Title: 02-01pp.22
1. The Supreme Court has accepted approximately _______.
2. Why does the Court normally accept so few cases under its original jurisdiction?
3. Most cases reach the Court through _______.
4. What special power does the Chief Justice possess during the Court’s agenda-setting stage?
5. Who attends the Court’s conference discussions?
6. What are the key criticisms of the use of original intent to decide Supreme Court cases?
7. What does Stare Decisis mean?
8. What led Pritchett to believe that the law was not the only factor affecting justices’ decisions?
9. According to the attitudinal model, the coalition of Justices Thomas, Scalia, Alito, and Roberts may
best be defined as _______.
10. An activist Supreme Court justice is likely to _______.
11. Why should the U.S. Supreme Court pay attention to the preferences of the president?
12. What is the main way in which interest groups try to influence the Supreme Court?
13. Describe the structure of the U.S. judicial system.
14. According to Supreme Court’s Rule 10, what makes a case “certworthy”?
15. Discuss the three political factors that scholars believe may affect the justices’ decision to place a
case on the Court’s docket. Give examples of each.
16. What response options does a justice have once an opinion is circulated?
17. Explain the difference between textualism and original meaning. Give at least one example.
18. Explain the difference between judicial activism and judicial restraint.. Give an example of each.
19. Describe (with examples) three external constraints faced by Supreme Court justices.
20. Explain how Stare Devises constrains the decisions justices make.
21. Does public opinion affect the Supreme Court even though the justices are not elected? If so, is the
effect a direct one or is it indirect? Explain.
22. The legal, attitudinal, and strategic models provide competing explanations for how the Supreme
Court justices make decisions. Explain the main tenets of each model and give examples. Then make an
argument for the model you believe provides the best (most realistic) view of how the justices actually
make decisions.