Name___________________________________
American Government
Judicial Branch
Internet Activity: The Supreme Court
Procedure:
Have you ever thought about becoming a lawyer? Or a judge? What decisions would you make if you were a
justice on the Supreme Court? To think about these questions intelligently, you will have to read up on the
Supreme Court, the issues it has faced, and its recent direction. In these activities, you will learn about the
Supreme Court by first reading some general information and then examining some cases that the Court has
heard in history and in the recent past.
I.
The Supreme Court
A.
B.
Go to the U.S. Courts home page http://www.law.du.edu/documents/denver-university-lawreview/v86_i1_oconnor.pdf
http://www.judicialaccountability.net/judicialaccountability1.htm
and read about judicial independence..
What is judicial independence and how is judicial independence guaranteed in our court
system? What does it mean to have independent courts?
B.
Read about the structure of the federal court system at
http://www.uscourts.gov/FederalCourts/UnderstandingtheFederalCourts/FederalCourtsStru
cture.aspx
Briefly describe the three tiers of the federal court system.
Tier 1: Trial Courts
Tier 2: Appellate Courts
Tier 3: United States Supreme Court
II.
Judicial Review
Go to: http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/judicialrev.htm to read about judicial
review and about Marbury v. Madison, the premier case establishing judicial review. You may
also wish to use your textbook for this part.
A.
What is judicial review?
Describe the case of Marbury v. Madison. What was it about?
How was judicial review implemented in this case? (What was declared unconstitutional?)
How does judicial review allow the judicial branch to participate in the system of checks and
balances?
III. Supreme Court Cases
A.
Go to the following websites to read about the well-known cases listed in the table on
the next page: http://www.streetlaw.org/en/landmark/home and
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cases/name.htm
Find the following well-known cases and fill in the blank spaces in the table to show the year in
which the case was decided, a short summary of the case and the decision of the Supreme Court.
(NOTE: Be sure to record the decision of the Supreme Court and not the federal court that
initially heard this case.)
Case
Regents of the
University of
California v.
Bakke
Heading on
Website
Affirmative
Action
Citizens United
v. Federal
Election
Commission
Campaign
Finance
Roper v.
Simmons
Death
Penalty
Korematsu v. United
States
Equal
Protection
Boy Scouts of
America v. Dale
Gay Rights
Year
Description of Case
Decision of Court
(Ruling, Vote, and Reason)
NOTE: Supreme Court decisions will either uphold an earlier court’s decision (that decision stands), vacate an earlier
court’s decision (that decision is eliminated) or vacate and remand an earlier court’s decision (that decision is eliminated
and the lower court may retry the case using instructions from the Supreme Court).
B.
Many of the cases in the above chart began in the state court system. Select one. How did the case
meet requirements to be tried in federal court? (See Chapter 18 for help.)
Choose one of the cases from the above chart about which you feel strongly. Do you agree or disagree
with the Court’s decision? Why?
The Supreme Court was once considered by many to be the weakest of the three branches of
government. Looking at the above chart, how might you argue differently today?