| A | B |
|---|
| Judicial review | Power of the courts to review acts of other branches of government and the states. |
| Judiciary Act of 1789 | Established the basic three-tiered structure of the federal court system. |
| Marbury v. Madison (1803) | Case in which the supreme court first asserted the power of judicial review in finding that the congressional statute extending the court's original jurisdiction was unconstitutional. |
| Jurisdiction | Authority vested in a particular court to hear and decide the issues in any particular case. |
| Original Jurisdiction | The jurisdiction of courts that hear a case first, usually in a trial. Courts determine the facts of a case under their original jurisdiction. |
| Appellate Jurisdiction | The power vested in an appellate court to review and/or revise the decision of a lower court. |
| Criminal Law | Codes of behavior related to the protection of property and individual safety. |
| Civil Law | Codes of behavior related to business and contractual relationships between groups and individuals. |
| Constitutional Courts | Federal courts specifically created by the U.S. Constitution or by Congress pursuant to its authority in Artical III. |
| Legislative courts | courts established by Congress for specialized purpose, such as the Court of Military Appeals. |
| Brief | A document containing the legal writting arguments in a case filed with a court by a party prior to a hearing or trial. |
| Precedent | A prior judical decision that serves as a rule for settling subsequent cases of a similar nature. |
| Stare decisis | In court rulings, a reliance on past decisions or precedents to formulate decisions in a new case. |
| Senatorial courtesy | Process by which prsidents generally defer selection of district court judges to the choice of senators of their own party who represent the state where the vacancy occurs. |
| writ of certiorari | A request for the Court to order up the records from a lower court to review the case. |
| Rule of Four | At least four justices of the Supreme Court must vote to consider a case before it can be heard. |
| Solicitor general | The fourth-ranking member of the Department of Justice; responsible for handling all appeals on behalf of the U.S. governmentto the Supreme Court. |
| amicus curiae | "Friend of the court"; amici may file briefs or even appear to argue their interests orally before the court. |
| Judicial restraint | A philosophy of judcial decision making that argues courts should allow the decisions of other branches of governmaents to stand, even when they offend a judge's own sence of principles. |
| Judicial activism | A philosophy of judicial decision making that argues judges should use their power broadly to further justice, especially in the areas of equality and personal liberty |
| strict constuctionist | An approach to constitutional interpretation that emphasizes the Framers' original intentions. |
| judicial implemention | Refers to how and wheather judicial decisions are translated into actual public polices affecting more than the immediate parties to a lawsuit. |
| University of Michigan | Best college in Michigan. |
