The U.S. Supreme Court

1. The U.S. Supreme Court

2. The U.S. Supreme Court • The Supreme Court of the United States was established pursuant to Article III of the United States Constitution in 1789 as the highest federal court in the United States. • It has ultimate (and largely discretionary) appellate jurisdiction over all federal courts & over state court cases involving issues of federal law, plus original jurisdiction over a small range of cases. • In the legal system of the U.S., the Supreme Court is the final interpreter of federal constitutional law, although it may only act within the context of a case in which it has jurisdiction. • The Court consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and 8 associate justices who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. • Once appointed, justices have life tenure unless they resign, retire, take senior status, or are removed after impeachment (though no justice has ever been removed). • In modern discourse, the justices are often categorized as having conservative, moderate, or liberal philosophies of law and of judicial interpretation.

3. The U.S. Supreme Court Justices Chief Justice of the United States: JOHN G. ROBERTS, JR.Associate Justices: ANTONIN SCALIA – President Reagan (1986) ANTHONY M. KENNEDY – President Reagan (1988) CLARENCE THOMAS – President Bush (1991) RUTH BADER GINSBURG – President Clinton (1993) STEPHEN G. BREYER – President Clinton (1994) SAMUEL A. ALITO, JR. – President Bush (2006) SONIA SOTOMAYOR – President Obama (2009) ELENA KAGAN – President Obama (2010)Recently Retired Justices: SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR – President Reagan (1981) – Retired June 2006DAVID H. SOUTER – President Bush (1990) – Retired June 2009JOHN PAUL STEVENS – President Ford (1975) – Retired June 2010

4. The U.S. Supreme Court Justices Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr Associate Justice Bush - 2006 Elena Kagan Associate Justice Obama - 2010 Stephen G. Breyer Associate Justice Clinton - 1994 Sonia Sotomayor Associate Justice Obama - 2009 Anthony M. Kennedy Associate Justice Reagan - 1988 John G. Roberts Chief Justice Bush - 2005 Antonin Scalia Associate Justice Reagan – 1986 (longest serving) Clarence Thomas Associate Justice Bush - 1991 Ruth Bader Ginsburg Associate Justice Clinton - 1993

5. The 11 U.S. presidents since World War II have appointed 28 Supreme Court members. Republicans 17, Democrats 11. PresidentHarry TrumanDwight EisenhowerJohn KennedyLyndon JohnsonRichard NixonGerald FordJimmy CarterRonald ReaganGeorge BushBill ClintonGeorge W. BushBarack H. Obama - Kagan - Sotomayor PartyDemocratRepublicanDemocratDemocratRepublicanRepublicanDemocratRepublicanRepublicanDemocratRepublicanDemocrat Appointments452241032222

6. The U.S. Federal Court System

7. How Cases Make it to the U.S. Supreme Court Each year, about 4,500 cases are requested for review by the Supreme Court. Less than 200 cases are actually decided by the Court each year. There are 3 ways for a case to make its way to the US Supreme Court. 1. There are cases in which the US Supreme Court has Original Jurisdiction (heard there first). Cases in which a state is a party and cases dealing with diplomatic personnel, like ambassadors, are the two examples. 2. Those cases appealed from lower federal courts can be heard at the Supreme Court. Some laws obligate (or force) the Supreme Court to hear them. But most come up for review on the writ of certiorari, a discretionary writ that the court grants or refuses at its own discretion. The writ is granted if 4 of the justices want it to be heard. 3. The US Supreme Court reviews appeals from state supreme courts that present substantial "federal questions," usually where a constitutional right has been denied in the state courts. In both civil and criminal law, the Supreme Court is the final court of appeal.

