2.10 - The Court in Action

Judicial Independence

• Life Tenure: federal judges serve for life "subject to good behavior," with no elections or risk of being fired.
• Hamilton defended this in Federalist No. 78 (1788): "nothing can contribute so much to its firmness and independence as permanency in office." Judges who can't be fired or voted out are free to rule against the other branches.

• Consequence: this independence lets the Court make controversial or unpopular rulings without worrying about current politics or public opinion.
• Brown v. Board of Education (1954): ordering an end to segregated schools was deeply unpopular with many white Southerners and their elected officials, who had every political reason not to act.
• Baker v. Carr (1962): the Court stepped into redistricting, which earlier Courts had left to legislatures as a political issue, and opened the door to rulings that forced states to redraw maps that benefited the lawmakers in charge.
• United States v. Lopez (1995): the Court told Congress it had gone too far under the Commerce Clause, striking down a law Congress passed to keep guns away from schools.

• Legitimacy debate: since justices aren't elected, serve for life, and hold the self-granted power of judicial review, there's ongoing debate about how much power the Court should really have.

Process of Deciding a Case

• Written Briefs: after the Court accepts a case, each side submits written arguments.

• Amicus Curiae Briefs: "friend of the court" briefs from outside parties who want to influence the outcome, most often filed by interest groups and the federal government.

• Oral Arguments: happen months later, where lawyers present their case and get questioned by the justices.

• Deliberation and Vote: within a few days of oral arguments, justices meet privately and take a preliminary vote. This isn't final, since the outcome isn't official until the opinion is publicly released, and justices have occasionally changed their minds afterward.

The Opinions of the Court

• Majority Opinion: the legally binding opinion, requiring a majority of justices to sign on. It often goes through many revisions before five justices agree, at which point it's announced and becomes case law.

• Concurring Opinion: written by a justice who agrees with the outcome but for different reasoning, maybe wanting a stronger ruling or a different constitutional basis.

• Dissenting Opinion: written by justices on the losing side, laying out why the majority got it wrong, often hoping to influence future courts or give Congress and states ideas for limiting the ruling's impact.

• Per Curiam Opinion: a rare unsigned opinion issued "by the court" as a whole, often for quick or time-sensitive rulings, like New York Times Co. v. United States (1971) and Bush v. Gore (2000), which decided the 2000 election.

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