judicial activism

Examples of judicial activism in the following topics:

• Judicial Activism and Restraint

  • Judicial activism is based on personal/political considerations and judicial restraint encourages judges to limit their power.
  • Judicial activism describes judicial rulings suspected of being based on personal or political considerations rather than on existing law.
  • The definition of judicial activism and which specific decisions are activist, is a controversial political issue.
  • The question of judicial activism is closely related to constitutional interpretation, statutory construction and separation of powers.
  • Detractors of judicial activism argue that it usurps the power of elected branches of government or appointed agencies, damaging the rule of law and democracy.

• Federal Mandates

  • Federal Mandates are used to implement activities to state and local governments since the post-New Deal era.
  • An intergovernmental mandate refers to the responsibilities or activities that one level of government imposes on another by constitutional, legislative, executive, or judicial action.
  • In the United States, unfunded federal mandates are orders that induce responsibility, action, procedure, or anything else that is imposed by constitutional, administrative, executive, or judicial action for state governments, local governments, and the private sector.

• Judicial Federalism

  • Judicial federalism is a theory that the judicial branch has a place in the check and balance system in U.S. federalism.
  • Much of judicial federalism is dependent on judicial review as well as other acts defining the judiciary's role in the U.S. government.
  • The Judiciary Act thereby incorporated the concept of judicial review.
  • Judicial review is now a well settled doctrine.
  • Madison changed the role of the judicial branch in the federal system.

• The Power of Judicial Review

  • Judicial review is the doctrine where legislative and executive actions are subject to review by the judiciary.
  • Judicial review is the doctrine under which legislative and executive actions are subject to review by the judiciary.
  • Specific courts with judicial review power must annul the acts of the state when it finds them incompatible with a higher authority.
  • Judicial review is an example of the separation of powers in a modern governmental system.
  • Explain the significance of judicial review in the history of the Supreme Court

• Checking the Power of the Governing Party

  • The House of Representatives has the ability to impeach and the Senate may remove executive and judicial officers.
  • The tendency of the Democratic Party to embrace a more active government role in the lives of citizens versus the tendency of the Republican Party to favor limited government intervention in citizens' lives, highlights the difficulties that arise when a divided government exists.
  • While the checks and balances system between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches prevents any one branch from becoming tyrannical, this system has also been criticized for maintaining the status quo in government rather than promoting changes.

• Basic Judicial Requirements

  • The judicial system, whether state or federal, begins with a court of first instance, whose work may be reviewed by an appellate court, and then ends at the court of last resort, which may review the work of the lower courts.
  • Many district courts also allow an attorney who has been admitted and remains an active member in good standing of any state, territory or the District of Columbia bar to become a member.
  • Generally, a final ruling by a district court in either a civil or a criminal case can be appealed to the United States court of appeals in the federal judicial circuit in which the district court is located, except that some district court rulings involving patents and certain other specialized matters must be appealed instead to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and in a very few cases the appeal may be taken directly to the United States Supreme Court.

• Informal Methods of Amending the Constitution: Societal Change and Judicial Review

  • Informal amendments mean that the Constitution does not specifically list these processes as forms of amending the Constitution, but because of change in society or judicial review changed the rule of law de facto.
  • This type of change occurs in two major forms: through circumstantial change and through judicial review.
  • In American legal language, "judicial review" refers primarily to the adjudication of constitutionality of statutes, especially by the Supreme Court of the United States.
  • Describe the ways of "informally" amending the Constitution, such as societal change and judicial review.

• Article III

  • Article Three of the United States Constitution establishes the judicial branch of the federal government, including the Supreme Court and lower federal courts.
  • The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.
  • The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority;--to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls;--to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction;--to controversies to which the United States shall be a party;--to controversies between two or more states;--between a state and citizens of another state;--between citizens of different states;--between citizens of the same state claiming lands under grants of different states, and between a state, or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens or subjects.

• The Fourth Amendment

  • The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, along with requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause.

• Checks and Balances

  • Critics argue that pardons have been used more often for the sake of political expediency than to correct judicial error.
  • The legislative branch of the United States checks and monitors the executive and judicial branches.
  • Courts check both the executive branch and the legislative branch through judicial review.
  • The Supreme Court's landmark decision on the issue of judicial review was Marbury v.
  • Since that time, the federal courts have exercised the power of judicial review.