Judiciary Branch Study Guide

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Congress

a national legislative body, especially that of the US. The US Congress, which meets at the Capitol in Washington, d.c., was established by the Constitution of 1787 and is composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives

President

the highest executive officer of a modern republic, as the chief of executive of the United States

Supreme Courts (SCOUTS)

the highest federal court in the US, consisting of nine justices and taking judicial precedence’s over all courts in the nation

Dual System

the US has two separate court system (state and federal) because it is a deferral system. each state has its own court system that deals with the state constitution and state laws. authority of federal courts come from federal law and US Constitution

Judicial Act of 1789

established the basic three0tiered structure of federal courts that still exist. congress set the size of the Supreme Court at six justices later expanded to nine in 1869

Petit Jury

listens to all evidence during a court trial and decides the outcome of the case

Grand Jury

issues indictments, special jury that determines whether someone should be charged and and tried, NOT their guilt or innocence

Original Jurisdiction

hear a case for the first time

Appellate Jurisdiction

hear appeals from district courts and regulatory agencies

appeal/appellate courts

any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of atrial court or other lower tribunal

district courts

the United States district courts are the trial courts of the federal court system

SCOUTS as “last resort”

no appeal is allowed from their decision, the Supreme Court is the final arbiter of the Constitution

Marbury Decision (1803)

a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court that established the principle of judicial review, meaning that American courts have the power to strike down laws and statues they find to violate the Constitution of the United States

Rule of Four

supreme court clerks screen about 10,000 petitions that come to the supreme court —> Justices conduct weekly conference to discuss petitions —>for an appeal to be heard by the supreme court four of nine justices have to agree to leave the case

Amicus Curial brief

“friend of the constitution”—> a legal document submitted by a person or group that is not involved directly in the particular action, that lets them explain how a case should be ruled in a certain way

majority opinion

officially known as “the opinion of the court” the majority opinion is the law of the land

concurring opinion

supports the majority opinion but stresses different constitutional or legal reasons for reaching the judgement

minority/dissenting oppinions

expresses a point of view that disagrees with the majority opinion. dissenting opinions hav eno legal standing

judicial activism

the practice of judges making rulings based on their policy views rather than the honest interpretation of the curing law. judges should act as a creator of public policy

judicial restraint

judges must pay close attention to precedent/stare decisis (=prior court decisions) when they make their decisions. any changes they make to the law should be incremental

stare decisis

prior court decisions

origianlism

the constitution should be interpreted by what it originally meant by those who ratified the constitution in 1788

living constitution

laws should be interpreted by changes within the US since the creation of the constitution

textualism

method of legal interpretation in sochi the plain text of a law is used to determine the meaning of legislation

contextualism

method of legal interpretation in which the purpose of the law has to be considered as apposed to the text of the constitution of law under review

consequentialism

method of legal interpretation in which legal decisions need to be based on which outcomes/consequences will be based for society

text, history, and tradition (THT)

1. combination of originalisnt, textualist, and contextualisnt interpretation

2. favored by (many) political conservatives

3. source of the reasoning for Dobbs and recent SCOUTS decisions on guns

which three governmental documents protect the civil rights and equal liberties of all american citizens?

1. the declaration of independence

2. the constitution

3. the bill of rights

identify the bill of rights

the bill of rights are the first 10 amendments of the constitution

what does the 1st amendment protect

speech, press, peaceful assembly, petition of the government, free exercise of religion, no establishment of a religion

what are the four types of defendant rights that are protected by the 6th amendment

right to trial by jury, confront witness against you, speedy and public trial, rights to counsel

what does the 9th amendment accomplish

the 9th amendment make sure that al individual natural rights remain strong

whose rights does the 10th amendment protect

the 10th amendment prevents federal government to pass any law or legislation or enforce federal law

meaning of the 5th amendment

someone isnt forced to say any information that could possibly put them in jail

why is the 14th amendment important

it creates a birthright citizenship and equal protection before the law, and also created what is known as “selective incorporation” which is when the supreme court has used the 14th amendment to apply the BoR piece by piece to state and local governments