Nature and Scope of Judicial Review

Question 1

What case realized Judicial Review?

Answer 1

Marbury v. Madison

Question 2

What were the facts of Marbury v. Madison?

Answer 2

The Election of 1800 where Adams lost to Jefferson and Adams attempted to make midnight appointments but Jefferson instructed Madison not to deliver them. Marbury was waiting on his appointment and when he didn’t get it he sued Madison to give him the appointment

Question 3

What did Marbury asked SCOTUS for? Why did he believe SCOTUS had the power to do that?

Answer 3

a writ of mandamus compelling Madison to deliver his official appointment papers; Section 13 of the Judiciary Act of 1789

Question 4

What is a writ of mandamus?

Answer 4

an order from the court ordering a government official to properly fulfill their government duties or correct an abuse of discretion

Question 5

Do the laws afford Marbury a political remedy?

Answer 5

Yes, but only a political one. Not every right has a judicial remedy.

Question 6

How are acts by an agent for the President examinable?

Answer 6

Politically, there is no judicial power that would allow the court to rule against the will of POTUS

Question 7

What kinds of acts may SCOTUS review?

Answer 7

Ministerial

Question 8

What kinds of issues is SCOTUS unable to decide and provide remedies for?

Answer 8

Discretionary

Question 9

May SCOTUS create laws outside of the scope of the Constitution?

Answer 9

No.

Question 10

What forces the legislature to only bring laws that are constitutional to the floor for debate?

Answer 10

the oath of office which requires they uphold the constitution

Question 11

What justice wrote the opinion in Marbury v. Madison?

Answer 11

John Marshall

Question 12

What rights did the opinion Marbury v. Madison establish for SCOTUS?

Answer 12

1. Judicial Review: the right to declare laws of congress unconstitutional
2. the right review ministerial acts of government officials

Question 13

What law was declared unconstitutional by Marshall in Marbury v. Madison?

Answer 13

the law that would have given the court the power to issue the writ to Madison (Judiciary Act of 1789)

Question 14

Where does SCOTUS get its power?

Answer 14

USC Art. III

Question 15

What were the basic facts of Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee?

Answer 15

Conflicting claims to who owned land in Virginia. Martin (a brit) claimed he inherited it but Virginia had a law that took land from Brit nationals. Meanwhile the US and Britain had a treaty that allowed Brits to own land in the US

Question 16

What were the procedural facts of Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee?

Answer 16

Virginia Court of Appeals ruled in favor oof Hunter. SCOTUS reversed. Virginia Court of Appeals then held SCOTUS lacked the authority to review state court decisions

Question 17

What rule do we get from Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee?

Answer 17

SCOTUS has appellate review of state decisions of federal constitutional questions

Question 18

What part of the Constitution makes the Constitution the supreme law of the land?

Answer 18

Art. VI - the Supremacy Clause

Question 19

Does SCOTUS have the power to review state court determinations of state law?

Answer 19

lol no.

Question 20

Why was the Constitution created?

Answer 20

To replace the articles of confederation

Question 21

What was McCulloch v. Maryland about?

Answer 21

Whether the state of Maryland could collect a tax from the Bank of the US

Question 22

What rule do we get from McCulloch v. Maryland?

Answer 22

Federal congressional powers are construed broadly and the authority of state governments to impede the federal government is limited

Question 23

Is Congress limited to those acts specified in the Constitution?

Answer 23

No, Congress may choose any means, no prohibited by the USC to carry out its lawful authority

Question 24

3 Key Points from McCulloch

Answer 24

1. The power to create implies the power to preserve.
2. A power to destroy, if wielded by a different hand, is hostile to, and incompatible with these powers to create and preserve; thus there is a conflict between the federal action and the state’s reaction
3. where this repugnancy exists, that authority which is supreme must control and not yield to that over which it is supreme

Question 25

What must you have for the Supreme Court to hear your case?

Answer 25

standing

Question 26

what are the three basic requirements for standing?

Answer 26

1. Injury-in-fact
2. Causation
3. Redressability

Question 27

are some constitutional issues inappropriate for judicial resolution and thus nonjusticiable “political questions”?

Answer 27

yes.

Question 28

When is a controversy nonjusticiable?

Answer 28

where there is a textually demonstrable constitutional commitment of the issue to a coordinate political department; or (and) lack of judicially discoverable and manageable standards for resolving it

Question 29

What does the guarantee clause of Art IV sec 4 provide?

Answer 29

1. the the US shall provide a republican government and protect against wars
2. a representative government is safer and more likely to guarantee freedom of the population because it’s less likely the majority will squash the minority in a republic

Question 30

In Ex Parte McCardle the court held that acts of congress should be considered . . .

Answer 30

grants of jurisdiction and not exceptions to the constitutional grant of it

Question 31

What is Habeas Corpus

Answer 31

a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order

Question 32

May SCOTUS inquire into the motives of congress?

Answer 32

negative ghost rider

Question 33

Who does habeaus corpus apply/not apply to?

Answer 33

Applies: US citizens and those lawfully in the US

Does Not Apply: Aliens

Question 34

What is the Rule of Four?

Answer 34

it takes the votes of four justices to put a case on the Court’s plenary docket

Question 35

Significance of Denials of Certiorari

Answer 35

the court has often asserted that the denial of certiorari carries no precedential significance; the court does not approve the judgement of the lower court, but merely for unexplained reasons allows it to stand

Question 36

What are summary reversals?

Answer 36

on relatively rare occasions, the court will reverse a decision below on the certiorari papers without further briefing or argument. The court usually issues a brief explaining explaining its decision

Question 37

What did Cooper v. Aaron decide?

Answer 37

State officials and state legislatures are bound by orders of the United States Supreme Court based on its interpretation of the United States Constitution.