US Supreme Court and civil rights

what does the constitution say about the court?

powers of the court are laid out in article III of the constitution, however the court only has 369 words written about it in the constitution, copared to over 1000 words for the president and more than 2000 for congress.

this could be interpreted that the founding fathers wanted it to be the least powerful branch of government.

how many cases does the court take?

court receieves around 7000 to 8000 cases a year, of whichit will hear only 1%.

Independence of the court
how does life tenure ensure indepdence?

-justices are appointed for life. this means that the president or congress cannot remove them if they make decisions they dont like. this is very important as various presidents have made comments on the decisions of justices they appointed.

-truman declared that “whenever you put a man on the supreme court, he ceases to be your friend”, referring to two of his own appointees voting against him.

Independence of the court
how does the system of appointments secure independnece?

vacancies only occur if a justice dies, retires, or is impeached. the constitution allowscongress to change the number of justices, however there have only been 9 since the 1869 judiciary act. this prevents the other branches from packing the court with allies.

Independence of the court
how does salary ensure inependence?

-the constitution prevents the salary of justices being lowered during their time in office. in 2022, supreme court associate justices were paid $274,200 a year, while the chief justice was paid $286,700. with their salary being fixed, the justices do not have to be concerned about repercussions from the president or congress if they vote against them in a case.

Independence of the court
how does the appointments system ensure inependence?

-nominated by the president and approved by the senate. this prevents one branch dominaintg the court and filling it with people of an ideology similar to theirs. it also adds legitimacy to the court,as they are confirmed by elected representattives.

Independence of the court
how does the seperation of powers protect court indepdene?

-gives justicies their own power. judicial review allows the supreme court to check the power of the president and congress. the court itself has no power to enforce these decissions, relying on the other branches to carry out its ruling. this makes the 3 branches inepdendent but co-dependent.

Independence of the court
how does the ABA rating ensure independnece?

-the american bar association (ABA) rates the suitability of each of the justicies nominated. comprimising of industry experts who are not politically motiivated, the ABA helps to ensure that the court is composed of people who understand and carry out the letter of the law rather than the will of politicans.

Judicial review
what is judicial review?

judicial review is the power of the court to review the laws of actions of congress and the president and judge whether they are constitutional. if the court finds them to contradict the us constitution, these laws become null and void.

Judicial review
how did the court gain the power of judicial review?

the constitution in article III makes no mention of the power of judicial review.

-the court granted this power to itself in teh cases of Marbury v. Madison (1803) and Fletcher v. Peck (1810)

-madison gave the court the power of kudicial review over federal law, with peck extending it to state law.

Judicial review
how does this power therefore make the court extremely influential?

-in deciding whether an act or action is unconstitutinoal, the justicies are responsible for interpreting the meaning of the sovereign constitution. their decisions are effectively final, with the only way to overturn a decision is through constitutional ammendment. this is so also extremely rare.

Judicial review
what did a prior cheif justice say about the courts power?

cheif justice charles evans hughes in 1907 said that “we are under a constitution, but the constitution is what the judges say it is”

The appointment proccess for supreme court justices
what is the first stage? what is an example?

-vacancy arises through death, retirement or impeachment.

-In january 2022 justice Breyer announced that he would retire at the end of the courts term.

-the only supreme court justice to face impeachment was samuel chase in 1805, but he was found not guilty.

The appointment proccess for supreme court justices
what is the second stage? with examples?

-The president chooses whoever they likes to fill a vacancy. they are likely to pick someone who fit their ideology.

-George W. Bush and Trump both nominated conservative leaning justices (roberts, alito, gorsuch, kavanaugh, and barret) whie obama appointed those with a more liberal outlook (sotomayor, kagan, jackson)

The appointment proccess for supreme court justices
what is the third stage? what are examples?

while not a constitutional requirement, the ABA rating offers a rating of “unqualified” “qualified” or “well qualified” or judicial nominees.

