i. composition ii. jurisdiction iii. process iv. a few landmark cases
TRANSCRIPT
9. THE JUDICIARY, PART 1: THE SUPREME
COURTI. CompositionII. Jurisdiction
III. ProcessIV. A few landmark cases
I. Composition-9 justices : the Chief Justice (J. Roberts) + 8 associate justices (S. Sotomayor, S.G. Breyer, S.A. Alito, E. Kagan, C. Thomas, A. Scalia, A. Kennedy, R.B. Ginsburg)
The Roberts Court, Oct. 2010
FDR’s “Court-packing” scheme Law clerks Edwin Meese, Reagan’s Attorney
General : “institutionalizing the Reagan revolution so it can’t be set aside no matter what happens in future presidential elections.”
II. Jurisdiction-original jurisdiction-appellate jurisdiction-writ of appeal-writ of certiorari (“to make perfectly sure”)
III. Process-on average: 5,000 cases a year, rules on about 200-“oral arguments”-“counsels”-majority opinion-dissenting opinion-concurring opinion-“strict constructionists” VS “judicial activists”
Alexis de Tocqueville: “Every political question in the US is ultimately a judicial one.”
Solicitor General
IV. A few landmark cases-Justice Powell 1979 “If the Congress chooses not to confront the president, it is not our task to do so.”-Marbury v. Madison (1803)-Fletcher v. Peck (1810), Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee (1816)-McCulloch v. Maryland (1819): implied powers-Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
-Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): “separate but equal”
-Korematsu v. United States (1944) -Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
(1954) -Miranda v. Arizona (1966): “Miranda
rights” -Roe v. Wade (1973) -Bush v. Gore (2000) -Citizens United v. Federal Election
Commission (2010)
-National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (2012): “Obamacare”