Deck 6: The Judiciary

Question 1

Of the three branches created by the framers, the Supreme Court

A) has the least defined powers.
B) has the most members.
C) sits for the shortest term.
D) has the largest volunteer staff.
E) has the most important function.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

When did Congress establish a three-tiered system of federal courts?

A) 1789
B) 1800
C) 1807
D) 1860
E) 1888

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The Supreme Court's original jurisdiction

A) is to be found in Article III of the Constitution.
B) is to be found in Article IV of the Constitution.
C) is defined by the president.
D) is defined by Congress.
E) is defined in the Declaration of Independence

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The Supreme Court's appellate jurisdiction

A) is to be found in Article III of the Constitution.
B) is to be found in the preamble of the Constitution.
C) is defined by the president.
D) is defined by Congress.
E) is defined in the Declaration of Independence.

Question 5

The Judiciary Act of 1789

A) was nullified by the Sedition Act of 1803.
B) established the three-tiered system of the federal court system that we recognize today.
C) was written, in large part, by Chief Justice John Marshall.
D) was thought to be a violation of Article IV, the national supremacy clause.
E) was revoked in 1997.

Question 6

In the case of Marbury v. Madison (1803)

A) Chief Justice Marshall defined the power of judicial review for the first time.
B) President Jefferson was charged with treason.
C) the Supreme Court determined that the Fifth Amendment was unconstitutional.
D) it was determined that there is a constitutional right to privacy.
E) the President revoked the power of judicial review.

Question 7

Judicial review is the power of the Supreme Court to

A) provide the final interpretation of the national Constitution over the other national and state political governing bodies.
B) remove the president from office.
C) remove a representative from Congress.
D) create lower federal courts.
E) stop legislation passed by the Senate.

Question 8

The authors of the text note that some observers of the Court argue that its power of judicial review is

A) undemocratic because it allows a handful of unelected, life-tenured individuals to overrule the collective will of duly-elected representatives.
B) clearly assigned to the court by the national constitution.
C) a power to be shared with Congress.
D) wholly ineffective.
E) democratic because it provides for a system of checks and balances for the Congress.

Question 9

The United States Supreme Court's most frequently used power is

A) judicial review.
B) logical written briefs.
C) public opinion concerns.
D) specialized interviews.
E) the power to do nothing.

Question 10

The extent of a court's power depends mostly on its

A) justices' political party affiliations.
B) independence.
C) conservatism.
D) jurisdiction.
E) relationship with Congress.

Question 11

Which of the following is NOT considered to be a check on the independence of the Supreme Court?

A) Congress passes a law to reverse a decision made by the Court.
B) The president threatens to pack the Court with justices who have pledged to support his or her policy preferences.
C) The power to appoint justices is shared by the president and the Senate, thereby freeing the Court from being beholden to any one institution or individual.
D) Congress decides to no longer permit the Court to review capital punishment cases.
E) The Congress has the power to set the jurisdiction of courts.

Question 12

The American judicial system consists of

A) three parallel and equal court systems.
B) four federal court systems.
C) two separate and parallel court systems: a state and local system and a federal system.
D) two systems with equal powers and jurisdictions.
E) two independent court systems that work seamlessly between the state and federal levels.

Question 13

The entire lower court system acts as a gatekeeper in that it

A) controls the flow of cases appealed to the Supreme Court.
B) determines how much money it will cost to hear a case at the national level.
C) selects the attorneys who may represent a client at the national level.
D) determines which cases are eligible for appeal to the Supreme Court.
E) sends all cases forward to the Supreme Court.

Question 14

In criminal cases

A) decisions are made regarding whether to punish individuals accused of violating state or federal laws.
B) no juries are allowed.
C) nonviolent offenders are never sentenced to prison.
D) plea bargains are not permitted.
E) jury trials are not allowed.

Question 15

Nearly all criminal cases result in

A) hung juries.
B) verdicts of not guilty.
C) plea bargains.
D) death sentences.
E) long prison terms.

Question 16

The USA PATRIOT Act

A) has been declared unconstitutional.
B) affects only foreign citizens.
C) created a new category of federal crimes of terrorism against mass transit.
D) has been non-controversial.
E) can only be used to prosecute foreign nationals.

