3. SCOTUS and The Judiciary 👩‍⚖️

what did the conservative-liberal majority change to after Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in September 2020?

from 5-4 to 6-3

what is the US supreme court made up of?

1 court, 1 chief justice, 8 associate justices

current chief justice = John Roberts

how many cases do the SCOTUS hear every year?

between 100 and 150

how many US Courts of Appeal are there??

13 Circuits → 12 regional + 1 federal

how many court cases do the Courts of Appeal ask the SCOTUS to review (or certiorari) each year?

7,000 to certiorari

fancy name for review a case?

certiorari

how many US District Courts are there?

94

each US District Court has a ….

Bankruptcy Court

what date was Amy Coney Barrett nominated?

27th September 2020

SCOTUS nominee Anthony Kennedy was intensively interviewed on….

sexual history + treatment of animals for 10 hours

Donald Ginsburg had to…

withdraw his SCOTUS nominee (given by Reagan in 1987) → had used marijuana while he was a law professor

what does ‘packing the court’ mean?

adding new justices

which body consider the President’s nomination for a SCOTUS judge

Senate Judiciary Committee

Elena Kagan was never a….

judge → previously Solicitor General at the Department of Justice

the decision of the Senate Judiciary Committee is only…

a recommendation to the Senate!

super close SCOUTS judge appointment vote in the Senate…

Clarence Thomas

7-7 Committee vote

52 - 48 in the Senate

what is the ‘nuclear option’ for normal judiciary votes?

allows cloture to be invoked with a simple majority

‘nuclear option’ for senate judiciary voting extended in 2017:

done by Republicans → preventing a Democratic filibuster of Neil Gorsuch’s SCOTUS nomination

last time Senate rejected a President’s SCOTUS nomination?

1987 → Robert Bork

last time a SCOTUS nominee was withdrawn before Senate vote?

2005 → Harriet Miers → concerns over qualifications and experience (from libs + cons!)

which 2 SCOUTS justices were passed by the Senate, despite serious sexual assault allegations?

1. Clarence Thomas → 1991

2. Brett Kavanaugh → 2018 → confirmed 50-48

nomination of Brett Kavanaugh was almost entirely…

along party lines → 1 Republican refused to vote for him, and 1 Democrat did vote for him

Which SCOTUS justice, appointed by George H. W. Bush, became unexpectedly liberal?

David Souter

2 SCOTUS justices vote against the President that put them there (Clinton)

Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer vote against Bill Clinton

2 SCOTUS justices vote against the President that put them there (Trump)

1. Neil Gorsuch

2. Brett Kavanaugh

Both voted against Trump in Trump v Vance (2020)

in September 2023, what percentage of Americans disproved of the way SCOTUS handles its job?

58%

After the appointment of Ketanji Brown Jackson in 2022, the average age of a SCOTUS justice is…

62

how many SCOTUS justices went to Ivy Leagues?

7/9

8/9 → Harvard or Yale Law School

4 ever SCOTUS justices of colour:

Thurgood Marshall, Clarence Thomas, Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson

how many women have ever sat on SCOTUS?

6

Roe v Wade (1973):

• Jane Roe challenges a Texan law banning abortion except to save mother’s life

• Abortion = implied right under 14th Amendment → privacy

• 7-2 in favour of Roe

• established a trimester framework: 1st (states cannot intervene), 2nd (states may regulate for health), 3rd (states are allowed to ban)

Citizens United v Federal Election Commission (2010):

• limits on political spending are unconstitutional

• 5-4 conservative majority

• led to the rise of super PACs

Obergefell v Hodges (2022):

• 5-4

• marriage = fundamental right under the 14th Amendment’s Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses

what triggered Dobbs v Jackson (2022)

1. Mississippi pass the Gestational Age Act in 2018 → banned most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy

2. Jackson Women’s Health Organisation challenged decision

3. June 24th 2022 → 6-3 overturned

Plessy v Ferguson (1896) → Brown v Board of Education (1954)

P v F → ‘separate but equal’

B v B → overturns previous legislation

4 self-proclaimed originalists:

Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett

2 ‘loose constructionists’:

Elena Kegan, Ketanji Brown Jackson

which 2 SCOTUS judges insist they are neither strict / loose constructionists?

Brett Kavanaugh + Sonia Sotomayor

Baze v Rees (2008) 💉:

Eighth Amendment → lethal injection = not ‘cruel and unusual punishment’, so could be used for executions

Burwell v Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. (2014):

First Amendment → Court struck down the part of the Affordable Care Act which made family-run businesses contribute to health insurance which might be used for contraception

United States v. Texas (2016): Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Parents of Americans program was blocked.

