Judiciary/Civil Rights/Civil Liberties Flashcards
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96 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Four Freedoms of First Amendment | Press, religion, speech, assembly |
| Number of Formal Written Opinions from the Supreme Court | Around 90 |
| Judicial Review | Power to declare laws unconstitutional, example of a check |
| Marbury v. Madison | 1803, case formed the grounds for judicial review |
| McCulloch v. Maryland | 1819, creating a federal bank is a 'necessary and proper' exercise of the government's right to borrow money |
| Judicial Restraint | Philosophy that the courts defer to elected lawmakers in setting policy and should instead focus on interpreting law rather than making law, don't strike any new law that comes up |
| Activist Approach | The view that judges should discern the general principles underlying laws or the Constitution and apply them to modern circumstances |
| Strict-Constructionist Approach | The view that judges should decide cases strictly on the basis of the language of the laws and the Constitution |
| Writ of Mandamus | "We command" |
| Original Jurisdiction | Authority of a court to be the first to hear certain cases (trial courts) |
| Supreme Court/Judicial Review | When a case involving actions of Congress, the president, the courts, or the states comes before the Supreme Court, the Court has the authority to review those actions to determine whether they are constitutional. It they are not constitutional, the Court has the authority to declare those actions null and void, or not longer part of the U.S. law. |
| State Laws | States have sometimes stood in the way of people's civil rights. The Supreme Court may review cases involving state laws to determine whether the laws are constitutional |
| Legislative Court | Federal courts that have been created by Congress (using their implied powers) for special purposes Example: Court of Military Appeals, the Court of Veterans Appeals, etc. |
| District Courts | The lowest federal courts, federal trials can be held only here |
| Courts of Appeals | Federal courts that hold appeals from district court, no trials |
| Diversity Cases | Cases involving citizens of different states who can bring suit in federal courts |
| Federal Question Cases | Cases concerning the Constitution, federal laws, or treaties |
| Litmus Test | An examination of the political ideology of a nominated judge, when a president nominates a justice of the same political ideology |
| Writ of Certiorari | An order by a higher court directing a lower court to send up a case for review |
| Senatorial Courtesy | A custom whereby presidential appointments are confirmed only if there is no objection to them by the senators from the appointee's state, esp. from the senior senator of the president's party from that state |
| In forma pauperis | A method whereby a poor person can have his or her case heard in federal court without charge |
| Standing | A legal rule stating who is authorize to start a lawsuit |
| Sovereign Immunity | The rule that a citizen cannot sue the government without the governments consent |
| Class Actions Suits (Example) | A case brought by someone to help him or her and all others who are similarly situated Example: Brown v. Board of Education, the decision was not limited to Linda Brown's case alone |
| Breakdown of Supreme Court Ideology | Conservative → Samuel Alito, John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas. Liberal → Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Paul Stevens, and Sonia Sotomayor. Swing → Anthony Kennedy (often conservative, but sometimes liberal) |
| Brief | A written statement by an attorney that summarizes a case and the laws and rulings that support it, a document that sets for the facts of the case, summarizes the lower court's decision and gives arguments for the side |
| Political Question | An issue that the Supreme Court will allow the executive and legislative branches to decide |
| Remedy | A judicial order enforcing a right or redressing a wrong, a situation that a judge believes to be wrong. (Ordinary: when a person sues another, the remedy is for the loser to pay the winner) |
| Stare Decisis | "Let the decision stand" or allowing prior rulings to control the current case |
| Judicial Activism Controversy | Support → the federal courts must correct injustices when other branches or states refuse to do so, courts are a last resort, especially for poor and powerless Criticism → judges usually have no special expertise in many state matters, expert in defining rights/duties not managements/design, balancing the needs of various groups and raising the money to do so is a long process that they do not help with, they simply implement the new laws and expect others to comply with them, there is not popular control of who is in the court and who isn't |
| Public Opinion's Effect on Judges | Judges read the papers and are aware of the public opinion (especially elite opinion). Court is sensitive to the opinions of the public as well as historical cases. Opinions put a restraint on the court as well as energize them to make a particular decision. |
| Function of the Supreme Court | The Supreme Court reviews cases involving acts of Congress, the president, the courts, and the states to determine whether they are constitutional. It has the authority to declare unconstitutional acts null and void, or no longer part of U.S. law. It strives to uphold the Constitution and the rights of the states and people. |
| Members of Supreme Court | The Court's nine members are all appointed by the U.S. Presidents and approved by the U.S. Senate. They are appointed for life. The head of the Senate is the Chief justice, the other justices are associate justices. |
| How to Get Into the Supreme Court | The Supreme Court hears nearly all cases after accepting a writ of ceriorari, or a request for the Court to hear an appeal from a lower court. The court also has the authority to listen to cases to arise from disputes between the states or that involve foreign diplomats. This is called original jurisdiction. |
| Origins of the Supreme Court | The federal court system was created during the George Washington administration to guarantee that the laws of the Constitution would be upheld and that the rights of the citizens and states would be protected. The Supreme Court is the highest court in the federal system. Beneath it was the U.S. District Courts and the U.S. Courts of Appeals. |
| Article 3 | Establishes the federal court system, only the Supreme Court |
| Constitutional Courts | the Supreme Court, courts of appeals, the district courts and the Court of International Trade |
| Special/Legislative Courts | Created by congress to hear only a limited range of specialized cases |
| Concurrent Jurisdiction | Both federal and state trial for a case |
| Exclusive Jurisdiction | Federal courts only have control over teh case, no state courts |
| Appellate Jurisdiction | When a case is appealed from a lower court |
| Number of District Courts | 94 |
