nature & role of the supreme court

powers the constitution grants the SC

• Article 3 Section 2 gives the judiciary the power to hear cases which arise under the laws of the Constitution

• The Constitution gives the SC the power to rule any cases which involve the US federal government and to act as an appeal court to other cases

SC’s power of judicial review

• Judicial review is the SC’s power to declare acts by the executive or Congress as null and void because they conflict with the Constitution

• Judicial review was first used in the 1803 Marbury v. Madison case

  • The SC ruled the 1789 Judiciary Act of Congress to be unconstitutional

• Judicial review was used to overrule a state law for the first time in the 1810 Fletcher v. Peck case

judicial review IS important

• Judicial review enables the SC to overrule federal and state laws

  • EX: Miller v. Alabama, the SC ruled the Alabama state’s life sentence of a juvenile offender was unconstitutional

• Judicial review gives the SC influence over legislation because their judgements can rule certain acts to be legal or illegal

  • EX: 2015 - Obergefell v. Hodges case ruled in favour of the right to same-sex marriage, which had been previously illegal (DOMA 1996)

• The SC uses judicial review to make rulings on important issues

judicial review ISN’T important

• The SC isn’t able to enforce its decisions and must rely on executive and legislative branches of government to carry out its rulings

• Amendments to the constitution can overrule decisions made by the SC

• The SC can only rule on cases which are referred to it, as opposed to being able to rule on any issues