Stuff to think about:
The Judiciary - Definition and Historical Background
- What court can potential resolve any judicial conflict in the United States?
- What is a trial? What is an appeal? What is adjudication?
- What is the power of judicial review and why does it matter?
- Be familiar with the concept of common law and its origins.
- Be familiar with the concept of due process and its origins.
- What does due process attempt to accomplish? What is its purpose?
- How did British monarchs attempt to control the judicial process? Why might this be a problem?
- Be familiar with the issues associated with the Star Chamber.
- What impact did Magna Carta and the British Bill of Rights have on courts and court proceedings in Britain, and later the US?
- What grievances regarding the judiciary did the colonists detail in the Declaration of Independence?
- What is stare decisis and precedence? What do they tell us about court procedures?
- What makes the US Judiciary significantly different than the other branches on the national level?
- Why is an independent judiciary argued to be necessary? How is an independent judiciary established?
- What are public attitudes about the judiciary as opposed to the other branches?
- What checks does the judiciary have on the other branches? How is it checked by the other branches?
- What types of laws exist in the US and which take precedence over the others? Why?
The US Judiciary - Constitutional Design
- Be familiar with the content of each of the sections in Article 3.
- What special relationship does the judiciary have with the legislature? the executive?
- How do federal judges get their jobs? Why? What connection do they have with the electorate?
- How political is the federal judiciary?
- How long do federal judges and justices hold their offices? Why?
- What is standing? What does this concept tell us about the jurisdiction of the courts?
- What does Article 3 tell us about trial?
- What features of Article 3 are intended to make the judiciary independent from the other branches?
- Why is so much attention given to treason in Article 3?
- Why was it decided, by members of the constitutional convention, to establish a national judiciary?
- Why does the court have its current shape? Why are there nine people on the Supreme Court? Who makes those decisions and why?
- What is Law? What is Equity?
- Who sets the agenda of the courts?
Judicial Review and the Supreme Court
- What is judicial review. Which institution has it and why?
- Why did Hamilton argue that judicial review was necessary? Why were
the framers of the Constitution unwilling to give the power to any
institution in the original document?
- Be familiar with the issues associated with Marbury v Madison.
- Why is constitutional law held to be superior to statutory law?
- What arguments exist over how the Constitution ought to be interpreted? What different techniques exist?
- How might a loose interpretation of the Constitution lead to the
discovery of rights that one with the strict interpretation would not
recognize? How was the discovery of some rights justified?
- What limits ought to exist on the power of judicial review? What is judicial activism and judicial restraint?
- How does judicial review allow interest groups to use the courts to
challenge statutory law? Be able to answer questions about famous test
cases.
- What impact does judicial review have on the power of the courts?
- What did Hamilton say about the strength of the court?
- What is the current composition of the Supreme Court? What is the ideological breakdown of members of the court?
