US Supreme Court and Civil Rights

Question 1

How does the US consitituion set up the powers of the SC

Answer 1

Articel III - cannot initate cases but must for judicial disputes
justices are nominated by president and have life tenure

Question 2

What is judicial review

Answer 2

the power to overturn any other instituion because the court declares its actions to be unconstitutional

Question 3

What is Congress’ power relation to the judicary

Answer 3

can establish inferior courts
can determine the number of justices
house can impeach justuces e.g Samuel Chase impeached in 1804
Senate conforms or rejetcs justices
Senate can convict justices

Question 4

How is the SC independence is maintained

Answer 4

separation of powers - no one can be apart of more than one branch
appointment process - cooperation between two branches - senate may not accept nominations
life tenure - justices are appointed for life and cannot be removed unless they ahve acted illegally
high salaries

Question 5

When was the power of judicial review set up

Answer 5

Marbury v Madison 1803 - confirmed that the constitution was superior to an Act of Congress and hence it ruled that an Act of Congress could be struck down by the SC as uncostituonla
Fletcher v Peck (1810) court overturned state law for the first tine

Question 6

What are examples of judges not confirmed by the senate

Answer 6

Merrick Garland - republicans refused to consider nomination as too close to election
Harriet Miers
Robert Bork

Question 7

factors that might influence the presidents choice of nominee

Answer 7

ideolofical position
age - as they will have their psoition for the rest of their lives
if they can secure a senate confirmation
qualification - american bar association gives nominee a rating based on intergrity
social characteristics - gender and ethnic balabce - Sonia Sotomayor was the first Hispanic justice

Question 8

What are features of conservative judges

Answer 8

hold a literal interpretation of the constitution
favour stare decisis - standing by previous legal cases
favour authority of gov over civil rights
smaller role for government
favour specific freedoms e.g right to bear arms

Question 9

Features of liberal justices

Answer 9

have a broader interpretation of constitution
more likely to vote to overturn previous decisions
fabour civil rigjts over gov authority
expansive role for gov
fsvour other freedoms such as womans rights and aborition

Question 10

What is the current makeup of the SC

Answer 10

6-3 with a conservative lean
John roberts the chief justice is mdeian ideplogy and a swing vote until Amy coney barrets nomination that tipped balance - Brett Kavanaugh is now swing justice

Question 11

What are the strengths of judical appointment process

Answer 11

ensures judical ability - any nominee must impress the Senate e.g Harriet Miers withdrew in 2005 as senate raised concern about her judicial expereince
checks the power of judicary - politicans can tip the balance of court and senate can exercise some control
indirectly democratic - public elect the people who nominate judges e.g 2016 Trump promised in his election he would nominate conservstive judges

Question 12

What are the weaknesses of the appointment process

Answer 12

nomination is highly politicsed - clear that parties have an ideolofical preference robbing SC of neutrality
confirmation process is highly publicised - 2016 Merrick Garlands confirmation was refused by republican senate, Kavanughs election process allegations of assault came out byt senate still voted on party lines
it is ineffective - nominees tend to remain tight llipped on controversial issues e.g 2009 Sonia Sotamayors spoke hal as much as the judicary committe during her hearing

Question 13

What is judicial activism

Answer 13

an approach to judical decision making that holds that a justic should use their psoition to promote desirable social ends by overturning decision of other branches
living constituion
major changes in social changes
Brown v Board of Education, Roe v Wade and Bush v Gore

Question 14

criticisms of judical activism

Answer 14

too much interference into the other branches that are directly elected
undrmines understading of the constituion
undermines SC neutrakity and legitmacy

Question 15

What is judicial restraint

Answer 15

an approach to judical decision making that defers to the executive and legisaltive branches which are politcally accounatble to the people and stresses the principles established in previous court decisions
orginilist constituin
little to no change in social policy
Plessy v Ferguson and npot overturning Roe v Wade since 1973

Question 16

criticsms of judical restraints

Answer 16

becomes outdated after bug changes across the years need to stay up to date

Question 17

What arguments that SC restricts istelf to a judical role

Answer 17

politcally neutral decision making - based on legal and constituitional arguments e.g almost all 2022 judgments were unanimous, 1989 Justic Kennedy voted to strike own state laws on flag burning even though he disagreed
free from external political pressure - cannot be easily removed and challenge gov e.g three justices nominated by Nixon voted to force the president to hand over documents
SC is restricted branch - they must wait for cases, play a relatively small role and politicans can amend that document to tzake away any doubt

Question 18

What are arguments that the SC has become an imperial judicary

Answer 18

ideologically motivated decision making - Obergfell was on 5-4 ideology lines
influenced by politicans - they are nominated and confirmed by them, and they often comment on caes e.g Obama criticsed Citizens united rule in 2010 state of union speecha and 2019 Trump confidently predicted victory in case on state of emergency declaration
unlimited jurisdiction in policy making - no shortages of cases to choose from - get 10,000 cases a year, can make interpretive amendments

