AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
 Red Flag Questions
Pages 233-241
CHAPTER 8: THE FEDERAL COURTS AND THE JUDICIAL BRANCH
SECTION 3: The Supreme Court
By the end of this section, you will be able to answer these questions:
1. What are some of the highlights of the Supreme Court history?
2. How are Supreme Court justices chosen?
3. What are the typical procedures of the Supreme Court?
HIGHLIGHTS OF SUPREME COURT HISTORY

How did people view the Supreme Court in the early years?
Early Visions

Which writings have become the touchstone for constitutional scholars, and who wrote
them?

What was Hamilton’s description of the newly created judicial branch?
The Marshall Court

What view did John Marshall take as chief justice of the Supreme Court?

How did Marbury v Madison expand the powers of the judicial branch?

McCulloch v. Maryland

Gibbons v. Ogden
Dred Scott

Briefly describe the Dred Scot v. Sanford case.

What was the Court’s decision regarding this case?

How did one scholar later sum up the Scott decision?
From Reconstruction to Plessy

What two issues preoccupied the Supreme Court following the Civil War?

What were the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments passed during this period?

How did the Court interpret these amendments?

Why was the striking down of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 a defeat for African
Americans?

Where were African Americans to look for protection? Did they receive it in the South?

Plessy v. Ferguson

What were the Slaughterhouse Cases? Were they pro or anti business?
The Court and the New Deal

How did the Court tend to view economic regulations?

Lochner v. New York

What was the name of Roosevelt’s programs to combat the Great Depression?

What was the “court packing” incident about?

How did Roosevelt reshape the Court through his many appointments?
From the 1950s to the Present

Who was Earl Warren?

What is the Warren Court remembered for?

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

Miranda v. Arizona

Tinker v. Ohio

What did critics of the Warren Court accuse it of?

What did the Court’s 5-4 decision in Bush v. Gore reveal?
CHOOSING SUPREME COURT JUSTICES

Why is choosing a Supreme Court justice one of the most significant jobs of the
President and the Senate?
Choosing a Nominee

What formal requirements are there for the job of Supreme Court justice?

What background do all justices have?

How is a “litmus test” used in connection with the possible nominees to the Supreme
Court?
Confirmation Hearings

Where does the confirmation hearing begin and what happens there?

What is the “paper trail” as it relates to nominees to the Supreme Court?

How responsive are nominees to the questions at the hearings?

What happens once the Senate Judiciary Committee votes on the nomination?
SUPREME COURT PROCEDURES
The Term Begins

When does the Supreme Court term begin and end?

What happens in the 1st block of the Court session? The 2nd block?
Selecting Cases

Over which kinds of cases does the Supreme Court have original jurisdiction?

What’s the most common way for a case to come to the Supreme Court?

writ of certiorari

What happens of the Court denies certiorari?

Under what circumstances may the Court grant certiorari to an appeal from a state
supreme court?

How many cases does the Court hear each term?

docket
Briefs and Oral Arguments

What is the first step in “hearing” a case?

What is a good brief?

What are amicus, or “friend of the court,” briefs?

What happens after the justices study the briefs?
Opinions

After reading the briefs and hearing the oral arguments, what happens?

What is a Supreme Court opinion?

majority opinion

What does the majority opinion represent?

concurring opinions

dissenting opinions
Court Orders

What is plenary review?

What court order might the Court use to dispose of some 50 to 60 cases?