American Government Chapter 10

Marbury v Madison

Established the power of judicial review

Judicial review

Right for courts to review law/constitutionality

More than 2/3 of justices and all of the current court has

Attended ivy league or other prestigious law school

What year began the trend of political partisanship in supreme court nominations

1987

Robert Bork

Was rejected by the Senate as a nominee

Supreme court nominations have become a ___ between the Senate and the President

Gotcha

Senators have used ___ to hold up a nominee

Filibuster

Filibusters must be ended with…

Cloture Motion

A cloture motion needs __ votes to pass

3/5

Obama’s supreme court nominations: #1

Sonia Sotomayor, 2009

Obama’s supreme court nominations: #2

Elena Kagan, 2010

Trump’s supreme court nominations: #1

Niel Gorsuch, 2017

Trump’s supreme court nominations: #2

Brett Kavanaugh, 2018

Trump’s supreme court nominations: #3

Amy Coney Barrett, 2020

Biden’s supreme court nomination

Ketanji Brown Jackson, 2022

Federal District Courts

Hear criminal and civil cases

Federal District Courts try as many as ___ cases per year

300,000

Circuit Courts of Appeals

Do not hold trials or accept new evidence, only considers record of trial and arguments

Most federal cases end at

the Circuit Courts of Appeals

There are nearly ___ circuit court judges, usually serve on a 3 person panel

100

Grand Jury

Final decision on indictment for DOJ, usually for political cases

The U.S. Supreme Court

The final interpreter of all matters of U.S. Constitution, federal laws and treaties

The U.S. Supreme Court determines

which cases to consider

The U.S. Supreme Court is in session from…

October to June

The Supreme Court takes on ___ cases per year

200

Judicial Activism

The belief or interpretation that the strength of the U.S. Constitution lies in its flexibility, judges may take initiative to establish laws

Judicial activism began…

under Chief Justice Earl Warren

Judicial activism is

usually in response to lack of action by congress, can be necessary but usually isn’t a good thing

Example of Judicial Activism

• 
  

End to segregation

Rules of Restraint

The court may not advise the president or congress on Constitutional questions or hypotheticals

Stare Decisis

The issue has already been decided in earlier case and the decision stands/has precedent

Judicial activists are willing to discard this

stare decisis

Original intent

takes the value of the Founders as expressed in the text and applies them to current conditions

Judges decide based on _____ not wisdom

constitutionality of law

Courts are becoming

increasingly congested

Plea Bargaining

special arrangements for criminal defendants to plead guilty in echange for reduced charges

What percentage of criminal cases are plea bargained

90%

Judicial reforms must

come from within

Only _ judges have been impeached

5

Sandra Day O’Conner

1st woman appointed to the Supreme Court

Elitist branch of government

the judicial branch