SCOTUS Flashcards
What does SCOTUS stand for
Supreme Court of the United States
How do you become a Supreme Court justices?
- president will nominate
- senate will confirm you
What’s the nature of the Supreme Court
- 9 members
- jobs for life
Who is on the current Supreme Court?
-Bush senior noms: Clarence Thomas (repub)
- Bush jr noms: John Roberts (chief justice), Samuel Alito
Obama: Sonia sotomayor,
Elena Kagan (dems)
Trump: Brett kavanaugh, Gorsuch, Amy coney (repubs)
Biden: Brown Jackson (dem)
What does the make up of the Supreme Court suggest
- that it is politicised, although it claims it isn’t,
- Judges are seen to be ideological blocs (7 repubs, 2 dems)
- contrasts with the Uk
Who is head of the Supreme Court? G
John Robert’s, took over in 2005
- Q on the Supreme Court which include John Roberts means events in SC post 2005
What’s the role of the Supreme Court
- the judicial branch, key in the seperation of powers, set out in construction article 3
What’s the history of the Supreme Court
- 1789, founding fathers passed the federal judiciary act
- initially consisted of 5 justices with 1 chief
What’s the structure of the federal court system
- sits at the top of the US court
- rejects almost all cases brought to it
- only 4% of cases get heard
Why might the Supreme Court be independent
- justices appointed for life
- vacancies occur only if a justice dies, retires or is impeached
- constitution means salary cannot be lowered in their term
- judges are nominated by president, and approved by
- the ABA (American bar association) approves of nominations by doing background checks
What is the supreme courts only power
-Judicial review, power to review laws or actions of congress and president, judging whether they are constitutional.
- power isn’t mentioned in constitution but is granted because of cases such as Marburg vs Madison 1810
What’s an example of judicial review in practise
- all they need is a simple majority
- Dobbs v Jackson 2022, overturned roe v wade 1973, deeming abortion right is unconstitutional
- Brown v Board of education 1954 segregation in schools deemed unconstitutional
Why is judicial power of Supreme Court a good thing
- critical check on legislative and executive branches
- ensure constitution is upheld
- safeguards individual rights
Why is power of the Supreme Court a bad thing
- it’s not in the constitution
- too much power in hands of judiciary, May push their own agendas instead of the people
Judges are unelected, undemocratic - president appointees, will be loyal to president
What is the election process of becoming a Supreme Court justice?
- vacancy arises, eg: Ginsburg died 2020, replaced by Barret
-presidential nomination, eg: Brett
-ABA rating eg: despite allegations v kavanaugh he was approved - senate judiciary committee hearings: eg: democrats boycotted vote on Barret, resulting in 12-0 vote
- senate vote eg: Bork rejected in 1987 by a 42-58 vote
What might the president consider when nominating a judicial nominee
- judicial experience, this could be why Harriet miners faced criticism in 2005 as she lacked experience as a judge. ABA rates candidates for ‘well qualified’, ‘qualified’ ‘unqualified’
- The outgoing justice, president may be expected to replace with a like-for-like basis, however alito, Barret, kavanaugh didn’t replace on a like-for-like basis
- the ideology of the nominee: president may want a justice who has a similar political ideology to their own
Why is the length of the process in appointing a Supreme Court justice important
- length of the process: if vacancy is caused by a retiree, it will remain on the court until the vacancy is filled, usually taking 2-3 months. Length also ensures candidates are thoroughly checked.
Eg: obamas executive order for DAPA was truck down as it was 4-4 as a justice had died, had he been able to appoint Gorlund, his policy could have been saved
Eg: Harriet miers withdrawal shows how important experience as a judge is
Why is politicisation of the process in appointing a Supreme Court justice important
- constitution recognised important of an independent Supreme Court, but with presidents nominating them process is politicised.
