In what case did the Supreme Court uphold the Voting Rights Act of 1965? _______
A. Louisiana v. United States
B. Harper v. Viriginia State Board of Elections
C. Alabama v. United States
D. South Carolina v. Katzenbach
In McCulloch v. Maryland, the Court argued that _______.
A. a state may tax a federal bank
B. the federal government may tax a state bank
C. a state may not tax a federal bank
D. the federal government may not tax a state bank
Alexander Hamilton viewed the judiciary as _______.
A. The least democratic branch of the federal government
B. The most democratic branch of the federal government
C. The most dangerous branch of the federal government
D. The least dangerous branch of the federal government
Jim Crow laws _______.
A. Helped desegregate the races
B. Had no effect on race relations
C. Required strict separation of the races
D. None of the above.
Prior to the twentieth Century the Contract Clause _______.
A. was mostly ignored by the U.S. Supreme Court
B. was not litigated very often
C. made up a large portion of the Supreme Court’s docket
D. was ultimately stricken from the Constitution
Justice Story’s opinion for the Court in Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee (1816; Virginia land
inheritance case) is an example of the Marshall Court’s _______.
A. support of congressional power over power exercised by the state legislatures
B. efforts to assert the power of the Supreme Court over the state supreme courts
C. efforts to provide sufficient power to the federal government to build a strong
national economy
D. support of the federal taxation power
E. opposition to state taxes that have a negative impact on the operations of the federal
government
When the president is enforcing a federal law, he is exercising a (n) _______ power.
A. ministerial
B. executive
Which of the following is not one of the “Ashwander Principles” of judicial restraint?
A. The Court will not formulate a rule of constitutional law broader than that required
by the precise facts to which it is to be applied.
B. The Court will not rule on the constitutionality of an act in a suit brought by a party
who has benefited from the statute.
C. The Court will not rule on the constitutionality of an act if there is a way to decide
the dispute without ruling on the constitutional question.
D. The Court will not anticipate a question of constitutional law in advance of the
necessity of deciding it.
E. The Court will not rule on the constitutionality of an act in a suit involving friendly,
nonadversarial parties.
F. None of the above. All of the above are contained in the “Ashwander Principles”.
The major change in the Court’s Establishment Clause cases ushered in by Walz v. Tax
Commission of the City of New York involved _______.
A. The Court’s focus on the legitimate secular purpose of a law
B. The Court’s focus on the primary effect of the law on religion
C. The Court’s focus on the excessive entanglement of a law with religion
In May 2014, President Obama agreed to use U.S. troops to help find more than 270
girls who had been kidnapped in Nigeria. Congress did not want to approve the use of
our troops and threatened to withhold financial support for this operation. What would
be Obama’s constitutional case for sending troops to Nigeria without the consent of
Congress, and what would be his opponents’ argument e against such power?
To support each side, use what you have read about the Court’s decisions concerning
presidential power over foreign policy and during times of crisis. After explicating each
side’s arguments, explain which side you agree with and why.
Answer:
*A. Varies
Steward Machine Co. v. Davis upheld the constitutionality of _______.
A. Social Security
B. Medicare
C. Medicaid
D. All of the above
In the Slaughterhouse Cases (1873; cases challenging Louisiana’s creation of a
monopoly slaughterhouse company), the Supreme Court _______.
A. ruled that the creation of the company violated the Contract Clause with respect to
earlier state contracts issued to independent butchers
B. ruled that the creation of the company did not violate the Contract Clause in spite of
previously made state contracts with independent butchers
C. adopted a substantive due process interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment
D. rejected a substantive due process interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment
What does Stare Decisis mean?
A. The Court should ignore past decisions.
B. The Court should honor past decisions.
C. The Court should let the decision stand.
D. B and C.
Explain what is meant by the term “stream of commerce” and how the Court justified
this interpretation of commerce during the nineteenth 19th century.
Answer:*A. Varies
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.
Answer:*A. Varies
Explain the two limitations the Court has set on searches incident to a valid arrest.
Answer:*A. Varies
Which of the following is not an exception to the warrant requirement?
A. a search to ensure evidence is not lost.
B. a search conducted once a suspect has been put in jail.
C. a search done in “hot pursuit.”
D. a search incident to a valid arrest.
Describe the trimester framework that Blackmun outlined in his majority opinion in
Roe v. Wade (noting when, if ever, it allowed states to regulate abortion).
Answer:*A. Varies
Springer v. United .States. set the precedent that _______.
A. The federal government may tax the states
B. The federal government may tax exports
C. The federal government may tax incomes
D. None of the above.
Which one of the following statements is true?
A. A defendant who robs multiple victims at once can be tried in separate trials for
robbing each victim until a guilty verdict is reached.
B. Separate governments (including separate states) can prosecute an individual for the
same incident if it occurred in multiple jurisdictions.
C. The government can appeal a verdict of not guilty.
D. None of the above.
According to the Court, presidents have the power to remove _______.
A. inferior executive officers
B. major executive officers
C. any executive officer they want to remove
D. no executive officers without the consent of the Senate
The National Firearms Act of 1934 _______.
A. Was a direct regulation of weapons
B. Was an indirect regulation of weapons
C. Banned all gun use by private citizens
In the majority opinion in Roe v. Wade, where did the Court locate the right to privacy?