-all but 1 of the current judges are “well qualified”

-thomas was only deemed to be “qualified”. this, along with allegations of sexual harrasement made it very dififcult for thomas to get confirmation from the senate.

The appointment proccess for supreme court justices
what is the fourth stage? what are examples?

-while not a constitutional requirement, the senate judificary committee holds hearings in which it can question the nominee. in the end, it holds a vote. the vote serves as a recommendation to infrom the whole senate vote.

-having been rejected by the committee 9-5. robert bork failed seante confirmation in 1987.

The appointment proccess for supreme court justices
what is the final stage? what are examples?

following the recommendatory vote from the senate judiciary committee, the whole senate must vote to confirm an appointment. following 2017 reforms, this vote can no longer be fillibustered.

-the votes of all nominees since 2006 have been dominated by party politics, compared to votes confirming jusitces such as Bader Ginsburg in 1993, who was confirmed 96-3.

presidential consideratino for a judicial nominee
how does a president consider judicial experience?

is it expected that the nominee should have experience as a judge and qualfied in law.

the nomination of harriet miers faced criticism in 2005 as she lacked experience as a judge. the only current member of teh supreme court who was not serving in the circuit courts when appointed is elena kagan, who was the solicitor general for obama.

presidential consideratino for a judicial nominee
how does the president consider the outgoing justice?

the president may be expected to replace a “like for like” basis in terms of ideology as this is less likely to face opposistion in the senate. however, since 2005 the senate votes have become more partisan and the “like for like” standard is less applied. alito in 2006, kavanaugh in 2018 and barret in 2021 were not “like for like” replacements, as they were all much more conservative than their predecessors.

presidential consideratino for a judicial nominee
how does the president consider the demograpgics of the court?

a president may wish to widen the representative nature of the court. obama appointed 2 women, doubling the number that have ever served in teh court, and appointed the first hispanic person, sonia sotomayor.

biden nominated the first african american woman to the court, ketanji brown jackson.

presidential consideratino for a judicial nominee
how does the president consider the ideology of the nominee ?

almost all nominees are qualified in law and have been a judge on a lower court. from their previous rulings, it i possible to ascertain their ideology and whehter it fits with the presidents. this is not always successful, but t would be rare for the president to be entirly wrong.

Justice kennedy remained a conservative, just a moderate one. the preisdent may listen to advice from those close to them. Kavanaugh appeared on a list of the right wing think tank the heritage foundation before trump nominated him.

The current court
how has the neutraility of the court changed?

traditionally, the justice who was ideology in the middle of the 9 would be the “swing justice” in cases that seem to have an ideology split. the majoirty decision is often a result in the way the swing justice votes. kennedy was the swing justice following the appointment of alito in 2006. before this, Day O Connor sat ideology in the centre, while kennedy was considered to be on the conservative wing, highligting the shifting ideology of the court.

the court now has a substantial conservative majority of 6 justices.

The current court
how has life tenure raised concerns?

the current court includes justices who have been appointed by 5 different presidents. Justice clarence thomas has served since 1991, and was appointed by HW Bush, who died in 2018. this raises concern over the power justices hold when they are appointed for life yet the president who appointed them has lost their political mandate.

The current court
is the court divided in practice ?

despite ideological divisions, only around 20% of cases are decided with a 5-4 vote and the most common decission issued by the court is 9-0.

ideology of the court
what is a liberal vs a conservative?

a conservative judge is more likely to achieve rulings that produce limited federal government and uphold conservative ideas such as pro gun and pro life.

