EXAM 2 - Political Science Review PDF

**EXAM 2 -- Political Science** **The Supreme Court is part of a three-tiered federal court system.** **The lower courts** (The U.S. Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Courts) **= created by Congress in [The Judiciary Act of 1789.]** **[Original] = Trial courts.** **[Appellate] = Review cour...

**EXAM 2 -- Political Science** **The Supreme Court is part of a three-tiered federal court system.** **The lower courts** (The U.S. Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Courts) **= created by Congress in [The Judiciary Act of 1789.]** **[Original] = Trial courts.** **[Appellate] = Review courts.** **[Policy Preferences:]** **Most important criteria for the nomination of Supreme Court justices.** **Oral Arguments:** **This is the only public part of the process.** **Each side is given 30 minutes to summarize their case to the Supreme Court.** **The Decision: Who won and by what margin.** - **Unanimous**:  **All of the justices agree** with the legal reasoning - **Majority**: At **least 5 and as many as 8 agree** with the legal reasoning. - **Plurality**: At **least 2 and as many as 4 agree** with the reasoning and that this is the most popular opinion of the winning side. - **Concurring**: These are justices **who agree with the decision, but they would employ different legal reasoning for their decision.** - **Dissenting**: These are **the opinions of the losing side.** Because they are not writing the law these opinions can read more like commentaries at time. **Judicial Review: Authority of the Supreme Court to nullify acts of government by declaring them unconstitutional.** **The Supreme Court did not declare another federal law unconstitutional until the Dred Scott v Sandford case of 1857.**  **Most Civil Liberties** **are found in The Bill or Rights = first 10 Amendments to the Constitution.** **The Bill of Rights = added later to gain support for the Constitution. ** **Bill of Rights** **were intended to prevent abuses by the national government only.** This was the ruling of the Marshall Court in the **landmark 1833 case of Barron v Baltimore.**  **The 14^th^ Amendment and the Due Process Clause:** **[Incorporation Doctrine:]** Means that most rights in the Bill of Rights **now apply to state and local governments through the Due Process Clause. This change happened gradually from 1925 to 1972.** **[Seditious Speech:] This is speech that encourages rebellion against the government. ** **During normal times the speech would** **be protected, however during a war time emergency, they are a [Clear and Present Danger] that government and society have a right to suppress.** **[Gitlow v New York (1925) = T]he Supreme Court incorporated freedom of speech in this case. In other words, the Supreme Court said that New York must respect speech rights to the same degree as the national government.** **[Symbolic Speech:] This is nonverbal speech that we would call freedom of expression.** **[Tinker v Des Moines (1969) ]= The Supreme Court expanded the definition of speech to freedom of expression.** **[Texas v Johnson (1989)]** = **the Congress unsuccessfully** **attempted to add a Constitutional amendment protecting the flag from** **being burned.** **[Pornography and Obscenity] =** The Supreme Court has ruled that pornography **is protected by the first amendment, but obscenity is NOT. Obscenity is criminal** **behavior**. [**Roth v United States (1957)** ]= **first case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that obscenity** **is not protected by the first amendment.** **The Court ruled that "Community Standards" can define obscenity. The court ruled that communities could ban or censor materials unless they had "serious value" attached.** The court ruled that serious value could be in any one of four distinct areas. **Literary, Artistic, Political or Scientific.** **[Ferber v New York (1982)] = The Supreme Court ruled that child pornography is obscene and not protected by the First Amendment.** **The Supreme Court in [Ashcroft v Free Speech Coalition (2002)] ruled that virtual child pornography (A.I generated)** **is protected by the first amendment.** **[Freedom of the Press:]  The Supreme Court has given the adult press considerable protection from Censorship or what the court calls Prior Restraint.** **[New York Times v United States (1971)] = Most famous freedom of the press case in American history** and is usually called **"The Pentagon Papers" case.** **A highly divided 6-3 court (all 9 justices wrote separate opinions in this case)** **[Hazelwood v Kuhlmeier (1988)]** = **The Supreme Court ruled that the Children's Press has fewer rights than the adult press in this case. The Court gave the principal wide censorship powers over high school papers.** **[Libel:]**  **Published material that damages a person\'s reputation in an untruthful and malicious way. This material is not protected by the First Amendment** **[New York Times v Sullivan (1964)] = The case** **established a tough standard for libel involving public officials.** **The Court overturned the Libel judgment claiming that there was no malice in the case and that the NYT did not know there were factual errors in the advertisement.** **No Establishment Clause: While people often speak of a "Wall of Separation" between church and state, there is no mention of this in the Constitution.** **[Everson v Board of Education (1947)] = The Supreme Court "incorporated" the establishment clause in this case.** **[Lemon v Kurtzman (1971) ]=The Supreme Court proved the "Lemon Test"** 1. The law must have a **secular (=non-religious) purpose** 2. The law must **not advance or inhibit religion** 3. The law must **not entangle government "excessively" with religion.** **The Free Exercise Clause: The Court distinguishes here between "Belief and Practice". Individuals can believe whatever they want but are not always free to act on those beliefs.** **[Reynolds v United States (1878)] =** The Supreme Court **outlawed (= made illegal) polygamy** in this case. **[Cantwell v Connecticut (1940)] = The Supreme Court "incorporated" the Free Exercise clause in this case.** **[Due Process:] When the government prosecutes an individual, it must give him/her a** **set of procedures (process)** **that** **is fair and civil (due)**. **4^th^ Amendment: Protection from unreasonable searches and seizures. ** **The exclusionary rule means that prosecutors cannot introduce evidence that** **is illegally obtained.