The Courts

1
The Courts
2
Dual Court System
3
Judicial Review

• Marbury v Madison
• 2 questions surround its use
• When/how often to use this power?
• How closely do you follow the framers intent?

4
Judicial Philosophy

• Judicial Activism
• The courts should play an active role in
  policy-making equal to the other branches
• Minority rights
• Brown v Board of Education Bush v Gore Roe v
  Wade
• Judicial Restraint
• Avoid striking down laws unless they clearly
  violate a specific section of the Constitution
• Majority rule

5
Original Intent

• Strict Constructionists
• Follow precedent the Constitution to the letter
  
• Only concerned about what the framers meant when
  they wrote it
• similar to strict constructionists of the Bible
• Broad Constructionists
• Should consider other factors modern issues
• Constitution was meant to be flexible (thats why
  its so vague)
• McCulloch v MD
• Griswold v CT
• Lawrence v Texas (2003)

6
Summary of the Courts

• Extremely powerful body
• Sometimes its hard to pin down judges on these
  issues
• Lot of politics surrounding the selection of
  judges, especially for the Supreme Court