US Supreme Court and Civil Rights - Topic 4.1

Question 1

What is the nature and role of the Supreme Court?

Answer 1

Set up by the Federal Judiciary Act of 1789 to fulfil Article III of the Constitution, the Supreme Court is the highest court in the US. It’s an appellate court, hearing rulings made by the circuit courts. As an appellate court, it accepts cases for review from the courts beneath it. The Supreme Court is made up of one chief justice and eight associate judges, who are all appointed by the president with approval from Congress. The Supreme Court is meant to be political independent and neutral, completely separate from the other branches of the federal government, to protect constitutional rights.

Question 1

How does the Supreme Court achieve judicial independence?

Answer 1

• Justices are appointed for life. This means that the president or Congress cannot remove them if they make decisions that they don’t like. This is important given the comments made by different presidents expressing their displeasure at voting habits of a justice they appointed
• Vacancies on the Supreme Court only occur if a justice dies, retires or is impeached. The Constitution allows Congress to change the number of justices, and there have been nine since 1869; this prevents the other branches from packing the Court with allies
• The Constitution prevents the salary of the justices being lowered during their time in office. With the salary being fixed, the justices don’t have to be concerned about repercussions from the president or Congress if they vote against them in a case
• Justices are nominated by the president and approved by the Senate, preventing one branch from dominating the Court, lending legitimacy to the Court as well, as they have been appointed by elected representatives
• Separation of powers protects the Court’s independence by giving judges their own power, but the Court itself has no jurisdiction to enforce their decisions
• The American Bar Association rates the suitability off each of the justices nominated. Comprised of industry experts who aren’t politically motivated, the ABA helps ensure that the Court is compsed of people who understand and carry out the letter of the law rather than the nominating party

Question 2

How does judicial review protect the people?

Answer 2

Judicial review can ‘extend to all cases, in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made.’ Judicial review can declare legislation unconstitutional thus it can protect rights which legislation doesn’t necessarily protect or cannot be done. The 14th Amendment protects the people from state laws. This is limited as it is Congress who can make amendments and the Supreme Court cannot enforce to entrench those protections.

Question 3

What two cases helped to establish the principle of judicial review?

1803 & 1810

Answer 3

Marbury v Madison (1803):

• Grants the Supreme Court the power to review federal law that has been passed by Congress

Fletcher v Peck (1810):

• The Supreme Court can review state law, extending its scope from federal, to state level