UNIT 2: American Law



UNIT 5: Judicial System, Civil Liberties

and Civil Rights

Reading Questions

Chapter 10: The Judiciary

Chapter 5: Civil Liberties

Chapter 6: Civil Rights

REMEMBER: START YOUR READING QUESTIONS WITH A DIALECTIC RESPONSE SECTION (THE ARENA!)---IT SHOULD BE A BOX THE SIZE OF ¼ OF A PAGE. USE THIS TO ‘DIALOGUE’ WITH THE READING (ASK QUESTIONS, MAKE COMMENTS, GIVE OPINONS, ADD INSIGHTS, DON’T SUMMARIZE WHAT YOU READ)

Chapter 10: The Judiciary (p. 334-373)

Introduction: The Judiciary

1. How did the Roberts Court differ from the Rehnquist Court?

2. Describe the power of the courts in 1800?

Roots of the Federal Judiciary

3. What were the framers’ view of the judiciary?

4. What checks on the power of the judiciary are included in the Constitution?

5. What is judicial review?

6. Read “The Living Constitution” on page 339. Do you think Chief Justice Roberts is right in saying judges are underpaid? Explain.

7. What did the Judiciary Act of 1789 do?

8. Describe each of the 3 tiers of the federal court system.

9. Describe some of the early problems of the court.

10. What’s the connection between the Supreme Court decision in Chisholm vs. Georgia and the 11th Amendment?

11. Why are John Marshall and “his” court significant?

The American Legal System

12. Recreate the chart on page 346 in a way so that you fully understand how cases progress through the federal court system.

13. What is the difference between original jurisdiction and appellate jurisdiction?

14. What is the difference between criminal and civil law?

The Federal Court System

15. How many district courts are there? How many US Court of Appeals?

16. What cases are typically heard in federal district courts?

17. What is a brief?

18. How is the concept of stare decisis important in establishing the consistency of law?

19. What is the duty and function of the US Supreme Court?

20. Since President’s appoint judges for the federal judiciary, they can greatly influence the make-up of the court. Use the last column on the chart on page 351 to determine the average percentage of judgeships filled by the last 8 presidents. Which president filled the highest percentage of judgeships?

21. What is senatorial courtesy? With close to 900 federal judgeships, why is it helpful for the president to use it?

22. What are the six criteria presidents should consider when making a selection to the Supreme Court?

23. Describe the steps to getting a Supreme Court appointee confirmed by the Senate.

The Supreme Court Today

24. Give two reasons why many Americans know next to nothing about the Supreme Court?

25. On average, how many cases get decided each year by the Supreme Court? How many get filed?

26. Which cases does the Supreme Court choose to hear?

27. What is the rule of four?

28. Although the title is lowly what does a Supreme Court clerk do? Where do they come from prior to becoming a clerk?

29. What is the duty of the solicitor general?

30. What is an amicus curiae brief? How does the solicitor general submit these?

31. Why don’t cases arrive to the Supreme Court’s doorstep as “orphans in the night”?

32. What is litigation? (THIS WORD HAS SHOWN UP TWICE IN THE PAST SIX YEARS ON THE FREE RESPONSE SECTION OF AP EXAM!) What role do interest groups play in helping cover the high cost of litigation?

33. Describe the 3 major steps of a Supreme Court case once it has been accepted for review.

34. Why are written opinions of the court important in future cases?

35. What is a concurring opinion? What is a dissenting opinion?

Judicial Philosophies and Decision Making

36. Describe the philosophy of judicial restraint.

37. Describe the philosophy of judicial activism.

38. Which do you agree with? Why?

39. How is Brown vs. Board of Education used to defend judicial activism?

40. Summarize the role public opinion plays on the court.

41. How many federal laws have been declared unconstitutional?

42. What does Andrew Jackson’ quote (“John Marshall has made his decision, now let him go enforce it”) tell us about the challenge of implementing court decisions as public policy?

43. How can the photo on page 372 happen after June 2000?

Chapter 5: Civil Liberties (p. 152-189)

Introduction: Civil Liberties

1. What did the Supreme Court’s ruling in DC vs. Heller clarify?

2. Describe the difference between civil liberties and civil rights?

3. Often civil liberties cases are decided by the judiciary. In these cases the court must decide the balance between an individual seeking to exercise ___________and the government seeking to keep____________.

Roots of Civil Liberties: The Bill of Rights

4. Describe the political process that led to the adoption of the Bill of Rights.

5. What’s the purpose of the 9th and 10th amendments?

6. In the Gitlow vs. NY case the Supreme Court noted that the states must comply wit the ____ Amendment because of the due process clause of the _____Amendment.

7. Explain the incorporation doctrine.

8. What is selective incorporation?

9. In which decade were the most Bill of Rights incorporated?

First Amendment Guarantees: Freedom of Religion

10. Describe in your own words the two clauses of the 1st amendment that deal with religion.

11. Describe the Lemon Test’s three parts.

12. Make a t-chart describing what the government can and can’t do in terms of religion.

13. Why are illegal drugs, snake handling (dang!) and polygamy banned and not considered OK under the Free Exercise clause?

