Transcript Module 4
Terms Module IV Article III Chapter IV Terms – Article III Activist: Judges looking to the general principals of the Constitution. Advisory Opinions: Nonbinding court decisions which, by long-standing practice, U.S. courts will not issue. Amicus Curiae Briefs: “Friend of the court” briefs filed by groups or individuals who are not party to a suit but who want to call their legal views to the court’s attention. Terms – Article III Appellate Jurisdiction: Refers to cases heard “on appeal,” usually over issues of law rather than fact. Brown v. Board of Education (1954): Overturned the doctrine of “separate but equal” that had been established in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Chief Justice: The head of the U.S. Supreme Court. Regarded as primus inter pares, or first among equals, the chief is designated by the Constitution to preside over trials of impeachment of the president in the Senate Terms – Article III Circuit Courts of Appeal: Thirteen courts in the federal system that are midway between the District Courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. Such circuit courts deal mostly with cases on appeal. Class Action Suit: Brought on part of all similarly situated. Concurring Opinion: A judicial decision in which one or more justices agree with the decision but write separately to give their own explanations and/or express their reservations. Terms – Article III District Courts: The lowest rung of the U.S. federal court system, of which there are currently 94. Such courts are largely courts of original jurisdiction, hearing cases in the first instance. Dual Court System: One national and 50 state systems Grand Jury: A body of citizens convened to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to bring an individual to trial Terms – Article III Judicial Review: The power American courts exercise of reviewing executive and administrative actions, as well as state and federal laws, which come before them in the course of judicial decisionmaking, and deciding whether or not they are constitutional. Marbury v. Madison (1803): In turning away a request by an individual who had been appointed as a justice of the peace but had never received his commission, the Court ruled that a section of the Judiciary Act of 1789 that seemed to grant the Court original jurisdiction was unconstitutional and therefore void, therefore asserting the Court’s power of judicial review. Missouri Plan: Judges appointed by the governor and then approved by voters on their record. Terms – Article III Petit Jury: A trial jury, typically consisting of twelve members of the community, which decides on a defendant’s guilt or innocence and, in some cases, on an appropriate penalty. Sovereign Immunity: The doctrine, somewhat affirmed by the Eleventh Amendment, that prohibits governments, as sovereign entities, from being sued without their consent. Strict Constructionist: Judge following the exact words of the Constitution. Terms – Article III Supreme Court: The highest court in the federal system and the only court mentioned by name in the U.S. Constitution. Under current law, the Court has nine members, eight associate justices and a chief. Suspect Classes: Groups, like racial minorities and aliens, to whom the Court has extended extra judicial scrutiny because of past use of such classifications in a discriminatory fashion. Cases Lochner v. New York (1905): A case, often cited as the Marbury v. Madison (1803): In turning away a request epitome of the kind of laissez-faire jurisprudence typical of the Court before 1937, in which the Court struck down a New York law designed to regulate the working hours of bakers. by an individual who had been appointed as a justice of the peace but had never received his commission, the Court ruled that a section of the Judiciary Act of 1789 that seemed to grant the Court original jurisdiction was unconstitutional and therefore void, therefore asserting the Court’s power of judicial review. Cases United States v. Carolene Products Company (1939): The occasion for Justice Harlan Fiske Stone’s famous footnote number four where he suggested that certain subjects within the Constitution—most notably the first ten amendments, provisions providing for keeping the democratic processes open, and those involving the rights of minorities—would be subject to more exacting judicial scrutiny than others. Cases United States v. Lopez (1995): Overturned a federal West Coast Hotel v. Parrish (1937): In upholding a law prohibiting guns near school grounds on the basis that such power was not directly related to congressional powers under the commerce clause. Washington State minimum wage law, the Court overturned an earlier decision in Adkins v. Childrens’ Hospital (1923) and instituted the “switch in time that saved nine,” by deflecting criticism that had led to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s court-packing plan. From this case forward, the Court has generally given less attention to governmental regulations of economic matters than to other issues.