The Federal Courts

Question 1

What is a plaintiff?

Answer 1

The person suing, and the person listed first in the case

Question 2

What is a litigant?

Answer 2

Someone who is suing over something

Question 3

To go to court, one must have…

Answer 3

Standing to sue (serious interest)

Question 4

What is a class action lawsuit?

Answer 4

Multiple people suing

Ex/ brown vs board of education

Question 5

What is justifiable dispute?

Answer 5

Must be justified to go to court

Question 6

What can interest groups submit to the court?

Answer 6

Amicus curiae briefs. These provide statistics, new points of view, and info not presented. The government can present these too

Question 7

What is the judiciary act 1789?

Answer 7

Established a constitutional court

Question 8

What are the two levels of federal courts?

Answer 8

Original jurisdiction and appellate jurisdiction

Question 9

What is original jurisdiction?

Answer 9

Where the case starts, most cases start and end here

Question 10

What is appellate jurisdiction?

Answer 10

When you appeal and hear the case again

Question 11

How many district courts are there?

Answer 11

91, all of original jurisdiction

Question 12

What do federal district courts see cases about?

Answer 12

Federal law, civil suits from different states, bankruptcy, naturalization, maritime law

These cases are you vs United States, which is represented by the district attorney

Question 13

How many US court of appeals are there?

Answer 13

12, all of appellate jurisdiction

Question 14

What does the US Court of appeals of federal circuit do?

Answer 14

Deals with federal laws such as patents and international trade

Question 15

Supreme Court…

Answer 15

Is the final court
Usually appellate jurisdiction
The exceptions are Bush vs Gore, United States vs Nixon, and the healthcare act

Majority of cases come from lower courts

Question 16

How many sc justices are there?

Answer 16

9, 8 associate and 1 Chief Justice, who is John Roberts

Question 17

How are Supreme Court justices picked?

Answer 17

1) political affiliation
2) ABA Score
3) experience (types of cases, number of cases, and how they ruled on cases)
4) senatorial courtesy
5) interest groups
6) Supreme Court justices
7) FBI
8) president
9) senate

Question 18

What is senatorial courtesy?

Answer 18

President asks a few senators to endorse and advocate for the justice he wants to the rest of the senate

Question 19

Who runs the process of selecting a new Supreme Court judge?

Answer 19

The justice department, the FBI just does the background check

Question 20

Supreme Court justices background:

Answer 20

Mostly white males
First female was Sandra day O’connor
Partisan politics matter
Work for life

Question 21

What is the rule of four?

Answer 21

Need four justices to decide to take a case

Question 22

What is a writ of certiorari (cert)?

Answer 22

Formal document calling up the case from a lower court to the Supreme Court

Question 23

What are the responsibilities of the Chief Justice?

Answer 23

1) has to write the majority opinion
2) all presidential inaugurations
3) preside over the impeachment of the president in the senate

Question 24

What is a dissenter?

Answer 24

One who disagrees with the majority

Question 25

What does it mean to concur

Answer 25

To agree but for different reasons

Question 26

Who does the appointment for the department of justice?

Answer 26

The president

Question 27

What is the US Attorney General?

Answer 27

The attorney for the United States

Question 28

What does the solicitor general do?

Answer 28

1) decides whether or not to appeal federal cases to the supreme court
2) reviews and modifies briefs in appeals (amicus curiae briefs for the US)
3) represents the US in Supreme Court
4) represents a litigant in court (pro bono work)

Question 29

What does stare decisis mean?

Answer 29

To let the decision stand

Question 30

How does the Supreme Court make their decisions?

Answer 30

They base their decisions on precedent, or the way that similar cases were heard

Question 31

How do you implement court decisions?

Answer 31

1) originalism (first time a case was heard)
2) judges have to be notified
3) let local officials know
4) let the people know

Question 32

What was the Marshall Court?

Answer 32

Headed by John Marshall (1801-1835); sets judicial review, Marbury vs Madison and McCulloch vs Maryland

Question 33

What was significant about FDR and the supreme court?

Answer 33

FDR increased numbers on the bench during the 1930’s

Question 34

What was the Warren court?

Answer 34

Headed by Earl Warren (1953-1969); Brown case; criminal rights, Gideon vs Wainwright and Miranda case

Question 35

What was the Burger court?

Answer 35

Headed by Warren Burger (1969-1986); Strict constructionism (following the constitution); Roe vs Wade and US vs Nixon

Question 36

What was the Rehnquist court?

Answer 36

Headed by William Rehnquist (1986-2005); defending people’s rights

Question 37

What is judicial restraint?

Answer 37

When the court plays a very minimal role in making a decision; leaving it to Congress and legislators to decide

Question 38

What is activism?

Answer 38

Change this law!