-a liberal justice is more likely to try and acheivve rulings that produce greater equality for all and uphold liberal ideas, such as a larger federal government, LGBTQ+ rights, and gun control.

ideology of the court
what is a loose constructionist vs a strict constructionist?

loose constructionist judges are more willing to interpret the constitution broadly, which might include giving more power to the government.

a strict constructionist will stick to the wording of the constitution as written, without interpretation. this therefore includes protecting state power.

ideology of the court
what is judicial restraint vs activism?

a justice who believes in a limited role for the supreme court upholds judicial restraint.

a justice who uses their posistion to acheive rulings in favour of their ideology upholds judicial activism.

ideology of the court
what is a living constitution vs orginalism?

livinig constitution is the belief that the constutiton is a living organic document that can be changed through intepretation over time.

organilism is the belief that the meaning of the constuttion is set by the orgiain lpricniples of the document. It should not be subjected to braod intepretation.

Strengths and weaknesses of the appointments proccess
how is the appointments proccess long?

the process from nomination to senate ratification usally takes between 2-3 months. this is not a problem if the vacancy was caused by a retiree who remains on the court during the process. however, when the vacancy is caused by a death, the court would be left with only 8 justices. in the event of a tie, the ruling from the court below stands.

Strengths and weaknesses of the appointments proccess
how was obama effected by a long appointments proccess ?

when obamas executive order regarding DAPA was challenged in SCOTUS, the death of Antonin Scalia meant there was only 8 justices to hear the case. the 4-4 tie resulted in obamas executive order being struck down as the decission of the lower court stood. had he been able to appoint merrick garland to the court, perhaps garland would have voted with the liberals on the court and obamas policy would have been saved.

Strengths and weaknesses of the appointments proccess
how was the proccess been politicised?

appointments since 2006 have seen party line votes in the senate, ith relatively few deflections. statistics show that nominees put forward by republicans are supported by republicans, opposed by democrats and vice versa.

the role of the senate judiciary committee can als obe questioned. during hearings of Alito, Sotomayor, Kagan and Gorsuch, the nominees only spoke for around 33% of the time over 4 days of hearings. the rest of taken up by senators arguing.

Strengths and weaknesses of the appointments proccess
how has the president failed in the politicisation of the proccess?

-in january 2022, a short unsigned note from the supreme court defied president trumps request to prevent congress from accessing white house documents from 6th january 2021. the only dissent was thomas, not any of the 3 appointments of the court.

Strengths and weaknesses of the appointments proccess
how has the media contribiuted to the politicisation of the proccess?

-protests against the nomination of kavanaugh, and coverage they garneed, underlined how political appointments have become.

-during the appointment of gorsuch, donors to the judicial crisis network gave 10 million dollars to support his appointment having given $7 million to oppose the appointment of merrick garland a year earlier.

-demand justice launced 1 million dollar campaign to support jacksons nominatnino. even the role of the ABA can be questioned, as it has no constitutional authority.

Supreme Court and public policy
how can the supreme court create new policy?

Citizens United v. FEC (2010) allowed for the development of Super PACs, which allowed for the development of Super-PAC’s, were previosuly impossible due to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act.

unelected justices thus had a substnatial role in shaping the policy surrounding election in the USA and overturened a law created by elected representatitves.

Supreme Court and public policy
how can the court uphold legislation or policy?

in NFIB v. Sebelius (2011) and California v. Texas (2020), the court ruled in favour of Obamacare. this allowed continued enforcement of this legislation, but also lent a degree of sovereignty to the law.

Supreme Court and public policy
how can the court impcat public policy in choosing not to hear a case?

the court can choose not to hear cases. if this has been heard by a lower court, then the ruling of that court stands.

-in 2018, the court refused to hear the case of Planned parenthood of Arkansas v. Jegley which challenged Arkansas strict regulation of the “abortion pill” The supreme court thus allowed this law to come into force in Arkansas, shaping public policy.

in 2020, it refused to hear challenges to the election result, allowing the result to stand. Joe Biden was inaugurated President in 2021.

Supreme Court and the protection of rights
which ruling protected free speech?

-Snyder v. Phelps (2011)

in an 8-1 ruling, the court ruled that free speech cannot be limited in public, even if it is considered offensive or causes emtional distress.

-Justice Alito disagreed arguing that the constitution is not a free pass for “vicious verbal assault”

Supreme Court and the protection of rights
what ruling protected gun rights?