Eg: Trump 3 appointments in his 2017-2021 tenure shows this
Eg: however this may not always be case, Reagan nomination Kennedy was balenced, despite radians conservative values
What are the roles of media and pressure groups in politicising the appointment process
- huge media backlash to appointment of kavanaugh because of allegations against him
- donors give pressure groups money to support appointments, eg: Judicial crisis network were donated 10 mil to support appointment of gorsuch
- role of ABA can be questioned, has no constitutional standing
What impact can the Supreme Court have on the public
- rulings from the Supreme Court allows existing policy to continue, removes a policy, or in some cases will create a policy
What’s an example of a Supreme Court ruling creating new policy
- citizens united v FEC 2010 - allowed for the development of super-PAC, which would have previously been impossible because of the Bipartisan campaign reform act
What’s an example of the Supreme Court upholding legislation or policy
- in 2 healthcare cases, court ruled in favour of Obamacare, allowing the continued enforcement of this legislation
What is a constitutional right
- rights explicitly identified within the constitution and amendments
How effective is rights protection
- what May protect the rights of someone May infringe the rights of another
- obergefell v Hodge’s 2015 protected rights of LGBTQ+ community, but infringed the rights of religious people
- court only hears about 1% of cases per year, so people who’s rights are encrusted may not feel they are protected as majority are notheard by the supreme Court
What does living constitution mean
- evolving document and should be interpreted in the context of modern society
What is a originalist constitution
- see the constitution as fixed at the time of writing, believing it does not evolve
Why should the constitution be viewed as a living constitution?
- it can quickly become out of date if it isn’t interpreted by modern developments, eg: women’s rights, LGB etc
- founding fathers couldn’t have predicted what the state of society would be like now
Why should the constitution be used in a originalist manner
- interpreting the constitution makes the supreme court’ a political institution undermining its independence in checking other branches of government
- amendment process exists and has been used successfully, and should be continued to be used that way
What is an activist judge
According to Obama: ignored the will of congress, democratic progresses, and tried to impose judicial solutions to problems
What An example of liberal activism
Obergfell v Hodges, ruled same-sex marriage legal, and undermined the law of 13 states and struck down congressional law known as DOMA
What’s an example of conservative activism
Citizens united v FEC. Overturned the McCain-Feingold reforms
What’s an example of liberal restraint
Whole women’s health v Hellerstedt (2016), defended roe v wade 1973
What’s an example of conservative restraint
Glossing v Gross (2015) builds on previous cases to allow continued use of lethal injections
What are the criticisms of judicial activism (liberal/conservative activism)
- Supreme Court is unelected and therefore unaccountable for the decisions it makes
- allowing the Supreme Court to strike down state law undermines the principle of federalism and allowing states to make their own law
What are the critics of judicial restraint (liberal/conservative restraint)
- constitution is vague and meaningless without interpretation
Codified constitution would be outdated if Supreme Court were not willing to interprete it with reference to modern issues
What are the checks and balences on the Supreme Court
Has fewer checks and balances as its only power is judicial review and it hears very few cases a year
What’s an example of their being tension between the president and the Supreme Court
Obama expressed anger at court numerous times during his presidency, especially rulings regarding campaign finance and his DAPA executive order
What’s an example of their being tension between the senate and the Supreme Court
In 2020, when court was hearing the abortion case, senator Shumerheld a pro choice rally outside the court
What is guantanemo bay and what is its relation to the Supreme Court
Detention camp established by bush in 2002. Has causes controversy due to suspected torture, leading to the Supreme Court hearing key cases over it
What was a key case heard by the Supreme Court over guantanemo bay
Rahul v Bush (2004)
- ruling: foreign detainees can petition the federal Government for havens corpus
- Impart of this was British men were transported back to UK before decision was handed down
What is an imperial judiciary
Overly powerful due to lack of effective checks and balences placed on its power
Why May people think the Supreme Court is imperial
- court can make decisions with huge impact on the people, despite them being unelected and entirely unaccountable
- impeachment is rarely ever used, being used once in 1805
- can undermine state law,undermining key principle of federalism
Why May people think the court is not imperial
- court cannot enforce its own rulings, dependent on other branches to do so
-court cannot choose cases to investigate - court ruling can be overturned, eg: 16th amendment
