Matching Test is

1. Marbury v Madison (1803)

2. McCulloch v Maryland (1819)

3. Schenck v U.S. (1919)

4. Gideon v Wainwright (1963)

5. Engel v Vitale (1962)

6. Wisconsin v Yoder (1972)

7. New York Times v U.S. (1971)

8. Baker v Carr (1962)

9. McDonald v Chicago (2010)

10. Shaw v Reno (1993)

11. Tinker v Des Moines (1969)

12. Brown v Board of Ed of Topeka (1954)

13. Citizens United v FEC (2010)

14. U.S. v Lopez (1995)

15. Roe v Wade (1973)

16. Gitlow v New York (1925)

17. Lawrence v Tevae (2003)

• Article III created the Judicial Branch

• determines constitutionality

• Supreme Court is only mentioned in the Constitution once, which gives it more room to expand

• federal cases only exist when there is a question of unconstitutionality

  • federal crimes

  • your rights have been violated

  • someone wasn't given proper guidance on an issue

• Judiciary Act of 1789

  • created a three court system

  • established a basic system of courts

  • reinforced notion of federalism by creating a dual system

• Congress can add to lower federal courts

  1. Supreme Court

  2. Appellate Court

  3. District Courts

Supreme Court:

• 9 Justices

• Court of last resort

• Highest court in the land

• Hears cases from Sate Supreme Court, Court of Appeals

• Original Jurisdiction Cases

  • 2+ states, U.S. & State; US/Foreign ambassadors & diplomats

• Judicial review: ruling set precedent for entire nation

appellate: to appeal; concerned with or dealing with applications for decisions to be reversed

Federal Courts:

• Constitutional courts

  • 13 US Appellate Court

    • No original jurisdiction, strictly appellate

  • 94 Federal District Courts (min. 1/state) - hear 80% of federal cases

    • Lowest level in Federal Court system

    • Only original jurisdiction; no appellate

• Special/Legislative Courts: deals with cases from expressed powers

  • Judges serve fixed terms

    • U.S. Tax Court, U.S. Court of Appeal for armed forces

• Jurisdiction

  • Depends on issue/nature of case

  • different kinds:

    • original

    • appellate

    • exclusive

    • concurrent

    • discretionary jurisdiction:

      • Judiciary Act of 1925

      • Supreme Court gets to choose its own docket

      • Reserved for Supreme Court

    • types of law:

      • common

      • civil

      • criminal

Appointment Process

• presidential appoints judges - confirmed by Senate

• president's appointment:

  • U.S. attorneys. federal marshals, district judges, circuit court judges, and supreme court justices

• Senatorial courtesy

  • present consult's with a state's senator prior to nominating candidate for a court position in that state

  • custom for fellow senators to follow colleagues

November 1, 2022

Formal/informal requirements

• ideology/partisanship-- very political process

• judicial experience

  • additional trends:

    • litmus test on policy issues

    • race, religion, white, male, region, age, role (activist/restrained)

• Vetting Process:

  • FBI/ABA analysis

  • litmus test

  • confirmation hearings (senate judiciary committee)

  • senate floor -- filibuster

• Interest group Influence in the process

  • Contribute money to campaigns, lobby White House and Senators, op-ed pieces, protest, appear on TV

• Federal appointment process:

  • Pre-nomination -- evaluation of possible nominees to Supreme Court

  • nomination: the president nominates a candidate

  • Confirmation: senate judiciary committee conducts evaluation of nominee including investigation

    • the senate judiciary committee conducts confirmation hearings and conducts voting and submits evaluation report to the senate

    • senate conducts voting to confirm the nominee

• State appointment process:

  • popular vote -- most common

  • governor selects

  • state legislature selects -- least common

• Are life terms good or not?

  • designed to be free from public opinion

    • life term, appointed, choose own docket, limited access to court proceedings, and salaries can't be reduced

  • court rarely deviates too far from public opinion

    • appointment/confirmation, judicial implementation, impeachment, judicial legitimacy, overruled with laws or Amendments

    • congress can change jurisdiction or number of justices

• Supreme Court - Certiorari Process

  1. petition

  2. conference/discussion list

  3. writ of ceriorari (discretionary jurisdiction)

  4. rule of 4

     1. if four justices want to hear a case, it's called up to SCOTUS

        1. they will issue a document called writ of cert to the lower court to transfer the case to the supreme court

     2. solicitor general influence

  5. briefs

     1. detailed arguments arguing each side of case

     2. cite facts, legal principles, precedents

        1. amicus curiae (friend of the court) - briefs submitted by interested parties (ie interest groups trying to influence the court's decision

     3. oral argument

• Opinion: est. precedent for entire nation/lower courts

  • majority opinion "law of the land"

  • concurring opinion

    • agreeing with the majority for a different reason than the majority

  • dissenting opinion

    • 4:1 (one disagreeing)

  • per curiam aka group statement

    • an opinion from an appellate/supreme court that does not identify any specific judge who may have written the opinion

  • most cases decided on prior precedent

    • stare decisis: let the decision stand

      • vast majority of cases decided on previous precedent

• Court docket:

  • cases are more likely to be heard if:

    • court decision conflicts with precedent

    • court of appeals decision that conflicts with another court of appeals decision

    • inconsistency between the courts of different states

    • split decision in court of appeals

  • more likely to void state and local laws than federal laws

• political questions: doctrine developed and used as means to avoid deciding some cases

  • been construed narrowly; doesn't stop from hearing cases like abortion, campaign finance

  • supreme court has held that federal courts should not hear cases which deal directly with issues that constitution makes the sole responsibility of the other branches of government

    • court has held that the conduct of foreign relation is the sole responsibility of the executive branch, and cases challenging the way the executive is using that power present political questions

impact of decisions: judicial activism versus restraint

• judicial activism v restraint:

  • refers to the process or method a judge uses to reach a particular decision, not to the political ramifications of the decision

• activist (judicial activism)

  • strike down/alter acts and overturn previous rulings

  • influence policy

  • correct injustices; loose interpretation of the Constitution

  • defense: merely fulfilling courts job in system of checks and balances

  • more likely to support affirmation action; reproductive rights; equal protection

• restrained (judicial restraint)

  • uses precedent and framers intent to decide cases

  • isn't the court's job to make policy, defer to two other branches

November 4th, 2022

Thurgood Marshall (1967)

• First African American on SCOTUS

Sandra Day O’Conner (1981)

• First female on SCOTUS

Sonia Sotomaor (2009)

• First Latina on SCOTUS

Dr. Ketanji-Brown Jackson (2022)

• First Black female on the court

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

• First female Jewish person on the court

• Roger Taney

  • Dred Scott v Sandford (1852)

    • Supreme Court held that former slaves did not have standing in federal courts because they lacked U.S. citizenship, even after they were freed

president can reduce a sentence, pardon, or amnesty