Making Law Walsh Chapter 3 Exam Prep

CHAPTER 3

MAKING LAW

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

1. What is the first entirely secular written legal code?

a. The Twelve Tables

b. Magna Carta

c. Code of Hammurabi

d. Stare Decisis

2. Which of the following was a document drawn up by English barons to limit the power of the sovereign and to assert certain rights?

a. Petition of Right

b. Bill of Rights

c. Magna Petition

d. Magna Carta

3. Common law is:

a. the law of the House of Commons in England

b. judge-made law

c. statutory law

d. biblical law

4. What means “let the decision stand?”

a. precedent

b. stare decisis

c. common law

d. obiter dicta

5. What means “the reason for the decision?”

a. obiter dicta

b. ratio decidendi

c. stare decisis

d. precedent

6. Which of the following is true of precedent?

a. it is not necessarily unchangeable

b. the court issuing the precedent may overrule it

c. a higher court may reverse the decision of a lower court

d. all of the above

7. ___________ quite literally make law.

a. judges

b. prosecutors

c. courts

d. legislators

8. ____________ are frequently written broadly, leaving administrative agencies with the task of filling in the blanks.

a. case laws

b. statutes

c. rules

d. procedures

9. Which of the following statements is true about why statutes are written so ambiguously?

a. human behavior is easily succinctly documented

b. humans cannot understand them if they are not

c. legislators are politicians and politics involve compromise

d. judges will have a harder time interpreting the laws if they are not written broadly

10. The first document creating a U.S. government was called the

a. Articles of Confederation

b. Constitution

c. Bill of Rights

d. Assize of Clarendon

11. The three individual rights contained in the Constitution are concerned with:

a. freedom of speech, religion, and assembly

b. treason, habeas corpus, and religion

c. freedom of the press, speech, and assembly

d. habeas corpus, bills of attainder, and ex post facto laws

12. The Bill of Rights originally were intended to apply only to actions by:

a. the federal government

b. the various state governments

c. individual citizens

d. none of the above

13. The First Amendment covers the freedom(s) of:

a. speech

b. assembly

c. religion

d. all of the above

14. In which case did the U.S. Supreme Court rule that the establishment clause of the First Amendment freedom of religion creates a "wall of separation between church and state"?

a. Lemon v. Kurtzman

b. Everson v. Board of Education

c. Everson v. Kurtzman

d. Lemon v. Board of Education

15. In which case did the U.S. Supreme Court rule that the government can regulate obscenity?

a. Miller v. California

b. Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire

c. Virginia v. State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumers Council, Inc.

d. Emerson v. Kurtzman

16. Which amendment is the provision of the Constitution that stands most directly between the individual citizen and the police?

a. Fourth

b. Fifth

c. Sixth

d. Fourteenth

17. The Fourth Amendment forbids which types of searches and seizures?

a. unreasonable

b. illegal

c. unconstitutional

d. those without a warrant

18. The Fifth Amendment includes which of the following?

a. the right to counsel

b. the right to a public trial

c. the privilege against self-incrimination

d. the right to bear arms

19. In which case did the U.S. Supreme Court expressly hold that the right to a grand jury indictment does not apply to state criminal trials?

a. Hurtado v. California

b. Griffin v. California

c. District of Columbia v. Heller

d. Malloy v. Hogan

20. Double jeopardy means that a jurisdiction may not:

a. try someone again if their first trial ends in a mistrial

b. try someone again if their first trial ends in a hung jury

c. punish someone again after their conviction has been overturned on appeal

d. punish someone twice for the same offense

21. In which case did the U.S. Supreme Court hold that the privilege against self-incrimination protects a person from compelled testimonial communications?

a. Barker v. Wingo

b. Hurtado v. California

c. Kelo v. City of New London

d. Malloy v. Hogan

22. Under the taking clause, which term is usually thought of in terms of building needed roads, bridges, and parks, which are literally for the use of the public?

a. taking control

b. public use

c. public works

d. public property

23. Which amendment contains rights associated with the criminal trial?

a. Second

b. Fourth

c. Sixth

d. Fourteenth

24. Which act passed by Congress set a specific time limit of one hundred days from arrest to trial?

a. Specific Trial Time Act of 1974

b. Trial Setting Act of 1974

c. Speedy Prosecution Act of 1974

d. Speedy Trial Act of 1974

25. The Eighth Amendment prohibits:

a. double jeopardy

b. excessive bail

c. the death penalty

d. unreasonable searches and seizures

26. Which amendment was said to provide the basis for giving individual citizens other, enumerated rights, such as the right to privacy, as first mentioned by the U.S. Supreme Court in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)?

a. First

b. Fifth

c. Seventh

d. Ninth

27. The Thirteenth Amendment prohibits:

a. incorporation of the Bill of Rights

b. industrial espionage

c. equal protection

d. slavery in the United States

28. Practices used after slavery was abolished that intended to keep blacks at lower social and economic levels than whites were known as:

a. badges of outlaw

b. badges of racism

c. badges of servitude

d. badges of slavery

29. Classifications that are either without reason or based on race, gender, national origin, or religion are sometimes referred to as:

a. irrational classifications

b. suspect classifications

c. scrutiny classifications

d. critical classifications

30. Which of the following classifications are not suspect if the state can demonstrate an interest in their health and safety and there is no history of "invidious" discrimination?

