Structure & Jurisdiction
The level of federal courts where nearly all federal cases begin and where juries hear evidence and render verdicts.
What are U.S. District Courts?
The term for a judicial decision that serves as a guide for deciding future cases.
What is a precedent?
The power of the President to appoint judges, which must be confirmed by the Senate.
What is nomination (or the Appointment Power)?
The landmark case that established the principle of Judicial Review.
What is Marbury v. Madison (1803)?
Current Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Known for taking less cases and deliberating longer before deciding cases,
Who is John Roberts?
The type of jurisdiction the Supreme Court has when it hears a case that has been appealed from a lower court.
What is appellate jurisdiction?
The philosophy that judges should stick closely to the literal text of the Constitution and existing precedents.
What is Judicial Restraint?
The process by which Congress can remove a federal judge from office.
What is impeachment and removal?
This document by Alexander Hamilton defended life tenure for judges and described the judiciary as the "least dangerous branch."
What is Federalist No. 78?
Interprets the Constitution as a living document and takes into account changes and social conditions since ratification.
Liberal Constructionist
The document and section that creates the Supreme Court and permits Congress to create "inferior courts."
What is Article III of the Constitution?
The philosophy that judges should use their power to correct societal injustices and create new precedents.
What is Judicial Activism?
This non-judicial branch has historically delayed or refused to enforce certain Supreme Court decisions, like Worcester v. Georgia.
What is the Executive Branch (or President)?
This is the specific case that used the Tenth Amendment to limit the scope of the Commerce Clause, checking federal power.
What is United States v. Lopez (1995)?
A threat to the filibuster is known as?
What is the Nuclear Option?
The term for the practice by which the Supreme Court selects cases, requiring at least four justices to agree to hear an appeal.
What is the Rule of Four (or granting a writ of certiorari)?
The Latin term for "let the decision stand," which reinforces the stability of the legal system.
What is stare decisis?
The legislative check on the Court that involves Congress and the states adding text to the Constitution to overrule a decision.
What is proposing a constitutional amendment?
The doctrine in the 14th Amendment that the Supreme Court has used to apply Bill of Rights protections to the states, case by case.
What is Selective Incorporation?
Home senators play an important role in determining who will be nominated for lower court judgeships
Senatorial Courtesy
The Three Tiers of the US Federal Court System in order?
US District Court
US Circuit Court of Appeals
US Supreme Court
A document that outlines the legal reasoning for the majority of the Supreme Court, binding all lower courts.
What is the majority opinion?
The term for a Supreme Court Justice's political independence, secured by the fact they do not have to run for re-election.
What is life tenure (or "holding office during good behavior")?
The case that required states to provide an attorney to indigent defendants in felony cases, incorporating the Sixth Amendment right to counsel.
What is Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)?
Reagan nominee for the Supreme Court. Conservative Judge who believed in Originalism. This persons name has become known as ending someone's career politically.
Robert Bork