Key Terms
- amicus curiae
- literally a “friend of the court” and used for a brief filed by someone who is interested in but not party to a case
- appellate court
- a court that reviews cases already decided by a lower or trial court and that may change the lower court’s decision
- appellate jurisdiction
- the power of a court to hear a case on appeal from a lower court and possibly change the lower court’s decision
- associate justice
- a member of the Supreme Court who is not the chief justice
- brief
- a written legal argument presented to a court by one of the parties in a case
- chief justice
- the highest-ranking justice on the Supreme Court
- circuit courts
- the appeals (appellate) courts of the federal court system that review decisions of the lower (district) courts; also called courts of appeals
- civil law
- a non-criminal law defining private rights and remedies
- common law
- the pattern of law developed by judges through case decisions largely based on precedent
- concurring opinion
- an opinion written by a justice who agrees with the Court’s majority opinion but has different reasons for doing so
- conference
- closed meeting of the justices to discuss cases on the docket and take an initial vote
- courts of appeals
- the appellate courts of the federal court system that review decisions of the lower (district) courts; also called circuit courts
- criminal law
- a law that prohibits actions that could harm or endanger others, and establishes punishment for those actions
- dissenting opinion
- an opinion written by a justice who disagrees with the majority opinion of the Court
- district courts
- the trial courts of the federal court system where cases are tried, evidence is presented, and witness testimony is heard
- docket
- the list of cases pending on a court’s calendar
- dual court system
- the division of the courts into two separate systems, one federal and one state, with each of the fifty states having its own courts
- judicial activism
- a judicial philosophy in which a justice is more likely to overturn decisions or rule actions by the other branches unconstitutional, especially in an attempt to broaden individual rights and liberties
- judicial restraint
- a judicial philosophy in which a justice is more likely to let stand the decisions or actions of the other branches of government
- judicial review
- the power of the courts to review actions taken by the other branches of government and the states and to rule on whether those actions are constitutional
- majority opinion
- an opinion of the Court with which more than half the nine justices agree
- Marbury v. Madison
- the 1803 Supreme Court case that established the courts’ power of judicial review and the first time the Supreme Court ruled an act of Congress to be unconstitutional
- oral argument
- words spoken before the Supreme Court (usually by lawyers) explaining the legal reasons behind their position in a case and why it should prevail
- original jurisdiction
- the power of a court to hear a case for the first time
- precedent
- the principles or guidelines established by courts in earlier cases that frame the ongoing operation of the courts, steering the direction of the entire system
- Rule of Four
- a Supreme Court custom in which a case will be heard when four justices decide to do so
- senatorial courtesy
- an unwritten custom by which the president consults the senators in the state before nominating a candidate for a federal vacancy there, particularly for court positions
- solicitor general
- the lawyer who represents the federal government and argues some cases before the Supreme Court
- stare decisis
- the principle by which courts rely on past decisions and their precedents when making decisions in new cases
- trial court
- the level of court in which a case starts or is first tried
- writ of certiorari
- an order of the Supreme Court calling up the records of the lower court so a case may be reviewed; sometimes abbreviated cert.
