Deck 15: The Supreme Court: the Justices and Their Decisions

Question 1

Which of the following justices is considered a member of the conservative bloc on the Supreme Court?

A) Breyer
B) Sotomayor
C) Ginsburg
D) Kennedy
E) Scalia

Answer 1

E

Question 2

Judges who disagree with the majority decision of the Court:

A) must remain silent
B) can vote against it but may not write an opinion
C) may write a dissenting opinion
D) may write a concurring opinion

Answer 2

C

Question 3

If the chief justice is not in the majority when a case is decided, the responsibility for opinion assignment rests with:

A) the most junior justice on the court
B) the most senior associate justice in the minority
C) the chief justice's law clerks
D) the most senior associate justice in the majority

Answer 3

D

Question 4

In cases with a minimum winning coalition, the justice usually assigned to write the opinion is:

A) the most senior member of the winning coalition
B) the most senior member of the dissenting coalition
C) the justice whose views are closest to the ideological middle
D) the chief justice

Question 5

Which factor best accounts for the defeat of Robert Bork to serve on the Supreme Court?

A) Ethical issues dogged his nomination.
B) Northern Republicans found him unacceptable.
C) Southern Democrats perceived him to be too conservative.
D) President Reagan had little political clout at the time.

Question 6

A justice of the Supreme Court who agrees with the decision of the majority in a case but not with the reasons for that decision, may write his own:

A) minority opinion
B) majority opinion
C) amicus curiae opinion
D) concurring opinion
E) dissenting opinion

Question 7

The chief justice:

A) presides at the conferences
B) writes all the dissenting opinions
C) assigns all opinions of the court
D) decides which cases the court will review

Question 8

A decision that decides the given case but is not usually regarded as being of strong precedential value is called:

A) majority opinion
B) consenting opinion
C) plurality opinion
D) dissenting opinion
E) opinion of the court

Question 9

Cases before the Supreme Court are decided:

A) unanimously
B) by two?thirds vote
C) by majority vote
D) by plurality vote

Question 10

When Supreme Court justices compose their draft (preliminary) opinions, the main audience they are seeking to influence are:

A) other judges in future cases
B) the mass media
C) the other two branches of government
D) their colleagues on the Court

Question 11

Supreme Court justices are selected by:

A) appointment by the president with the approval of the Senate and the American Bar Association
B) appointment by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate
C) nomination by the House of Representatives with the approval of the Senate and the president
D) appointment by the president subject to the approval of two?thirds of the sitting justices

Question 12

Which of the following statements is not true about the chief justice?

A) The chief justice discusses cases first in conference.
B) The chief justice votes last at the conference.
C) The chief justice is the formal head of the entire federal court system.
D) The chief justice, when in the majority, assigns the opinion.

Question 13

Among the sitting justices on the Supreme Court, all (9 out of 9):

A) were once legislators
B) have sat on the U.S. Courts of Appeals
C) were active law professors
D) had few political ties

Question 14

Dissenting opinions are important because:

A) they represent the position of the chief justice
B) they are the statement of the defendant's attorney
C) in criminal law they must be carried out by local police
D) they can form the basis of arguments used years later, reversing the majority opinion in a similar case

Question 15

On the Roberts court, the justice who most often votes in the middle is:

A) Sotomayor
B) Scalia
C) Kennedy
D) Thomas
E) Rehnquist

Question 16

Who was nominated to the Supreme Court for symbolic reasons as part of President Nixon's southern strategy?

A) Lewis Powell
B) Warren Burger
C) William Rehnquist
D) Harry Blackmun
E) Sandra Day O'Connor

Question 17

Who is the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court?

A) Maxine Waters
B) Elena Kagan
C) Sandra Day O'Connor
D) Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Question 18

In analyzing voting patterns of Supreme Court justices, political scientists use the following technique:

A) factor analysis
B) multiple regression
C) interviews
D) scalogram

Question 19

The decision as to the results in the case is called the:

A) opinion
B) judgment
C) brief
D) tort

Question 20

Majority opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court are assigned by:

A) random lottery
B) automatic rotation
C) the chief justice, if he voted in the majority
D) the justice who volunteers to write the case
E) the Supreme Court clerk

Question 21

Religious preference has never been a factor in Supreme Court appointments.

Question 22

Describe three limiting conditions on the impact and implementation of Supreme Court decisions.

Question 23

On what bases are opinions assigned to Supreme Court justices for authorship?

Question 24

Why does the Supreme Court allow so little time for oral argument?

Question 25

Who is the current chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court?

A) Earl Warren
B) Byron White
C) William Rehnquist
D) John Roberts
E) William Marshall

Question 26

Which statement best describes the Rehnquist court?

A) more liberal than recent courts
B) five conservative justices largely controlled its decisions
C) dominated by four middle of the road justices
D) a solid four justice conservative bloc

Question 27

Is the Supreme Court a political or legal institution? Explain your answer by making reference to the textbook, our class discussions and the recent Supreme Court decisions.

Question 28

Public opinion is believed to influence the Supreme Court:

A) directly
B) through the appointment of new Supreme Court justices
C) through the legal briefs of the attorneys
D) a and b

Question 29

Why is Senate confirmation of Supreme Court nominees nearly always a sure bet?

Question 30

Supreme Court justices by agreement rarely ask questions during oral argument.

Question 31

Dissenting opinions agree with the result but not the reasons.

Question 32

Which statement best describes Congressional reaction to Supreme Court decisions?

A) It is easier to alter statutory interpretations than constitutional interpretations.
B) It is easier to alter constitutional interpretations than statutory interpretations.
C) In earlier years, passing constitutional amendments occurred relatively frequently.
D) Congress rarely reacts to Supreme Court decisions.

Question 33

Elena Kagan is the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court.

Question 34

Why are Supreme Court opinions rarely unanimous?

Question 35

Describe three criteria presidents use in choosing nominees for the Supreme Court.

Question 36

The Supreme Court's decisions are rarely unanimous.

Question 37

How did the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor change the Supreme Court?

Question 38

The Burger court can best be characterized as:

A) very conservative and unified
B) pragmatism marked by compromise
C) liberal on most matters
D) unified with no distinct ideological flavor