POLS 206 Midterm Review 2: Judiciary

28. Structure of federal judiciary

The Federal Judiciary is divided into 3 levels; 94 District courts, Courts of Appeals, and the Supreme Court

28a. What are the characteristics of the different judiciary court levels?

94 District courts, criminal (murder, theft, assault) and civil (wrongful death, personal injury, breach of contract, divorce, custody) cases involving deferral law
-Hear about 300k cases annually, where most cases begin and end
Courts of Appeals, 13 "cir

28b. How are justices appointed/fired from the federal judiciary?

Only Congress can have a judge removed
-Only for a serious offense (bribery, extortion, treason), not for just misinterpreting a SC ruling

28c. Length of federal judiciary term?

Federal judges are appointed for life

29. Powers/Limitations of the Supreme Court

SC can deny certiorari
President and Congress have ignored SC rulings
-The Legislative veto was ruled unconstitutional but is still used
Congress can write laws limiting SC
-they can alter the size and jurisdiction of the SC
President nominates justices w

29a. What does it mean when the Supreme Court fails to exercise judicial review?

When the Supreme Court refuses to grant certiorari, then they are essentially agreeing with the lower court's decision, ensuring the status quo remains in effect, and the lower court's decision is affirmed

30. Judicial review

The ability of the Supreme Court to limit Congressional power by declaring legislation unconstitutional, or to review an administrative regulation for consistency with either a statute, a treaty, or the Constitution itself.
-Resulted from Marbury vs. Madi

30a. How is judicial review established?

If two laws conflict, Marshall wrote, the court bears responsibility for deciding which law applies in any given case.

31. Qualifications to serve as a Supreme Court Justice

The Constitution is silent on the qualifications to serve as a Supreme Court justice, nor are there statutory qualifications
-Justices don't even have to be US citizens, be a certain age, nor do they have to be lawyers
The qualifications are left to the P

31a. How are Supreme Court justices chosen to serve?

All federal judges are nominated by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate
All states have at least 1 federal district court, nominations are made based on the norm of senatorial courtesy
-Because federal courts of appeals and SC don't co

32. How the Supreme Court decides which cases to hear

Out of 700 petitions, only 100 cases are granted certiorari
-Most commonly used power is to deny certiorari, means the SC agrees with lower court's decision, the status quo remains in effect, and the lower court's decision is affirmed
"Rule of 4", to gran

33. Amicus curiae briefs

Are filed by interest groups who would have a vested interest in the outcome of a case
-These are not filed by litigants, but by "friends of the court, and makes an argument as to why the Court should hear the case

33a.What is the significance of amicus curiae briefs?

They can provide an argument/cite authorities not found in the party briefs, provide important technical/background information not supplied by parties, can be helpful in assisting Justices to come to a decision
-They can also be a nuisance, and a burden

34. How the Supreme Court arrives at its rulings

After granted certiorari, the oral arguments of a case will be heard (each side has 30 minutes)
-9 months of the year the SC will hear cases and in the Summer they will issue their judgments
Conferences, every week Justices will meet to discuss the cases

34a. Theories of judicial decision-making

Legal model, the traditional model adopted from law school tradition, judges will set aside their own values and make decisions solely on legal criteria; evidence, the law, legal precedents, and the Constitution.
-Kind of a "slot machine theory", where th

35. Precedent/Stare Decisis

Stare Decisis, the policy of courts to abide by or adhere to principles established by decisions in earlier cases
-Under stare decisis, once a court has answered a question, the same question in other cases must elicit the same response from the same cour

35a. What are some problems with precedent?

Michael Trotter blamed over-reliance by American lawyers on binding and persuasive authority, rather than the merits of the case at hand, as a major factor behind the escalation of legal costs during the 20th century.

36. Majority/Concurring/Dissenting opinions

Majority opinions, in which 5 or more justices agree on both which side wins and the reason for the decision
Concurring opinions, sometimes written by justices who agree with the result reached by the majority opinion, but not the reasoning behind it
-If

36a. What's the difference between majority/concurring/dissenting opinions?

Majority opinion, most of the justices agree on the winner and why they are the winner
Concurring opinion, justices agree with the winner, but not the reasoning why they won
Dissenting opinion, justices disagree with both the winner and the reasoning why

37. Judgement of the Court decisions

If there is a public upset in response to SC rulings, then a Constitutional amendment can be proposed and ratified to change the Constitution
-Only happened a few times; Civil rights, Income tax, Suffrage, Poll taxes, 18 year-old vote
Impeachment of justi

38. Current composition of the Supreme Court

Most Liberal (Democratic)
-Kagen
-Sotomayor
-Ginsburg
-Breyer
Most Conservative (Republican)
-Alito
-Roberts
-Thomas
-Scalia
Swing vote
-Kennedy

39. Recent Landmark SC Cases: Gay Marriage

US vs. Windsor, Defense of Marriage Act defined marriage between heterosexual couples only, SC ruled DOMA unconstitutional under the "Due Process" clause of the 5th Amendment
-Significant because the Federal government will recognize the legitimacy of sam

40. Recent Landmark SC Cases: Voting Rights Act, Section 5

Requires states with history of past discrimination to obtain federal approval before implementing changes to their voting laws
Shelby vs. Holder (leader of Justice Department), Shelby County argues that VRA section 5 was unconstitutional
-SC agreed that

41. Recent Landmark SC Cases: Affirmative Action

Fisher vs. UT, Fisher a white student was denied admission to UT, sued that the policy of considering race as a factor in admissions violated the "Equal Protection" clause of the 14th Amendment, lower courts affirmed UT's policy
-SC voided the lower court

42. Recent Landmark SC Cases: Declined Cases

Personhood laws, Oklahoma vs. Barber, Oklahoma law defined a fertilized egg as a person with full rights to due process, would ban all abortions and in-vitro fertilization procedures, opposers and supporters of the law appealed decision to SC
-In refusing