14.1 - Selecting Cases at the Supreme Court

Which usually contributes the smallest number of cases heard by the Supreme Court each session?

• appeals through state court systems

• appeals on cases involving businesses

• appeals through federal court system

• cases of original jurisdiction

What is the power of judicial review?

• It is the power of the Senate to confirm nominations to fill vacancies on the Supreme Court.

• It is the power to decide if a law is unconstitutional.

• It is the power of the president to nominate a person to fill a vacant seat on the Supreme Court.

• It is the right of a defendant to petition the Supreme Court to review the ruling of a lower court.

What role does the solicitor general fill at the Supreme Court?

• He or she decides which cases are argued before the Court.

• He or she is charged with gathering and summarizing the petitions to the Court for the justices.

• He or she is assigned to represent any defendant who cannot afford legal representation.

• He or she often represents the government in cases before the Court.

What is a writ of certiorari?

• It is a person who reviews petitions to the Supreme Court.

• It is a ruling that declares a law or policy unconstitutional.

• It is an order to a lower court to send up the records of a case

• It is a ruling on a law that has not yet been challenged in court.

What is an advisory opinion?

• It is an unwritten rule declaring how many justices must agree to hear a case before it is scheduled for agreement.

• It is a ruling on a law or action that has not yet been challenged in court.

• It is a written brief claiming to have information useful to a court's consideration of a case.

• It is an order from the Supreme Court to a lower court to send up the records on a case for review.

What is the rule of four?

• an informal rule that the executive branch picks four cases to be heard by the Court each session

• an informal agreement that the Court will hear a case if four of the nine justices agree it should be heard

• an unwritten rule that the Court hears four cases each week during its 20-week session

• a constitutional requirement that at least four justices that must be present to hear Court cases

What do Supreme Court justices look for when deciding which cases to hear?

• cases where lower courts have made errors

• cases with new evidence

• cases where lower courts have consistently decided the same issue the same way

• cases where lower courts are inconsistently applying federal laws

Supreme Court clerks

• review all petitions submitted to the Court and provide summaries and recommendations the justices.

• write the petitions for a writ of certiorari.

• write the advisory opinions for the Court.

• record the transcripts of testimony given in Court hearings.

Which is included in the Supreme Court's original jurisdiction?

• cases appealed from a state's supreme court

• cases appealed from a lower federal court

• cases approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee

• cases involving representatives of foreign governments

What is the role of the Supreme Court?

• to resolve disputes over the meaning of federal laws and the U.S. Constitution

• to prevent errors in cases tried in lower courts

• to carry out laws passed by Congress

• to establish qualifications for practicing law in the United States