Transcript The Constitution and the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court and Constitutional Interpretation
Shan Sivalingam
UW Law School – Street Law
May 2007
The Constitution
• The first three Articles of the Constitution
lay out the three co-equal branches of the
United States government.
– Article I – the Congress
• Writes the laws
– Article II – the President
• Enforces the laws
– Article III – the Supreme Court
• Interprets the laws
The Judicial Branch
• Article III of the Constitution
– “The judicial power of the United States, shall
be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such
inferior courts as the Congress may from time
to time ordain and establish.”
Appeals to the Supreme Court
U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court has complete discretion over
whether to allow a party that loses at the Court of
Appeals to have an additional appeal
12 Regional U.S. Courts of Appeals
(1st – 11th and District of Columbia Circuits)
U.S.S.C. may
review a state
appellate court’s
interpretation of
federal law.
(Washington State is located in the Ninth Circuit)
Losing party (except the Government in criminal
prosecutions) automatically gets to appeal to the
Circuit Court of Appeals for the Circuit in which
the District Court is located.
94 Federal District Courts
(Seattle is located in the Western District of Washington)
State Appellate Court
State Trial Court
The Supreme Court
• Marbury v. Madison (1803 Supreme Court
opinion by Chief Justice John Marshall)
– “[It] is emphatically the province of the judicial
department to say what the law is.”
– As a result, Supreme Court gets the final say
on what the Constitution and federal laws
mean.
The Supreme Court
Front Row (L to R): Anthony Kennedy, John Paul Stevens, Chief Justice John Roberts, Antonin Scalia,
David Souter; Back Row: Stephen Breyer, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito
The Supreme Court
•
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9 justices hold office for life
Nominated by the President
Confirmed by the Senate
A majority (usually 5 justices) needed to
prevail
• The Court is bound by the Constitution and
its own past decisions (called “precedent”)
on Constitutional issues when it decides
new cases.
The Conservatives
Chief Justice John Roberts; Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito
The text of the Constitution and federal laws means exactly what it says. If
the text is clear, there is no need to look to legislative intent. The
Constitution creates a federal government of limited powers. So all powers
not expressly granted to the federal government can only be exercised by
the states.
The Liberals
Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer
Sometimes, you have to look beyond the text of the Constitution
or federal laws to legislative history, congressional committee
reports, and public policy to decide what the text means,
especially in the context of individual rights. Although the
Constitution gives the federal government a fixed set of
enumerated powers, the federal government has broad authority
to regulate matters which the conservatives believe are
reserved for the states to regulate.
The Swing Vote
Justice Anthony Kennedy
Approach every case pragmatically. Sometimes, the text will
be clear. Sometimes you will have to look beyond the text to
other sources. Decide on a case-by-case basis. The federal
government is a government of enumerated powers and the
states have all powers that the Constitution does not
specifically assign to the federal government.