Vocabulary List 15:

Question 1

Define: The requirement that plaintiffs have a serious interest in a case, which
depends on whether they have sustained or are likely to sustain a direct and substantial injury from another party or from an action of government.

Answer 1

standing to sue

Question 2

Define: Lawsuits in which a small number of people sue on behalf of all people in
similar circumstances.

Answer 2

class action suits

Question 3

Define: Issues capable of being settled as a matter of law.

Answer 3

justiciable disputes

Question 4

Define: Legal briefs submitted by a “friend of the court” for the purpose of influencing a court’s decision by raising additional points of view and presenting information not contained in the briefs of the formal parties.

Answer 4

amicus curiae briefs

Question 5

Define: The jurisdiction of courts that hear a case first, usually in a trial.

Answer 5

original jurisdiction

Question 6

Define: The jurisdiction of courts that hear cases brought to them on appeal from lower courts.

Answer 6

appellate jurisdiction

Question 7

Define: The 91 federal courts of original jurisdiction.

Answer 7

district court

Question 8

Define: Appellate courts empowered to review
all final decisions of district courts, except in rare cases.

Answer 8

courts of appeal

Question 9

Define: The pinnacle of the American judicial system.

Answer 9

Supreme Court

Question 10

Define: An unwritten tradition whereby nominations for state-level federal judicial posts are usually not confirmed if they are opposed by a senator of the president’s party from the state in which
the nominee will serve.

Answer 10

senatorial courtesy

Question 11

Define: A presidential appointee and the third-ranking office in the Department of Justice.

Answer 11

solicitor general

Question 12

Define: A statement of legal reasoning behind a judicial decision.

Answer 12

opinion

Question 13

Define: A Latin phrase meaning “let the decision stand.”

Answer 13

stare decisis

Question 14

Define: How similar cases have been decided
in the past.

Answer 14

precedent

Question 15

Define: A view that the Constitution should be interpreted according to the original intentions or original meaning of the Framers.

Answer 15

originalism

Question 16

Define: How and whether court decisions are
translated into actual policy, thereby affecting the behavior of others.

Answer 16

judicial implementation

Question 17

Define: The 1803 case in which Chief Justice John Marshall and his associates first asserted the right of the Supreme Court to determine the meaning of the U.S. Constitution.

Answer 17

Marbury v. Madison

Question 18

Define: The power of the courts to determine whether acts of Congress and, by implication, the executive are in accord with the U.S. Constitution.

Answer 18

judicial review

Question 19

Define: An approach to decision making in which judges play minimal policymaking roles and defer to legislatures whenever possible.

Answer 19

judicial restraint

Question 20

Define: An approach to decision making in which judges sometimes make bold
policy decisions, even charting new constitutional ground.

Answer 20

judicial activism

Question 21

Define: A doctrine developed by the federal courts and used as a means to avoid
deciding some cases, principally those involving conflicts between the president and Congress.

Answer 21

political question

Question 22

Define: The judicial interpretation of an act of Congress.

Answer 22

statutory construction