Ch 15

The judicial interpretation of an act of Congress. In some cases where statutory construction is an issue, Congress passes new legislation to clarify existing laws.

• statutory construction

• political questions

• Judicial officials

A doctrine developed by the federal courts and used as a means to avoid deciding some cases, principally those involving conflicts between the president and Congress.

• Judicial restraint

• Judicial authorities

• political questions

An approach to decision making in which judges sometimes make bold policy decisions, even charting new constitutional ground.

• judicial activism

• Judicial discourse

• Political analysts

An approach to decision making in which judges play minimal policy-making roles and defer to legislatures whenever possible.

• Political leaders

• judicial restraint

• Judiciary Committee

The power of the courts to determine whether acts of Congress and, by implication, the executive are in accord with the U.S. Constitution.

Judicial review was established by John Marshall and his associates in Marbury v. Madison.

• judicial review

• Judicial authorities

• Judicial perspective

The 1803 case in which Chief Justice John Marshall and his associates first asserted the right of the Supreme Court to determine the meaning of the U.S. Constitution. The decision established the Court's power of judicial review over acts of Congress, in this case the Judiciary Act of 1789.

• Marbury v. Madison

• Smith v. State of Texas

• Johnson v. State Department

How and whether court decisions are translated into actual policy, thereby affecting the behavior of others. The courts rely on other units of government to enforce their decisions.

• Annex

• Judicial oversight

• judicial implementation

A view that the Constitution should be interpreted according to the original intentions or original meaning of the Framers. Many conservatives support this view.

• Stare Decisis

• originalism

• Prediction

How similar cases have been decided in the past.

• Annex

• precedent

• Originalism

A Latin phrase meaning "let the decision stand." Most cases reaching appellate courts are settled on this principle.

• Context

• Analog

• stare decisis