Question 19

What are strict constructionists of originalists

Answer 19

consider the exact intention of the Founding Fathers - meaning of the constitition only changes when the wording changes

Question 20

What are loose constructionits or living constituton

Answer 20

meaning of the consitution evolve over time as social views have changed since the constitution was made

Question 21

What are strenghs of originalism

Answer 21

gives greater authority to the constitution by presenting it as an objective unchanging document
largely stops justices from forcing their own personal values on constituin
protects democracy as it allows elected officals to change meaning not unelected judges

Question 22

What are strengths if living constituion approahc

Answer 22

stops the constituion becoming outdated
avoids a virtually impossible tyask of working out the exact views of the Founding Fathers on modern quenstions
embraces the vaguenes of the Founding Father as a clue they wanted the consitution to evolve over time

Question 23

What are the supreme courts powers limited by

Answer 23

The constitution - when it is written clearly judges must reach decisions they may not like e.g 1989 with Justice Kennedy and flag burning
Limited jurisditction - they must wait for cases and generally avoid foreign policy - they don’t have any army just their reputatuion and intergrity to enforce interpretations
External pressures - nominated by politicians and they are often vocal on SC rulings e.g Trump 20219 and state of emergency, threat of impeachment and conviction

Question 24

What gives the supreme court power

Answer 24

Vagueness of the constitution - elastic clause, Roe v Wade, right to bear aarms in modern day e.g ‘what arms’, cruel and unusal punishment
significant judicial review - get around 10000 petitions each year, easy to make interpetive amendments, can strike down congressional, state laws and executive orders
Independence - separation of powers, life tenure, high salary and convinction is only very rare

Question 25

Examples of rights protected by constituion

Answer 25

1st amendment - freedom of expression, religion, petition 2nd amendment - right to bear arms 6+7th - right to fair trial and jury trial 8th - free from cruel and unusual punishment 10th - any power not set out to the federal government is reserved for the states 13th - abolished slavery/ 14th - established equal protection of all citiziens/ 15th - right to vote regardless of race

Question 26

Examples of the Supreme Court protecting states rights

Answer 26

Shelby County V Holder (2013) - rule VRA was unconstitutional as it was based on 1960s data - could no longer use preclearance Printz V US (1997) - federal government could not compel state officers to enforce background checks on gun purchasers Glossip V Gross (2015) - ruled Oklahoma could use lethal injections involving midazolon was compatible with 8th amendments

Question 27

examples of the supreme courts protetcting individuals rights

Answer 27

DC v Heller - DC ban on handguns or assault weapons was uncostitional Riley V California - warrantless searches and seizures of mobile phones are unconstitutional Synder V Phelps - Phelps family are constitutionally allwoed to protest at soldiers funerals using offensive slogans

Question 28

Examples of judges making interpretive amendments to further civil liberties

Answer 28

'We are under a constituion, but the constitution is what the judges say it is' - Justice Hughes Roe V Wade - gave the right to abortion from the right to medical privacy Obergfell V Hodges (2015) - all 50 states must provide same sex marriage US V Windsor - struck down DOMA

Question 29

What are some methods used by racial rights campaigns

Answer 29

Demonstrations and civil disobedience - Montogomery Bus Boycott 1955 was the starts of the African American civil rights movement, followed y sit ins and the march on washington for jobs and freedoms BlackLivesMatter on social media against police brutality and NAACP held 'Moral Mondays' civil disobedience demonstrations Pursuing legal change - lobbying for Civil rights ACT 1964 and VRA 1965 as well as using judicial review such as Brown V Board of education, NAACP and Unidos litigated Nevada government in 2016 agyer its failure to register low income voters Voter registration drives - Mississippi Freedom Summer oncreased % of Mississippi black people regisyere to vote to 69% in 1969, Voto Latino ecourage young Hispanice eligible voters to register

Question 30

Examples of Jim Crow voting restritctions passed to prevent minorities from voting

Answer 30

literacy tests - African Americans were more likely to be illeiterate and these tests only applied selectively to them and were often impossible to pass felony restirctions - African americans are more likely to have a criminal record intimidation by KKK - black voter registration was close to 0 before Voting Rights Act 1965

Question 31

Recent attempts to renew the Voting Rights Act

Answer 31

John Lewis Voting Rights Act 2021 oassed in House but filibustered by the Senate Democrats tried again in 2022 and tried to change the Senate rules to scrap the filibuster for bills relating to voting rights - Machin said he'd vote for the Freedom to vote act but not the filibuster so it failed to become law

Question 31

Representation of minorities in party policy

Answer 31

after JFK and Johnson supporting the legal goals of civil right movements, Democrats adopt positions to further cement this support Taxing higher earners and increasing minimums wage, Obamacare, affirmative action and greater access to citizen ship

