POL 201: Intro' To American Politics

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POL 201 Intro. To American Politics

• Professor Casey Klofstad

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Last Time Bureaucracy

• Bureaucracy puts laws into action
• 100s of different organizations
• Staffing is political
• Bureaucracy constrained by others
• e.g., Congress, president, citizens
• Bureaucracies face many problems
• many bosses, difficult tasks, etc

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Lecture 16 The Courts

• The role of the judicial branch
• Structure of the court system
• state and federal
• The Supreme Court
• judicial review statutory interpretation
• Constraints/checks on judicial power

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Role of The Courts

• Origin Constitution (Art. 3) is vague
• just establishes The Supreme Court and gives
  Congress power to make more federal courts
• Function check the other branches
• interpret The Constitution and the law

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2 Tracks Through the Court System Criminal
Civil
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Structure of the US Judicial System
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State Courts

• 99 of cases originate on state level
• Organization trial courts, appeals Courts, and
  State Supreme Court
• Selection of Judges mostly by elections on the
  state level
• is this desirable?

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Federal Courts

• When is a case federal, not state?
• constitutional issues federal law when
  government is involved (state or federal)
• Organization district courts, courts of appeal,
  Supreme Court
• most work done at the district level

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The Federal Circuit Court System
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The Entire US Federal Court System
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Selection of Federal Judges

• All federal judges are
• appointed by the president (no elections)
• life-time appointment
• Appointments need to be approved by the Senate
• e.g., senatorial courtesy for district courts,
  senior Senator from the state where the judge
  will work must approve

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Why a Non-Political Judiciary?

• Ideally, we want a judiciary that Is separate
  from the other 2 branches
• life-time tenure and no elections shelters judges
  from politics
• BUT court decisions can reflect the ideology of
  the president that appointed the judge

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Supreme Court Granting Cert

• Writ of Certiorari when the Supreme Court
  agrees to hear a case
• need 4 of the 9 Justices to agree
• Granted less than 1 of the time
• When is it granted then?
• important constitutional issues when lower
  contorts are in conflict

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Supreme Court Procedure

• Justices hear from both sides, and from other
  interested parties (amicus curiae)
• Majority Opinion is issued
• dissenting and concurring opinions also issued
• Case is remanded to lower court

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Selection of SC Judges

• Same as other federal judges
• appointment for life senate confirmation
• The confirmation process has become more
  contentious/political
• borking
• stealth candidates

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What do Judges Do?

• Judicial Review interpret the constitution
• Statutory Interpretation interpret laws passed
  by the legislature

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Judicial Review

• Power to declare a law null and void on the basis
  that it violates The Constitution
• NOT in The Constitution
• BUTArticle VI says The Constitution is the
  supreme law of the land

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Marbury v. Madison (1803)

• New president refused to approve appointments
  made by his predecessor
• One of these appointees sued to get his job based
  on a law called the Judiciary Act of 1789
• SC exercises judicial review by ruling that the
  Judiciary Act is unconstitutional

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Structure of the US Judicial System
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Power of Judicial Review

• New law trumps old law
• Law of higher level of government trumps law on
  lower level
• U.S. Constitution trumps all other laws

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Original-Intent

• Make decisions based on the desires of the
  framers
• look at Constitution and other historical
  documents (e.g., Federalist Papers)
• Role of court limited
• constrained by what is determined to be the
  intent of the framers

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Living-Constitution

• Idea that original-intent is too rigid
• So instead, interpret The Constitution in light
  of how the world works today
• Role of Court strong
• relies on the justices own experiences

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Plain-Meaning

• Idea that experiential is subjective
• So instead, interpret The Constitution only based
  on what the text Says
• Simple method, but The Constitution is vague and
  incomplete

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Statutory

• If a law is constitutional, determine how to
  implement/enforce it
• Interpretation based on intent of Congress
• BUT laws are vaguedetermining intent can be
  difficult and subjective

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Checks on The Judiciary

• Constitutional amendments
• Statutory revision
• Nonimplementation
• Stare Decisis (aka precedent)
• Court is reactive, not proactive
• Court decisions typically reflect the mood of the
  times

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POL 201 Intro. To American Politics

• Professor Casey Klofstad