The Judicial Branch
The only federal court specifically mentioned in the Constitution.
What is the Supreme Court?
Legal principle meaning “let the decision stand.”
Answer: What is stare decisis?
The “rule of four” refers to this.
Answer: What is the number of justices needed to agree to hear a case?
This branch enforces Supreme Court rulings.
Answer: What is the executive branch?
This interpreter of the Constitution supports broad, implied powers for the federal government to adapt to modern needs.
Answer: What is a liberal constructionist?
Current Chief Justice of the United States.
Answer: Who is John Roberts?
Judges serve this long under Article III.
Answer: What is life tenure/during good behavior?
Federalist Paper that defended judicial independence.
Answer: What is Federalist No. 78?
When justices agree with the ruling but for different reasons, they write this type of opinion.
Answer: What is a concurring opinion?
The Senate’s main check on presidential judicial appointments.
Answer: What is advice and consent (confirmation hearings)?
This type of opinion is written by justices who disagree with the majority decision in a Supreme Court case.
Answer: What is a dissenting opinion?
The Supreme Court typically hears about ______________ cases each year, out of approximately 7,000+ petitions it receives. Most petitions are denied, as the Court has control over which cases it decides to take.
Answer: What is 100-150
This Supreme Court case established judicial review.
Answer: What is Marbury v. Madison (1803)?
This 1954 case overturned Plessy v. Ferguson.
Answer: What is Brown v. Board of Education?
This type of justice interprets the Constitution as a “living document.”
Answer: What is a liberal constructionist?
Congress can propose one of these to overturn Supreme Court rulings permanently.
Answer: What is a constitutional amendment?
This type of interpreter of the Constitution believes government should only do what the text explicitly permits.
Answer: What is a strict constructionist?
This justice was the first woman on the Court.
Answer: Who is Sandra Day O’Connor?
The difference between original and appellate jurisdiction.
Answer: What is original = first hearing of a case; appellate = reviewing decisions from lower courts?
The doctrine that past rulings should guide future cases.
Answer: What is precedent?
This New Deal-era plan attempted to expand the size of the Supreme Court.
Answer: What was FDR’s “court-packing plan”?
Judicial philosophy where courts strike down laws often, shaping new policy.
Answer: What is judicial activism?
"Friend of the court," referring to someone not a party to a case who offers information relevant to the case
What does "amicus curiae" mean?
This justice argued passionately for civil rights and later became the first African American on the Court.
Answer: Who is Thurgood Marshall?
The only crime defined in the Constitution.
Answer: What is treason?
Anti-Federalist writer who warned the Court would be too powerful and unaccountable.
Answer: Who is Brutus?
The Court issues this when requiring someone to stop or perform an action in a civil case.
Answer: What is an injunction?
Example of Congress limiting the Court’s jurisdiction (court-stripping).
Answer: What is removing appellate jurisdiction (e.g., attempts to block rulings on Pledge of Allegiance or DOMA)?
This formal request asks the Supreme Court to review a lower court’s decision.
Answer: What is a petition for certiorari?
The justice appointed in 2020, shifting the Court more conservative.
Answer: Who is Amy Coney Barrett?