Chapter 14 Reading Guide
Learning Objectives
1. Define the key terms at the end of he chapter
2. Describe the role of specific justices in decision Brown v. Board of Education
3. Explain the concept of judicial review and how it was established in the case
of Marbury v. Madison and other cases, including applications to state
governments
4. Sketch the basic organization of the federal court system and identify the
type of jurisdiction of each level of the courts
5. Explain the role of the federal district courts and federal appeals courts
6. Define and explain differences between criminal and civil law cases,
statutory interpretation and common law
7. Describe two ways in which judges exercise a policymaking role
8. Outline the routes by which cases come to the Supreme Court or the federal
courts
9. Describe the procedures used by the Supreme Court to decide cases
10. Explain ways in which justices, particularly the chief justice, influence court
decisions
11. Describe the process of appointment to the federal judiciary, including the
role of the American Bar Association
12. Evaluate the Supreme Court as an instrument of pluralist or majoritarian
democracy identifying specific examples of each
Chapter Outline
I.
II.
National Judicial Supremacy
a. Judicial review of other branches
i. Marbury v. Madison (1803)
1. Involved a controversial series of last-minute political
appointments and established judicial review
ii. Judicial review
1. The power to declare congressional acts invalid of they
violate the Constitution
iii. Judicial review of state government
iv. The exercise of judicial review
The organization of courts
a. Some court fundamentals
i. Criminal and civil cases
1. Criminal cases
a. Occurs because crime is a violation of public
order
2. Civil cases
a. Disputed claims to something of value
ii. Procedures and policymaking
1. Plea bargaining
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
a. Negotiating the severity and number of charges
to be brought against the defendant
b. The three-tier court structure
i. U.S. District Court
a. The bottom of the pyramid
ii. The U.S. Court of Appeals
a. The middle of the pyramid
iii. The U.S. Supreme Court
a. The top of the pyramid
c. Precedents and making decisions
i. Precedent
a. Following a ruling, the decision becomes a basis
for deciding similar cases in the future in the
same way
The Supreme Court
a. Original jurisdiction
b. Appellate jurisdiction
c. Federal question
d. The rule of four
e. The Solicitor General
i. Represents the national government before the Supreme
Court, serving as the hinge between an administration’s legal
approach and its policy objectives
f. Decision making
i. Judicial restraint
1. The people’s elected representatives, not judes, should
make the laws
ii. Judicial activism
1. Judges should not give deference to elected branches
g. Judgment and argument
h. The opinion
i. Strategies on the court
j. The Chief Justice
Judicial recruitment
a. The appointment of federal judges
b. The “advice and consent” of Senate
i. Senatorial courtesy
1. Forces presidents to share the nomination power with
members of the Senate
ii. The American Bar Association
iii. Recent presidents and the federal judiciary
iv. Appointments to the Supreme Court
The consequences of judicial decisions
a. Supreme Court rulings: implementation and impact
b. Public opinion and the Supreme Court
The Courts and Models of Democracy