Legal Precedent: Proper Role of the Judiciary
The word "activist," often used in reference to court decisions, can have quite different meanings. The Warren court, for example, departed in many ways from decisions of the past and was critical to the struggle for inclusion by communities of colo...
Legal Precedent: Legal Precedent
Another source of law in judicial decision-making traces its origin to the British common-law tradition known as precedent. The idea is that like cases should be decided alike. The Supreme Court generally follows its precedents because it is conside...
Legal Precedent: Facts, Laws, and Original Intent
In any legal case a basic distinction is drawn between facts, the relevant circumstances of a legal dispute, and applicable laws. The court must consider common law, judge-made law, legislative statutes, and the Constitution which as the higher law ...
Legal Precedent: Influence of Outside Forces and Internal Beliefs on Judicial Decision Making, The
Justices and judges are not as removed from the public scene as many people believe they are. A constant flow of material tells them what is going on and the controversies that exist. It is clear to the justices on the Supreme Court that some of the...
Legal Precedent: Judicial Review
The controversy over judicial power is intensified by the fact that federal judges are not elected. The balance of power among the three branches of government comes into particular focus in the exercise of judicial review. Whenever the Supreme Cou...
Legal Precedent: Judge's Political Beliefs, A
Judges "try to make decisions based on what they see as the law," Eugene Volokh states. "The difficulty is that sometimes the law is quite ambiguous, so the law will bind with the judge's own personal views." Judges may be the center of attention by...
Legal Precedent: Constitutional Constraints on the Judiciary
Members of Congress have more latitude in their decision-making authority than justices and judges bound by the provisions of Article III of the Constitution. The court cannot issue a decision except in response to an actual case that is before it. ...