What did NFIB v Sebelius (2012) decide
Obamacare is constitutional under the tax clause.
Expanding Medicaid is unconstitutional under the commerce clause.
Which article and section of the Constitution gives power to the Supreme Court?
Article III, Section 1
Who is the current Chief Justice?
John Roberts
Define the term ‘originalist’
A Supreme Court justice who interprets the Constitution in line with the meaning or intent of the framers at the time of enactment
What 2008 case protected the right to bear arms?
DC v Heller
What case ruled legislative bodies could begin meeting with prayer even if it favoured one religion?
Town of Greece v Galloway
What 2010 case extended the right of freedom of speech to corporations ?
Citizens United v FEC
What did Burwell v Hobby Lobby (2014) decide
Contraceptive mandate under PPACA violated privately held, for-profit corporations’ rights to religious freedom
What did King v Burwell (2015) decide
Upheld Obamacare’s insurance subsidies
What does article 3 establish (4 points)
- National judiciary should be Supreme
- SC has original jurisdiction in cases involving ambassadors, other public ministers, consults and states.
- SC has appellate jurisdiction in all other states
- Judges nominated by President and approved by Senate
What case confirmed the principle of judicial review?
Marbury v Madison 1803
Which case upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities (separate but equal)
Plessy v Ferguson 1896
Which Supreme Court justice was appointed in 2018?
Brett Kavanaugh
Which Supreme Court nominee’s hearing was indefinitely put off by Mitch McConnell?
Merrick Garland
What case outlawed segregation in state funded education?
Brown v Board of Education 1954
What case allowed abortion?
Roe v Wade 1973
What case ruled that Obamacare was constitutional?
NFIB v Sibelius 2012
What case legalised gay marriage ?
Obergefell v Hodges 2015
Memory is the residue of what?
Thought
What case ruled out racial quotas in university admissions programmes in 1978?
University of California v Bakke
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’
What recent case led to voter identification laws being reintroduced in Texas?
Shelby County v Holder (2013)
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.”
Justice Holmes, 1914: “The provisions of the constitution are…
…organic, living institutions.”
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.”
Around how many cases per year does the SC take, and who decides which ones they hear?
About 100; the SC itself.
Of what key SC principle did Marbury fall foul in Marbury v Madison?
It’s an appellate court - it only hears appeals, which means it has to wait for issues to reach it - it can’t just decide to take, say, an abortion case. Marbury failed to go to a lower court first (idiot).
Griswold v Connecticut 1965 inferred a constitutional right to privacy from which four amendments?
1, 3, 4, 9. This might be described as judicial activism.
Which three amendments make up the “Reconstruction Amendments”?
13, 14, 15
What did the 13th Amendment outlaw?
Slavery - except as a punishment following conviction
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 1954, Obergefell v Hodges 2015
Gratz v Bollinger and Grutter v Bollinger (both 2003) did what?
Gratz struck down one university admissions affirmative action programme as “too mechanistic”, but affirmed another for being “individualised.”
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. The case involved a white woman, Abigail Fisher, claiming she has suffered racial discrimination because minority race students with poorer academic qualifications had got a place at Texas and she hadn’t. She lost.
How did Alito describe the SC decision in Fisher v Texas?
“Affirmative action gone berserk.”
Give an example of a case in which the SC has upheld civil rights even when to do so is unpopular.
Snyder v Phelps 2011: the Westboro Baptist Church’s protests at soldiers’ funerals (“God killed your sons! Pray for more dead soldiers!) were protected by the First Amendment.