First Amendment Guarantees: Freedom of Speech, Press, Assembly, and Petition

14. What is prior restraint? How did the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 run counter to them?

15. How was ol’ Honest Abe an unconstitutional tyrant?

16. What test did Schneck vs US create? Why is the historical context important?

17. What types of symbolic speech have been protected?

18. Personal Question: Should hate speech (racial slurs, Nazi flags, holocaust denials) be allowed as free speech? Explain.

19. Recreate and complete:

|Type of Unprotected Speech |What is it? |Example/Case |

|Libel/Slander | | |

|Fighting Words | | |

|Obscenity | | |

The Second Amendment: The Right to Keep and Bare Arms

20. What did the Brady Bill and the Assault Weapons ban do? Which is still in effect?

The Rights of Criminal Defendants

21. Define:

a. writs of habeas corpus

b. ex post facto laws

c. bills of attainder

22. Summarize (completely) the guidelines the Supreme Court had given in regards to how police can search individuals.

23. How does the Miranda ruling relate to the 5th Amendment?

24. In Mapp vs. Ohio, did the Warren Court side with deterring police misconduct or preventing the guilty from going free? Explain.

25. Outline and explain the rights granted in the 6th Amendment.

26. Which is the only western nation that allows the death penalty?

27. What did Furman vs. Georgia establish? Did this last?

28. Read “Join the Debate” on page 178-9. Where do you stand on the issue? Why?

29. Although not specifically listed in the Constitution, the Supreme Court has ruled that individuals also have a right to privacy. What parts of the Bill of Rights suggest this right to privacy?

30. How did Griswold vs. Connecticut beget (cause) Roe vs. Wade?

31. Summarize Justice Blackmun’s decision in Roe vs. Wade.

32. Summarize the post Roe history of abortion in the US, making sure to cover Planned Parenthood of SE Pennsylvania vs. Casey.

33. How has the court dealt with the right to privacy in the case of homosexuality? The right to die?

Toward Reform: Civil Liberties and Combating Terrorism

34. Do you think O’Connor/Sabato support the Patriot Act? Why/why not?

35. Describe the 4 key provisions of the Patriot Act in terms of the 4th Amendment?

36. How have due process rights been curtailed during the War on Terror?

Chapter 6: Civil Rights (p. 192-231)

Introduction: Civil Liberties

1. According to O’Connor/Sabato how has the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice change during the Bush presidency?

2. What are civil rights?

Roots of Suffrage, 1800-1890

3. How were women second-class citizens in the mid 1800s?

4. How did Uncle Tom’s Cabin affect the abolition movement?

5. How was the 13th Amendment stifled by the Black Codes in the recently readmitted southern states?

6. What happened to the Civil Rights Act of 1866?

7. What were the key components of the 14th Amendment? Why did women’s group oppose it?

8. How did the civil rights cases of 1883 strengthen Jim Crow laws?

9. How did southern states exclude African-Americans from voting?

The Push for Equality, 1890-1954

10. Why is Plessy vs. Ferguson considered the Supreme Court’s darkest hour?

11. Justify: Separate but equal is only partly accurate to describe the accommodations of African-Americans in public places.

12. Who are the NAACP and NAWSA?

13. Describe 3 issues promoted by women’s groups during the Progressive Era.

14. What was the suffrage movement? When/how did it succeed?

15. Describe the NAACP strategy for attacking Jim Crow.

16. How did the case involving the University of Missouri spur the creation of LDF?

17. How did the University of Oklahoma accommodate George McLaurin and meet the stipulations of Plessy vs.Ferguson?

18. How did President Truman promote civil rights?

19. Detail the arguments of the LDF in the Brown case. Were these all legal arguments?

20. What was the decision of the court in Brown vs. Board of Education?

The Civil Rights Movement

21. How did Gov. Orval Faubus respond to Brown II? How did President Eisenhower respond to Faubus?

22. What happened in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955-56?

23. Compare SCLC and SNCC. Make sure to compare the composition of the groups.

24. How did Emmitt Till’s death accelerate the civil rights movement?

25. What are three factors/events that led to the passing of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964?

26. What are the main tenets of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

27. What is the difference between de jure discrimination and de facto discrimination?

28. What has been the recent trend of the Supreme Court’s rulings in regards to forced busing?

The Women’s Rights Movement

29. What was the ERA? What happened to it? Why?

30. Which types of cases get the strictest of scrutiny before the court?

31. What did Reed vs Reed establish? Who argued that case before the Supreme Court?

32. What are three gender-based practices that are not ok according to the Court’s interpretation of the 14th Amendment? What are three that are ok?

33. What did Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 do?

Other Groups Mobilize for Rights

34. Summarize MALDEF’s litigation.

35. How are American Indian Tribes a unique minority group according to the law?

36. What did Korematsu vs. US support? How did the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 try to rectify Korematsu?

37. What successes have gay and lesbian Americans obtained legally?

38. What happened to the proposed constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage?

39. What did the Americans with Disabilities Act do?

Toward reform: Civil Rights, Affirmative Action and Pay Equity

40. What is affirmative action?

41. What was the result of the Bakke vs. UC Regents and Grutter vs. Bollinger cases?

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