The Supreme Court

Question 1

What is the Supreme Court?

Answer 1

-upholds the constitution
-not a trial court
- Highest source of judicial power in the US
- Established by Art III

Question 2

who are the current members of the supremeCourt?

Answer 2

Chief justice Roberts

Neil Gorsuch

Brett Kavanaugh

Clarance Thomas

Amy Cpmeuy Barrt

Ketanji Brown Jackson

Samuel alito

Sonia Setomayor

Elena Kagen

Question 3

What are the powers of the Supreme Court established by the Constitution?

Answer 3

• Cannot initiate cases, can only wait for Constitutional dispute to arise
• life tenure for judges
• appellate justictions - final court of appeal

Question 4

What are the powers of the Constitution implied by the constitution?

Answer 4

• the power of judicial review e/g Fletcher v Peck 9201070

Question 5

What are the powers of the Supreme /Court through Congress and under constitutional authority?

Answer 5

• Congress can establish inferior courts. 13 District courts
• determine nber of justices

Question 6

how is the Court independent?

Answer 6

Separation of powers - there can be no pressure from either the executive or legislature.

• appointment process - the president nominates and the senate conforms nominations
• life tenure - a justice can only be removed by impeachment if they acted illegally
• scary - art III protects the pay of judges

Question 7

what is judicial review

Answer 7

process where theCourt must decide if the constitution has been breached or not

no duty to hear a case - they choose 100 or so a year

case is dicussed n private and a majority decision is reached, each justice will write their opinion which is published.

Question 8

what is the appointment process?

Answer 8

• step one - vacancy arises
• step two - president nominates a new justice
  step three - senate judiciary committee hold hearings and then recommend to the full chamber. American Bar Association issue a rating and the senate votes. A simple majority is sufficient.

Question 9

example of unsuccessful,l nominees

Answer 9

Garland, senate refused to hold a vote Merck

Question 10

what are factors infuening the Presidents judicial Nominee

Answer 10

• judicial ability
  Elena Kegan’s lack of judicial experience was questioned by the senator Jeff Session

[ ideology
a president will usually appoint someone that shares political philosophy

social characteristics
gender, race and geographical diversity are now taken more seriously

political motivations
a president facing a hostile senate may have to make a nomination that he knows will be accepted to them, or somebody that will gain him votes

Question 11

What have been the different compositions of the Supreme Court

Answer 11

• the Warren court 1953-69
  quite a liberal court for the time Brown v Board of Education Topeka (1954)
• the Berger Court 1969-1986
  also quite liberal Rowe v Wade (1973)
• The Rehnquist Court 1986-05
  more restrictive. halted decades of federal power expanding
• the Roberts Court 2005-present
  more conservative decisions Citizens United v FFC 2010
  occasionally liberal Obergefeld V Hodges 2015

Question 12

What is judicial activism

Answer 12

judges who see their role as an opportunity to make change and overturn laws or previous court decisions

Question 13

What is judicial restraint

Answer 13

judicially restraint judges put more stress on previous court rulings and usually adhere to precedence

Question 14

Examples of the Supreme Court interpreted the Bill of Rights

Answer 14

1st amendment freedom of religion has been used to rule against school prayer, and freedom of speech has been used 5o rule against issues like flag burning etc

2nd amendment right to bear arms - overturned Washington DC law banning handguns overturned in 2010 overturned bt Supreme Court

Question 15

what are states rights decided by the Supreme Court?

Answer 15

• The Shelby County vs Holder decision gave the states the decision over their own electoral laws
• Roe vs Wade in 1973 made abortion legal on a federal level, however was reversed in June 2022

Question 16

how effetive is the Supreme Court?

Answer 16

• power- although the Supreme Court have the power of judicial review, constitutional ammmenments can over.,e this or the ruling of the courts can be simply ignored (e/g brown vs the board of Education Topeka) but both are rare
• will - the vagueness of the constitution allows the judges to have considerable personal influence on the outcome of rulings (poesy vs Ferguson)
• ideology - both liberals and conservatives believe that the constitution supports preferred rights. conservatives believe the 2nd amendment gives people the right to poses a gun, and liberals strongly believe the constitution upholds the rights option and LGBTQ rights

Question 18

how is inequality over race and rights opposed?

Answer 18

• the NAACP held a series of ‘Moral Monday Demonstrations’, peaceful sit ins, particularly in North Carolina opposing introduction of photo ID n and felony voting restrictions after the Shelby Vs Holder decision.
• legislative methods in challenging courts over failure to register voters have been successful, such as the National Council of La Rasa - Hispanic rights groups cucesfullly challenged NEVADA IN 2016

Question 19

How effective and influential are racial rights campaign groups

Answer 19

African Americans have been less likely to turn out to vote, however in 2008 and 2012 there was an above average turnout amongst black and hispanic voters which aided Obama to Presidency.

• since Shelby vs holder, states such as No45h Carolina have been able to gerrymander and demise the power of the black vote, the NAACP, continue to challenge these practices in the Courts.

Question 20

ethnic. minorities in positions of power

Answer 20

• the 115th and 116th congress had respectively been the most diverse congress to date

Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, a Latina woman, is the youngest woman elected to Congress in US History.

Question 21

What is the extent to thhe Supreme Courts power

Answer 21

Judicial review - based on constitutional sovereignty, applied when