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Define!
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Difference?
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100
What is criminal law?
Criminal Law: The government charges an individual with violating a specific law. The offense is usually followed with some sort of punishment (imprisonment or fines.)
100
Name 3 conditions that will likely run into trouble during nominations to the Supreme Court.
The 3 conditions include when the president makes a nomination at the end of their term, when the president has a minority in the Senate, and when the president's views are distant from the norm in the Senate.
100
Explain how most cases reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
The appellate jurisdiction of the court and by granting a writ of certiorari.
100
What is the difference between constitutional courts and legislative courts?
The difference between constitutional courts and legislative courts is that constitutional courts are the district and appeals courts created by Congress. Legislative courts are established by Congress for a specialized purpose.
100
One of the most active Supreme Courts in shaping public policy in areas of desegregation and the rights of the accused was the...
Warren Court
200
What is amicus curiae?
"friend of the court," someone who is an impartial adviser, often voluntary, to a court of law in a particular case.
200
List the 3 out of 6 criteria that have been important in choosing Supreme Court Justices.
- Occupation - Experience - Party Associations - Past Party Activism - Ethnicity/Race - Gender
200
What are the functions of amicus cariae?
1. To allow allow someone that is not a party to the litigation to provide their prospective to the court on the case at hand. 2. To urge the Court to change established doctrine.
200
What is the difference between judicial activism and judicial restraint?
Judicial activism is when judges make bolder policy decisions, even charting new constitutional ground with a particular decision; however, judicial restraint is when judges adhere closely to precedent and play minimal policy making roles.
200
U.S Courts of appeal does what?
Review decisions from district courts.
300
What is "senatorial courtesy"?
"Senatorial Courtesy" is an unwritten tradition in which the Senate does not confirm nominations for lower-court positions when they are opposed by a senator of the president's party from the state in which the nominee is to serve.
300
List the participants in the Judicial System.
Litigants, Groups, and Attorneys.
300
Explain the ways why the courts are not a very democratic institution.
Courts are not a very democratic institution because federal judges are not elected and almost impossible to remove. If democracy requires that key policymakers always be elected or be continually responsible to those who are, then the courts diverge sharply from the requirements of a democratic government.
300
What is the main difference between state courts and federal courts?
The differences between federal and state courts are defined mainly by jurisdiction.
300
When a higher court hears a case that has previously been decided at a lower level, it is using its authority of..
Appellate jurisdiction
400
Define stare decisis.
"Let the decision stand" allowing the Supreme Court to uphold the decision of the lower court.
400
List the 4 key functions of the solicitor general.
1. To decide whether to appeal cases the government has lost in the lower courts. 2. Review and modify the briefs presented in government appeals. 3. Represent the government before the Supreme Court. 4. Submit a brief on behalf of a litigant in a case in which the government is not directly involved.
400
Explain the principle of judicial review.
Judicial review is based on the idea that a constitution is the supreme law. Consequently, any actions by a government that violate the principles of its constitution are invalid.
400
What is the difference between circuit courts and courts of appeal?
There is no difference!
400
Courts of appeal focus their attention on which aspect of a case?
The procedures and interpretation of the law in the original case. They review how a case was handled in a lower court, and how the ruling was decided and whether or not that ruling appropriately applied the law to the case.
500
Define majority opinion, dissenting opinion and concurrent opinion.
Majority Opinion: When the chief justices write the opinion or assign it to another justice in the majority. Dissenting Opinion: Justices oppose to all or part of the majority's decision. Concurring Opinion: Written not only to support a majority decision by also to stress a different constitutional or legal basis for the judgement.
500
List 2 jurisdictions that the district fields extend to.
-Federal Crimes -Civil suits under federal law -Civil suits between citizens of different states where the amount in question exceeds &75,000. -Supervision of bankruptcy proceedings -Review of the actions of some federal administrative agencies -Admiralty and maritime law cases -Supervision of the naturalization of aliens
500
Explain what is the "nine old men."
It was called the nine old men because the average age of the Court was over 70, and Roosevelt railed against the "nine old men." The Supreme Court was dismantling the New Deals policies one by one, and believed that the laws designed to end the depression were "unconstitutional."
500
Explain the different ideologies of the following Chief Justices: Earl Warren, Warren Burger, and William Rehnquist.
Earl Warren: Best known for the of the decisions Warren Court, school segregation and transformed many areas of American law. Warren Burger-U.S. Supreme Court delivered a variety of liberal decisions on abortion, capital punishment, religious establishment, and school desegregation during his tenure. William Rehnquist- Rehnquist favored a conception of federalism that emphasized the Tenth Amendment's reservation of powers to the states.
500
Explain how judicial activism influences decisions made by individual justices when deciding cases heard by the Court.
• Justices are more likely to strike down laws and policies as unconstitutional. • Justices are influenced by the future/societal ramifications/needs of the nation.