| Number of Federal Courts | 13 |
| Number of Steps of the Supreme Court | 6 |
| Docket | Step 1, when a case is here it means that the Supreme Court is going to hear it |
| Rule of 4 | 4/9 justices need to agree to hear a case in order to do so |
| Briefs | Step 2, lawyers from both sides of the case send in a summary of the information about their side of the case |
| Amicus Curae Briefs | "friends of the court", you don't have to go to court, just write in a testimony |
| Oral Arguments | Step 3, the actual debate, justices can interrupt at any time (find weaknesses in arguments) |
| Judges' Conference | Step 4, nine judges meet to discuss the case and decide |
| Opinion Writing | Step 5, judges write their opinions of the case, there are four types of opinion writings |
| Majority Opinion | what the general consensus is of the case, when it's issued it sets precedent, holds the most weight |
| Dissent/Minority Opinion | the opposing decision of the case |
| Plurality/Concurring Opinion | Agree with the majority but for a unique reasons |
| Per Curiam Opinion | Unsigned, when justices are writing opinions generally one or two write them, a majority opinion that is written but you don't know who wrote it, though this is the majority it does not have a name attached to it, so it holds less weight than the majority |
| Decision Made Public | Step 6, the case decision is made public |
| Legislative Checks on Judiciary | Confirm justices, impeach justices, can establish federal courts as needed, create amendments, can say when in session |
| Legislative Checks on Executive | Impeach presidents, override vetoes (2/3 vote), approves treaties, approves presidential appointments |
| Executive Checks on Judiciary | Appointing justices, enforcing law (Supreme Court can make a ruling, but the executive branch can choose to not follow through with it) |
| Executive Checks on Legislative | Veto power, ability to call special sessions of Congress, recommend legislation, appeal to people concerning legislation |
| Judiciary Checks on Legislative | Can declare laws unconstitutional |
| Judiciary Checks on Executive | Can declare executive orders unconstitutional, chief justice presides over impeachment trials |
| Plessy v. Ferguson | Declared "separate but equal" to be to be constitutional |
| Brown v. Board of Education | Declared "separate but equal" to be unconstitutional |
| Civil Rights Act of 1964 | Got rid of race/sex discrimination in the work place |
| Jim Crow Laws | A set of laws that discriminated against African American people, ensured segregation |
| NAACP | Nation Association for the Advancement of Colored People, ensured that people had rights regardless of their race |
| 24th Amendment | Rid the nation of poll taxes |
| Voting Rights Act of 1965 | Outlawed the requirements that would have not allowed blacks to vote (poll taxes and literacy tests) |
| Grandfather Clause | Limited the ability of African Americans to vote, if ancestors could not cote then they could not |
| Loving v. Virginia | Court ruled in favor of interracial marriages, stating that states could not decide marriage based on race |
| Equal Pay Act of 1963 | Equal pay for equal work, salary discrepancies between males and females |
| Rostker v. Goldberg | Men must register for draft, women were not required to do so |
| California Prop 187 | Initiative to establish state-run citizenship screening systems, prohibits illegal aliens from using health care, public education, and other social services 1997, district court ruled that the prop violated the Constitution and was overturned |
| California Prop 227 | 1998, ended bilingual education programs in California and replaced with structure English Immersion models Passed with 61% to 39% Resulted in the rise of Hispanic children's test scores |
| Fourth World | Populations do not fit into the "Third World" theory, worse than third world, not part of a particular nation in the area or a nation within a sovereign state; people that are living in a first world country but in third world conditions |
| Defacto Segregation | Segregation by the people - housing patterns and population movements |
| Dejure Segregation | Segregation by law - Jim Crow Laws |
| 14th Amendment | 1868, grants citizenship to anyone born in the United States |
| 15th Amendment | 1870, allowed anyone of any race/background of servitude to vote |
| Suspect Classification | When a group of people meet a certain criteria based on discrimination, can apply to race/national origin/religion/etc. |
| Affirmative Action | Any set of factors which takes race, gender, religion, etc into account to benefit those of an "underrepresented group" to make up for discrimination |
| Equal Protection Clause | Part of the 14th Amendment, "no state shall deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection clause" |
| Strict Scrutiny Test | Form of judicial review, to be charged a lawmaker must have passed the law "further compelling governmental interest" |
| EEOC | Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, created as part of the Civil Rights Act, enforces equal pay |
| 13th Amendment | Ended slavery |
| Due Process Clause | Right to trial, to refrain from testifying, to double jeopardy, just compensation if government takes property; protects all citizens |
| Establishment Clause | Government can't do anything to support one religion over the other, can't do anything to support religion over non-religion |
| Free Exercise Clause | Prevents the government from putting any restraint on what religion can or cannot do, separation of church and state, cannot place laws favoring one religion over another |
| The Lemon Test | Three basic questions are asked about court religion cases, thrown out if the answer is "yes" Does the law have a secular legislative purpose? → Connects to a religion Does the law advance or restrict a religion? → Funds to a church Is an excessive entanglement created? → Government monitoring |
| Engel v. Vitale | Non denominational prayer provided by the state in public areas was acceptable was found unconstitutional, forced prayer was unacceptable, excessive entanglement of government and state |
| Tilton v. Richardson | Federal funding to colleges (even colleges with religious backgrounds were getting funds), the college could not use buildings constructed with federal funds |
| California Prop 209 | Amended the state constitution to prohibit state government institutions from considering race, sex, or ethnicity, specifically in the areas of public employment, public contracting or public education |
| California v. Bakke | Ruled unconstitutional the admission process of the Medical School at the University of California at Davis, which set aside 16 of the 100 seats for non-white students |
| Near v. Minnesota | Decision that recognized the freedom of the press by roundly rejecting prior restraints on publication |
| Incorporation Doctrine | Makes the first ten amendments to the Constitution—known as the Bill of Rights—binding on the states |
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