Judicial Review Flashcards
7 cards from real US practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Judicial Review flashcards as text
What does 'ripeness' mean as a jurisdictional requirement for judicial review?
Answer: The dispute must be sufficiently developed and immediate for court resolution
Ripeness requires that a dispute be concrete and imminent enough for judicial resolution, not merely hypothetical or premature.
Under the 'mootness' doctrine, what happens to a case during judicial review?
Answer: Courts dismiss the case if the controversy has ceased to exist
A case becomes moot when the legal controversy no longer exists, removing the court's jurisdiction to decide it.
Which New Deal-era constitutional crisis most directly threatened the independence of judicial review?
Answer: President Roosevelt's Court-packing plan of 1937
FDR proposed adding up to six new justices to the Court after it struck down New Deal legislation, threatening to dilute its independent review power.
What is the 'Exceptions Clause' and how does it relate to judicial review?
Answer: It gives Congress power to limit the Supreme Court's appellate jurisdiction
Article III's Exceptions Clause allows Congress to strip the Supreme Court's appellate jurisdiction, potentially limiting which decisions can be reviewed.
Which doctrine holds that a court cannot review a matter that has already been finally decided by a prior judgment?
Answer: Res judicata
Res judicata (claim preclusion) bars relitigation of matters that were or could have been decided in a prior final judgment between the same parties.
When a federal court declares a statute unconstitutional, what is the immediate effect on that statute?
Answer: It is unenforceable but not formally deleted from the books
A court ruling of unconstitutionality renders the law unenforceable, but Congress must repeal it formally; the text may remain in U.S. Code.
What principle does the term 'judicial supremacy' refer to in the context of constitutional interpretation?
Answer: The idea that the Supreme Court has the final and authoritative word on constitutional meaning
Judicial supremacy holds that the Supreme Court's constitutional interpretations are binding on the other branches, a position reinforced by Cooper v. Aaron.