As he put it in The Federalist, No. 78, the very purpose of constitutions is to place limitations on the powers of government, and it is only the Court that can ensure such limits in the United States.  The Legislative branch, in particular, is unlikely to restrain itself without the helping hand of the judiciary.

Alexander Hamilton

This case established Judicial Reveiw.

Background on what caused this case:  

Additional judicial positions were created by the Federalist Congress and filled

by the outgoing Federalist president (John Adams) in the final days of his

administration, after Thomas Jefferson and the Republicans gained control of

the presidency and the legislature; the apparent intention of these midnight

appointments was to ensure Federalist dominance of the judiciary.

Marbury vs Madison

The Court ruled that Marbury was entitled to his commission and that Madison

had broken the law in failing to deliver it, but that the Court could not compel

Madison to comply with the law; the provision of the Judiciary Act of 1789,

which granted the Court the power to issue writs of mandamus in such cases,

was itself unconstitutional because it sought to expand the original

jurisdiction (jurisdiction of the first court to hear a case) as defined in Article III.

This article and section states 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.

Article III, Section I

This Cheif Justice stated the following about judicial review:  "it is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is."

Cheif Justice John Marshall in Marbury vs. Madison.

This individual coined the phrase "counter-majoritarian difficulty" in 1962.  He described judicial review as a "deviant institution in American democracy."

Alexander Bickel

There how many of these courts?

1) US Federal District Courts

2) US Courts of Appeals

3) US Supreme Court

1) US Federal District Courts - 94

2) US Courts of Appeals - 13 

3) US Supreme Court - 1

These are all called Constitutional Courts because they were created by Congress under Article III, which discusses the judicial branch.

This map shows the 12 geographic circuit courts. Which one of the courts does the map represent?

The US Courts of Appeal.

The US Courts of Appeals Circuit Courts are the thirteen intermediate appellate courts immediately below the US Supreme Court. Twelve of the Circuit Courts hear cases on appeal from US District Courts (trial) within their territorial jurisdiction; the thirteenth court, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, has national subject-matter jurisdiction over cases initially held in the US Court of Claims, as well as appeals of patent, copyright, and a few other classes of cases.

1. US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
2. US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
3. US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
4. US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
5. US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
6. US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
7. US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
8. US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
9. US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
10. US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
11. US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
12. US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
13. US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

This shows what?

How Cases Get to the Supreme Court.

What is the only way to remove a federal judge?

Impeachment by Congress

This is the doctrine of closely following precedent as the basis for

legal reasoning; past decisions serve as the basis for current similar

decisions.

Stare decisis

True or False: The constitution establishes strict qualifications or criteria for judicial branch.  All have to be lawyers for atleast 5 years.

False - The Constitution does not establish any qualifications or criteria for the judicial

branch; by custom, they must be lawyers.

Almost one-half of all Supreme Court justices during this century have had no

prior experience as judges (including some of the most prominent and influential

justices, such as John Marshall, Louis Brandeis, Harlan Stone, Charles Evans

Hughes, Felix Frankfurter, Earl Warren, and William Rehnquist).

All federal judges are nominated by who and approved (confirmed) by who?

1) President

2) Senate

After defining the kind of person he wants in general terms, the president delegates

the task of identifying judicial candidates to who/whom?

Senior White House staff members and the attorney general.

This is the right of the senior senator from the president’s party in the state where the district court is located to approve the nominee.

Senatorial Courtesy

This president was stunned when Chief Justice Warren Burger voted with a unanimous Court to override the president's claim of executive privilege and forced him to give up the documents that would seal his fate in the Watergate affair.

Richard Nixon

This landmark cases established the right to counsel in criminal cases.

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

The most important tool that the Court has for controlling its agenda is the power

to grant—or not to grant, an order from an appellate court to lower courts demanding that they send up a complete record of the case.

a writ of certiorari (‘cert’)

http://www.merriam-webster.com/audio.php?file=certio02&word=certiorari&text=%5C%CB%8Cs%C9%99r-sh(%C4%93-)%C9%99-%CB%88rer-%C4%93%2C%20-%CB%88r%C3%A4r-%C4%93%2C%20-%CB%88ra-r%C4%93%5C

1) This is a statement of the legal reasoning that supports the decision of

the Court.

2) By tradition,who assigns the majority opinion if he voted with the majority in conference (and sometimes assigns it to himself); if this person votes with the minority

(dissenters), the senior member of the majority assigns the opinion (this is one

of the norms referred to above).

1) Written Opinion

2) Chief Justice

There are two main views that dicatate the courts with regards to the US Constitution.  Some beleive the court must be guided by the orginal intentions of the framers and the words in the Constitution while there are others that believe the intentions of the Founders are impossible to determine and would be unreasonably constricting in the twentieth century; they beleive that jurits must try to reconcile the fundamental principles of the Constituion with changing conditions.

Loose Construction and Original Intention (Strict Construction).

Although adherence to precedent is one of the traditional norms that guides judicial decision making, these three courts have not hesitated to overturn previous Court decisions

Warren, Burger, and Rehnquist Courts (particularly the last)

This individual or branch can file suits through the Justice Department, try to move public opion against the Court, and can threaten to introduce legislation to alter teh Court's organization or jurisdiction.  This indvidual or branch makes appointments of justices.

The President

This branch or individual retains the power to change the size, organization, and appellate jurisdiction of the federal courts.

Congress

This branch or individual can apply pressure by being unsympathetic to pleas from the

justices for pay increases or for a suitable budget for clerks or office space.

They can change statutes or pass new laws that specifically challenge

Supreme Court decisions.

Congress

This is the political economic doctrine that holds the government should not interfere with the operations of the free market.  

Laissez-faire

In what case did the court rule in-favor of President Franklin D. Roosevelt to Executive Order 9066 during World War II which authorized the relocation or internment of Japanese Americans.

Korematsu vs United States (1944)

In a 6-3 decision, the Court sided with the government, ruling that the exclusion order was constitutional. Six of eight Roosevelt appointees sided with Roosevelt. The lone Republican appointee, Owen Roberts, dissented.