The Courts Flashcards
Which article in the articles of confederation called for the creation of “one supreme Court”
Article III
What does Article III of the articles of confederation distinguish between?
It distinguishes which are matters of original jurisdiction and which are for appellate jurisdiction.
original jurisdiction
a case is heard for the first time,
appellate jurisdiction
a court hears a case on appeal from a lower court and may change the lower court’s decision.
What specific cases can the court use original jurisdiction?
Between states, between the US and foreign ambassadors, or ministers
In explaining the importance of an independent judiciary separated from the other branches of government, Hamilton said ___________ was a key role of the courts as they seek to protect people from unjust laws.
“interpretation”
True or false: Alexander Hamilton said that the Judicary Branch was the most dangerous
False (because it had “no influence over either the sword or the purse,” it had “neither force nor will, but merely judgment.”)
How can the Supreme Court be described today?
a key component of the nation’s constitutional democracy, finding its place as the chief interpreter of the Constitution and the equal of the other two branches, though still checked and balanced by them.
The framework for the current federal judicial system was laid out during the first session of the first U.S. Congress.
Judiciary Act of 1789
the basic structure of the judicial branch
At the lowest level are the district courts, where federal cases are tried. A losing party may appeal to the circuit courts, or U.S. courts of appeals, where the decision is reviewed. Still further, appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is possible, but of the thousands of petitions for appeal, the Supreme Court will typically hear fewer than one hundred a year.3
Why does the the basic structure of the judicial branch remain?
It was set so early on
Where did the Supreme court start?
New York in 1790,
What did the early supreme court focus on?
establishing its rules and procedures and perhaps trying to carve its place as the new government’s third branch.
Early diffuculty for the supreme court
They didn’t have a official building so they had trouble getting the justices to show up. Even when the fed gov moved to the nations capital in 1800, the Court shared a space with Congress in the Capitol.
How did the court get it’s own building
Court’s 146th that Congress, at the urging of Chief Justice, and former pres, William Howard Taft, provided designation and funding for the Supreme Court’s building, “on a scale in keeping with the importance and dignity of the Court and the Judiciary as a coequal, independent branch of the federal government.”
Chisholm v. Georgia (1793),
the justices ruled that the federal courts could hear cases brought by a citizen of one state against a citizen of another state, and that Article III, Section 2, of the Constitution did not protect the states from facing such an interstate lawsuit.
The decision of Chisolm v. Georgia was overturned by which amendment?
the Court ruled that federal courts could hear cases where a person from one state sued someone from another state. They believed Article III, Section 2, of the Constitution didn’t protect states from such lawsuits. However, this decision was quickly overturned by the Eleventh Amendment in 1794, ratified in 1795. The Eleventh Amendment prevented federal courts from hearing cases where citizens of one state sued another state, or citizens of a foreign country. This move signaled that Congress had the power to adjust the courts’ jurisdiction, showing its readiness to use this authority.
First chief justice
John Jay
Leaving of John Jay and entry of John Marshall
John Jay resigned from his position of first chief justice. This might have made the Court in a state of “natural feebleness” but John Marshall became the 4th chief justice.
- Madison vs Maybury was going on during transfer of power
John Marshall
- defined modern court
- clarifyies courts power
- strengthened its roll
- served thirty for year
judicial review
Judicial review is the power of the courts, as part of the system of checks and balances, to look at actions taken by the other branches of government and the states and determine whether they are constitutional.
Which case was judicial review established?
in the Supreme Court case Marbury v. Madison, when, for the first time, the Court declared an act of Congress to be unconstitutional.
True or false: The power of judicial review is confined to the Supreme Court
False. It is is also exercised by the lower federal courts and even the state courts.
If the courts find an action to be unconstitutional, what happens to it?
it becomes null and void
Common law
Common law refers to a legal system where decisions made by judges in previous cases, known as precedents, play a significant role in determining the outcome of current or future cases.
What system does common law contrast with?
Code law
The process from the State Trial Courts to the US Supreme Court
1.State Trial Court
2. Intermediate Appellate Courts
3. State Supreme Courts
4. US Supreme Court
Compare congress and president, and the supreme court in their role as policy makers
Congress and pres- consider borad qs of public policy and their costs and benefits
courts consider specific cases with narrower questions, thus enabling them to focus more closely than other government institutions on the exact context of the individuals, groups, or issues affected by the decision.
Affordable Care Act
a statute that brought significant changes to the nation’s healthcare system.
By what means could the Supreme Court have thrown out Obama Care
juidicial review
in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby
for religious reasons, some for-profit corporations could be exempt from the requirement that employers provide insurance coverage of contraceptives for their female employees.
King v. Burwell
the Court upheld the ability of the federal government to provide tax credits for people who bought their health insurance through an exchange created by the law.
How does the Supreme Court serve as an umpire in ACA (affordable care act) cases
upholding the law and some of its provisions on one hand, but ruling some aspects of it unconstitutional on the other. Both supporters and opponents of the law have claimed victory and faced defeat.
What might a citizen or group do that feels mistreated?
Organizing protests, garnering special interest group support, and changing laws through the legislative and executive branches are all possible, but an individual is most likely to find the courts especially well-suited to analyzing the particulars of a case.
is judicial reiview a power given to the Supreme Court in the constitution?
no it’s a power to which Hamilton had referred but that is not expressly mentioned in the Constitution.
The adversarial judicial system comes from which tradition?
The common law tradition
T/F The federal court system is most often called upon when a case touches on constitutional rights.
true
Brown v. Board of Education
Court ordered desegregation in schools
T/F The courts usually grant rights to a person instantly and upon request.
False
What does the supreme court try to balance?
they still balance that expansion with the government’s need to govern, provide for the common good, and serve a broader societal purpose.
Bucklew v. Precythe
the court again rejected an Eighth Amendment claim of the death penalty as torture.
The courts before the supreme court
the states had courts. Each of the 13 colonies also had courts.
dual courts
, with courts at both the national and state levels.
The process from the US District Courts to the US Supreme Court
- US District Courts
- US Courts of Appeals
- US Supreme Court
T/F The Federal Government has strict guidelines for state courts in the way they organize themselves, to avoid overlap
False. state and federal court systems sometimes intersect and overlap each other, and no two states are exactly alike when it comes to the organization of their courts. Since a state’s court system is created by the state itself, each one differs in structure, the number of courts, and even name and jurisdiction.
Cases heard by the U.S. Supreme Court come from two primary pathways:
the circuit courts, or U.S. courts of appeals (after the cases have originated in the federal district courts), and (2) state supreme courts (when there is a substantive federal question in the case).
Courts hear two different types of disputes:
criminal and civil.
What happens under criminal law
governments establish rules and punishments; laws define conduct that is prohibited because it can harm others and impose punishment for committing such an act.
