them the power to choose the judiciary positions because if someone doesn’t like a candidate, they can choose not to approve them

Question 15

what are three conditions in which nominations to the supreme court are more likely to run into trouble?

Answer 15

• presidents whose party are in the minority in the senate (less likely to approve of nomination)
• nominations done at the end of a term
• nominations whose views are more distant from the norm in the senate

Question 16

what is the general demographic of a federal judge?

Answer 16

white, male, previous attorney, many years of experience as a judge, involved in partisan politics

Question 17

6 pieces of criteria that have been important in deciding justices

Answer 17

• partisanship
• ideology
• geography
• past decisions
• religion
• legal credentials

Question 18

solicitor general functions

Answer 18

• decide whether to appeal cases the government has lost in lower courts
• review and modify the briefs presented in appeals
• represent the government before the supreme court
• submit an amicus curiae brief on behalf of a litigant (if the government has an interest but not directly involved

Question 19

amicus curiae brief

Answer 19

a brief submitted b someone who isn’t on either side of the case: serves as a third opinion

Question 20

majority opinion

Answer 20

an opinion agreed on by more than half

Question 21

dissenting opinion

Answer 21

an opinion written by a judge that disagrees with the majority

Question 22

concurring opinion

Answer 22

opinion written by a judge that agrees with the majority opinion but for different reasons

Question 23

stare decisis and precedent difference

Answer 23

precedent: the idea that judges should decide cases based on how past, similar cases have been decided

stare decisis: the actual act of upholding precedence

Question 24

interpreting population in judicial implementation

Answer 24

judges and lawyers that learn how to interpret and carry out the decision in the future

Question 25

implementing population for judicial implementation

Answer 25

people that implement the decisions, including police officers, first responders, etc

Question 26

consumer population in judicial implementation

Answer 26

the population of people directly affected by the decision

Question 27

principle of judicial review

Answer 27

the supreme court can review legislation and amendments to decide whether or not they uphold constitutional value and have an overall say on whether or not something goes into law

Question 28

warren court traits

Answer 28

• liberal
• judicial activism
• brown v board, gideon v wainwright

Question 29

burger court traits

Answer 29

• conseravtive
• judicial activism