Christopher Columbus Langdell, Dean of the Harvard law school appointed in 1870, had a lasting impact on ___. He implemented changes that were emulated by other schools and that carry on in some form to the present day. These changes included strict entrance requirements, adoption of a three year program by 1876, students had to pass end of year exams to continue on to the next year, implementation of a case method of teaching, (rather than textbooks, cases chosen to teach and explain various principles of law), and use of a question and answer Socratic method of teaching.
From 1860 until 1935, the Supreme Court met in its “old ___ Chamber” on the ground floor of the Capitol.
The first step in the procedures leading up to the criminal trial is the ___, which can be with a court-issued warrant on a finding of probable cause, or without a warrant when a crime is committed in the presence of a law enforcement officer or when a law enforcement officer has reason to belief that someone has committed or is about to commit a crime.
Types of crimes can be sorted into five broad categories based on their ___ policy implications. The five categories are conventional crimes, economic crimes, syndicated crime, consensual crime, and political crime. Describing one or more of these categories, characteristics, with examples, and considerations particular to their prosecution would be a good essay question.
A ___ is an offense against the state, prohibited by statute, and punishable by fine, imprisonment or death. Describing in what ways crimes are objective, and in what ways crimes are subjective would be a good essay question.
The level of work and responsibility of Supreme Court law clerks vary, depending on the judge, but most justices admit to not writing the first draft of their ___.
Chief Justice Marshall really shaped the early Court, instituting regularized procedures and enhancing the court’s ___.
In Trump v. Anderson (2024) the Supreme Court held that the Colorado State Supreme Court ___ in ordering the Colorado secretary of state to exclude the former President from the state's Republican primary ballot because the Constitution makes Congress, rather than the States, responsible for enforcing the 14th Amendment Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates.
Justice Frankfurter (1939-1962, appointed by FDR) once said of the Supreme Court that “it is an institution in which every man is his own ___.”
One important part of the U.S. Department of Justice is the Office of Solicitor ___. Describing the work of this office and the impact it has on the docket of the US Supreme Court would be a good essay question.
The title of the federal prosecutor in each federal judicial district responsible for federal law enforcement in that district is the U.S. _____. Describing the origin of this position and describing their responsibilities and how they are carried out would be a good essay question.
Chief Justice William Howard Taft wrote in a 1925 Yale Law Journal article that “The function of the Supreme Court had become not the remedy of a particular litigant’s wrong, but the consideration of cases whose decision involves principles, the application of which are of ___ governmental or public interest, and which should be authoritatively declared by the final court.”
A felony is a serious crime, defined by the severity of its defined punishment of death or imprisonment, or in some jurisdictions, imprisonment for a minimum certain length of ___ in prison.
___, the judicial policy of “letting the prior decision stand” is usually followed by the Supreme Court, meaning most precedents are not reversed, but the Court can and does ignore this principle under certain circumstances. Describing the circumstances under which reversals of prior decisions are more likely to occur would be a good essay question.
The US justice system uses an __ process, rather than the inquisitorial method used in most other Western justice systems.
____ is the theory that justices disproportionately grant cert. in cases in which one or more of the following cues are present:
1) a civil liberties issue, 2) disagreement in lower courts and 3) the involvement of the federal government as the petitioner.
Studies show that the strongest correlation between any of these cues is the participation of the government. Discussing Dept. of Ed. v. Brown in relation to cue theory and S.Ct. case selection would be a good essay question topic.
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ___ decision in Trump v. Anderson (2024). This means it is a decision that does not identify any specific judge as writing the decision.
A ___ decision is issued in the name of the Court rather than specific judges.
___ procedures, following an arrest include appearance before a magistrate, the grand jury process or preliminary hearing, the arraignment, and the possibility of a plea bargain.
The Court has struggled over the years with establishing and maintaining its desired norm of ___. ___ is expected, but in conflict of the growth of the Supreme court staff and bureaucracy.
The head of the U.S. Department of ___ is the US Attorney General, a cabinet level position.
A misdemeanor is a relatively ____ crime, punishable by fines and/or confinement of a relatively short period of time.