1. Bell Ringer:
Write five questions you think may be on the test for chapter 7
Include the test question and the answer
The questions can be ABC choice, matching, or short response

2. How Cases Reach the Court:
Define Writ of Certiorari
Does the Supreme Court have to hear all cases?

3. Define Writ of Certiorari: an order a higher court issues to a lower court to obtain the records of the lower court in a particular case
Does the Supreme Court have to hear all cases?-no, it chooses which ones it wants to hear

4. Selecting Cases When does a case have merit?
When else does the Court take cases?
What kind of cases do Supreme Court justices tend to select? Why?
When does the Court accept a case?

5. When does a case have merit
When does a case have merit? If it involves a key constitutional question
When else does the Court take cases? It takes cases when courts of appeal have made different decisions on the same point of law
What kind of cases do Supreme Court justices tend to select? Why? Legal rather than political issues
When does the Court accept a case? When 4 of the 9 judges agree to do so

6. Caseload Define Caseload
How many petitions for writs of certiorari does the Supreme Court get every year?
How many do they hear?

7. Define Caseload: a judge’s or court’s workload of cases in a period of time
How many petitions for writs of certiorari does the Supreme Court get every year? About 10,000
How many do they hear? About cases

8. Written and Oral Arguments
Define brief
What is written in the brief?
What happens after the briefs have been filed?
What happens after the justices read the briefs?
Who goes first?

9. Define brief: a written document explaining the position of one side or the other in a case
What is written in the brief?the two parties explain their side on the case
What happens after the briefs have been filed? The two parties have a chance to review each others briefs and give the court a second brief
What happens after the justices read the briefs? Justices study the cases and ask questions about the arguments
Who goes first? The party that appealed the case

10. Conference: What do the justices do each week during the term?
Who preside over the meeting?
What do the other justices do?
What decides a case?

11. What do the justices do each week during the term
What do the justices do each week during the term? They get together to make their first decisions about the cases they have been studying
Who preside over the meeting? The chief justice
What do the other justices do? Take turns stating their views on the case
What decides a case? A majority vote

12. Factors Influencing Decisions:
Define stare decisis
What makes a law flexible
Can the Supreme Court overrule precedents?
Provide an example where the Supreme Court overruled precedents
What are some of the varying views of the law and role of courts in society?

13. Define stare decisis: the practice of using earlier judicial rulings as a basis for decided cases
What makes a law flexible: social conditions, public ideas, and technology change over the years
Can the Supreme Court overrule precedents? yes
Provide an example where the Supreme Court overruled precedents changing views on segregation
What are some of the varying views of the law and role of courts in society? Some justices have varying views on the law. Some believe courts should be active, other think they should promote new ideas or policies

14. What do written opinions do?
Who is assigned to write the majority opinion?
What does the majority opinion state?
When can a justice write a concurring opinion?
Define dissenting opinion
What happens after opinions are drafted?
When does the Court announce its decision

15. What do written opinions do
What do written opinions do? They set precedents for lower courts to follow
Who is assigned to write the majority opinion? Either the chief justice or the longest serving judge
What does the majority opinion state? The facts and gives the ruling, it also explains the Court’s reasoning
When can a justice write a concurring opinion? When they agree with the majority decision for for a different reason

16. Define dissenting opinion: a statement written by a justice who disagrees with the majority opinion, presenting his or her own opinion
What happens after opinions are drafted? Each one is reviewed by the justices on the side of the question
When does the Court announce its decision: when the opinions are in final form