Terms
Module IV
Article III
Chapter IV
Terms – Article III
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Activist: Judges looking to the general
principals of the Constitution.
Advisory Opinions: Nonbinding court decisions
which, by long-standing practice, U.S. courts will
not issue.
Amicus Curiae Briefs: “Friend of the court”
briefs filed by groups or individuals who are not
party to a suit but who want to call their legal
views to the court’s attention.
Terms – Article III
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Appellate Jurisdiction: Refers to cases heard
“on appeal,” usually over issues of law rather
than fact.
Brown v. Board of Education (1954):
Overturned the doctrine of “separate but equal”
that had been established in Plessy v. Ferguson
(1896)
Chief Justice: The head of the U.S. Supreme
Court. Regarded as primus inter pares, or first
among equals, the chief is designated by the
Constitution to preside over trials of
impeachment of the president in the Senate
Terms – Article III
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Circuit Courts of Appeal: Thirteen courts in
the federal system that are midway between the
District Courts and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Such circuit courts deal mostly with cases on
appeal.
Class Action Suit: Brought on part of all
similarly situated.
Concurring Opinion: A judicial decision in
which one or more justices agree with the
decision but write separately to give their own
explanations and/or express their reservations.
Terms – Article III
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District Courts: The lowest rung of the U.S.
federal court system, of which there are
currently 94. Such courts are largely courts of
original jurisdiction, hearing cases in the first
instance.
Dual Court System: One national and 50 state
systems
Grand Jury: A body of citizens convened to
determine whether there is sufficient evidence to
bring an individual to trial
Terms – Article III
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Judicial Review: The power American courts exercise of reviewing
executive and administrative actions, as well as state and federal
laws, which come before them in the course of judicial decisionmaking, and deciding whether or not they are constitutional.
Marbury v. Madison (1803): In turning away a request by an
individual who had been appointed as a justice of the peace but had
never received his commission, the Court ruled that a section of the
Judiciary Act of 1789 that seemed to grant the Court original
jurisdiction was unconstitutional and therefore void, therefore
asserting the Court’s power of judicial review.
Missouri Plan: Judges appointed by the governor and then
approved by voters on their record.
Terms – Article III
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Petit Jury: A trial jury, typically consisting of
twelve members of the community, which
decides on a defendant’s guilt or innocence and,
in some cases, on an appropriate penalty.
Sovereign Immunity: The doctrine, somewhat
affirmed by the Eleventh Amendment, that
prohibits governments, as sovereign entities,
from being sued without their consent.
Strict Constructionist: Judge following the
exact words of the Constitution.
Terms – Article III
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Supreme Court: The highest court in the
federal system and the only court mentioned by
name in the U.S. Constitution. Under current
law, the Court has nine members, eight
associate justices and a chief.
Suspect Classes: Groups, like racial minorities
and aliens, to whom the Court has extended
extra judicial scrutiny because of past use of
such classifications in a discriminatory fashion.
Cases
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Lochner v. New York (1905): A case, often cited as the
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Marbury v. Madison (1803): In turning away a request
epitome of the kind of laissez-faire jurisprudence typical of
the Court before 1937, in which the Court struck down a
New York law designed to regulate the working hours of
bakers.
by an individual who had been appointed as a justice of
the peace but had never received his commission, the
Court ruled that a section of the Judiciary Act of 1789 that
seemed to grant the Court original jurisdiction was
unconstitutional and therefore void, therefore asserting
the Court’s power of judicial review.
Cases
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United States v. Carolene Products
Company (1939): The occasion for
Justice Harlan Fiske Stone’s famous
footnote number four where he suggested
that certain subjects within the
Constitution—most notably the first ten
amendments, provisions providing for
keeping the democratic processes open,
and those involving the rights of
minorities—would be subject to more
exacting judicial scrutiny than others.
Cases
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United States v. Lopez (1995): Overturned a federal
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West Coast Hotel v. Parrish (1937): In upholding a
law prohibiting guns near school grounds on the basis
that such power was not directly related to congressional
powers under the commerce clause.
Washington State minimum wage law, the Court
overturned an earlier decision in Adkins v. Childrens’
Hospital (1923) and instituted the “switch in time that
saved nine,” by deflecting criticism that had led to
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s court-packing plan. From this
case forward, the Court has generally given less
attention to governmental regulations of economic
matters than to other issues.