8. Famous U.S. Supreme Court Cases MARBURY v. MADISON (1803) Judicial Review, Federalism BROWN v. BOARD of EDUCATION (1954) School Segregation, Equal Protection MIRANDA v. ARIZONA (1966) Criminal Suspect's Rights Include Being Informed of Rights to Counsel and to Remain Silent TINKER v. DES MOINES (1969) Student Speech, Symbolic Speech ROE v. WADE (1973) Abortion, Right of Privacy UNITED STATES v. NIXON (1974) Watergate, Checks and Balances

9. Marbury v. Madison (1803) • Marbury v. Madison (1803) was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case in which the Court formed the basis for the exercise of judicial review in the United States under Article III of the Constitution. • The landmark decision helped define the boundary between the constitutionally separate executive and judicial branches of the American form of government. • The case resulted from a petition to the Supreme Court by William Marbury, who had been appointed Justice of the Peace in the District of Columbia by President John Adams but whose commission was not subsequently delivered. • Marbury petitioned the Supreme Court to force the new Secretary of State James Madison to deliver the documents. • The Court, with John Marshall as Chief Justice, found firstly that Madison's refusal to deliver the commission was both illegal and remediable. • Nonetheless, the Court stopped short of compelling Madison (by writ of mandamus) to hand over Marbury's commission, instead holding that the provision of the Judiciary Act of 1789 that enabled Marbury to bring his claim to the Supreme Court was itself unconstitutional, since it purported to extend the Court's original jurisdiction beyond that which Article III established. The petition was therefore denied.

10. Brown v. Board of Education (1954) • Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. • In 1951, a class action suit was filed against the Board of Education of the City of Topeka, Kansas in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. The plaintiffs were 13 Topeka parents on behalf of their 20 children. • The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896, which allowed state-sponsored segregation, insofar as it applied to public education. • Handed down on May 17, 1954, the Warren Court's unanimous (9–0) decision stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." • As a result, de jure racial segregation was ruled a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution. • This ruling paved the way for integration and was a major victory of the civil rights movement.

11. MIRANDA v. ARIZONA (1966) • Miranda v. Arizona (1966) was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court which passed 5–4. The Court held that both inculpatory and exculpatory statements made in response to interrogation by a defendant in police custody will be admissible at trial only if the prosecution can show that the defendant was informed of the right to consult with an attorney before and during questioning and of the right against self-incrimination prior to questioning by police, and that the defendant not only understood these rights, but voluntarily waived them. • This had a significant impact on law enforcement in the U.S., by making what became known as the Miranda rights part of routine police procedure to ensure that suspects were informed of their rights. • The Miranda warning (often abbreviated to "Miranda," or "Mirandizing" a suspect) is the name of the formal warning that is required to be given by police in the U.S. to criminal suspects in police custody (or in a custodial situation) before they are interrogated, in accordance with the Miranda ruling. • Its purpose is to ensure the accused are aware of, and reminded of, these rights under the U.S. Constitution, and that they know they can invoke them at any time during the interview.

12. TINKER v. DES MOINES (1969) • Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969) was a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that defined the constitutional rights of students in U.S. public schools. The Tinker test is still used by courts today to determine whether a school's disciplinary actions violate students' 1st Amendment rights. The court's 7:2 decision held that the 1st Amendment applied to public schools, and that administrators would have to demonstrate constitutionally valid reasons for any specific regulation of speech in the classroom. • In 1965, Des Moines, Iowa residents John F. Tinker (15 years old), his siblings Mary Beth Tinker (13 years old), Hope Tinker (11 years old), & Paul Tinker (8 years old), along with their friend Christopher Eckhardt (16 years old) decided to wear black armbands to their schoolsin protest of the Vietnam War and supporting the Christmas Truce called for by Senator Robert F. Kennedy. The principals of the Des Moines schools learned of the plan and met on December 14 to create a policy that stated that school children wearing an armband would be asked to remove it immediately. Violating students would be suspended and allowed to return to school after agreeing to comply with the policy. The participants decided to violate this policy. Mary Beth Tinker and Christopher Eckhardt were suspended from school for wearing armbands on December 16th & John Tinker was suspended for doing the same on the following day. (The two youngest participants were not punished.) Mary Beth, Christopher, and John were suspended from school until after January 1, 1966, when their protest had been scheduled to end. • A suit was not filed until after the Iowa Civil Liberties Union approached their family, and the ACLU agreed to help the family with the lawsuit. Their parents, in turn, filed suit in U.S. District Court, which upheld the decision of the Des Moines school board. A tie vote in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit meant that the U.S. District Court's decision continued to stand, and forced the Tinkers and Eckhardts to appeal to the Supreme Court directly. The case was argued before the court on November 12, 1968.