**  1. **[Florida v J.L. (2000):]** The Supreme Court by a 9-0 margin rules that the **police in Miami cannot stop and frisk (= fouiller) a suspect based only on an anonymous tip.** This case **demonstrates that there are limits to police powers.** **The Court ruled that if they allowed this search, it would expose American society to widespread (= generalized) and persistent police badgering.** **5^th^ Amendment:  Protection from self-incrimination and double jeopardy** **[Escobedo v Illinois (1964):]** = **The Warren Court overturned the conviction declaring that the confession had** **been coerced (= pressure) when they denied Escobedo his 5^th^ and 6^th^ amendment rights.** **[Miranda v Arizona (1966)]:** This case established the so-called **Miranda Rule: "You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law....."** **6^th^ Amendment:  Right to Counsel** Before 1963, some states provided for public defenders for the poor and others did not. **The Supreme Court in the landmark 1963 case of [Gideon v Wainwright] established the right to counsel for the indigent or poor.** **8^th^ Amendment:  Protection from "Cruel and Unusual Punishment** **[Most executions occur in the south]** from 1977-April 15, 2016, **Texas has had 537 executions**. **The death penalty is a case study of American federalism. Currently, ¾ of the states have the death penalty. 24 states have the death penalty and 23 do not with a Governor imposed moratorium (= temporary prohibition) (2021) in 3 states including California, and Oregon.** **[Virginia v Atkins (2002)] = cannot execute "mentally retarded" defendants.** **[Roper v Simmons (2005)] = The court ruled that states could only execute murderers who were at least 18 years of age when they committed the crime.** **[Negative Freedoms] = individual liberties or "Freedom From"** governmental power or regulation. These are often called Civil Liberties. **[Positive Freedoms] = group rights or "Freedom to"** (vote, equal access to public accommodations etc). **[After the Civil War, three Constitutional Amendments]** **[were passed dealing with slavery and former slaves:]** **[13^th^ Amendment:] This amendment prohibited slavery** **[14^th^ Amendment:] This amendment had a civil liberties provision that** **was discussed earlier (the Due Process Clause) and a Civil Rights provision. The amendment granted former slaves\' citizenship which overturned the Dred Scott case.** **[15^th^ Amendment:] This granted black men the right to vote.** **DeJure:** This is segregation that is **legally mandated or required by law.** For example, in 1954, **17 states required their schools to** **be segregated by law.** **DeFacto:** This is **segregation that results from non-legal factors such as economic inequalities, racial attitudes, or the settlement patterns of people.** **The purpose of Jim Crow laws was to** **establish wholesale segregation of the South.** [ ] **Although there were thousands of Jim Crow laws they rested on a foundation of two Supreme Court cases.** **[Civil Rights Cases (1883)]** **The Supreme Court ruled that "private discrimination is legal"**. **NAACP** (= **N**ational **A**ssociation for the **A**dvancement of **C**olored **P**eople) **in 1909**.  **Thurgood Marshall became defense counsel for the NAACP in 1940.** **Marshall took a three-step strategy to overturn the "Separate but Equal" doctrine.** 1. **[Stage One:]** **Go after states that do not even provide separate facilities.** 2. **[Stage Two:]** **Go after states that provided separate facilities, but the black facilities were vastly inferior.** The best example would be the 1950 case of **[Sweatt v Painter]**. **The Supreme Court ruled that the separate black law school was not "substantially equal" to the white law school.** 3. **[Stage Three:]** Most importantly the case of **[Brown v Board of Education (May 1954)]** **reversed the "Separate but Equal" doctrine from Plessy**. A 9 to 0 **Supreme Court ruled that public schools must** **be desegregated "with all deliberate speed." [As a result, until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed the courts were powerless to overturn that precedent.]** **[Montgomery Bus Boycott:]** = I**n 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to give her seat on a bus to an unidentified white man.** Martin Luther King Jr. organized a 381-day boycott of the bus lines as a result. **The Supreme Court ruled that the Montgomery Bus policy was unconstitutional.** **[The Washington March for Jobs and Freedom (August 1963):]** **Martin Luther King gives his greatest address his famous "I have a Dream" speech from the Lincoln Memorial. In 1964 Dr. King wins the Nobel Peace prize.** **[Civil Rights Act of 1964: ] This was the first Civil Rights act of the 20^th^ century and dealt primarily with public accommodations and jobs.** **[The Voting Rights Act of 1965:] Result of this is that the number of black voters increased dramatically.** **[The Civil Rights Act of 196:]** **banned housing discrimination of all types.** **Women face discrimination from both men as well as other women:** **Female sexism:** In a recent national survey **[women strongly] [preferred a male supervisor].** **Traditional male sexism: Thomas Jefferson said (paraphrase) = [if you mix politics and women you are left with confusion.]** **[Bradwell v Illinois in 1873] = [The Supreme Court support an Illinois law prohibiting women from becoming an attorney.]** **Many early feminists gained valuable political experience [fighting slavery.]** **They believed that when black men** **were granted the right to vote that they would also receive the right to vote.** **19^th^ amendment = women's right to vote!** **[Married Women\'s Property Act of 1848] = giving women control even after marriage over property they received through gifts and inheritance.** **National Organization for Women (NOW)** **[Title IX:] This has been the major federal law banning discrimination based on gender.** **The 1970s saw a lot of victories for women in the Supreme Court:** - **The most famous of these victories was the landmark [Roe v Wade case in 1973] [guaranteeing the right to an abortion !!!!!!!]** - Other cases from the decade include the landmark case of **[Reed v Reed in 1971] which was the first time that the Supreme Court struck down a law discriminating against women.**