1 / 7

Understanding the Judicial System: Selection of Judges and the Balance of Power

Learn about the process of selecting judges and Supreme Court justices, the concepts of judicial restraint and activism, and the mechanisms for checking the courts' power.

alysej
Télécharger la présentation

Understanding the Judicial System: Selection of Judges and the Balance of Power

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Section 3: The Courts and the Public Good • Essential Question: • Explain and Evaluate the process through which someone becomes a judge or a member of the Supreme Court, Describe the terms Judicial Restraint and Judicial activism and identify why these policies are preferred ; identify the three ways that the courts’ power be checked?

  2. Section 3: The Courts and the Public Good • How to become a Judge/Supreme Court Justice: • Judges start out as lawyers and are appointed (or chosen by government officials) to serve • Since a judge is allowed to serve for life, they may be promoted to higher courts and possibly the US Supreme Court • These appointments are reviewed by legislature to ensure competency and fairness • Judges are supposed to be neutral and not favor one political party or another

  3. Section 3: The Courts and the Public Good • The problem? • Many feel that since Judges serve for life, they have no accountability if they cease serving public good by making poor decisions or avoiding decisions altogether. • This is a slippery slope as there are differing views of what “serving public good is” • Some feel that Judges will be more inclined to serve public good if they are elected • Constitution intended Judges to be impartial to political pressure by not being elected.

  4. Section 3: The Courts and the Public Good • Judicial Restraint: • Policy where judges/supreme court justices follow the rules of the constitution only and do not try to make changes beyond deciding if an issue is uncostitutional or not.

  5. Section 3: The Courts and the Public Good • Judicial Activism: • Policy where judges/supreme court justices follow the intentions of the constitution (based on their personal beliefs) and use their power to try and address unacceptable conditions or constitutional violations.

  6. Section 3: The Courts and the Public Good • Issues raised by judicial activism and judicial restraint: • Federal judges overstep their powers through judicial activism. • If federal judges exercise judicial restraint, then the minority views and rights may go unheard and unprotected.

  7. Section 3: The Courts and the Public Good • Ways the courts’ power can be checked: • appointment process of justices (congress must approve) • congressional power to pass amendments • refusal of states or individuals to obey judicial decisions (supreme court relies on executive branch to enforce decisions)

More Related