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How the Supreme Court Works (Who Appoints the Justices? (The President…
How the Supreme Court Works
Who Appoints the Justices?
The President nominates someone for a vacancy that has come open.
The Senate confirms the nomination and the new justice is appointed.
Justices serve for life and cannot have their salaries reduced or increased.
No constitutional age requirements to become a Justice.
Supreme Court @ Work
Has original Jurisdiction over cases involving: Disputes between two or more states, disputes between a state and the federal government, and diplomatic representatives of other nations.
Supreme Court is not required to hear an appeal.
Most petitioners request a
writ of certiorari.
The Supreme Court can have a writ denied by the Solicitor General. The Solicitor General also files the briefs by both groups of lawyers.
Groups that are affected by a case but are not involved directly are granted permission to file
amicus curiae
briefs. Interest groups usually are given these briefs.
Oral Arguments
Most dramatic part stage of the Supreme Court
Arguments are heard before the Justices for a time limit of 30 minutes.
During arguments, lawyers seldom have the chance to make prepared speeches. Rather, justices interrupt them to ask questions about the case.
Some people are allowed to watch/view the case proceedings but there are very few seats in the Supreme Court.
These people are seated on a "first-come, first-served" basis.
Preparing and Announcing Decisions
There are three main kinds of opinions that the Court may issue in a case:
Majority opinion
reflects the views of the majority of the Court.
Concurring Opinion
agrees with the majority
outcome
but disagrees with all or part of the
grounds
stated in the majority opinion. The final opinion is the
Dissenting Opinion
disagrees with the one reached by the majority and explains the grounds for dissent.
A different version is also the
plurality decision
in which the justices agree on a certain result but disagree on the grounds for the decision. In such instances the Court will issue no majority opinion, only a series of separate opinions in which justices explain the reasons for their votes.
When the chief justice votes with the majority of the justices, he or she decides who will draft the Court's opinion. Otherwise, the most senior justice voting with the majority makes the assignment. The chosen justice writes a draft opinion and circulates it among the other justices for comment. The other eight justices review the opinion & can endorse-or refuse to endorse-the draft depending on certain changes.
Most justices place great weight on
stare decisis,
or upholding precedents set by earlier courts. Conservative justices tend to disagree with the case of
Roe v. Wade
because they disagree with abortion.
What is Judicial Review?
Decided in the landmark case
Marbury
v.
Madison.
The Supreme Court has the authority to declare a law or executive action unconstitutional if they believe that it violates the law.