US EXAM 2

Article III

The section of the Constitution that establishes the federal judiciary and defines its basic powers and jurisdiction.

Judicial Power

The authority of courts to hear and decide legal cases and controversies and interpret and apply the law.

Supreme Court

The highest federal court in the United States, established by Article III, with original and appellate jurisdiction.

Federal Judiciary

The federal court system consisting of the Supreme Court, courts of appeals, district courts, and other federal courts created by Congress.

Judicial Independence

The principle that judges should be able to make legal decisions without improper political pressure from the elected branches or public opinion.

Good Behaviour Clause

The constitutional provision giving federal judges tenure during "good Behaviour," effectively providing life tenure unless they resign, retire, or are removed through impeachment and conviction.

Life Tenure

The practice of federal judges serving for life unless they resign, retire, die, or are removed through impeachment and conviction.

Judicial Jurisdiction

The legal authority of a court to hear and decide particular types of cases.

Original Jurisdiction

The authority of a court to hear a case first rather than reviewing a lower court's decision.

Appellate Jurisdiction

The authority of a court to review a decision made by a lower court.

District Courts

Federal trial courts where federal cases are generally first heard and evidence is presented.

Courts of Appeals

Federal appellate courts that review decisions from federal district courts.

Supreme Court Certiorari

The process by which the Supreme Court agrees to review a case from a lower court.

Writ of Certiorari

An order issued by the Supreme Court agreeing to review a lower court's decision. A court order compelling a government official or agency to perform a duty they are legally required to carry out.

Rule of Four

The Supreme Court practice under which at least four justices must agree to hear a case for certiorari to be granted.

Judicial Appointment

The constitutional process in which the president nominates federal judges and the Senate provides advice and consent through confirmation.

Advice and Consent

The Senate's constitutional role in approving presidential nominations to federal judicial positions.

Judicial Confirmation

The Senate's approval of a presidential nominee to a federal judicial position.

Judicial Precedent

A previous judicial decision that can guide courts when deciding later cases involving similar legal issues.

Stare Decisis

The principle that courts should generally follow established judicial precedents to promote consistency and stability in the law.

Judicial Restraint

An approach in which judges generally exercise caution, defer to elected branches, and avoid unnecessarily broad constitutional decisions.

Judicial Activism

A term commonly used to describe a more assertive judicial role, particularly when courts invalidate government actions or significantly develop constitutional doctrine.

Judicial Interpretation

The process by which courts determine the meaning and application of constitutional provisions, statutes, and other laws.

Federal Judicial Review

The authority of federal courts to review government actions and determine whether they comply with the Constitution.

Judicial Supremacy

The idea that the judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court, has a controlling role in determining the constitutional meaning of laws and government actions.

Judicial Review

The power of courts to determine whether government actions are consistent with the Constitution and to refuse to enforce actions that violate it.

Constitutional Review

The process of examining a law or government action to determine whether it conforms to the Constitution.

Constitutional Supremacy

The principle that the Constitution is superior to ordinary laws and that government actions conflicting with it are invalid.

Supremacy Clause

Article VI provision establishing the Constitution, federal laws made pursuant to it, and treaties as the supreme law of the land.

Federalist No. 78

Alexander Hamilton's essay defending an independent judiciary and arguing that courts must treat the Constitution as superior to ordinary legislation.

Alexander Hamilton

Federalist who defended judicial independence and judicial review in Federalist No. 78.

Brutus

An Anti-Federalist writer who argued that the proposed federal judiciary could become too powerful and potentially dominate the other branches.

Anti-Federalists

Opponents of the Constitution's ratification who feared that the national government, including the federal judiciary, would become too powerful.

Federalists

Supporters of the Constitution who generally favored a stronger national government and defended the proposed federal system.

Marbury v. Madison

The 1803 Supreme Court case in which Chief Justice John Marshall established the principle of federal judicial review by declaring part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 unconstitutional.

John Marshall

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who wrote the opinion in Marbury v. Madison and played a major role in establishing judicial review.

William Marbury

A Federalist judicial appointee whose undelivered commission led to Marbury v. Madison.

James Madison

Thomas Jefferson's secretary of state who refused to deliver Marbury's judicial commission, becoming the defendant in Marbury v. Madison.

Writ of Mandamus

A court order directing a government official to perform a legal duty.

Judiciary Act of 1789

The federal law that organized the early federal judiciary and included the provision Marshall found unconstitutional in Marbury v. Madison.