Question 17

Class-action suits

A) typically involve large numbers of people.
B) typically involve criminal offenses.
C) typically involve constitutional principles.
D) typically involve crimes against the wealthy.
E) typically involve very small numbers of people.

Question 18

Constitutional courts

A) are those created by state legislatures.
B) are those which have nine or more justices.
C) are those mentioned in Article III of the national constitution, with life tenure.
D) are those in which the justices serve a five-year term.
E) are not mentioned in the Constitution.

Question 19

The federal judiciary consists of

A) local courts, state courts, and federal courts.
B) state courts, federal courts, and the World Court.
C) local courts and the World Court.
D) the U.S. district courts, the federal courts of appeal, and the Supreme Court.
E) national courts and the International Criminal Court.

Question 20

Which of the following courts serves as the point of original entry in the legal system, with a single judge and at times a jury deciding matters of both fact and law in a case?

A) trial court
B) appellate court
C) constitutional court
D) U.S. District Court
E) International Criminal Court

Question 21

There are ________ federal judicial circuits.

A) eight
B) eleven
C) thirteen
D) twenty-seven
E) thirty-two

Question 22

The process of appointing judges to the federal courts is

A) not specifically discussed anywhere.
B) mentioned briefly in the Second Amendment.
C) discussed in detail in the Fourteenth Amendment.
D) stated clearly in Article II, section 2, of the Constitution.
E) is discussed in the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution.

Question 23

Which of the following Supreme Court justices did President Eisenhower refer to as the one of the two biggest mistake mistakes of his presidency?

A) Sandra Day O'Connor
B) Clarence Thomas
C) William Brennan
D) Warren Burger
E) Sandra Day O'Connor

Question 24

Recently, presidents have tried to sharpen their ability to predict the ideology of their Supreme Court appointments and improve their chances for Senate confirmation by

A) selecting candidates who are judges on the court of appeals.
B) selecting very liberal candidates.
C) selecting very conservative candidates.
D) selecting candidates who have political experience.
E) selecting candidates with no judicial experience.

Question 25

Recently, the judicial surveys submitted by the American Bar Association have been

A) not welcome either by Donald Trump or Joe Biden.
B) more welcome by the Republicans than the Democrats.
C) totally ignored by both parties.
D) biased in favor of Hispanics.
E) biased in favor of African Americans.

Question 26

Legislative courts are called Article I courts because they are established by Congress based
On Article I, Section ________, of the Constitution.

A) 1
B) 4
C) 6
D) 8
E) 10

Question 27

Senatorial courtesy is

A) a procedure by which senators are allowed a longer vacation than House members.
B) a procedure in which a president submits the names of judicial nominees to senators from the same political party who are also from the nominee's home state for their approval prior to a formal nomination.
C) the process of allowing senators to personally select judicial nominees.
D) the process of allowing individual senators to interview judicial nominees.
E) the process of allowing the House of Representatives to choose nominees.

Question 28

A president can make his or her greatest impact on the federal judicial system with the

A) justices appointed to the lower federal courts.
B) justices appointed to the Supreme Court.
C) senators appointed to the Senate Judicial Committee.
D) senators appointed to the American Bar Association's Survey Team.
E) justices appointed to the local court system.

Question 29

Under the Clinton administration

A) the number of African American judges was equal to the number of African American lawyers.
B) the number of African American judges appointed equaled 15 percent of Clinton's total appointments.
C) the number of African American judges sharply decreased.
D) African American judges were not to be found.
E) the number of African American judges was equal to the number of Hispanic lawyers.

Question 30

Even though the Supreme Court receives thousands of appeals each year, roughly

A) 10 percent are placed on the Court's docket.
B) 5 percent are placed on the Court's docket.
C) 1 percent are placed on the Court's docket.
D) 20 percent are placed on the Court's docket.
E) 15 percent are placed on the Court's docket.

Question 31

The overwhelming majority of cases appealed to the Supreme Court come from

A) lower federal courts.
B) state courts.
C) the World Court.
D) the state of New York.
E) the state of California.

Question 32

In Bush v. Gore, the U.S. Supreme Court

A) returned the decision making back to the Florida Supreme Court.
B) refused to hear the case.
C) ended the recount of Florida's votes and Bush won the presidency.
D) asked for a full recount of all Florida ballots.
E) demanded that there be a recount of the ballots in the 2000 national election.

