Week 1

Question 1

Chapter 1

affirmed

Answer 1

An appellate court upholding the decision of a lower court

Question 2

Chapter 1

appellate court case

Answer 2

A lower court has taken action in the case and one of the parties has asked a higher court to review the lower court’s decision. The appellate court reviews the alleged errors made by the trial court.

Question 3

Chapter 1

appellant

Answer 3

The party appealing a lower court ruling or decision.

Question 4

Chapter 1

appellee

Answer 4

The party appealed against who won in the lower court.

Question 5

Chapter 1

certiorari

Answer 5

A discretionary order of the Supreme Court to review a lower court decision.

Question 6

Chapter 1

certiorari

Answer 6

A discretionary order of the Supreme Court to review a lower court decision.

Question 7

Chapter 1

citation

Answer 7

The string of letters and numbers that appears after the name of a case and identifies the source of a case.

Question 8

Chapter 1

collateral attack

Answer 8

A separate proceeding from a criminal case, a civil action that reviews the constitutionality of the petitioner’s detention.

Question 9

Chapter 1

concurring opinion

Answer 9

Statements in which justices agree with the result, not the reasoning, of a court’s opinion.

Question 10

Chapter 1

constitutional democracy

Answer 10

The system of government where neither a single dictator nor an overwhelming majority of the people have total power over an individual.

Question 11

Chapter 1

court’s judgment

Answer 11

Also called the disposition; the higher court’s statement of what happens to the lower court’s judgment and ultimately to the defendant.

Question 12

Chapter 1

court opinion

Answer 12

The written explanations of why the court decided the case and entered judgment on a particular basis.

Question 13

Chapter 1

decision of the court

Answer 13

The court’s answer in its opinion to the legal question in the case.

Question 14

Chapter 1

discretionary decision making

Answer 14

Informal decision making by professionals in criminal procedure, based on unwritten rules.

Question 15

Chapter 1

dissenting opinion

Answer 15

Part of an appellate court case in which justices write opinions disagreeing with the decision and reasoning of a court.

Question 16

Chapter 1

distinguishing cases

Answer 16

The court decides that a prior decision does not apply to the current case because the facts are different.

Question 17

Chapter 1

due process revolution

Answer 17

The U.S. Supreme Court’s reaction, beginning in the 1960s, which tilted the balance of power in the criminal justice system towards process and individual rights.

Question 18

Chapter 1

exclusionary rule

Answer 18

The rule which forces courts to throw out good evidence in a criminal case if the government has gotten it by improper or bad methods.

Question 19

Chapter 1

graduated objective basis requirement

Answer 19

The principle that the greater the limitation on an individual’s rights, the more facts are needed to justify it.

Question 20

Chapter 1

habeas corpus

Answer 20

An action that asks those who hold defendants to justify their detention.

Question 21

Chapter 1

jurisdiction

Answer 21

The authority of a court to hear and decide cases.

Question 22

Chapter 1

majority opinion

Answer 22

The law of a case in an appellate court.

Question 23

Chapter 1

objective basis requirement

Answer 23

The factual justification for government invasions of individual rights.

Question 24

Chapter 1

petitioner

Answer 24

A party who asks a higher court to review the decision of a lower court or some other official.

Question 25

Chapter 1

plurality opinion

Answer 25

A statement in which the greatest number, but not a majority, of the justices favor a court’s decision.

Question 26

Chapter 1

precedent

Answer 26

A prior decision that is binding on a similar present case.

Question 27

Chapter 1

quantum of proof

Answer 27

Also called the objective basis; the facts and circumstances that back up acts by government officials.

Question 28

Chapter 1

remanded

Answer 28

Sent back to a lower court for further proceedings.

Question 29

Chapter 1

reversed

Answer 29

Overturned by an appellate court.

Question 30

Chapter 1

rule of four

Answer 30

The requirement that four Supreme Court justices must vote to review a case for it to be heard by the Supreme Court.

Question 31

Chapter 1

stare decisis

Answer 31

The doctrine in which a prior decision binds a present case with similar facts.

Question 32

Chapter 1

Writ of certiorari

Answer 32

An order issued by the Supreme Court to the court that decided the case ordering the court to send up the record of its proceedings to the Supreme Court for review.

Question 33

Chapter 2

charging by information

Answer 33

A procedure whereby prosecutors by-pass grand jury process and charge defendants directly by filing information against them.

Question 34

Chapter 1

constitutionalism

Answer 34

Referring to the idea that constitutions adopted by the whole people are a higher form of law than ordinary laws passed by the legislature.

Question 35

Chapter 2

criminal procedures

Answer 35

The rules that the government must use to detect, investigate, apprehend, prosecute, convict, and punish criminals.

Question 36

Chapter 2

discriminatory effect

Answer 36

In claiming a that a government agent denied equal protection under the law, the claimant must prove that race or some other illegal criterion such as gender or national origin, accounts for the official decision.

Question 37

Chapter 2

criminal procedures

Answer 37

The rules that the government must use to detect, investigate, apprehend, prosecute, convict, and punish criminals.

Question 38

Chapter 2

discriminatory purpose

Answer 38

The claimant claiming a denial of equal protection must also prove that the official intended to discriminate against him or her based on race or some other illegal criterion.

Question 39

Chapter 2

due process

Answer 39

The broad idea that governs how governments must treat or deal with the people.

Question 40

Chapter 2

en banc

Answer 40

An appeal heard by all of the judges sitting on the appeals court as opposed to a hearing before a panel of three appellate judges.

Question 41

Chapter 2

equal protection

of the law

Answer 41

The idea that government officials can’t apprehend, convict and punish people for unacceptable reasons, such as race or ethnicity.

Question 42

Chapter 2

fundamental fairness doctrine

Answer 42

The principle that state procedures cannot violate basic standards of fair trials.

Question 43

Chapter 2

judicial review

Answer 43

The power of courts, and ultimately the Supreme Court, to have the final say on what the Constitution means.

Question 44

Chapter 2

Model Code of Pre-Arraignment Procedure

Answer 44

American Law Institute’s (group pf distinguished judges, lawyers, criminal justice professionals, law enforcement professionals, and scholars) model of criminal procedure law in federal court cases.

Question 45

Chapter 2

motion for discovery

Answer 45

A request to the court asking the judge to issue an order that compels one the parties to the case to turn over information to the party making the request (motion).

Question 46

Chapter 2

parallel rights

Answer 46

State-granted rights similar to those in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Question 47

Chapter 2

presumption of regularity

Answer 47

The presumption that government actions are lawful in the absence of evidence to the contrary.

Question 48

Chapter 2

procedural due process

Answer 48

The idea that fair procedures must be used in deciding criminal cases.

Question 49

Chapter 2

supervisory power

Answer 49

The ability of the United States Supreme Court to oversee lower federal court proceedings.

Question 50

Chapter 2

supremacy clause

Answer 50

The clause in the United States Constitution that makes it and federal laws supreme over state law.