Bio of SC Justices, judicial branch background

1. IN GENERAL, DO YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE THAT AN
INDIVIDUAL SHOULD HAVE A RIGHT TO HAVE A REGISTERED
HANDGUN AT HOME?
 If you agree-
 If you disagree…

2. WOULD YOU FAVOR OR OPPOSE A BAN IN YOUR
STATE ON ABORTIONS PERFORMED LATE IN THE
TERM OF A PREGNANCY (PARTIAL-BIRTH)?
 If you favor-
 If you oppose-

3. DO YOU AGREE THAT CORPORATIONS SHOULD BE ABLE TO
SPEND THEIR PROFITS ON TV ADS INFLUENCING VOTERS IN
ELECTIONS?
 If you agree…
If you disagree-

4. SHOULD NONCITIZENS SUSPECTED OF TERRORISM AND
DETAINED IN U.S. MILITARY PRISONS BE ABLE TO CHALLENGE
THEIR DETENTIONS IN THE U.S. CIVILIAN COURT SYSTEM?
YES…
NO…

5. SHOULD THE GOVERNMENT APPLY THE DEATH PENALTY FOR A
PERSON CONVICTED OF RAPING A CHILD?
 YES…
NO....

6. SHOULD A STATE BE ALLOWED TO SENTENCE TO LIFE IN
PRISON A PERSON UNDER 18 CONVICTED OF BURGLARY?
 Yes…
 No…

7. THE JUDICIAL BRANCH

8.  Sesame Street

9. SOURCES OF AMERICAN LAW
 Common Law
 As a way to unite the country under Norman rule, 11th century
English Kings established courts.
 Courts used Year Books as a way to record important decisions
from year to year.
 Judges used these Year Books as a guide for similar cases
 This judicial process has evolved over time but is essentially the
same today and is known as “common law”.

10. CIVIL LAW VS. CRIMINAL LAW
 Laws can be classified in two ways:
 Civil Law
 Cases between persons or between citizens and their government
 ex: business contracts
 The object of these cases is to obtain compensation – usually money
 Criminal Law
 Deals with crimes committed against the public as a whole.
 The government seeks to impose a penalty on a person suspected of
violating a criminal law.
 Ex: robbery of a gas station or murder

11. ESTABLISHMENT OF JUDICIAL BRANCH
 Article III of the Constitution
 Marbury v. Madison
 1sttime the Supreme Court declared something
"unconstitutional”
 Established the concept of judicial review in the U.S.
 Idea that courts may oversee and nullify the actions of
another branch of government
 Helped define the “checks and balances of
the American form of government.

12. STRUCTURE OF FEDERAL COURT
SYSTEM
 3 Tiered
 U.S. district courts
 Trial courts
 Testimony by each side, Jury or Judges decide on result
 U.S. courts of appeals
 Appellate courts (aka: circuit court of appeals)
 13 appellate courts located in judicial circuits throughout the country
 Do not hear testimony or examine evidence. Instead, they review
the lower courts decision and determine if mistakes were made.
 U.S. Supreme Court

17. SUPREME
COURT
 Top of the Judicial Branch
in the Federal Government.
 Final say in all matters
dealing with the United
States Constitution.
 9 Justices on Supreme
Court
 Justices hold office during
good behavior
 On the court until they die
or retire

18. SUPREME
COURT
 Generally Supreme
Court hears fewer than
100 cases per year
 How do you bring a case
before the Supreme
Court?
 Writ of Certiorari
 Order sent by Supreme to a
lower court requesting record
of the case in question
 Remember Gideon?

19. SUPREME
COURT
 Opinions Written on Case:
 Unanimous Opinion:
 All of the judges agree and one
opinion for court is written
 Majority Opinion:
 Opinion written when only most
judges are in agreement
 Concurring Opinion:
 Written when justice wants to
emphasize specific point
 Dissenting Opinion:
 Written when one justice disagrees
with majority decision

20. JOHN ROBERTS
 Chief Justice
 Appointed by George
W. Bush.
 Took his seat on High
Court on 9/25/05.
 Graduate of Harvard
and Harvard Law
 Born 1/27/55
 Right leaning….

