Article II Section 2 provides for the selection of federal judges, stating that "The President …. shall ___, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint ... Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States,...."
In U.S. Term ___, Inc. v. Thornton (1995),
the Court, relying on Powell (1969), held that the Constitution forbids the States from adding to or altering the qualifications for members of Congress, including a state's restriction of ballot access for candidates who exceed the state's imposed term ___. (Identifying one of the cases that involves Congress's authority (or limits thereto) over its own internal affairs and explaining the holding and reasoning/rationale in that case as well as its legal impact would be a good essay question.)
Article I, Section 8
lists in seventeen clauses the ___ or specific powers the delegates gave to Congress.
Constraints on judicial power come not only from the Court's own interpretations of Article III, but also from the executive and legislative branches, from the ___ and balances/separation of powers structure of the U.S. government. (Describing these ___would be a good essay question.)
Debate at the Constitutional Convention over whether in Congress the states should be represented equally (the preference of the small states), or according to population (the preference of the large states) was resolved with a compromise. The number of reps in the House is based on a state’s ___, and
representation in the Senate is equal--two delegates from each state.
In Watkins v. United States (1957) the Court held that the House Un-American Activities Committee Rule XI investigation authorization did not give Watkins a fair opportunity to determine whether he was within his ___ when refusing to answer questions about people who had already “removed themselves from the Communist movement” as required by the Due Process Clause of the 5th Amendment. (Describing Congress's power to investigate, including discussion of important caselaw on this issue, would be a good essay question.)
The caselaw involving Article III's limits on the powers of the federal judiciary demonstrate that Article III's language allows for ___ in interpretation of these self-imposed constraints as they apply to issues of jurisdiction, justiciability, and standing.
Justice Louis D. Brandeis, in his famous concurrence in ___ v. Tennessee Valley Authority (1936), summarized the principles of judicial self-restraint that he contended the Court should follow to avoid unnecessarily reaching decisions on the constitutionality of laws.
One of the two traditional judicial views of the separation of powers system under our Constitution is “___”.
The ___ view is that the Constitution gives clear boundaries between and among the branches of government and describes the primary powers of each.
Federal judges should not allow deviations from these boundaries and descriptions of primary powers unless the text of the Constitution permits them.
In Ex Parte McCardle (1869)
the Court held that the Court did not have ___ to hear an appellate habeas corpus case brought under the 1867 Habeas Corpus Act when in 1868 Congress repealed the law giving the Court appellate review over such cases while the case in question was pending.
One of the two traditional judicial views of the separation of powers system under our Constitution is “___”. ___ rejects strict divisions among the branches and emphasizes instead a more fluid system of shared rather than separated powers, and so
long as "actions by Congress or the president do not result in the accumulation of too much power in any one branch, the federal courts should be flexible....” (Epstein et al.)
In Nixon v. United States (1993) the Court held that
former District Court Judge Nixon’s claim that Senate Rule XI violates the Impeachment Trial Clause, which provides that the “Senate shall have the ___ power to try all Impeachments,” is a non-justiciable political question.
The Judiciary Act of 1789
set up a federal judicial system with three levels, initially consisting of the Supreme Court,
three circuit courts, and thirteen ___ courts.
The first lines of each of the first three articles of the U.S. Constitution are the "___" clauses. They identify the principle power granted by the Constitution to each of the three branches of government.
Article I “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.”
Article II “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.”
Article III “The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.”
In Trump v. Mazars USA, LLP (2020) the
Court announced new 4-part test for determining the constitutionality of a Congressional investigation into a president’s ___ information. (Describing this case, the reasons the Court gave for rejecting both parties' suggestions of the appropriate standard to be applied, and describing the four factors to be weighed and balanced under this test would be a good essay question.)
Chief Justice John ___, writing for the Court in Marbury v. Madison (1803), held that Congress’s grant of original jurisdiction to the Court to issue writs of mandamus is unconstitutional, therefore the Court could not issue the writ of mandamus requested in that case. (Describing the political background of this case and the Court's reasoning in coming to this conclusion would be a good essay question.)
In McGrain v. Daugherty (1927) the Court reaffirmed that Congress has the power to investigate and “to ___ a private individual to appear before it or one of its committees and give testimony needed to enable it efficiently to exercise a legislative function belonging to it under the Constitution” where the "purpose for which the witness’s testimony was sought was to obtain information in aid of the legislative function."
In Mcculloch v. Maryland (1819)
the Court rejected a strict construction of Art. 1 Sec. 8's Necessary and Proper Clause, and held that Congress did have the power to charter the national ___.
In Gibson v. Florida Legislative Investigating Commission (1963), in which the Court reversed the contempt conviction of a leader in the ___ who refused to provide a committee with the organization’s membership records. The Court distinguished its holding in Barenblatt, noting that there wasn’t a link between the ___ and subversive activities, so the state had no compelling reason for demanding the membership lists.
In Gravel v. United States (1972) the Court held that the
1) Speech or Debate Clause protections, forbidding questioning a member of Congress “in any other place…for any Speech or Debate in either House,” extends to Senator’s ___, but only “insofar as the conduct of the latter would be a protected legislative act if performed by the Member himself. . . .” and also held
2) Speech or Debate Clause protections, forbidding questioning a member of Congress “in any other place…for any Speech or Debate in either House,” do not extend to the publishing co. the Senator gave classified documents to in order to publish, nor to any discussions about publication. (Identifying one of the cases that involves Congress's authority (or limits thereto) over its own internal affairs and explaining the holding and reasoning/rationale in that case as well as its legal impact would be a good essay question.)