Question 33

The rules for appealing a case to the Supreme Court have been determined by

A) congressional legislation.
B) the president.
C) the Justice Department.
D) the National Security Council.
E) the Solicitor General

Question 34

A writ of certiorari is

A) a discretionary notification by the Supreme Court that it is willing to review a case.
B) an official notification by the Supreme Court that it is not willing to review a case.
C) a memo to the Court from the president demanding that they review a case.
D) a memo to the Court from the House Judicial Committee declaring that they have accepted a case which does not fall within their original jurisdiction.
E) a means of determining which cases the Supreme Court will hear.

Question 35

The textbook notes that some observers of the Supreme Court believe that the "cert pool"

A) has become irrelevant.
B) has become something of a gatekeeper, in that it filters through the cases appealed to the Supreme Court to advise seven of the nine justices which cases are significant enough for review and which are not.
C) should be fired.
D) should be paid more money.
E) should be eliminated altogether.

Question 36

The rule of four means that

A) at least four law clerks must read a case prior to a writ of certiorari being issued.
B) at least four justices must be present at a hearing in order for a decision to be viable.
C) at least four justices must vote to hear a case and grant the petition for a writ of certiorari for a case to be reviewed.
D) at least four hearings must be held in the lower courts before the Supreme Court can review a case.
E) at least four votes must be taken before a final answer can be arrived at in the Supreme Court.

Question 37

Which of the following activities strengthens the power of the Supreme Court?

A) The Supreme Court can issue advisory opinions when the president is considering new legislation.
B) The Supreme Court can impeach members of Congress when they continually fail to acknowledge rulings.
C) The Supreme Court has near total discretion in choosing which cases to hear.
D) The Supreme Court can override the decisions of state courts.
E) The Supreme Court can impeach the president.

Question 38

Since the 1980s, the Supreme Court has been accepting

A) more cases.
B) fewer cases.
C) no cases dealing with economic issues.
D) no cases dealing with sexual discrimination.
E) no cases dealing with the death penalty.

Question 39

Which of the following does NOT explain why the Supreme Court is presently reviewing fewer cases?

A) risk aversion on the part of the law clerks
B) the abandonment of the "join 3" rule
C) The lower court justices and a majority of the Supreme Court justices hold similar ideological views.
D) fewer problems are being brought to the courts for resolution.
E) Cert pool law clerks reviewing the petitions are far less interested in taking cases.

Question 40

The solicitor general

A) represents the Congress before the Supreme Court.
B) represents the president before the Supreme Court.
C) represents the federal government before the Supreme Court.
D) represents the military before the Supreme Court.
E) represents the citizens involved in a case before the Supreme Court.

Question 41

Interest groups may lobby the Supreme Court via

A) the solicitor general.
B) petitions to their representatives in Congress.
C) amicus curiae briefs.
D) fund raising.
E) the President.

Question 42

The text notes that it may cost as much as _________ to bring a case before the Supreme Court.

A) $80,000
B) $37,000
C) $250,000
D) $500,000
E) $750,000

Question 43

Which president appointed Civil Rights attorney Thurgood Marshall ?

A) Harry Truman
B) Dwight Eisenhower
C) John Kennedy
D) Lyndon B. Johnson
E) Richard M. Nixon

Question 44

A controlling decision by four or less members of the Supreme Court that does not have full legal force is the

A) plurality opinion.
B) dissenting opinion.
C) concurring opinion.
D) majority opinion.
E) minority opinion.

Question 45

A decision by the Supreme Court that does not have full legal force is the

A) plurality opinion.
B) dissenting opinion.
C) concurring opinion.
D) majority opinion.
E) minority opinion.

Question 46

An unsigned, often unanimous, majority opinion is called a

A) plurality opinion.
B) per curiam opinion.
C) concurring opinion.
D) majority opinion.
E) dissenting opinion.

Question 47

Which of the following Chief Justices was known as "Super Chief"?

A) William Rehnquist
B) John Marshall
C) Earl Warren
D) Warren Burger
E) Thomas Reed.

Question 48

Appeals court judge Robert Bork was a

A) liberal.
B) moderate.
C) conservative.
D) person whose political views were unknown to anyone.
E) activist.

