Judicial Terms

Question 1

Judicial Review

Answer 1

• The power of the Supreme court to declare Acts of Congress, actions of the executive, or Acts or actions of state governments, unconstitutional.

Question 2

Equal Protection Clause

Answer 2

• A clause in the Fourteenth Amendment requiring states to guarantee equal rights and protection to all citizens

Question 3

Judicial Activism

Answer 3

• An approach to judicial decision making which holds that judges should use their position to promote desirable social ends
• An activist court is said to be one which sees itself as leading the way in the reform of American society. The Earl Warren court in the 50’s and 60’s is a good example, in trying to move society along in the areas of black civil rights and the rights of arrested persons.

Question 4

Affirmative Action

Answer 4

• Affirmative action is when employers or colleges have to take in a certain number of people from a historically disadvantaged groups, such as racial minorities
• Numerous Supreme Court cases have upheld AA in higher education, most recently in Fisher v Texas II [2016]

Question 5

Judicial restraint

Answer 5

• Believing that rulings should have a limited impact