Ch. 18 Government

One weakness of the Articles of Confederation was that

• it established a dual court system
• it did not provide for a national judiciary
• Congress could create only a few lower courts
• the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court was not defined

About 80% of all federal cases are

• heard in inferior courts called district courts
• appealed to courts of appeals or to the Supreme Court
• criminal cases, not civil cases
• first tired in the State court system

The Supreme Court is also called the High Court MAINLY because

• it has more power than the executive or legislative branches
• it is the uppermost court in that nation's judicial system
• it can decide issues involving the President or Congress
• its decisions determine what is kept in the Constitution

The term of office for federal judges is determined by

• the Constitution
• Congress
• the Department of Justice
• the President

Judges of the constitutional courts are appointed

• for terms varying from four to eight years
• for 12-year terms
• for 15-year terms
• for life

Which federal court or courts hear the greatest number of cases?

• district courts
• court of appeals
• the Supreme Court
• the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

Which was NOT a reason for establishing national courts?

• Laws were being applied differently in different places
• Disputes between States were decided in only one State
• Decisions made in one State were ignored in other States
• No court system existed to handle issues of law

The MOST IMPORTANT reason that the US needed a national court system was that

• laws in the Constitution are not clearly stated
• Congress had too much power to interpret laws
• people were ignoring the decisions of the State courts
• each State was interpreting laws for itself

Special courts differ from constitutional courts in that they

• exercise the broadest judicial power of the US
• make decisions that cannot be appealed to other courts
• deal with specific, limited ranges of law
• hear only local cases

The phrase that the Constitution "means what the judges say it means", refers to

• original jurisdiction
• the power of judicial review
• executive jurisdiction
• the right to us writ of certiorari