Judiciary Student Notes PDF

THE JUDICIARY FED. PAPER 78 1. According to Hamilton, why is the judiciary the least dangerous of the three branches? Do you agree? Why? No power the sword or purse No influence or active resolution Just interpret Depends on the other branches to carry out ruling 2. What is Judicial Review? Review a...

THE JUDICIARY FED. PAPER 78 1. According to Hamilton, why is the judiciary the least dangerous of the three branches? Do you agree? Why? No power the sword or purse No influence or active resolution Just interpret Depends on the other branches to carry out ruling 2. What is Judicial Review? Review acts of other branches of government A check Laws/ executive orders/ court rulings 3. What are the arguments for life tenure of the federal justices? Complexity of issues Carregando… Political whims of the time Independent spirit precedent 4. What is the reasoning behind the appointment procedures? Why not elect the justices? Popularity contest- best qualified? Not influenced by political pressure ARTICLE III THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY Creates Supreme Court Creates office of Chief Justice Jurisdiction Tenure- good behavior/life Power to Congress Judiciary Act of 1789 Least Dangerous Branch? JUSTICE THE GUARDIAN OF LIBERTY Carregando… CIVIL AND CRIMINAL COURT Civil procedure Trial courts make determination as to fact and as to law Majority of suits settled via negotiation Bench trials and jury trials Criminal procedure Federal government may prosecute interstate crimes Indictment by grand jury Plea bargain FO FEDERAL COURTS F AMERICAN LAW Constitutions United States Constitution State Constitutions Statutes (law) Executive Orders Administrative Regulations Case Law- Precedent common law – judge made law precedent – a court ruling bearing on subsequent legal decisions in similar cases emanating from stare decisis- stable decision standing on decided cases 15-2 JUDICIAL REVIEW Marbury v. Madison (1803)-Cornerstone to constitutional law Established Supremacy & Judicial power judicial review: Power of the supreme court to invalidate laws or actions of government as unconstitutional “It is emphatically the province & duty of the judicial department to say what the law is” John Marshall NUMBER OF FEDERAL LAWS DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONAL Copyright © 2016 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 9 THE FEDERAL COURT SYSTEM Dual Court System Original vs. appellate jurisdiction Jurisdiction: Lawful authority of a court to hear a case. Federal Court- three-tiers District Courts Courts of Original jurisdiction Courts of Appeal Questions an error of law and procedure Supreme Court Original and appellate jurisdiction Figure 14.1 The Federal Court System Carregando… SOURCE: Administrative Offices of the U.S. Courts, “About the Federal Courts: Court Role and Structure,” Annual Report 2015. FIGURE 14.2: U.S. federal circuit courts © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. AllInc. rights reserved. © 2011, 2009, 2007 Pearson Education, All Rights Reserved 14.2 COURT JURISDICTION Original jurisdiction: ambassador, consulates, state vs. state Appellate jurisdiction The constitution Federal statutes (laws) and treaties Admiralty and maritime issues- shipping/commerce US Govt. or State is a party Disputes between a state and a citizen/s of another state T14-3 How Cases Get to the Supreme Court Source: Adapted from David O’Brien, Storm Center: The Supreme Court in American Politics, 7th ed. (New York: Norton, 2005); percentages of cases are for 2008–2009, calculated by the authors. © 2011, 2009, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved WHICH CASES ARE LIKELY TO BE HEARD BY THE SUPREME COURT? Rule of Four- write of certirorari **When two lower courts are in disagreement **When the solicitor general is pressuring the Court to hear a case When a lower court’s ruling conflicts with an existing federal or Supreme Court ruling When a case has broad significance Judicial review All other avenues of appeals exhausted Real and diverse Standing 15-5 THE JUSTICES JUSTICES OF THE SUPREME COURT John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice of the United States,-2005-Bush Clarence Thomas-1991-Bush Samuel Anthony Alito- 2006- Bush Sonia Sotomayor- 2009- Obama Elena Kagan- 2010- Obama Neil Gorsuch-2017- Trump Brett Kavanaugh- 2018- Trump Amy Coney Barrett- 2020- Trump Ketanji Brown Jackson- 2022- Biden APPOINTMENT/PROCEDURES Appointment Procedures Appointments outlast presidents Affect on public policy Qualifications vs. politically compatible Senate acceptance Judiciary committee Court Procedures Formal Rules Secrecy- least visible Opinion-Cite and set precedent with opinions Deciding on the merits and assigning opinions Majority opinion, Concurring opinion, Dissenting opinion Do you think Supreme Court justices vote according to their ideology when deciding cases, or strictly by the letter of the law? Should ideology figure in at all in presidential Supreme Court nominations and Senate confirmation votes? Or are ideological considerations inescapable in appointments to the Supreme Court? If so, how does this affect the practice of democracy in the United States IDEOLOGY OF THE SUPREME COURT JUSTICES, 2018 TERM Geer | Herrera | Schiller | Segal, Gateways to Democracy: An Introduction to American Government, 5th Edition. © 2022. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. INTERPRETATION OF THE CONSTITUTION judicial restraint relying on precedent conservative position original intent of the constitution faithful servants of the constitution judicial activism liberal position living document apply to contemporary social issues supporting individual rights and social needs Apply justice broadly 15-8 CHECKS ON THE JUDICIARY Executive Checks judicial implementation/ Non-implementation Appointment procedure Legislative Checks judicial implementation/Non-implementation Appropriation of funds to carry out rulings Constitutional amendments Amending laws to overturn court’s rulings Removal from office 15-10 IS THE SUPREME COURT DEMOCRATIC? Not elected Appointed for Life Final arbiters of the constitution An elite group Few effective checks Constitutional Amendments Overturning Supreme Court Decisions 24 Supreme Court Decision Amendment Chisolm v. Georgia (1793) allowed citizens to use other states in federal court. Eleventh Amendment (1795) establishes sovereign immunity for all states. Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) denied citizenship to African-Americans. Fourteenth Amendment (1868) makes all people born in the United States citizens of the United States. Minor v. Happersett (1874) denied voting rights to women. Nineteenth Amendment (1920) guarantees women the right to vote. Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan and Trust (1895) limited Congress’s authority to tax income. Sixteenth Amendment (1913) grants Congress the authority to tax income from whatever source derived. Oregon v. Mitchell (1970) prompted Congress to set the voting age at 18 for all elections. The case struck the law as applied to all state elections. Twenty-Sixth Amendment (1971) sets the voting age at 18 for all elections. Copyright © 2016 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 60 minutes http://www.cbsnews.com/news/justice-scalia-on-the-record/ Aspen Institute http://www.c-span.org/video/?186408-1/constitutionalconversation FIGURE 14.3: How cases get to the Supreme Court © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 14.2 Federal District Courts Courts of original jurisdiction Trial courts Grand juries Petit (trial) juries 379,000 cases 76% civil/24% criminal Appeals Mistake in trial procedure or in law Legal or constitutional issue at stake 14.2 U.S. Courts of Appeal 12 geographic circuit courts 55,000 cases filed Appellate courts No new factual evidence No witnesses Briefs Panels of three Oral arguments Opinions Precedents Stare decisis © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.