Fri 11/18
- Test on Monday 11/28 on Chapter 16
- Essay #3 due Monday 11/28. Prompt: “In Federalist No. 78, Alexander Hamilton claimed the judiciary would be the “least dangerous branch.” Was Hamilton right or wrong? Has the Court become too powerful? Or has it been too weak? “
- Chapter 16 Worksheet with Learning Objectives also due on Monday 11/28. For your test, make sure you carefully review and understand the 6 Learning Objectives stated in this worksheet. You will also need to know the decision and legal concepts behind the cases of Dred Scott v. Sanford, Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, Tinker v. Des Moines, New Jersey v. TLO.
- Make sure you study all your vocab words. The review is here.
- Answer to Multiple choice questions on your outline is here. The following could be your exam essay topics:
- what is original intent and what effect does it have on Supreme Court’s decisions?
- what is the principle of stare decisis? How and why is its used connected to the legitimacy of the courts?
- what are some major arguments for or against judicial activism?
- how do cases get heard by the Supreme Court? What impact do these cases have? Give examples.
Thu 11/17 – Judicial Activism
- What is judicial activism? Watch it video 1, video 2
- Understand Why Some Groups are Fighting Judicial Activism. Watch it here.
- A Message from the Judicial Action Group (JAG) Stopping the Nomination of Goodwin Liu to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
- Prof Goodwin Liu was nominated by President Obama to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. However, Republicans in the Senate regards Mr. Liu as a would be “activist” judge. Watch Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) questioning Goodwin Liu at his confirmation hearing (A second video is here). In the end, Senate Republicans filibustered Liu’s nomination, causing him to withdraw. Liu is now on the Supreme Court of California after being nominated by Governor Brown.
Wed 11/16 – Decision Making in the Supreme Court
Landmark case New Jersey v. TLO (1985)
Tue 11/15 – Decision Making in the Supreme Court
Landmark case Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)
Mon 11/14 – Decision Making in the Supreme Court
- Test on Chapter 16 this Friday 11/18
- How the Supreme Court makes its decision? Does it always follow its precedents or overruled them? Your book indicated that the Court had overturned its own precedents more than 200 times. Here is a famous case of Brown v. Board of Education. Here is the discussion of this case.
- The nature of dissent in the Supreme Court. Watch it here.
- What is judicial interpretation? How does the Supreme Court interprets the Constitution. Watch it here.
- The debate over original intention. Watch Justice Scalia’s discuss of why he believes the Constitution is dead.
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