SCOTUS and Civil Rights Flashcards
(22 cards)
Who is the current Chief Justice?
Roberts
An “originalist” justice would:
define and apply the original meaning of the Constitution.
What case confirmed the principle of judicial review?
Marbury v Madison
Which Supreme Court nominee’s hearing was indefinitely put off by Mitch McConnell?
Merrick Garland
Name the SCOTUS justices nominated by Trump.
Gorusch, Kavanaugh, Coney Barrett
What did Chief Justice Roberts say in the 2007 case Parents Involved v Seattle School District about racism?
The only way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discrimination on the basis of race.
Activist judges could be said to be acting like…
Politicians in robes.
Scalia: “The constitution is not a living organism; it is…
a legal document.”
Thomas Jefferson: the Constitution must not become “a mere thing of…
wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any form they please.”
Thomas Jefferson likened the idea of the constitution being set in stone to what?
Requiring a man to wear still the coat which fitted him as a boy.
Roughly how many cases does SCOTUS take per year?
80-100
Who decides which cases SCOTUS will take on?
SCOTUS.
Griswold v Connecticut 1965 inferred a constitutional right to privacy from which amendments?
1, 3, 4 and 9.
Which three amendments make up the “Reconstruction Amendments”?
13, 14, 15.
What did the 13th Amendment outlaw?
Slavery.
What did the 14th Amendment guarantee?
Equal protection and due process for all US citizens.
What did the 15th Amendment guarantee?
The right to vote regardless of race, colour or having previously been a slave.
Give two cases in which the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment was instrumental in protecting the rights of minorities.
Brown v Board, Obergefell v Hodges
How has Clarence Thomas described affirmative action programmes?
The faddish slogan of the cognoscenti.
Who famously provided an amicus brief in favour of the University of Texas in Fisher v Texas 2016?
Obama.
How did Alito describe the SC decision in Fisher v Texas?
Affirmative action gone berserk.
Snyder v Phelps 2011 ruled that the Westboro Baptist Church’s protests at soldiers’ funerals (“God killed your sons!” “Pray for more dead soldiers!”) were protected by the First Amendment. This shows that:
SCOTUS will protect the Bill of Rights even when it’s unpopular to do so.
