The Role and Power of Federal Courts in Policymaking, Study notes of Sociology of Deviance

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Chapter 15 The Federal Courts

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Judicial Policymaking

• (^) Courts can apply policy-making power of

the courts as they comply with the

Constitution through

• (^) Interpretation
• (^) Application
• (^) Judicial Review
• (^) Power of the judicial branch to declare

unconstitutional the actions of the other

two branches or their individual units

Judicial Policymaking

• (^) The Role of Courts and Judges
  • (^) There is controversy over the leeway that courts should have in exercising their rights of constitutional interpretation
  • (^) Strict construction
    • (^) holds that the document should be interpreted narrowly
    • (^) Judicial restraint
  • (^) Loose construction
    • (^) holds that the Constitution can be interpreted broadly
    • (^) Judicial activism

Political History of the Supreme Court

• (^) Chief Justice John Marshall
  • (^) Marbury v. Madison (1803)
  • (^) McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
• (^) Chief Justice Roger Taney
  • (^) Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
  • (^) Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
• (^) Chief Justice Earl Warren
  • (^) Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
• (^) Chief Justice Warren Burger
  • (^) Roe v. Wade (1973)

The Lower Federal Courts

• (^) District Courts - Trial court level
  • (^) 95 U.S. district courts with judges appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate
• (^) Original jurisdiction
• (^) Includes both civil and criminal cases
• (^) Criminal case
• (^) Legal dispute dealing with an alleged violation of a penal law
• (^) Civil case
• (^) Conflict between two parties

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The Lower Federal Courts

• (^) U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal
  • (^) Primary intermediate-level appellate courts
  • (^) 13 courts of appeal
  • (^) Courts of appeal have only appellate jurisdiction - (^) Hearing cases in panels of three judges
  • (^) White House generally takes more care with nominations to the courts of appeal than it does with district court selections.

The U.S. Supreme Court

• (^) Highest court in the country
• (^) Number of justices at the discretion of Congress
• (^) A chief justice and 8 associate justices
• (^) Jurisdiction
  • (^) Constitution sets Court’s original jurisdiction
  • (^) Statutory law sets Court’s appellate jurisdiction
• (^) Selection of justices
  • (^) Presidents look for appointees who share their political philosophy
  • (^) Must be confirmed by Senate

The U.S. Supreme Court

• (^) Deciding to decide
  • (^) Makes policy from the cases that the justices themselves choose to hear and decide
  • (^) Test Cases
  • (^) Rule of Four
• (^) Deciding the case
  • (^) Supreme Court deals with cases it chooses to hear:
    1. Without oral arguments: per curiam opinion.
    2. Full treatment:
       • (^) one justice assigned to prepare the majority opinion,
       • (^) other justices may write concurring or dissenting opinions.

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The U.S. Supreme Court

• (^) Implementation
  • (^) Higher courts develop policy
  • (^) Lower courts interpret the rulings
  • (^) Government agencies implement rulings
• (^) Impact
  • (^) Greatest impact is when the Court issues a clear decision in a well- publicized case and its position enjoys strong support from other branches and units of government, interest groups, and public opinion

Power, Politics, and the Courts

• (^) How much influence do federal courts have in the policymaking process?
• (^) How responsive are they to public concerns?
• (^) Restrictions on the federal courts
  • (^) Both the Constitution and the law check judicial power.
  • (^) Other branches can change the law or the Constitution.
  • (^) The Court depends on the cooperation and compliance of other units of government and private parties to implement their decisions.