Constitutional Conflict in Marbury

The conflict between Section 13 of the Judiciary Act of 1789 and Article III of the Constitution concerning the Supreme Court's original jurisdiction.

Marbury's Three Questions

Marshall's questions in Marbury concerning whether Marbury had a right, whether the law provided a remedy, and whether the Supreme Court could issue that remedy.

Marshall's Reasoning in Marbury

The argument that when an ordinary law conflicts with the Constitution, the Constitution must prevail because it is the supreme law.

Counter-Majoritarian Difficulty

The democratic problem created when unelected judges invalidate decisions made by elected representatives or majorities.

Political Question

An issue that courts may determine is inappropriate for judicial resolution because the Constitution assigns it to another branch or because it lacks manageable legal standards.

Judicial Legitimacy

The perceived constitutional and institutional justification for courts exercising authority, particularly when their decisions conflict with elected officials or popular preferences.

New Deal

Franklin Roosevelt's program of federal economic and social policies during the Great Depression that led to major constitutional conflicts over federal power and economic regulation.

Substantive Due Process

The constitutional doctrine that certain fundamental rights are protected from government interference even when the government follows proper procedures.

Constitutional Revolution of 1937

The major shift in Supreme Court constitutional doctrine in the late 1930s toward greater judicial deference to economic regulation and expanded federal power.

Equal Protection Clause

Part of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibiting states from denying people equal protection of the laws.

Judicial Role

The question of what courts should do when interpreting the Constitution, including how much they should defer to elected officials and how aggressively they should enforce constitutional limits.

Constitutional Interpretation

The process of determining what constitutional provisions mean and how they apply to particular circumstances.

Originalism

An approach to constitutional interpretation that generally focuses on the Constitution's original public meaning or understanding at the time of adoption.

Living Constitution

An approach that views constitutional meaning as capable of developing as society and circumstances change.

Textualism

An approach emphasizing the actual words of a legal text when determining its meaning.

Judicial Restraint vs. Judicial Activism

A debate over whether courts should generally defer to elected branches or exercise a more assertive role in constitutional interpretation and enforcement.

Powers the Constitution never names

Supremacy clause, Judical power and the founders debate

Expanding the Doctrine

1. fletcher v Peck

2. Martin v Hunter’s Lessee

3. Cohnes v Virginia

4. Cooper v aaron

Fletcher vs Peck

First time the courts struck down a state law as unconstitutional in 1810, reinforcing the principle of judicial review. 1810

Martin vs Hunter’s Lessee

Confirmed the Supreme Court’s authority to review state court decisions on federal questions and established the supremacy of federal law over state law. 1816

Cohens vs Virginia

Extended federal judicial review to state criminal proceedings involving federal law 1821

Cooper vs Aaron

Asserted that the Court’s consitutional interpretations bind all state officals, not just the parties 1958

Case -or- controversy limits

Federal courts only review live disputes brought by parties with standing - they do not issue advisory opinions on hypothetical laws.

Judicial Restraint & Deference

Courts often presume statutes constitutional, resolve doubts in favor of validity, and defer to legislative fact-finding where reasonable.

arguments for robust review

• protects minority and individual rights from majority overreach

• enforces constitutional limits the political branches have incentives to ignore

• provides a stable, principled check across changing political majorities

Arguments for Judical Restraint

• unelected judges lack direct democratic accountability

• broad review risks substituting judical policy preference for legislative ones

• Frequent invalidation of laws can undermine public confidence in self-government

US courts appeal — intermediate level

• Trade patent and federal claims appeals

• heard by 3-judge panel and major cases may go en banc

• must convince 2 out of 3

• 11 numbered circuits puls the D.C. circuit hear appeals

District Courts — basic level

• exercise only original jurisdiction

• hearing cases for the first time

• sinle judge and often a jury — some use bench tiral with judge alone

• 94 disrtict courts nationwide

Supreme Court — top dawg

• chief justice + 8 associate justices nominated by president and confirmed by the senate with lifetime tenure

• he Chief Justice presides over argumuments, leads conferences, assigns majority opinions, and administers the presidential oath.

Solicitor general

who argues a case before a court ( of a state and argues on behalf of the government; there is also one for the US)

Section 13

Gave the Supreme Court power to issue writs of mandamus — later struck down as unconstitutional in Marbury v. Madison (1803)

section 25

Gave the Supreme Court appellate jurisdiction over state-court rulings on federal law — the foundation for Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee (1824). Supremacy clause: US constitution