American Democracy Now, 2nd Edition (Harrison)

Chapter 14: The Judiciary

Multiple Choice Quiz

1
Which of the following is true about the founders' intention for the federal courts?
A)They intended them to be equal partners in the lawmaking process.
B)They intended them to be the weakest branch of the federal government.
C)They intended them to serve primarily as a check on the executive branch.
D)They intended them to serve primarily as a check on the legislative branch.
2
Which of the following does the Constitution say about the federal courts?
A)It names the Supreme Court as the high court of the land.
B)It creates the structure for federal district courts and courts of appeal.
C)It enumerates the powers of the Supreme Court.
D)All these answers are correct.
3
Which of the following did the Supreme Court argue in the case of Marbury v. Madison?
A)It had the power to decide whether or not acts of Congress and the president were constitutional.
B)It had the power to decide whether or not acts of governors and state legislatures were constitutional.
C)The president did not have the power to bar the Supreme Court from meeting.
D)Secretary of State Madison had to uphold an appointment made during the previous administration.
4
What did the Judiciary Act of 1891 create?
A)federal trial courts
B)federal appeals courts below the Supreme Court
C)the circuit riding requirement
D)administrative courts
5
Law created by the courts through the cases they decide is known as
A)civil law.
B)statutory law.
C)common law.
D)criminal law.
6
Which of the following was a crucial document in the development of the common law?
A)the U.S. Constitution
B)the Magna Carta
C)the Napoleonic Code
D)the U.S. Bill of Rights
7
What of the following is true about the principle of stare decisis?
A)It means judges must abide by precedent of earlier cases unless there is a clear reason to distinguish the current case from its predecessors.
B)It means that the common law changes very slowly.
C)It means that for the most part citizens can know that the law will remain consistent in its expectations for them.
D)All these answers are correct
8
What is the benefit of code law over common law when dealing with the changes of modern society?
A)It can be changed more quickly to adjust to the rapid changes of modern life.
B)It comes from the judiciary and thus is less influenced by the money of special interests.
C)It is often handled on the state level and thus not subject to the limitations of the U.S. Constitution.
D)It has proven more directly responsive to the interests of the citizenry.
9
What options do government executives and legislators have when they do not like a decision made by the Supreme Court?
A)pass a law challenging the decision
B)pass a constitutional amendment that circumvents the decision
C)Both are options: pass a law challenging the decision, and pass a constitutional amendment that circumvents the decision.
D)None of these answers is correct.
10
Which of the following best defines the term jurisdiction?
A)the authority of a court to hear and resolve a case
B)the authority of a citizen to bring a case into court
C)the authority of the state to prosecute a case in a particular court
D)the authority of a citizen to appeal a case to a higher court
11
In which case does a federal court NOT automatically have jurisdiction over a matter?
A)a case of diversity of citizenship
B)a question of federal statutory law
C)a question of U.S. constitutional law
D)a question of common law
12
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court is an example of what kind of court?
A)a trial court
B)an appellate court
C)a special court
D)an administrative court
13
Which of the following privileges is considered part of senatorial courtesy?
A)allowing senior members of the president's party to have significant input into the selection of Supreme Court nominees
B)allowing senior members of the president's party to have veto power over the selection of Supreme Court nominees
C)allowing members of the president's party to have significant input into the selection of federal district court judges for their home state
D)allowing members to have significant input into the selection of federal district judges for their home state
14
Justice Harry Blackmun is an example of which of the following trends?
A)Supreme Court justices adhering strictly to the political philosophies of the presidents who nominated them
B)Supreme Court justices having a shift in their ideology over time
C)Supreme Court justices refusing to testify regarding their ideology at Senate confirmation hearings
D)Supreme Court justices reversing their opinions after having ruled previously on the issue
15
The idea that a justice will best serve the interests of the racial, ethnic, or gender group to which he or she belongs is known as
A)symbolic representation.
B)virtual representation.
C)diversity representation.
D)minority representation.
16
The vast majority of Supreme Court cases fall under the category of
A)original jurisdiction.
B)appellate jurisdiction.
C)special jurisdiction.
D)The cases are about evenly split.
17
The Supreme Court will agree to hear a case if at least ________ of the nine justices want to hear it.
A)two
B)four
C)five
D)nine
18
In Court opinion-writing, the writer of the opinion
A)has to take into account the perspectives of those who agree and those who disagree.
B)has little incentive to take dissenting opinions into account.
C)is influenced primarily by the opinions of those justices in the majority.
D)is pushed by public opinion to take into account the opinions of dissenting justices.
19
In developing opinions in the U.S. Supreme Court, the power to persuade is
A)not an important factor because of ideological differences of the justices.
B)an important factor in shaping the opinion.
C)only important in relation to the swing vote(s) on the court.
D)None of these answers is correct.
20
Which of the following is true about concurring opinions?
A)They are relatively rare.
B)They are opinions in which the justice agrees with some aspects of the opinion-writer's decision and disagrees with other aspects.
C)They are opinions in which the justice agrees with the outcome of the decision but not with its reasoning.
D)They are more common among conservative justices than among liberal justices.
21
Which of the following is an ideological trend of the Roberts Court?
A)a willingness to take an expansive view of the policy of affirmative action
B)a willingness to curtail the power of corporations
C)a willingness to uphold congressional attempts at campaign finance reform
D)None of these answers is correct.
22
The notion that it is the role of the courts to check the power of the federal and state executive and legislative branches when those governmental entities exceed their authority is called
A)stare decisis.
B)judicial activism.
C)judicial restraint.
D)judicial restriction.
23
Which country did NOT rank ahead of the United States in executions in 2008?
A)Iran
B)China
C)Saudi Arabia
D)Pakistan
24
The inner ring of checks on the judiciary comes from the
A)legislative branch.
B)executive branch.
C)legislative and executive branches.
D)legislative, executive, and administrative branches.
25
The Supreme Court's high approval ratings reflect which of the following?
A)the Court rarely straying too far from public opinion
B)the high level of competence of the justices
C)the public's low opinion of the other two branches of the government
D)its protection of individual rights against corporate interests
Harrison: American Democracy Now, 2nd Edition
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