3. Forming a Judicial Branch
• Under the Articles of Confederation there
was no national court system.
• Article III of the Constitution is a bit
vague.
– However, it does create the Supreme Court
and gives Congress the power to create lower
courts.
– Judiciary Act of 1789 created the Judicial
structure that for the most part has remained
in tact today.
5. The Supreme Court
– Supreme Court- 9 judges for life so long “good
behavior” – appointed by President, confirmed
by Senate
– Can only be removed if impeached (treason,
bribery, high crimes, misdemeanors)
– Two of the current nine were appointed by
President George W. Bush:
• Chief Justice Roberts + Samuel Alito
6. The Power of the
Judicial Branch
• Founders gave the courts some
independence from Congress and
President
• Most important job of Supreme Court +
Judicial Branch
– Deciding constitutionality of laws and other
actions of government – Called Judicial Review
(not mentioned in Constitution)- Marbury Vs.
Madison
– Judicial Review ensured that the Supreme Court
had the final authority to interpret the meaning
of the Constitution
7. What does Judicial
Review Mean for the
Judicial Branch?
• It established the Judiciary branch
as an equal partner in
government.(Remember the Constitution,
Article III, was very vague on what their powers
should be)
• Since 1803 the Supreme Court and
other courts have used judicial
review in thousands of cases
8.
9. Judicial Interpretation
Examples
Loose Constructionist: an example of this would be the
|universal health care]] bill. This came from the idea that the
framers wrote the constitution to be broad and flexible to
address the newer generations.
Strict Constructionalist: The health care bill will give the
national government a large amount of authority over the
countries medical fields and “dead” constitution interpreters
would say that this specific power was never written into the
constitution and therefore should be left to the states and the
people of the country.
Originalism: the framers intended for Congress to have far
narrower authority to regulate interstate commerce than the
modern court has allowed.
