American Politics Today - Essentials (3rd Ed)

STUDY GUIDE|^387

SUMMARY

The Court makes decisions based on legal factors, such as

legal precedent and informal legal norms, and political fac-

tors, such as the justices’ own ideologies and position on the

role that the Court plays in government. Though the Court

does not consult public opinion the way elected offi cials do,

most of its decisions generally stay in step with the views of

the public.

KEY TERMS

strict construction (p. 379)

living Constitution (p. 379)

judicial restraint (p. 380)

judicial activism (p. 380)

CRITICAL THINKING AND DISCUSSION

Should unelected judges have the ability to overturn laws

passed by the elected branches? If so, should there be any

mechanism for political accountability?

PRACTICE QUIZ QUESTIONS

12. The perspective that when the Constitution is not
    clear, the justices should be guided by what the Found-
    ers wanted is called _____.
    a) judicial activism
    b) strict construction
    c) original intent
    d) attitudinalist approach
    e) interpretive statute
    13. Advocates of argue that the Court must
    defer to the elected branches and not strike down their
    laws.
    a) judicial restraint
    b) judicial activism
    c) judicial limitation
    d) legal maximization
    e) the strategic model
    14. In general, the Court challenges with
    the elected branches and often to act on
    “political questions.”
    a) avoids; agrees
    b) avoids; refuses
    c) pursues; agrees
    d) pursues; refuses

S PRACTICE ONLINE

“Big Think” video exercise: The Challenge of Constitu-

tional Interpretation

SUPREME COURT DECISION MAKING

E Analyze the factors that infl uence Supreme Court decisions. Pages 3 7 8 – 8 2

SUGGESTED READING

Baum, Lawrence. Judges and Their Audiences: A Perspective on

Judicial Behavior. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,

2006.

Cornell University Law School, Supreme Court Collection, http://

supct/law.cornell.edu/supct.

Eisgruber, Christopher L. Constitutional Self-Government.

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001.

Hansford, Thomas G., and James F. Spriggs II. The Politics of

Precedent on the U.S. Supreme Court. Princeton, NJ: Princeton

University Press, 2006.

Northwestern University, Oyez: Supreme Court Multimedia,

http://www.oyez.org.

O’Brien, David M. Storm Center: The Supreme Court in American

Politics. 9th ed. New York: Norton, 2011.

Rosen, Jeff rey. The Most Democratic Branch: How the Courts

Serve America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Sunstein, Cass R., David Schkade, Lisa M. Ellman, and Andres

Sawicki. Are Judges Political? An Empirical Analysis of the

Federal Judiciary. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution

Press, 2006.

Tushnet, Mark. A Court Divided: The Rehnquist Court and the

Future of Constitutional Law. New York: Norton, 2006.

U.S. Supreme Court website, http://www.supremecourt.gov.