The Judicial Branch Flashcards
Jurisdiction
The ability to hear a case
What are the two types of original jurisdiction?
- All controversies involving two or more states
- all cases against ambassadors or other public ministers but, excludes consuls
How many cases does the Supreme Court hear in its original jurisdiction.
Only 1 or 2 cases per term.
How many cases are appealed to the Supreme Court each term?
Over 10,000 cases
What is the Writs of Certiorari?
It is order given by the Supreme Court to a lower court to send a case to them.
What is certificate?
It is a process in which a lower court isn’t clear over a procedure or rule of law that applies so they ask the Supreme Court to certify an answer to the question. SCOTUS has possibility of coming to a different answer or solution.
What happens when the Supreme Court accepts a case?
- Accept case
- They set a date for oral arguments
- Briefs are filed
- Oral arguments
- Justices conference
- Issue their opinion
What are briefs?
They are detailed statements that spell out the party’s legal position and built on facts and precedents. To sum it up, the legal arguments of the party.
What are oral arguments?
The lawyer from each party speaks for 30 minutes to the Supreme Court.
Injunction
a judicial order that restrains a person from beginning or continuing an action threatening or invading the legal right of another, or that compels a person to carry out a certain act
Shield Laws
Laws that give reporters some protection against having to disclose their sources or reveal confidential information.
What form of communication is the most limited in 1st amendment protection?
Radio and television
What is commercial speech?
Speech for business purposes
Is obscenity protected by the 1st and 14th amendments?
No, also includes mailing obscene mattter
3 part test to define obscenity
- Excites lust
- Sexual conduct
- lacks any value
Brown v. EMA
Court ruled that video games are a form of expressions and the law prohibiting this violated the first amendment
Establishment Clause
No national religion (Separation of Church and State - Thomas Jefferson)
- distinction between religious practice and government
Free Exercise Clause
- No one can prevent anyone from following a religion
Lemon Test
Decides wether a state’s laws amounts to a religious establishment.
1. The law must have secular purpose
2. Cannot enhance/inhibit religion
3. Can’t promote excessive entanglement(Cross boundaries) between church and state
Endorsement Test
Asks the question: Is the purpose of the statute(law) to favor/endorse one religion?
What does Due Process achieve?
Achieves justice and secures the blessings of liberty for future generations
Trespass doctrine
Tapping phone calls is not a breach of the 4th Amendment because a phone call is like a conversation anyone could here
Equal Protection Clause
Declares that, “No State shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of laws.”
Discriminate
the power to classify, to draw distinctions between persons and groups
Rational basis test
Asks the question, “Does the classification in question bear a reasonable relationship to the achievement of some proper governmental purpose?”
When does the Court impose a higher standard in equal protection cases?
- deals with fundamental rights ( right to vote, the right to travel between states, or 1st Amendment rights)
- such “suspect classifications” like those based on race, sex, or national origin
Strict Scrutiny test
A state must be able to show that some “compelling governmental interest” justifies the distinctions it has drawn between classes of people.
Integration
the process of desegregation
De Jure segregation
segregation authorized by law
De facto segregation
segregation that exists in fact
What are the 2 types of courts?
Federal and state courts
What are the types of federal courts?
Constitutional Courts and Special Courts
Who creates Special Courts and why?
Created by Congress to meet the needs of specific constituencies or to address unique jurisdictional issues
Describe Constitutional Courts (3 points)
- Have expressed judicial power
- determines and interprets the Constitution in cases
- Have more cases
4 types of Jurisdiction
- Concurrent Jurisdiction
- Exclusive Jurisdiction
- Original Jurisdiction
- Appellate Jurisdiction
What is Concurrent Jurisdiction?
What is Exclusive Jurisdiction?
What is Original Jurisdiction?
What is Appellate Jurisdiction?
What is the Free Exercise Clause?
Stare decisis
Means, ‘let the decision stand’
Civil disobedience
Actively defying a law to make a statement
Seditious speech
Speech directed at overthrowing the government
Due process clause
no person shall be “deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law”
Judicial Restraint
Judge not putting own opinions in cases
Judicial activism
the practice of judges making rulings based on their policy views rather than their honest interpretation of the current law
