Judiciary and Civil
Rights
By Abdullahi Ali, Kathiana Amazan,
Carliana Teixeira & Elizabeth Janssen
2011 Free Response
The United States Supreme Court receives many appeals, but it hears
and rules on a small percentage of cases each year. Numerous
factors influence the actions of the Court, both in deciding to hear a
case and in the decisions it hands down.
A) Define judicial review.
B) Explain how judicial review empowers the Supreme Court within
the system of checks and balances.
C) Describe the process through which the Court grants a writ of
certiorari.
D) Explain how each of the following influences decisions made by
individual justices when deciding cases heard by the Court.
• Stare decisis
• Judicial activism
a.)Define Judicial Review
a.) To answer this, you need to know
the definition of judicial review.
Judicial review is defined as
authority the courts the power
to review constitutionality of
acts by the executive, state or
the legislature. This is an explicit
check on all the other branches
and even the states themselves.
To also answer this question
completely one must also
reference the landmark case
Marbury v. Madison which
established judicial review.
b.) Explain how judicial review
empowers the Supreme Court
within the system of checks and
balances.
b.) Judicial review empowers the
Supreme Court within the
system of checks and balances.
This lets the court ultimately
decide what acts and legislations
can be classified as
“constitutional”. In the system of
checks and balances, this gives
the courts an advantage over
the executive and legislative
branches because it opens up a
passage for the court to strike
down acts of the other two
branches.
c.) Describe the process through which the Court grants a writ of
certiorari.
c.) This question cannot be answered without knowing the definition of a
writ of certiorari. A writ of certiorari is an order by The Court directing
a lower court to send up the records of a case for review. This is
usually enacted for the Court to be able to interpret law or decide a
constitutional question. A key word of this question is rule of four,
which means that four of the nine justices must agree to hear the
case. So the process through which the Court grants a writ of
certiorari is first the case is appealed and travels through the
appellate courts until it reaches the Supreme Court. If the justices
disagree with the lower court decision, they can agree to hear the
case if four of the nine justices agree to hear the case, hence the rule
of four. Then the court obtains the information necessary to proceed
with the review of the case by using a writ of certiorari to order a
lower court to send up the records of the case up.
d.) Explain how each of the following influences decisions made by individual
justices when deciding cases heard by the Court.
• Stare decisis
• Judicial activism
d.) Stare decisis is the courts tendency to respect past precedent. Judicial
activism is a judicial philosophy that calls for the court to play an active
role in determining national policies and to apply the Constitution to social
and political questions of their present day. Justices can be influenced by
stare decisis if they feel an urge to not mess with previous rulings. Justices
can be influenced by judicial activism if they feel that the Constitution
needs to be applied to the problems of today, especially social problems
where constitutional rights have been violated. Brown v. Brown of
Education was a special case in which stare decisis was overturned and
was a case in which judicial activism was displayed by a court that is
synonymous with judicial activism.
2005 Free Response
The judicial branch is designed to be more independent of public
opinion than are the legislature or the executive. Yet, the
United States Supreme Court rarely deviates too far for too
long from prevalent public opinion.
A) Describe two ways in which the United States Supreme Court
is insulated from public opinion.
B) Explain how two factors work to keep the United States
Supreme Court from deviating too far from public opinion.
A) Describe two ways in which
the United States Supreme
Court is insulated from public
opinion.
a.) Two ways in which SCOTUS is
insulated from public opinion is
the life term that allows the
justices not fear public outcry
over their decisions and allows
them to review each of their
cases as objectively as they can
(partisanship clouds this
objectivity however) and the
justices are appointed and not
elected as a congressman or
president would be elected.
B) Explain how two factors work to keep
the United States Supreme Court
from deviating too far from public
opinion.
b.) If the court operates too far from public
opinion, there are several mechanisms in
place that help reduce the power of the
court. The court has to interpret the law
and not enforce it, so if the court went
rogue and made some very dangerous
and unpopular rulings, the executive can
simply not enforce it. Another factor that
helps keep the court in public opinion is
the appointment and confirmation
process that makes sure the court is not
too crazy with power. The Senate has to
approve the justice, so they get to ask
many questions that show the justices
views. One example to add could be
Robert Bork and his failed confirmation
hearings after he revealed that he does
not support abortion. This lead to an
epic failure on his part and Bork not
even being confirmed.
AP Questions
In 1987 the cooperation among the NAACP, the National Organization for
Women (NOW), and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to defeat
Robert Bork’s nomination to the United States Supreme Court was an
example of:
(A) Impeachment
(B) Litigation
(C) Coalition building
(D) The recall process
(E) The initiative process
Correct Answer: C; impeachment: accuses someone of misconduct in a
political office; litigation: a legal proceeding in a court. Also pay attention
to the fact that the listed groups are all interest groups that worked
together to achieve something political and connect that to coalition in
choice C which usually represents combined groups working towards a
similar action.
AP Questions
Which of the following statements about the writs of certiorari is accurate? :
(A) Cases appealed by the solicitor general are automatically granted
certiorari
(B) The Supreme Court grants certiorari for less than 5% of the cases
appealed to
(C) The Supreme Court has historically granted certiorari to all separation of
power cases
(D) The Supreme Court does not grant certiorari to cases involving state laws
(E) Federal district courts sometimes issue writs of certiorari to state
appellate courts
Correct Answer: B; writ of certiorari deals with superior courts ordering inferior
courts to send records of certain court cases. The 9 Supreme Court judges use the
rule of 4 to grant the writ of certiorari and choose which cases they will take on as
a constitutional issue and are very picky in choosing which cases to review. At least
4 of the justices must agree on a case before it will be reviewed by SCOTUS.
AP Questions
Griswold v. Connecticut and Roe v. Wade are similar Supreme Court cases in
that both cases are based on the:
(A) Rights of gay men and lesbian women
(B) Right of privacy
(C) Right to an abortion
(D) Right to freedom from cruel and unusual punishment
(E) Right of women to equal protection before the law
Correct Answer: B; Roe v. Wade was the landmark decision that first addressed
abortion and privacy in the United States. It was based off of the right of
privacy under the due process clause of the 14th amendment stating that
allowed women the right to have an abortion. Although the case revolved
around women’s abilities to have an abortion (creating misconceptions) the
main objective was to highlight abortion as privacy of women, because it was
a decision that dealt with their body, something that was personal and private.
AP Questions
Decisions reached by the Supreme Court under the leadership of Chief Justice Earl
Warren (1953-1969) did all of the following EXCEPT:
(A) Rule against mal-apportionment in state legislatures
(B) Void state statutes that permitted school segregation
(C) Invalidate state abortion statutes
(D) Expand the rights of criminal defendants
(E) Increase protection for First Amendment freedoms
Correct Answer: C; Chief Justice Earl Warren made significant decisions throughout
his session as judge on the Supreme Court. The major court case decisions made
under Earl Warren were:
Brown v. Board (1954) addressing school segregation; Gideon v. Wainwright
(1963) addressing rights of criminal defendants; Reynolds v. Wainwright (1964)
addressing mal-apportionment; and Miranda vs. Arizona (1966) addressing first
amendment freedoms – none of which deal with abortion issues. Abortion was
not addressed until the landmark case of Roe vs. Wade in 1973 and Warren’s final
landmark decision was made in the late 1960s.