Caetano v. Massachusetts (2016)

-the court ruled that the second amendment extends to “all instruments that consittute bearable arms, even those that were not in existence at the time of founding”

Supreme Court and the protection of rights
what ruling protected gay rights?

Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)

court ruled that the right to marry is gaurenteed to same sex couples by the 14th amendment. this ruling made same sex marriage legal in all 50 states, overturning the law in the 12 remaining states in which it was outlawed.

Supreme Court and the protection of rights
how did the supreme court harm womens rights, while also enforcing state rights?

in Dobbs v. Jackson (2022,) the supreme court overturened the constitutional protection of abortion which was upheld by the 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade.

This demonstrates the extreme power of the court, as here they favoured the rights of one group (the state legislatures) over the rights of another (women)

the effectiveness of rights protection
how can the court protect the rights of one group, to the detriment of another?

in obergefell v. Hodges (2015) the rights of the lgbtq+ community were protected, while the religious rights of people like Kim Davis, a clerk in kentucky, were arguably infringed. Davis refused to issue marriage liscences to same sex couples, saying it violates her religious beliefs. She was breifly jailed for this by a district court in kentucky.


-Conversly, in burwell v. hobby lobby (2014) the religious rights of employers were placed above the rights of women.

the effectiveness of rights protection
how is there a debate on the amount of power the court has to protect rights?

the court only hears about 1% of cases put to it every year. the cases of the vast majority of people who feel their rights have been infringed will never be heard by SCOTUS.

in june 2018, the court declined to hear an appeal from a florist who had refused to make an arrangement for a same sex couple, referring it back to the lower court. in doing so, it shied away from invovlement in a controversil issue, arguably leaving the rights of some people unprotected.

the effectiveness of rights protection
how does the court have no power to enforce its rulings?

the court has to rely on the power of the president, congress or states to enforce its decisions. Controversial decisions that a president has not liked such as Citizens United v. FEC (2010) have however still been enforced.

however, in other cases the rulings of the court seem to have been circumvented or ignored. in the 4 cases regarding guantanamo bay beetween 2004 and 2008, the court always ruld in favour of the detainees. the fact that the cases kept returning to the court demonstrates the weakness of its rulings. Congress even passed the military commissions act, to try and work around a ruling. this act was also struck down by the court.

the effectiveness of rights protection
how is the effectiveness of rights protection bound by the constitution?

the court may find it difficult to protect rights as its rulings have to be rooted in the wording of the constitution. in Snyder v. Phelps (2011) the actions of westboro baptist church may have appeared insensitive to the rights and feelings of the greiving family, but the constitutino clearly protects free speech.

how should the constitution be interpreted?
why should the constitution be interpreted as a living document? (1)

-the constitution will quickly become out of date if it is not interpreted in the light of modern developments, such as changing beliefs on slavery, womens rights of LGBTQ+ rights.

-elected and accountable branches often favour the will of the majority, and therefore interpretation of the constitution can ensure minority rights are protected.

how should the constitution be interpreted?
why should the constitution be interpreted as a living document? (2)

-the founding fathers could not have predicted the world that exists today, and some of the words are meaningless without interpretation. for example, the founding fathers were not writing about semi-automaticf rifles in the 2nd amendment.

-the amendment proccess is now too difficult to allow further development of actual constitution

-principles are still upheld despite the wording of the document

how should the constitution be interpreted?
why should the constitution be interpreted as the original document? (1)

-intepreting the constitution makes the court a political body, undermining its independence and legitimacy.

-changes required can be left to the elected and accountable branches rather than 9 unelected justices

-people are accountable for actions according to the law. if this law is constantly evolving and changing, it is not possible for them to know what the law is until after a judge has decided, which is confusing to citizens.

how should the constitution be interpreted?
why should the constitution be interpreted as the original document? (2)

-the amendment proccess exists and has been used successfully. this is the method in which amendments should come about

-the principles of the constitution are not as significant as the words and text when determining meaning, and ti is this meaning that should be adhered to.

