Class Questions on the Federal Judiciary:
The structure of the federal judicial system: District, Appellate courts, and the Supreme
Court
1- How many justices sit on the Supreme Court? How are they selected? What is
their term of office? How can they be removed? Why is their independence so
important?
Interpretation of the Constitution:
1- What is the role of the Federal Judiciary?
2- Interpretation: How should judges interpret the law?
The Court and Judicial Review:
1- What is judicial review? How did it come about?
2- Discuss the role of judicial review in a democracy. Why is it important that judges
not be bound to majority public opinion?
3- Discuss the need for judicial review and the potential dangers of its abuse.
4- Which is the best way to correct situations where the majority is in the wrong?
Through Legislatures or through the Courts? Why or why not?
The proper role of Judges:
Judicial restraint and judicial activism.
Why is “legislating from the bench” controversial?
3- Judicial selection: Shaping the ideological composition of the Court:
a- On what basis does the president select justices for the Supreme Court?
b- What is the role of the Senate judiciary committee in the selection of justices?
c- Should Justices be screened on the basis of their credentials alone?
Deciding to hear a case:
1- What is the Rule of Four?
2- Cases likely to be heard by the Court.
2- What are majority, concurrent, dissenting opinions?
Implementation:
1- Why is the Court known as “the least dangerous branch”?
2- When do Court decisions have their greatest impact?
3- What can the other two branches and the people do to overturn a Supreme Court
decision?
Texas Judiciary:
1- Court structure.
2- Selection of judges: How are judges selected in Texas?
3- Alternative means of selection: the Merit System.
4- Accountability v. Independence.
Thinking critically about the Court: In at least four critical areas- how its members are
chosen, how those members chose which cases to hear, how they make decisions, and the
effects of the decisions they make – The Supreme Court is regarded as an intensely
political institution. Had the Court been viewed as the potential policymakers it is today,
it is highly unlikely that the Framers would have provided for life tenure for all federal
judges. Join the debate: should U.S. Supreme Court justices be elected?