U.S. Legal System Flashcards
6 cards from real CP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 U.S. Legal System flashcards as text
What is the Bill of Rights and how does it protect individuals?
Answer: The first ten amendments guaranteeing fundamental rights and liberties against government action
The Bill of Rights (first ten amendments, ratified 1791) protects individual liberties including speech, religion, and criminal procedure rights.
What is the Equal Protection Clause and what scrutiny levels do courts apply?
Answer: The Fourteenth Amendment prohibits denying equal protection, with different scrutiny levels based on classification
The Equal Protection Clause requires equal treatment under law, with strict, intermediate, and rational basis scrutiny levels.
What is the difference between original jurisdiction and appellate jurisdiction?
Answer: Original is power to hear a case first; appellate is power to review a lower court's decision
Original jurisdiction hears cases initially with factual findings; appellate jurisdiction reviews lower court legal decisions.
What is federalism in the U.S. legal system?
Answer: A system dividing power between a central federal government and individual state governments
Federalism is the constitutional division of power between the federal government and the states.
What is a writ of certiorari and how does the Supreme Court use it?
Answer: A discretionary order to review a lower court's decision, granted when four justices agree
Certiorari is the primary mechanism for Supreme Court appellate jurisdiction, requiring the Rule of Four.
What is the Commerce Clause and why is it significant?
Answer: Article I, Section 8 grants Congress power to regulate interstate commerce, broadly interpreted to expand federal authority
The Commerce Clause has become the constitutional basis for much federal regulatory authority through expansive interpretation.