Judicial activism
what did obama say about judicial activism ?

“an activist judge was somebody who ignored the will of congress [and] ignored democratic processes”

Judicial activism
what is an example of liberal activism?

Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) essentially created a new policy under which same sex marriage was elgal nationally. this ruling ignored the laws of 13 states in which same sex marriage was banned. it also struck down the congressional Defence of Marriage Act. the court overruled both state, and federal elected officials.

Judicial activism
what is an example of conservative activism?

Citizens United v. FEC (2010) shows activism from conservative justicies. It too overturned part of a congressional law, the McCain-Feingold reforms. in allowing money to be seen as a form of free speech, this fits with more conservative ideals.

it also overuled another decision from the supreme court 7 years ealier, which ruled the opposite/.

Judicial restraint
what is the principle of allowing rulings to stand?

stare decisis or ‘let the decision stand’ is the view that judges should refer to previous court rulings, and use them as precedent when making new rulings.

Judicial restraint
what is an example of liberal restraint?

Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (2016) demonstrated an upholding of 1973’s Roe v. Wade which initally establsihd a womans right to abortion. This was however overturned in 2022.

Judicial restraint
what is an example of conservative restraint?

Glossip v. Gross (2015) builds onprevious cases to allow the continued use of lethal injection.

the court argued it was the responsibility of the prisonerto demonstrate that the execution method caused severe pain, not the responsibility of the state.

Checks and balances
what is the relationship between the court and other branches?

the courts only power is judicial reviewm and while this allows it to strike down acts of congress or actions of the president, it hears few cases a year.

the presidents power to appoint justices is dependent on a vacancy occuring, something tehy cannot control. congress could in theory alter the number of justices, or pass an amendment to overturn a court decision.

both seem unlikely, and the last time the number of justices changed was 1869, and constitutional amendments are rare.

Checks and balances
how is there tension between the court and other branches? (1)

-President Obama expressed anger at the court numerous times, noteably after the rulings regarding campaign finance and his DAPA executive order.

-in 2018 the court struck down parts of the Voting Rights Act 1965, stating “our country has changed in the past 50 years.” it did allow for the posibility of congress to pass legislation to recognise changing political circumstnace, though the chance of congress being able to do this is limited due to hyperpartisanship.

Checks and balances
how is there tension between the court and other branches? (2)

-in 2020, while the supreme court held an abortion case, senator schumer held a pro choice rally outside the court, saying “you wont know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions”


-in 2021, biden accused the court of an “unprecedented assault on womens constitutional rights” following its unwillingness to strike down a texas abortion law.

Checks and balances
how has the court still extended the powers of the other branches?

NFIB v. Sebelius (2011) court defined the individual mandate aswithin congress’ power to levy tax. more recently, in upholding president trumps travel ban, the supreme court noted that “the proclamation is squarely within the scope of presidential authority”

what is an imperial judiciary?

-an imperial judiciary is a court which is subject to very few checks and balances.

Legal action to bring change
how can appealing to SCOTUS bring change ?

-groups can appeal cases to SCOTUS. The Coalition to defend arrmitive action, integration and immigrant rights, and right for equality by any menas necessary, brought a case in 2014 to challenge a ban on affirmative action in the michigan state constitution.

Legal action to bring change
how can the impact of supreme court rulings bring change?

Supreme court rulings have historically had a wide ranging impact. cases on affirmative actino have been heard and reheard by the supreme court, such as desegregating schools in Brown v. Topeka board of education (1954) and university admission in Fisher v. univeristy of texas in both2013 and 2016.

