I. Composition
II. Jurisdiction
III. Process
IV. A few landmark cases
I. Composition
-9 justices : the Chief Justice (J. Roberts) + 8
associate justices (S. Sotomayor, S.G. Breyer, S.A.
Alito, E. Kagan, C. Thomas, A. Scalia, A.
Kennedy, R.B. Ginsburg)
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The Roberts Court, Oct. 2010
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FDR’s “Court-packing” scheme
Law clerks
Edwin Meese, Reagan’s Attorney General :
“institutionalizing the Reagan revolution so it
can’t be set aside no matter what happens in
future presidential elections.”
II. Jurisdiction
-original jurisdiction
-appellate jurisdiction
-writ of appeal
-writ of certiorari (“to make perfectly sure”)
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III. Process
-on average: 5,000 cases a year, rules on about 200
-“oral arguments”
-“counsels”
-majority opinion
-dissenting opinion
-concurring opinion
-“strict constructionists” VS “judicial activists”
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Alexis de Tocqueville: “Every political question
in the US is ultimately a judicial one.”
Solicitor General
IV. A few landmark cases
-Justice Powell 1979 “If the Congress chooses not
to confront the president, it is not our task to do
so.”
-Marbury v. Madison (1803)
-Fletcher v. Peck (1810), Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee
(1816)
-McCulloch v. Maryland (1819): implied powers
-Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
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-Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): “separate but equal”
-Korematsu v. United States (1944)
-Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
-Miranda v. Arizona (1966): “Miranda rights”
-Roe v. Wade (1973)
-Bush v. Gore (2000)
-Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission
(2010)
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-National Federation of Independent Business v.
Sebelius (2012): “Obamacare”