A. Ninth Amendment
B. Fourth Amendment
C. Fourteenth Amendment
D. Fifth Amendment
In Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, the Court struck the Communications
Decency Act because it _______.
A. Was overly broad
B. Was overly vague
C. Focused on the Internet, which cannot be regulated
D. Took away the power of parents to regulate their own children
In Roth the Court ruled that Community Standards are based on _______.
A. The nation as a whole
B. Individual states
C. Individual localities
D. None of the above; the Court did not define community in Roth
The test for ruling in religious establishment cases created by Chief Justice Burger is
the _______.
A. Coercion Test
B. Non-preferential treatment test
C. Lemon Test
D. Endorsement Approach
Explain the good-faith exception that the Court created in United States v. Leon.
Answer:*A. Varies
Cooperative Federalism places a great deal of emphasis on _______.
A. the Tenth Amendment
B. the Supremacy Clause
C. the Necessary and Proper Clause
D. the Privileges and Immunities Clause
E. C and D
F. B and C
The Presentment Clause establishes that _______.
A. every bill passed by the House of Representatives shall be presented to the president
to sign.
B. every bill passed by the Senate shall be presented to the president to sign.
C. every bill passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives shall be
presented to the president to sign.
D. every bill written by the president shall be presented to Congress for passage.
Which of the following statements best describes the election of African American
representatives to the U.S. House of Representatives in the past twenty years?
A. The number of African American representatives in Congress has increased every
year since 1985.
B. The number of African American representatives in Congress increased steadily from
1985 through 1993, but leveled off in the mid-1990s.
C. The number of African American representatives in Congress increased steadily from
1985 through 1995, but decreased dramatically after 1997.
D. The number of African American black representatives in Congress has remained
relatively stable since 1985.
In Snyder v. Phelps Justice Alito broke from his traditional coalition and wrote a
dissenting opinion. Why did he do so?
A. He argued that the government should be able to regulate all speech.
B. He argued that the government has no interest in regulating speech.
C. He argued that the government has an interest in regulating speech that protects
innocent people from hateful speech.
D. None of the above.
In Shelby County the Court ruled that _______.
A. The Voting Rights Act is fully constitutional and should stay in effect
B. Sections 4 and 5 of the Voting Rights Act are unconstitutional
C. The case involved a political question and so dismissed it
Which amendment ensures that the right to vote cannot be denied on account of a
person’s sex?
A. Fourteenth Amendment
B. Seventeenth Amendment
C. Nineteenth Amendment
D. Twenty-fourth Amendment
Which of the following statements is true?
A. Although federal laws prohibit various forms of discrimination based on race and
sex, no law explicitly protects homosexuals.
B. While Americans’ views about blacks and women have changed since the early
1970s, they have remained more stable, and negative, towards gays and lesbians.
C. The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act permits states to refuse to recognize same-sex
marriages performed in other states.
D. All of the above.
What category of litigation has the Court appeared to be less willing to strike down
sex-based laws?
A. Cases in which men are discriminated against.
B. Cases in which the discrimination makes the administrative work of the state easier
C. Cases involving higher education.
D. Cases involving physical differences between men and women.
What did the majority opinion of the Court consider to be “the underlying fallacy” of
the plaintiff’s argument in Plessy v. Ferguson?
Answer:
*A. Varies
Do you think term limits should be imposed on Members of Congress?
In Morrison v. Olson (1988) the Supreme Court upheld the independent counsel
provisions of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978. In so doing, the Court held that the
office of independent counsel met the criteria of an “inferior officer.” What aspects of
the independent counsel did the Court identify as meeting the definition of an “inferior
officer”? Why was the classification of the independent counsel as an inferior officer
important to the outcome of the case?
Answer:
*A. Varies
In his majority opinion in Baker v. Carr what justification did Justice Brennan give for
hearing the case despite the Court’s previous ruling in Colegrove v. Green?
Answer:
*A. Varies
In Munn v. Illinois (1877) the Supreme Court upheld state regulation of the grain
elevator industry against a challenge that the law violated the due process of law
guarantees. In its ruling the Court said that due process does not bar the government
from regulating certain kinds of businesses. What name or descriptive title did the Court
give to the category of businesses that could be regulated?
Answer:
*A. Varies
What two criteria must be met for a consent search to be valid?
Answer:
*A. Varies
What special circumstances led the Court to rule in favor of the Massachusetts law in
Prince v. Massachusetts? How was this case used in subsequent cases?
Answer:
*A. Varies
Why did the Court rule that sex offender registries do not violate the due process
clause?
Answer:
*A. Varies
What historical argument do pro”gun rights interests use to support their argument that
the Second Amendment provides for an individual right to bear arms?
Answer:
*A. Varies
The Constitution places one specific requirement on the federal government’s power to
impose an excise tax. What is it?
Answer:
*A. Varies
How has the Court determined that symbolic speech can qualify for First Amendment
protection?
Answer:
*A. Varies
Who has the power to change the Supreme Court’s appellate jurisdiction?
Answer:
*A. Varies
How did the Court’s decision in Train v. New York limit presidential power to execute
laws?
Answer:
*A. Varies
According to Midkiff, what must governments prove in order to take property?
Answer:
*A. Varies
What four requirements must be met by a federal spending statute for it to be valid,
according to the decision in South Dakota v. Dole (1987)?
Answer:
*A. Varies