PowerPoint Presentation

							Political Institutions & Behavior
 Day 4: Rights, Liberties, & the Judiciary
The Supreme Court
             Qualifications

• Federal judges serve for life (“good behavior”)

• Chosen by president with “advice and consent”
of the Senate

• No age limits or other requirements

• Size of Court? age? citizenship? education?
        Current Justices




   Breyer, Thomas, Ginsburg, Alito,
Kennedy, Stevens, Roberts, Scalia, Souter
                     Powers

• Original jurisdiction: ambassadors, U.S.
is a party, where states are the parties

• Appellate jurisdiction: all other cases (99%)
(court of last resort, final interpreter)

• Lower courts to be created by Congress

• Judicial review?
               Judicial Review
Greatest Supreme Court power not in Constitution!
Established by Marbury v. Madison (1803)


Judicial Review has come to encompass:
   – Power to declare national, state and local Laws invalid
   if they violate the Constitution
   – Supremacy of federal laws or treaties
   – Role of Supreme Court as final authority on the
   meaning of the Constitution
   Structure of Federal Judiciary
                   Supreme Court            Hears about 100
State                9 Justices             out of 5,500 requests
courts             Mostly appellate


              U.S. Courts of Appeals
             13 districts with 170 judges
            3-judge panels hear appeals
               33,000 cases per year

                 U.S. District Courts
          94 district courts with 650 judges
         Trial courts with original jurisdiction
               225, 000 cases per year
              State Courts

• Each state has its own court system

• States handle 100 million cases per year

• 98% of criminal cases handled by states

Types of Cases
 Criminal = charged by gov for breaking law
 Civil = dispute between parties
U.S. District Courts
        Deciding to Decide

 Powerful but dependent on appeals
 Determines own docket
 Can only “affirm” or “overturn”
 Only accepts 2% of cases
 Clerks important
 “Discuss list” (20-30%)
 Rule of Four
 Likely: U.S. is party, lower courts differ,
disagrees with Court, amicus curiae
          Judge-Made Law
We are under a Constitution, but the
Constitution is what the judges say it is, and
the judiciary is the safeguard of our liberty
and our property under the Constitution.
  –Chief Justice Hughes, 1907



  Importance of precedent! (stare decisis)
          Majority Rule?

  Types of Court opinions:
    1. Majority
    2. Concurring
    3. Dissenting

Landmark Bakke v. Regents decision was 4-4-1!

Neither the purse nor the sword – must use
persuasion to enforce
Civil Liberties/Civil Rights

Civil Rights – Guaranteed privileges
(protection by government)

Civil Liberties – Guaranteed freedoms
(protection from government)

Granting rights to some people often infringes
on others’ civil liberties…
     Back to the Bill of Rights
Really a listing of liberties
(as in “Congress shall not…”)

1st: religion, speech, press, assembly
2nd: bear arms
4th: security, search and seizure
5th: self-incrimination, double jeopardy
7th: trial by jury
How do judges use these to decide about issues
not explicitly mentioned? (original intent?)
Civil Rights in the Constitution

 “Reconstruction Amendments”

 • Outlawing slavery (13th)
 • Extending right to vote (15th)
 • “nor shall any State deprive any person
 of life, liberty, or property, without due
 process of law; nor deny to any person…
 equal protection of the laws” (14th)
   Examples of Court Rulings

• Religion: no prayer in school, limited
funding for religious schools

• Speech: clear and present danger test,
flag burning, obscenity

• Bearing Arms: individuals’ rights upheld
              Rights of the Accused
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
(right to an attorney)


Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
(must be told rights)


Death penalty, exclusionary rule
                Civil Rights

• Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)
(followed by Civil War & Reconstruction
Amendments)

• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) – separate but equal
• Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
• Regents of U. of California v. Bakke (1978)
        Rights of Privacy

Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)
overturned CT birth control law

Roe v. Wade (1973)
affirmed right to an abortion in
first trimester
               Conclusion

• Court has wide discretion over docket
• Tends to side with political minorities
• Strong partisan/ideological element
• Limited say over civil liberties, bioethical,
and related issues expanding to politics
• Court cannot change society on its own, but
can affect agenda, serve as an arena for debate,
and legitimate other actors