Question 49

In 1987 the Democratic-controlled judiciary committee defeated the Supreme Court nomination of

A) Robert Bork.
B) William Rehnquist.
C) Earl Warren.
D) Clarence Thomas.
E) Sandra Day O'Connor

Question 50

Brown v. Board of Education raised the issue of

A) religious freedom.
B) speech liberties.
C) media coverage activities.
D) desegregating public schools.
E) gay rights.

Question 51

Who are the real "tenth justices"?

A) law school professors
B) law school deans
C) the spouses of justices
D) law clerks
E) lawyers

Question 52

How often has the Senate rejected a Supreme Court appointment throughout history?

A) About 10%
B) About 40%.
C) Less than 15%.
D) About 30%.
E) About 20%.

Question 53

Which chief justice has had the most impact on the evolution of the Supreme Court's role in American democracy?

A) John Roberts, for his expressions of minimizing Court power.
B) John Marshall, for his creation of the judicial review power in Marbury v. Madison and support of judicial independence.
C) William Rehnquist, for his delicate balancing of a 5-4 Court.
D) Earl Warren for his expansion of rights in the 1960s
E) Sonia Sotomayor for becoming the first female Hispanic on the Supreme Court.

Question 54

What kind of judicial opinion enables a justice to agree with the majority but express a different reason for doing so?

A) Majority opinion.
B) Dissenting opinion.
C) Minority opinion.
D) Concluding opinion.
E) Concurring opinion.

Question 55

Which of the following is the first designated "seat" on the Supreme Court, filled by a specific ethnic, religious, or gender applicant?

A) The African American seat.
B) The female seat.
C) The Hispanic seat
D) The Catholic seat.
E) The Jewish seat.

Question 56

An appellate court differs from a trial court because

A) appellate judges rely on the Constitution as well as the laws.
B) the judges on that court have advanced law degrees.
C) appellate court judges have law clerks, trial judges do not.
D) appellate courts decide matters of law only, not fact.
E) appellate courts decide fact not matters of law.

Question 57

The power to interpret the meaning of laws and apply them to the facts of a case is called

A) judicial review.
B) statutory construction.
C) judicial interpretation.
D) judicial law-reading.
E) judicial restraint.

Question 58

President Trump's judicial appointments had a ____________impact on the judicial branch.

A) Very significant
B) Significant
C) Somewhat significant
D) Not very significant
E) Neutral

Question 59

Of the 83 judicial appointments President Donald Trump made by 2019, how many were African American?

A) Zero
B) One
C) Two
D) Twelve
E) Twenty-two

Question 60

Of the 83 judicial appointments President Donald Trump made by 2019, how many were Hispanic?

A) Zero
B) One
C) Two
D) Twelve
E) Twenty-two

Question 61

Marbury v. Madison provided the Court with the power to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional.

Question 62

One way in which the independence of the Supreme Court is established is through the Constitution's proclamation that there will be nine justices.

Question 63

Constitutional courts are courts that are mentioned in Article III, whose judges have life tenure.

Question 64

A federal court of appeals case dealt with by all of the judges in the entire circuit is called an en banc proceeding.

Question 65

William Rehnquist moved from being the most liberal justice to the most conservative member of his Court.

Question 66

The White House and Senate now use the American Bar Association in the judicial confirmation process?

Question 67

Sandra Day O'Connor is the only justice that has not been a "swing justice."

Question 68

Nearly all issues that make their way to the Supreme Court begin in the lower federal courts or state judicial systems.

Question 69

The framers outlined the nature of the federal judicial branch in Article I of the Constitution.

Question 70

The power of judicial review is the power of the federal courts to remove an elected official from office.

Question 71

Judicial review was invoked for the first time in the case of McCulloch v. Maryland (1803).

Question 72

The framers left it to Congress to be more specific about the organization and jurisdiction of the judiciary.

Question 73

The Judiciary Act of 1789 only pertained to the United States Supreme Court.

Question 74

Judicial review has been called the Court's ultimate power because it is absolute.

Question 75

Criminal cases always begin in federal court.

Question 76

Civil cases usually involve disputes between individuals over money and personal well-being.

Question 77

Chief Justice John Marshall only served for five years on the Supreme Court.

Question 78

There are nineteen federal appeals courts.

Question 79

The term en banc refers to appeals court proceedings in which all the judges in a particular circuit serve as a tribunal.

Question 80

Robert Bork was the first Supreme Court appointee to be unanimously confirmed by the judiciary committee.