1. Shaping Public Policy
Chapter 12.2

2. Opening Activity Group 1: (Judicial Review) Case to Explore:
Lau v. Nichols
What did case involve?
What did Court rule?
How does it reflect Supreme court’s power to influence policy?
Group 2: (Court Interpretations)
Cases to Explore:
1. Olmstead v U.S.
2. Katz v. U.S.
What did cases involve?
What did Court rule?
How does it reflect Supreme court’s power to influence policy?

3. Tools for Shaping Policy
*As the Supreme Court decides cases, it determines policy in three ways:
judicial review 
interpretation of laws 
overruling or revising its previous decisions
Judicial review—the Supreme Court’s power to examine the laws and actions of local, state, and national governments and to cancel them if they violate the Constitution.

4. Tools for Shaping Policy (continued)
stare decisis – “let decision stand”
-once the Court rules on a case, its decision serves as a precedent, or model, on which to base other decisions in similar cases.

5. Limits on the Supreme Court
Court’s activities limited by:
types of issues and cases
agenda
ex:) only cases that come from elsewhere
lack of enforcement power
ex:) Abraham Lincoln
the system of checks and balances.