US Court and Supreme

U.S. And Supreme Court

Contrast the U.S. Circuit Courts with the U.S. Supreme Court in terms of their authority to strike down an act of congress or of the states?

The United State Supreme Court is the highest judicial body of the U.S. The Circuit Courts on the other hand are the intermediate courts which make rulings before an issue reaches the Supreme Court. There are nine circuits which divide the country. Each state belongs to one of those nine circuits.

Whereas the United States Supreme Court has the ability to review any law brought before them, the circuits can only review laws which affect the states under their jurisdiction. A circuit court may rule a law unconstitutional-based either on the constitution of the state or based on the national constitution. Both bodies have the ability to review any legislation created to check its lawfulness.

However, a decision made by a circuit court can be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is, as its name suggests, the highest court in the country and their decision is the ultimate one. The circuit courts can rule over their jurisdiction, but the Supreme Court has a national jurisdiction.

4) Is there a right to privacy according to Justice Scalia? Stevens? Explain.

Justice Scalia of the United States Supreme Court stated that there are some things a person should be allowed to keep private, but that not everything a person does or says has the same right. As technology increases, privacy becomes more and more of a problem. It is easy to acquire information such as addresses and telephone numbers and what kinds of things a person purchases regularly.

According to Scalia, this is completely acceptable. This was in response to the findings that citizens have dossiers collected about them. In the 1940s and 1950s, the FBI kept records of anyone they deemed subversive. In the present, nearly everyone has a similar dossier somewhere in the world, although the information is not solely in the possession of the government.

Justice Stevens, on the other hand, believed that all people had a right to privacy. He felt that there were certain aspects of a person's life which they should be able to keep private. This came directly from the Roe v. Wade case, which discussed women's right to privacy about whether they had an abortion. Privacy in such matters as medical history, according to Stevens, were part of a constitutional right.

7) What are the differences between a majority opinion and a dissenting opinion in terms of an actual case law and policy impact?

In the Supreme Court, decisions are made on a majority decision. Of the nine Supreme Court justices, a simple majority is all that is needed to secure a ruling. The numbers of judges who are not in that majority are labeled as of "a dissenting opinion." This simply means that the minority is in disagreement with the greater number.

The majority opinion is the one that determines what the legislation will be, but the dissenting opinion can reflect whether or not the Supreme Court rehears the subject later on, and in terms of how soon that occurs. One of the most famous modern Supreme Court decisions was the Roe v. Wade decision determining the legality of abortion. In that case, Roe v. Wade made abortion illegal by a 7-2 decision (Roe 1972).

Judges who are of dissenting opinion usually write up a listing of their findings and why they differ from the majority. These written documents are used later when a Supreme Court ruling is challenged. Legality is then traced back to the Supreme Court. The legislative branch makes the laws, but the Supreme Court is the body that determines how those laws will be interpreted.

9) Should the United States Supreme Court overturn precedents like Roe v. Wade or honor state decisions? Explain your reasoning.

It is the responsibility of the United States Supreme Court to not only make rulings on current issues, but also to review former rulings, should they be once more brought before the court. Even thirty years later, there is a huge debate over the Roe v. Wade case in particular. Those who are pro-choice believe the Supreme Court made the right choice. Those who are pro-life are still working on trying to overturn that decision.