Question 32

How well are minorities represented in Congress

Answer 32

steady increase to more representation - most recent congres ahs the highest propotion of minority representation states sometimes create majority-minority districts - 22 with african american majorities House - 9% Hispanic, 13% African American Senate - 7% Hispanic, 5% African American

Question 33

How well are minorities represented in the exectutive

Answer 33

Only one balck president but many ethnic mimnorities has run as candisdates in the primaries e.g Shirley Chisholm and Jesse Jackson 2016 Ben carson was a frontrunner in republican primaries along with Marco Rubio first african american in cabinet was Robert Weaver under Johnson Biden's cabinet has been the most ethnically diverse to date and as of Feb 2023 is 50% non-white

Question 34

How well are minorities represented in the supreme court

Answer 34

most proptional of all branches - 22% black, 11% Hispanic, 44% female

Question 35

What is affirmative action and the different types

Answer 35

a policy favouring members of groups that have historically been disadvantaged Quotas - certian percentage of universities student bodies reserved for minprity candiates Preference systems - soft such as considering background when candiates are equally qualifided and hard such as giving candidates extra points based on their race busing - moving different races of school children to another to create intergrated schools

Question 36

What is the support and opposition of affirmative action

Answer 36

Support: NAACP, Unidos - favoured by Democrats as helped reverse patterns of disadvantages and grows black middle class Opposition - ACRI and Students for Fair admissions - not suppored by Repuvlicans as it is a form of reverse discrimination and keep seem patronising to minority communities Decrease in programmes in recent years

Question 37

What are the five court cases that strike down affirmative action

Answer 37

University of California V Bakke - struck down quotas but affirmative action in general is okay PICS V Seattle School District - limited busing allowing it only in places that has de jure segregation and not de facto segregation - Justic Roberts - 'the only way to stop discriminating on the basis of race is sto stop discriminating on the basis of race' Fisher V University of Texas I+II - Fisher claimed she had been discrimanted against due to universities affirmative action - ruled it was constituitional in 2016 Students of Fair Admissions V Harvard College - claimed Harvard discriminated against Asian students who had high test scores but low personal ratings - ended affirmative action

Question 38

Arguments that rights has been effectively upheld by the SC

Answer 38

Formal power to protect rights - entrenched nature of constitution means SC can stike down laws such as Doma in US V Windsor (but cannot enforce rulings such as Brown V Board of Education) Willing to protect rights - especially living constitituion judges in Obergfell and Hodges (can be easier to undermine) Liberal justices have used judical activisms as well as vagueness to proetcted rights e.g Roe V wade and Bostock C Clayton County

Question 39

Arguments that rights have not been effectively upheld and protected by SC

Answer 39

Formal waknesses - as congress can get around rulings with a constitutional amendment (but these a difficult) Not willing to protect rights - judges with originalist views - Plessey V Ferguson 'separate but equal' Rights can be subjective - liberal and consrvatives see rights as different things

Question 40

would liberals argue about affiramtive action

Answer 40

Classical - everyone should have equality of oppurtunity (legal equality) but the state should not intervene any further than that Modern - the state should take an active role in he;ping certain groups ajve am equality of outcome

Question 41

what are the arguments for affirmative action

Answer 41

right previous wrongs - slavery and violence have created deep social and economic disparities and the government must play an active role to correct this record diversity and repreentation is important for wider society - having diverse school bodies can help reduce the prejudice and racism that creates the need for affirmative action Helps to achieve equality - having the right to do something in theory has not always translated into eqauloty, 1968 35% of black people lived in poverty while it is now 21%

Question 42

what are the arguments against affirmative action

Answer 42

any form of racial discrimination is wrong in principle - Fisher I+II - prioritises a groups right over individual right - stop dicriminatng on the basis of race does not help us move to a colour blind society - identity politics which could lead to anger and resentemnt possibly increasing racism, disapporval for affirmative actions with most minority communities patronising and potentially damaging - implying they need a helping hand and there is a danger that accepting minority students with lower critieria may mean that they are more likely to perform lower

Question 43

Immigration policy under Obama

Answer 43

Dream Act - 2010 - grant temporary stay for children brought to the US illegally - filibustered by Senate - overall would have enchanced equalityand sparked dreamers movement DACA -2012 - gives deferred two years of action and work eligibility - resinded by Trump and reinstated by Biden - remove stigma around immigrants and give them a fair chance

Question 44

Immigration policy under Trump

Answer 44

Travel Ban - banned travel from certain middle eastern and wider countries - V3 was upheld - discriminatory on basis of religion Rare Act - 2017 - cut legal immigration in half and removed pathway of citzienship for foreign relatives - did not pass but fi did would have torn apart families and have economic damages Wall - 2017-2021 - struggled for funding and tried to pass a state of emergency - creates stigma around immigrant communities especially hispanic immigrants