Deck 15: The Federal Courts

Question 1

Which of the following must confirm all federal judges?

A)the House of Representatives
B)the Supreme Court
C)the Senate
D)the states

Answer 1

the Senate

Question 2

Federal district court judges are appointed to ___________ terms.

A)three-year
B)10-year
C)20-year
D)lifetime

Answer 2

lifetime

Question 3

A writ of __________ is issued by the Supreme Court when it agrees to hear a case.

A)mandamus
B)prohibition
C)certiorari
D)attachment

Answer 3

certiorari

Question 4

What is the term given to the power of the courts to determine whether the actions of Congress and the executive branch are permissible under the Constitution?

A)original jurisdiction
B)strict construction
C)judicial review
D)stare decisis

Question 5

Only a(n) __________ court can review the decisions of a lower court.

A)trial
B)original
C)administrative
D)appellate

Question 6

Who represents the federal government in appeals to the Supreme Court?

A)attorney general
B)president
C)solicitor general
D)chief prosecutor

Question 7

Which court hears appeals from federal independent regulatory commissions?

A)courts of appeals
B)the cabinet
C)district courts
D)U.S.Supreme Court

Question 8

In which of the following cases did the Supreme Court first exercise judicial review?

A)Chisholm v.Georgia
B)Brown v.Board of Education
C)Dred Scott v.Sandford
D)Marbury v.Madison

Question 9

Which type of law involves the violation of the legal rights of one individual toward another?

A)civil
B)natural
C)recidivist
D)criminal

Question 10

______________ is the authority of a court to hear a case first,thus determining the facts of the case.

A)original jurisdiction
B)judicial review
C)jurisprudence
D)confirmation

Question 11

Who nominates judges to the U.S.district courts?

A)the president
B)the House of Representatives
C)the Senate
D)the Supreme Court

Question 12

What type of standing permits a small number of people to sue on behalf of all other people in similar circumstances?

A)criminal
B)statute
C)class action
D)justiciable

Question 13

Which of the following is a way that interest groups attempt to influence the Supreme Court's decisions?

A)claiming disputes are justiciable
B)filing standing to sue briefs
C)lobbying legislators
D)filing amicus curiae briefs

Question 14

For a case to be heard in the Supreme Court,a minimum of how many justices must vote to hear the case?

A)one
B)four
C)five
D)six

Question 15

The Supreme Court issues __________ that are essentially written statements containing the legal reasoning behind the Court's decisions.

A)opinions
B)amicus curiae briefs
C)percuriam statements
D)treatises

Question 16

Which of the following is an opinion written by a justice who voted with the majority but has s an alternative basis for the decision?

A)concurring
B)dissenting
C)majority
D)percuriam

Question 17

What is common law?

A)the accumulation of judicial decisions about legal issues
B)laws passed by legislatures
C)disputes between two parties
D)issues capable of being settled as a matter of law

Question 18

The __________ Act of 1789 established the basic three-tiered structure of the federal court system.

A)Federal Courts
B)Appellate
C)Confirmation
D)Judiciary

Question 19

How many seats are currently authorized on the Supreme Court?

A)five
B)six
C)eight
D)nine

Question 20

The Supreme Court hears cases from state courts only if they involve a __________ question.

A)common
B)civil
C)federal
D)criminal

Question 21

Proponents of which of the following believe that it is appropriate for judges to make bold policy decisions when doing so is necessary to address pressing societal needs?

A)judicial restraint
B)strict constructionism
C)judicial activism
D)originalism

Question 22

In which courts are the vast majority of all cases tried?

A)federal
B)district
C)state
D)appellate

Question 23

What is the point of original jurisdiction for most litigation in the federal courts?

A)the Supreme Court
B)the U.S.district courts
C)the U.S.Court of Federal Claims
D)the U.S.courts of appeals

Question 24

How many district courts are in the federal system?

A)five
B)16
C)91
D)412

Question 25

The Court of Military Appeals is an example of which type of court?

A)constitutional
B)district
C)legislative
D)circuit

Question 26

According to the principle of __________,a court should not overturn precedent unless it is absolutely necessary.

