POLS Chapter 14

Appellate jurisdiction - The authority of a given court to review cases that have already been tried in lower courts and are appealed to it by the losing party; such a court is called an appeals court or appellate court.

Concurring opinion - A separate opinion written by a Supreme Court justice who votes with the majority in the decision on a case but who disagrees with the reasoning.

Decision - A vote of the Supreme Court in a particular case that indicates which party the justices side with and by how large a margin.

Dissenting opinion - The opinion of a justice in a Supreme Court case that explains their reasons for disagreeing with the majority’s decision.

Facts - The relevant circumstances of a legal dispute or offense as determined by a trial court. The facts of a case are crucial because they help determine which law or laws are applicable in the case.

Judicial activism - The doctrine that the courts should develop new legal principles when judges see a compelling need, even if this action places them in conflict with precedent or the policy decisions of elected officials.

Judicial restraint - The doctrine that the judiciary should broadly defer to precedent and the judgment of legislatures. The doctrine claims that the job of judges is to work within the confines of laws set down by tradition and lawmaking majorities.

Judicial review - The power of courts to decide whether a governmental institution has acted within its constitutional powers and, if not, to declare its action null and void.

Jurisdiction - A given court’s authority to hear cases of a particular kind. Jurisdiction may be original or appellate.

Living constitution theory - Holds that constitutional provisions should be applied in the context of the needs of today’s society as opposed to the needs of society when the provision was written.

Majority opinion - A court opinion that results when a majority of the justices is in agreement on the legal basis of the decision.

Opinion - A court’s written explanation of its decision, which serves to inform others of the legal basis for the decision. Supreme Court opinions are expected to guide the decisions of lower courts.

Original jurisdiction - The authority of a given court to be the first court to hear a case.

Originalism theory - Holds that the meaning of the constitutional provisions is fixed in the time of their writing and that constitutional rulings should be consistent with that meaning.

Plurality opinion - A court opinion that results when a majority of justices agrees on a decision in a case but does not agree on the legal basis for the decision. In this instance, the legal position held by most of the justices on the winning side is called a plurality opinion.

Per curiam opinion - This is an unsigned decision written for the U.S. Supreme Court as a whole.

Precedent - A judicial decision that serves as a rule for settling subsequent cases of a similar nature.

Rule of four - For a case to be accepted by the U.S. Supreme Court, at least four of the justices must agree to hear it.

Writ of certiorari - Permission granted by a higher court to allow a losing party in a legal case to bring the case before it for a ruling; when such a writ is requested of the U.S. Supreme Court, four of the Court’s nine justices must agree to accept the case before it is granted certiorari.