Legal action to bring change
how can groups directly express opinions to the supreme court?

groups can submit amicus curiae briefs, which express their opinions on a case directly to the supreme court.

more than 60 amicus curiae breifs were filed for the case of Trump v. Hawaii (2018) regarding the travel ban, including breifs from groups such as the NAACP. (the court still upholded the travel ban)

Mass demonstrations and direct action to bring change
how can mass demonstrations be organised to bring change?

mass demonstrations try to achieve change by showing politicans the weight of public opinion. in a representattive democracy, such protests encourage politicans to listen in order to gain votes.

Mass demonstrations and direct action to bring change
which extremley famous demonstration led to concrete change?

the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was one of the largest ever protests in the capital, and martin luther king gave his I have a dream speech. The march was followed by a meeting between president Lyndon B. Johnson and king and others, which ultimatley helped ensure that the civil rights act 1964 and voting rights act 1965 were passed.

how has the voting rights act been harmed since?

Shelby v. holder in 2013 limited the effectiness of the act,as it ruled that sdction 5 of the act was unconstitutional, allowing states to change voting procedures without apporval from the US attorney general.

Mass demonstrations and direct action to bring change

what event led to a resurgance in BLM? what are the statistics of the growth of teh movement?

in 2020, the murder of African American George Floyd resulted in a resurgance of teh black lives matter movement.

-an average of 3.7 million Black Lives Matter tweets per day during 2020.

Mass demonstrations and direct action to bring change
how did the president respond to BLM protests?

president trump implemented and aggressive rather than compromising approach, hinting that teh national guard was ready to shoot protesters at any given moment.

what are statistics on police brutality on black people?

2020 harvard studies showcase that african americans are still 3.23 times more likely to be killed by police officers than white americans.

Mass demonstrations and direct action to bring change
what is an example of a major womens march?

the 2017 womens march drew approximately 200,000 people to washington, to protest the inauguration of president trump and fight for womens rights.

Mass demonstrations and direct action to bring change
why can it be argued that this march was unsuccessful?

Trump continued to appoint right wing judges Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and barret who ruled in favour of overturining constiutionally protected abortion rights for women in Dobbs v. jackson in (2022)

Affirmative action
when did affirmative action originate?

President Kennedy’s executive order 10925, which required government contractors to “take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin”

Affirmative action
how can it be argued that affirmative action has recently gotten worse?

in the 2024 presiential election campaign, Donald Trump to a strong stance against ‘DEI’ policy. Following his inauguration in 2025, President Trump continued to issue various executive actions to remove and end DEI policy in the federal government.

Immigration reform
how did obama fail to pass immigration reform?

president obama failed to achieve immigration reform through congress, passing neither the DREAM Act or the Bipartisan Border Security, Economic Opporutinity, and Immigration Modernization Act 2013, which would have reforemd the immigration system and gave undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship.

Immigration reform
how did obama use executive action to achieve some reform?

-deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) in 2012 allowed illegal immigrants who met certain conditions to remain in the USA free from fear of deportaion. Obama extended this in 2014 and introduced Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) but key aspects were struck down in 2016.

Immigration reform
how has executive action been used to impede on reform?

following his inauguration in january 2025, president Trump issued a flurry of executive orders concerned border security, taking a highly authoritative stance against immigration. Executive order 14160 even challenged the 14th amendment, attempting to end birthright citizenship.

representation
how have elections increased in representation?

the 2008,2016,2020 and 2024 presidential elections saw female candidates on teh presidential ballot, with Kamala Harris in 2024 and Hillary Clinton in 2016 leading the democratic nomination for the presidency.

representation
how has there been increased representation in government office?

President obama was the first African American president. Kamala Harris was the first woman of colour to hold the vice presidency and Jackson the first African American woman nominated to the US supreeme court.

representation
how is representation still an issue in terms of the presidency?

over the past 236 years of the united states, there has not been a single elected female president. There has also only been one african american president, barack obama.

representation
what do statistics show about the US demographics?

2022 US census shows that 13.6% of the population indentifies as African American. women also make up a slight majority (50.5%) of the population.

-despite increased representation, figures are no where near the actual demographics of the UNtied States.