20.1 - The nature and role of the Supreme Court

Question 1

Chapter 20.1 - the nature and role of the Supreme Court

Answer 1

the nature and role of the supreme court

Question 2

What did Congress pass in 1789 to create the US courts system?

Answer 2

The Federal Judiciary Act 1789

Question 3

What was the initial makeup of the Supreme Court?

Answer 3

• 1 chief justice
• 5 associate justices

Question 4

How many district courts are there in the US?

Answer 4

94

Question 5

How many appellate/circuit courts are there in the US?

Answer 5

13

Question 6

What is an appellate court?

Answer 6

A court of appeal

Question 7

What is the Supreme Court’s power of ‘original jurisdiction’?

Answer 7

The right of the Supreme Court to be the first court to hear a case in certain circumstances, rather than need the case to be an appeal

Question 8

How many original jurisdiction cases have there been since the creation of the Supreme Court?

Answer 8

Fewer than 200

Question 9

What % of cases sent to the Supreme Court each year are heard?

Answer 9

Less than 1%

Question 10

What did the Constitution aim to make the Supreme Court?

Answer 10

Independent

Question 11

What is a Baron de Montesquieu quote about the Supreme Court being independent?

Answer 11

‘There is no liberty if the judiciary power be not separated from the legislative and executive’

Question 12

What is a Truman quote about a president appointing Supreme Court justices and their independence?

Answer 12

‘Whenever you put a man on the Supreme Court, he ceases to be your friend’

Question 13

When was the number of justices sat on the Supreme Court set at 9?

Answer 13

The Judiciary Act 1869

Question 14

How does the Constitution protect the salary of Supreme Court justices?

Answer 14

It prevents the salary of justices being lowered during their term in office

Question 15

When are vacancies on the Supreme Court available?

Answer 15

When a current justice dies, retires or is impeached

Question 16

What Supreme Court justice retired in 2022 and was replaced by Ketanji Brown?

Answer 16

Stephen Breyer

Question 17

What Supreme Court justice died in 2020 and was replaced by Amy Coney Barrett?

Answer 17

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Question 18

What Supreme Court justice retired in 2018 and was replaced by Brett Kavanaugh?

Answer 18

Anthony Kennedy

Question 19

What do justices have, which shows the independence of the Supreme Court?

Answer 19

They are appointed for life

Question 20

How does the appointment of justices protect the independence of the Supreme Court?

Answer 20

The Constitution requires the Senate to approve the presidential nomination to the Supreme Court, which prevents one branch from dominating the Supreme Court

Question 21

How does the separation of powers protect the Court’s independence?

Answer 21

It has the power of judicial review

Question 22

What association rates the suitability of each of the justices nominated?

Answer 22

The American Bar Association (ABA)

Question 23

What did the Supreme Court rule in regards to whether Trump’s ‘Muslim travel ban’ was constitutional or not in ‘Trump v Hawaii’ (2018)?

Answer 23

That the executive power of the president covered immigration matters and national security

Question 24

What decision did the Supreme Court overturn in June 2020 by the Trump administration?

Answer 24

The administration’s decision to eliminate DACA

Question 25

In what two 19th century Supreme Court cases was the power of judicial review established?

Answer 25

• ‘Marbury v Madison’ - 1803
• ‘Fletcher v Peck’ - 1810

Question 26

What did Chief Justice Charles Hughes Evans say in 1907?

Answer 26

‘We are under a Constitution, but the Constitution is what the judges say it is’

Question 27

What did the Supreme Court overturn in the 2016 case of ‘Texas v U.S.’?

Answer 27

Obama’s DAPA executive order

Question 28

What did the Supreme Court rule in the ‘United States v Windsor’ case of 2013?

Answer 28

That the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was unconstitutional

Question 29

In what case did the Supreme Court declare the 2006 Military Commissions Act unconstitutional?

Answer 29

‘Boumediene v Bush’ - 2008