structure of court

Question 1

how many district courts and circuit courts are there

Answer 1

• 94
• 13

Question 2

how is the SC also an appellate court

Answer 2

it also deals with appeals, in this case just appeals from the courts bellow it

Question 3

what is original jurisdiction and how does the SC hear an original jurisdiction case

Answer 3

where they have the first chance to hear a case instead of it going through lower courts
has to involve public ministers, two or more states or citizens of different states of the US as a whole
only around 200 of these heard all together

Question 4

what are the check on the judiciary from the president and congress

Answer 4

• congress can pass constitutional amendments to change the courts decision
• congress must ratify appointments
• congress can impeach justices
• congress creates the lower courts
• president appoints the justices
• president power of the pardon

Question 5

checks held by the judiciary

Answer 5

judicial review

Question 6

who are the conservative justices

Answer 6

Roberts
Thomas
Alito
Gorsuch
Kavanaugh
ACB

Question 7

who are the liberal justices

Answer 7

Sotomayor
Kagen
KBJ

Question 8

which of the justices was deemed only qualified by the ABA

Answer 8

Thomas

Question 9

6 factors indicating judicial independence from other branches

Answer 9

• appointed for life, cannot be threatened, can be impeached though
  -a president cannot appoint another judge, a vacany must rise –> according to the Judiciary Act 1869 –> also prevents packing of the court
• high, fixed salary $317500
• constitutional protection since president nominates and senate approves, it prevents tyranny from one of the branches and packing
• seperation of powers judicial review to check other branches, but no power to enforce
• ABA ratings rate suitability of each of the nominated justices, Thomas deemed only qualified

Question 10

impeachment example

Answer 10

• Samual chase 1805 - acquitted anyways, so no SC has ever been impeached