CHAPTER 12 SECTION 2

THE SUPREME COURT AND PUBLIC POLICY

• The Supreme Court is both a political and a legal institution.
• It's a legal institute because it is responsible for settling disputes.
• It's political because it determines what national policy will be.
• It is also responsible for determining government policy.

TOOLS FOR SHAPING POLICY

• Congress makes policy by passing laws.
• The president makes policy by carrying out laws.
• The Supreme Court makes policy by:
• Judicial review, interpreting laws, and overruling.

JUDICIAL REVIEW

• Is the Supreme Court's power to examine the laws and actions
• of local, state, and national gov and to cancel them if they violate the Constitution.
• The supreme court first assumed the power of judicial review in the case Marbury vs. Madison (1803)
• In the Dred Scott case (1857) the court ruled that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional.
• This added to the tensions leading tot he civil war.

JUDICIAL REVIEW AND CIVIL LAW

• The Supreme Court can review Presidential policies.
• Impound - to refuse to spend money.
• In Brown vs. Board of Education the court held that schools that permitted racial segregation were unconstitutional
• This cleared the way for th end of segregated schools throughout the nation.
• The Miranda vs. Arizona case brought major changes in law enforcement policies by ruling there actions unconstitutional.

INTERPRETATION OF LAWS

• Congress often uses very general language in framing laws
• They leave it to the executive or judicial branch to apply them.
• The Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) prohibits discrimination of disability
• The Civil Rights Act (1964) prohibits discrimination of race, color, or national origin
• The Supreme Court decides in the end what congress means.

OVERTURNING EARLIER DECISIONS

• Stare decisis- latin term meaning " let the decision stand"
• Precedent- model to base other decisions on similar cases.
• The law needs to be stable yet flexible.
• The law is flexible because of changes in the Court's composition.

LIMITS ON THE SUPREME COURT

• The court