SCOTUS - nature and role of SCOTUS Flashcards
what is SCOTUS’ role via constitution?
also discuss Federalist Paper 78
Article III is very small in comparison to the words written for the president and for Congress.
Hamilton discusses, in the Federalist Paper, how the rights of individuals can be preserved in practice no other way than through courts of justice.
what is the structure of the courts in the USA?
established in 1789
the Federal Judiciary Act 1789 enabled the creation of SCOTUS, consisting of one Chief Justice, and five associate justices.
it also created courts that sat below SCOTUS - district courts in each state and circuit courts.
district courts: trial courts that deal with federal matters.
circuit courts (above district): appellate courts of appeals which accepts cases for review from the courts beneath it; predominantly hear appeals to rulings of the district courts.
SCOTUS hears appeals for the rulings of the circuit courts.
how many cases does SCOTUS hear annually?
*stat from 2019-2020 session
they only take 1% of cases each year, 1% of the 7000-8000 cases annually.
in this session, they heard 74 cases.
what is original jurisdiction?
the constitution outlines how SCOTUS may also have the right to be the first court to hear a case in certain circumstances, rather than needing to be an appeal.
this is rare - only 200, since its creation in 1789.
how is independence of SCOTUS preserved - give three ways
- judges are appointed for life and so even if they make decisions that congress/exec don’t like then they cannot remove them.
- SCOTUS prevents salaries of justices from being lowered which protects them from making decisions in the hopes of a pay rise/accepting money - associate justices get $255,300 and chief justices get $267,000.
- separation of powers - judicial review allows SCOTUS to check power of the president and so whilst the court has no power to enforce its decisions, they have influence. ABA’s rating of justice suitability is also not politically motivated so it maintains independence.
define judicial review and its process
power of SCOTUS to judge actions of exec or legislative branch against the constitution - declaring them ‘null and void’
judicial review -
explain the significance of Marbury v Madison 1803
commission = permission to start a job.
President Adams was preparing to leave office in 1801 to let Thomas Jefferson to take over, and in doing so Adams appointed a no. of men to take up roles in the courts.
after taking office, Jefferson found commissions for some of these men had not been delivered and he told his sec of state, Madison to not deliver them.
Marbury was promised his commission and so he challenged Madison in the SC.
SC found in favour of Marbury but also found that they did not have the power to force issues of commission because of the 1789 Federal Judiciary Act.
this case established judicial review.
judicial review -
explain the significance of Fletcher v Peck 1810
SCOTUS furthered its powers of JR.
case arose following disputes over a law passed by the Georgia state legislature in 1795, allowing for the sales of 35 million acres of land.
most of this land was sold to just four companies at a bargain price - it became apparent that Georgia legislators involved in creating law were bribed.
there was public outcry and then the legislature repealed this law in 1796, removing land from those who brought it.
Fletched purchased 13,000 cares of land from Peck in 1803, claiming he had been misled and lied to over the land - SC decided that the repeal of the 1795 law by the Georgia legislature was unconstitutional and this was the first time the SC ruled against a state law, meaning its reach widened to federal AND state law.
