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Chapter 15: The Federal Judiciary

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Flash Cards

Practice Quiz

Critical Thinking and Learning Exercises

  1. Using the Oyez website, http://www.oyez.org/cases/2012, choose a case from the docket and answer the questions listed at the end of the summary. Who were some of the interest groups or other entities that provided amicus briefs in this case?
  2. Using the Oyez website, http://www.oyez.org/courts/robt6, and using the most recent makeup of the Roberts Court, investigate each of the biographies of each member of the Court. Ideologically, how would you classify each of these members?
  3. Using the following website, http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL31171.pdf, what are some of the factors that lead to a Supreme Court nominee either not being nominated or withdrawing from the nomination process? Research five nominees and indicate the conflict that may have caused them to be rejected or to withdraw.
  4. Research the current makeup of the Supreme Court and the federal appellate courts. Which presidents have appointed the most women and which have appointed the most racial minorities?

    http://judicialnominations.org/statistics

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States

Links to further Resources

The U.S. Supreme Court

http://www.supremecourt.gov/

The official website of the U.S. Supreme Court.

SCOTUSblog

http://www.scotusblog.com/

SCOTUSblog provides live, real-time reporting of Supreme Court hearings as they happen and offers analysis of decisions and opinions as they are made. 

Empirical Legal Studies Blog

http://www.elsblog.org/

Like the Monkey Cage blog, this is another website founded by and run by political scientists. The bloggers on this site seek to bring legal scholarship and empirical political science research together and promote greater dialogue between scholars who are focused on judicial and legal research.

The Oyez Project

http://www.oyez.org/

The Oyez Project of the Chicago-Kent College of Law is a multimedia archive devoted to documenting the work of the Supreme Court. The site strives to be “a complete and authoritative source for all audio recorded in the Court since the installation of a recording system in October 1955.”

The Supreme Court: A PBS Documentary Series

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/about/index.html

This four-part miniseries provides an in-depth historical analysis of the Supreme Court and the important decisions it has made, particularly since the 1930s. All four episodes are readily available for viewing from this website.