Political Questions

Question 1

Political Questions

Answer 1

Two types of political questions

• Where the Constitution gives power of interpretation to what the constitution means to another branch
  
  • i.e. what high crimes or misdemeanors are
• Where there are a lack of judicially manageable standards
  
  • i.e. -how does a court, itself, redraw legislative boundaries

Question 2

Nixon v. U.S. (1993)

Answer 2

History- Federal Judge sent to prison for corruption. Says he was not ‘tried’ correctly in the Senate when they impeached him to prevent him from collecting his salary.

Text- Art. 3, § 1

Rule- What contstitutes ‘tried’ is a political question textually left up to the legislature to decide, and therefore is non-justiciable.

Question 3

Powell v. McCormack (1969)

Answer 3

History- House of Reps. refused to seat a member who had been elected from New York. Member sued.

Text-

• Art. 1, § 2- qualification for House members
• Art. 1, § 5- impeachment is how you remove a member

Rule-

• Not a political question because there are textual limitations in the Constitution- they can’t disqualify Powell based on ‘qualification’, but can impeach him
  *

Question 4

Gilligan v. Morgan(1973)

Answer 4

History-

• Kent state students sought injunctive relief against government officials to prevent the repetition of events that had included the shooting of a number of students by National Guard members in May 1970
• the Court of Appeals instructed the federal district court to evaluate the “pattern of training, weaponry and orders in the Ohio National Guard” so as to determine whether it made “inevitable the use of fatal force in suppressing civilian disorders.”

Text- Art. I, § 8, cl. 16-

Rule- determinining military action is a non-justiciable political question, since it is textually given to the political branches of government.

Question 5

Luther v. Borden (1849)

Answer 5

History-Luther contended that the royal charter government was not “republican” in nature because it restricted the electorate to only the most propertied classes; thus not a republican form of government

Text- Art. 4, § 4- the U.S. shall guarantee to every state…a republican form of government

Rule-

• The Supreme Court found that it was up to the President and Congress to enforce this clause and that, as an inherently political question, it was outside the purview of the Court.
• The ruling established that the “republican form of government” clause of Article Four was non-justiciable since it is a political question.

Question 6

Pacific States Telephone & T. Co. v. Oregon (1912)

Answer 6

History-

• Oregon amended its constitution allowing the people to enact laws via the initiative process and the people enacted a tax via this initiative process that taxed the P.
• P challenged the tax enacted via initiative on the grounds that it violated Art. IV, § 4, which provides that “The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government.” basically saying that allowing direct democracy in the form of initiative violates the guarantee for a republican form of government

Text- Art. 4, § 4- The U.S. shall guarantee to every State…a republican form of government…

Rule-

• Guarantee Clause is a political question, textually given to Congress
  
  • didn’t issue opinion as to whether the initiative process violated Art. IV
• Constitution gives power to Congress to determine what constitutes a republican form of government

Question 7

Baker v. Carr (1962)

Answer 7

History-Tenn. Redistricting Authority failed to redistrict since 1901 and a soldier provided a lawsuit.

Text-

• Art. 4, § 4,
• 14th Amend.

Rule-

• Courts redrawing of legislative districts is a non-justiciable political question; however
• Courts may find that a state’s redistricting scheme is unconstitutional under the Guarantee Clause and Equal Protection Clause, and send it back to the states to fix.

Question 8

Goldwater v. Carter (1979)

Answer 8

History- Pres. Carter nullified a treaty made by congress. Goldwater sued saying Pres. couldn’t do this without consent of Congress.

Text- Art. 6, § 2- treaties made by congress- treaties are treated the same as federal statutes

Rule-

• SCOTUS took a pass on the issue-
• nonjusticiable political dispute to be left to Congress and Executive to work out
• court won’t insert itself into this issue until the other branches are at an impasse
• not decided on a standing issue or a ripeness issue, but rather a political question issue
• not saying that they didn’t have power to act

Question 9

Bush v. Gore (2000)

Answer 9

History- Who won the election? Does SCOTUS have the authority to stop an election recount based on Art. 2 requirements for electors.

Text- Art. 2, § 1

Rule- When a constitutiona crisis is impending, SCOTUS may decide a case on prudential grounds, even if it would otherwise be a political question.