• 8 person court (because Antonin Scalia had just died)

• 4 - 4 in SCOTUS

• So they had to go with the Court of Appeal's decision to block Obama's bill

is judicial review ever mentioned in the Constitution?

no! hence the need for Marbury v Madison (1803)

Bush v Gore (2000) 💔💔

George W. Bush led Al Gore by just 327 votes out of 6 million

Florida ordered a manual recount in certain counties

SCOTUS rule 5 - 4 that the recount was unconstitutional (not enough time to do it in)

Bush president with just 271 - 266 EC votes

all 5 conservative voted Bush’s way, all 4 liberal in Gore’s way

SCOTUS is sometimes deemed…

‘quasi-legislative’

justices are often said to…

‘legislate from the bench ‘ → in practice, the Court’s interpretation of the law functions as an ‘interpretive amendment’ to the Constitution

what does stare decisis mean?

‘to stand by things decided’ → judges follow legal precedent (previous judgements) where possible

Which justice was said to be leading an ‘activist court’ during Brown v Topeka (1954)?

Chief Justice Earl Warren

what did District of Columbia v Heller (2008) decide?

• banning handguns was unconstitutional

  • the right to bear arms cannot be overruled by individual state legislatures

what was Murphy v National Collegiate Athletic Association (2018)?

• Roberts Court struck down a law passed by Congress in 1992 that prohibited states from authorising sports gambling → Congress exceeding powers under the commerce clause of Article 1 of the Constitution

Which Amendments allow abortion (according to the National Constitution Center)?

1. First Amendment

2. Fourth + Fifth Amendments → “the right of people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects”

3. Ninth Amendment → “the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people”

   1. Due Process of the Fourteenth Amendment

what is the 9th Amendment?

1. “the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people”

   1. constitution cannot be warped to revoke rights of people

What is Due Process of the Fourteenth Amendment?

“nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”

what year did SCOTUS first sit?

1790

which SCOTUS judge stepped down in the last 5 years?

Stephen Breyer → 2022

what is judicial restraint?

a legal philosophy in which SCOTUS avoids unnecessary conflict with the president or Congress, rarely overturning their actions or laws →

In the UK, at what age do SCOTUK judges need to retire by?

75 → the Pubic Services Pensions and Judicial Offices Bill

UK → April 2025 ruling on how to define sex / women

Under the Equality Act (2010) → for the Women Scotland case → 5-0

what is the UK Withdrawal from the EU (Scotland Bill) (2018)?

• the UK Supreme Court ruled that Scottish Parliament had gone beyond its devolved powers by seeking to write its own laws for certain areas of EU law that were to be returned to the UK after Brexit

2 instances when the UK Supreme Court did not act as the final court of appeal in the UK:

1. in the EU

   1. during the transition period following its withdrawal

ECHR:

• signed in 1950

• 47 signatories

• ECHR added to UK constitution in Human Rights Act 1998

can SCOTUS decision be overridden?

No! Only by themselves

what is R (on the application of the Public Law Project) v Lord Chancellor (2016):

ruled that the Lord Chancellor was acting ultra vires by imposing a residence test for legal aid (state support with legal costs)

by the end of his 1st term, Trump had appointed how many appeals court judges?

54

how many court of appeal judges did Obama appoint over his 8 years?

56

around how many acts of congress have been declared unconstitutional in US history?

160

2024 act deemed unconstitutional by a federal district court → possibly to be pursued by SCOTUS

National Small Business Association v Yellen → ruled Corporate Transparency Act unconstitutional for exceeding Congress’s enumerated powers

What is the ‘Commerce Clause’?

Article 1, Section 8 → says Congress can regulate trade

average tenure for a SCOTUS judge → who is longest serving?

27 years

Clarence Thomas = 30 years

democratic deficit?

Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co v Sawyer (1952)

ruled that Harry Truman seizing steel mills during the Korean War was unconstitutional → judicial review!

During Trump’s first term, the ACLU had filed how many lawsuits against him?

434

how many legal challenges has Trump faced in Trump II?

230 legal challenges → 64% succes s rate

in Trump’s first 100 days of Trump II, how many legal actions were filed against his administration>

186

4 Supreme Court rulings against Trump administration 2025:

1. Deportations under the Alien Enemies Act (1798)

2. Mistaken Deportation Case → required government to facilitate the return of a Maryland man who had been wrongly deported to El Salvador

3. Teacher Training Grants → allowed Trump to halt millions of dollars in teacher training grants

4. Federal Workers’ Reinstatement → blocked reinstatement of 16,000 fired federal workers