21. CHIEF JUSTICE DUTIES ROBERTS COURT
 Chancellor of the  Pretty conservative
Smithsonian  Non-judicial
 Non-judicial
 Generally seen as pro-
 Leads the Judicial free speech
Conference of the US-  Recently challenged
makes court rules  “protects speech that it likes,
 Gives Oath of Office at allows regulation of speech
it disfavors”
Presidential inaugurations
 Snyder v. Phelps- ruled in
favor of Westboro, Phelps
(2010)

22. SAMUEL ANTHONY ALITO JR.
 Associate Justice.
 Appointed by George
W. Bush
 Took his seat on the
High Court on 1/31/06.
 Graduate of Princeton
and Yale Law.
 Born 4/1/50
 Right leaning…

23. ANTONIN SCALIA
 Associate Justice
 Appointed by Ronald
Reagan.
 Took his seat on the High
Court on 9/26/86.
 Graduate of Georgetown
and Harvard Law.
 Born 3/11/36.
 RIGHT leaning….

24. ANTHONY KENNEDY
 Associate Justice
 Appointed by Ronald
Reagan.
 Took his seat on the High
Court on 2/18/88.
 Graduated from Stanford
and Harvard Law.
 Born 7/23/36.
 Moderate….

25. CLARENCE THOMAS
 Associate Justice
 Appointed by
George HW Bush.
 Took his seat on the
High Court on
10/23/91.
 Graduate of Holy
Cross and Yale Law
 Born 6/23/48.
 RIGHT leaning….

26. RUTH BADER GINSBURG
 Associate Justice
 Appointed by
William Clinton.
 Took her seat on the
High Court on
8/10/93.
 Graduate of Cornell
and Columbia Law.
 Born 3/15/33.
 LEFT leaning….

27. STEPHEN BREYER
 Associate Justice.
 Appointed by William
Clinton.
 Took his seat on the
High Court on 8/3/94
 Graduate of Stanford
and Harvard Law.
 Born 8/15/38.
 LEFT leaning….

28. ELENA KAGAN
 Associate Justice.
 Appointed By
BarackObama.
 Took her seat on the
High Court on 8/7/10.
 Graduate of
Princeton, Oxford and
Harvard Law.
 Born 4/28/60.
 Left leaning….

29. SONIA SOTOMAYOR
 Associate Justice
 Appointed by Barack
Obama
 Took her seat on the
High Court on 9/08/2009.
 Graduate of Princeton
and Yale Law
 Born 6/25/1954.
 Left leaning….

30. RELATIONS WITH THE EXECUTIVE
 Obama’s 2010 SOTU
 Criticized the Supreme Court
 Alito seen frowning, mouthing “not true”
 Roberts commented- “one branch of government
standing up, literally surrounding the Supreme
Court…while the court, according to the requirements of
protocal, has to sit there expressionless, I think is very
troubling.

31. AVERAGE DEMOGRAPHICS
 Wealthy, upper class
 Not Sotomayor, Thomas
Highly educated, experienced
No age limit
Religious differences
Usually white males

33. MORSE V. FREDERICK, 2007
 2002: Olympic Torch Relay
 Alaskan 18 y.o. Joseph Frederick-
 BONG HITS 4 JESUS banner across the street from his high
school.
 HS Principal Morse suspended him 10 days
 Frederick- sues a civil rights lawsuit- constitutional right of free
speech violated.
 1. Suit dismissed by federal district court
 Tinker precedent- defined student rights
 2. 9th Court of Appeals reverses- said his speech rights
WERE violated.
 Can school regulate off-school speech? No!

34.  Several groups filed amici
curiae in support of Frederick
(the student)
 ACLU
 Center for Individual Rights,
National Coalition against
Censorhip, Students for
Sensible Drug Policy
 Also some Christian right
groups (if schools banned
“offensive” speech they could
ban religious speech if
administrators disagree)

35.  School board petitioned to the Supreme Court-
 3. SC decides to hear the case in 2006.
 The school board-
 School message is anti-drug
 Student argues-
 Torch relay not school sponsored
 Did not step on school property before unrolling the banner
 The message was purely humorous
 Did not disrupt anything.

36.  Supreme Court- School officials did NOT violate
1st Amendment.
 School speech should apply- his speech was at a
school event
 Speech promoted illegal drug use
 A principal can legally restrict this speech (based on
other precedents)
 Ruling: First Amendment does not prevent
educators from suppressing student speech ad
a school-supervised event that promotes illegal
drug usage
 Lawyer: This is a case about free speech.
 Roberts: This is a case about money. Your
client wants money from the principal
personally.

37.  Dissent-
 Justices John Paul Stevens, Souter,
Ginsburg-
 Violence to the 1st Amendment
 Cannot regulate speech because it
refers to drugs
 Cannot use censorship
 Brought up legalizing marijuana
 “surely our national experience with
alcohol should…suggest that it
would be better to tax and regulate
marijuana than to persevere in a
futile effort to ban its use entirely.”