A)original intent
B)judicial review
C)stare decisis
D)prior restraint

Question 27

When the U.S.Supreme Court agrees to hear a case appealed to it from a court of appeals,it is exercising its __________ jurisdiction.

A)original
B)constitutional
C)mandatory
D)appellate

Question 28

What are two types of jurisdiction courts can have?

A)original and appellate
B)trial and appeals
C)constructionist and restrained
D)active and restrained

Question 29

Who attempted to expand the number of Supreme Court justices in 1937?

A)Chief Justice Warren
B)Chief Justice Marshall
C)President Hoover
D)President Roosevelt

Question 30

In 1987,the Senate refused to confirm the nomination of __________ to the Supreme Court.

A)Antonin Scalia
B)Earl Warren
C)Robert Bork
D)John Roberts

Question 31

Which of the following has the most control over the cases it hears?

A)federal district courts
B)trial courts
C)state courts of original jurisdiction
D)the U.S.Supreme Court

Question 32

When a court bases its decision or opinion on previous court decisions or rulings,that is called?

A)percuriam
B)stare decisis
C)coram nobis
D)amicus curiae

Question 33

Which Court was one of the most active in shaping public policy in the twentieth century?

A)Rehnquist
B)Warren
C)Fortas
D)Chase

Question 34

Which of the following must plaintiffs have in order to sustain a lawsuit in court?

A)a serious injury
B)money
C)standing to sue
D)an attorney

Question 35

At President Roosevelt's urging,Congress passed dozens of laws designed to end the Depression.Why did the Supreme Court initially overturn some of these laws?

A)The Court believed that federal intervention in the economy was unconstitutional.
B)The Court believed that Roosevelt was meddling in the Court's jurisdiction.
C)The Court typically gave deference to the decisions enacted by the elected branches of government.
D)Federal intervention in the economy was perceived as being the best way to end the Great Depression.

Question 36

How and whether judicial decisions are translated into actual policy is known as judicial __________.

A)implementation
B)execution
C)legislation
D)intention

Question 37

Which of the following is within the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court?

A)federal criminal matters
B)tax disputes
C)military tribunals
D)cases prosecuting diplomats

Question 38

Under which chief justice did the Supreme Court establish the power of judicial review?

A)James Madison
B)John Marshall
C)Oliver Wendell Holmes
D)Earl Warren

Question 39

In which federal courts are trials conducted?

A)circuit courts
B)district courts
C)courts of appeals
D)the Supreme Court

Question 40

In a process known as __________ the Senate generally allows senators of the president's party from the state in which a judicial vacancy occurs to block the nomination.

A)advice and consent
B)presidential deference
C)judicial review
D)senatorial courtesy

Question 41

Which of the following limits judicial power?

A)judicial review
B)judicial activism
C)stare decisis
D)life tenure

Question 42

Under which of the following circumstances would a presidential nominee to the Supreme Court have the most trouble being confirmed?

A)when the House is opposed to the nominee's ideological orientation
B)when a president nominates a woman or an ethnic or racial minority
C)when a president makes a nomination at the beginning of his or her term
D)when a president's party affiliation is in the minority in the Senate

Question 43

When the government loses in a lower court,who decides whether to appeal a case to the Supreme Court?

A)the president of the Senate
B)the solicitor general
C)the Supreme Court clerk of courts
D)the chief justice of the United States

Question 44

The conferences of the U.S.Supreme Court are __________.

A)limited to the justices and other Court staff
B)limited to the justices themselves
C)open to the justices and the public
D)open to the justices and the media

Question 45

Why did Justice Souter wait until 2009 to retire?

A)so that he would get a bigger pension
B)so that Barack Obama rather than George W.Bush would name a new justice
C)to avoid the appearance of impropriety when deciding important cases on the docket in 2008
D)to ensure that he would be covered under the Affordable Care Act

Question 46

Which of the following are most commonly heard by the U.S.Supreme Court?

A)federal habeas corpus cases
B)original jurisdiction cases
C)civil actions from lower federal courts
D)criminal cases from state and federal courts

Question 47

If a judge believes that he or she should defer to the decisions made by elected representatives whenever possible,the judge likely believes in which of the following?

A)judicial activism
B)the attitudinal model of decision making
C)originalism
D)judicial restraint