13. ROE v. WADE (1973) • Roe v. Wade (1973), is a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. • Decided simultaneously with a companion case, Doe v. Bolton, the Court ruled 7–2 that a right to privacy under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment extended to a woman's decision to have an abortion, but that this right must be balanced against the state's 2 legitimate interests in regulating abortions: protecting prenatal life & protecting women's health. • Arguing that these state interests became stronger over the course of a pregnancy, the Court resolved this balancing test by tying state regulation of abortion to the 3rd trimester of pregnancy. • The Court later rejected Roe '​s trimester framework, while affirming Roe '​s central holding that a person has a right to abortion until viability. The Roe decision defined "viable" as being "potentially able to live outside the mother's womb, albeit with artificial aid", adding that viability "is usually placed at about seven months (28 weeks) but may occur earlier, even at 24 weeks.“ • In disallowing many state & federal restrictions on abortion in the U.S., Roe v. Wade prompted a national debate that continues today about issues including whether, and to what extent, abortion should be legal, who should decide the legality of abortion, what methods the Supreme Court should use in constitutional adjudication, and what the role should be of religious and moral views in the political sphere. • Roe v. Wade reshaped national politics, dividing much of the United States into pro-choice and pro-life camps, while activating grassroots movements on both sides.

14. UNITED STATES v. NIXON (1974) • United States v. Nixon (1974) was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision. • It resulted in a unanimous 8–0 ruling against President Richard Nixon and was important to the late stages of the Watergate scandal. • It is considered a crucial precedent limiting the power of any US president. • The Watergate scandal began during the campaign between Democratic Senator George McGovern of South Dakota and President Nixon. On June 17, 1972, about 5 months before the general election, 5 burglars broke into Democratic headquarters located in the Watergate building complex in Washington, DC. • In May 1973, Nixon's Attorney General, Elliot Richardson, appointed Archibald Cox to the position of special prosecutor, charged with investigating the break-in. In October Nixon arranged to have Cox fired in the Saturday Night Massacre. However, public outrage forced Nixon to appoint a new special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski, who was charged with conducting the Watergate investigation for the government. • In April 1974, Jaworski obtained a subpoena ordering Nixon to release certain tapes and papers related to specific meetings between the President and those indicted by the grand jury. Those tapes and the conversations they revealed were believed to contain damaging evidence involving the indicted men and perhaps the President himself. • Hoping Jaworski and the public would be satisfied, Nixon turned over edited transcripts of 43 conversations, including portions of 20 conversations demanded by the subpoena. James D. St. Clair, Nixon's attorney, then requested Judge John Sirica of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to quash the subpoena. While arguing before Sirica, St. Clair stated that: "The President wants me to argue that he is as powerful a monarch as Louis XIV, only 4 years at a time, and is not subject to the processes of any court in the land except the court of impeachment." • Sirica denied Nixon's motion and ordered the President to turn the tapes over by May 31. Both Nixon and Jaworski appealed directly to the Supreme Court which heard arguments on July 8. Nixon's attorney argued the matter should not be subject to "judicial resolution" since the matter was a dispute within the executive branch and the branch should resolve the dispute itself. Also, he claimed Special Prosecutor Jaworski had not proven the requested materials were absolutely necessary for the trial of the seven men. Besides, he claimed Nixon had an absolute executive privilege to protect communications between "high Government officials and those who advise and assist them in carrying out their duties.“ • Nixon resigned 15 days later, on August 9, 1974 (instead of facing Impeachment).