a. race

b. sex/gender

c. age

d. religion

31. Fundamental rights are those freedoms the U.S. Supreme Court has determined are:

a. included in the Bill of Rights

b. essential to the concept of ordered liberty

c. included in the original Constitution

d. necessary in a modern society

32. Under strict scrutiny review, any legislation enacted must:

a. be narrowly tailored

b. be based on reason

c. prohibit suspect classifications

d. none of the above

33. Under which standard of review does the U.S. Supreme Court look closely at the purpose and effect of the legislation rather than merely accept the claims of the legislature that the legislation is needed or accepting the legislation as presumptively valid?

a. strict scrutiny

b. intermediate scrutiny

c. suspect scrutiny

d. rational basis

34. If neither a fundamental right nor a suspect classification is implicated in a law, the U.S. Supreme Court will use which standard of review?

a. intermediate scrutiny

b. strict scrutiny

c. rational basis

d. suspect scrutiny

35. Which of the following was the first Bill of Rights case in which the U.S. Supreme Court expressly held that the Bill of Rights applied only to the federal government?

a. Twining v. New Jersey

b. Marbury v. Madison

c. Barron v. Baltimore

d. Scott v. Sandford

36. Under the principles of ____________, legislatures cannot pass laws that infringe on substantive rights such as free speech and privacy.

a. sovereignty

b. incorporation

c. strict scrutiny

d. substantive due process

37. The term incorporation means that the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court:

a. adopted fundamental rights as common law

b. recognized the Bill of Rights and the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as being fundamental rights

c. interpreted the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as prohibiting states from abridging certain individual rights

d. only applied the rights contained in the Constitution, not the Bill of Rights, to the states

38. Which type of incorporation holds that the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment makes the entire Bill of Rights applicable to the states?

a. total incorporation plus

b. total incorporation

c. fundamental rights

d. selective incorporation

39. In which case did the U.S. Supreme Court suggest that some of the individual rights in the Bill of Rights might be protected from state action not because the Bill of Rights applied to the states but because these rights "are of such a nature that they are included in the conception of due process of law"?

a. Twining v. New Jersey

b. Scott v. Sandford

c. Marbury v. Madison

d. Barron v. Baltimore

40. Which type of incorporation is the approach that seems to predominate in most U.S. Supreme Court cases?

a. fundamental rights

b. selective incorporation

c. total incorporation

d. total incorporation plus

41. Which type of incorporation favors a piecemeal, gradual, and selective method of incorporation?

a. total incorporation

b. fundamental rights

c. total incorporation plus

d. selective incorporation

42. Which U.S. Supreme Court justice was a principal advocate of the selective incorporation school of thought in regards to incorporation of the Bill of Rights?

a. Justice Hugo Black

b. Justice William Douglas

c. Justice Felix Frankfurter

d. Justice William Brennan

43. Which position of incorporation maintains that the due process clause protects only "fundamental rights" and that not every right in the Bill of Rights is necessarily fundamental?

a. selective incorporation

b. incorporation plus

c. incorporation minus

d. total incorporation

44. One criminal protection not yet incorporated from the Bill of Rights is:

a. cruel and unusual punishment

b. indictment by a grand jury

c. self-incrimination

d. right to counsel

45. What simply means the court has the power to examine a law and determine whether it is constitutional?

a. legal realism

b. judicial review

c. scrutiny review

d. legal scrutiny

46. Which court case established the authority of the U.S. Supreme Court to engage in judicial review?

a. Barron v. Baltimore

b. Palko v. Connecticut

c. Marbury v. Madison

d. Griswold v. Connecticut

47. A writ compelling public officials to perform their duty is known as a:

a. writ of habeas corpus

b. writ of professionalism

c. writ of mandamus

d. writ of right

48. A Supreme Court ruling can be overturned by:

a. a congressional act

b. a presidential executive order

c. a constitutional amendment

d. a ruling by the World Court

49. Of the twenty-seven amendments that have been added to the Constitution, how many were added by two-thirds of both houses of Congress passing a resolution calling for an amendment then ratification within seven years by three-fourths of the states?

a. 10

b. 14

c. 23

d. 27

50. Which of the following was the U.S. Supreme Court’s first constitutional decision?

a. Marbury v. Madison

b. Chisholm v. Georgia

c. Baron v. Baltimore

d. Slaughterhouse cases

TRUE/FALSE QUESTIONS

1. Judicial review means that the court has the power to examine a law and determine whether it is constitutional.
2. Precedent from one state is binding on all courts in the United States.
3. Distinguishing involves overruling a prior decision.
4. Supporters of a strong federal government in 1781 were referred to as Democrats.
5. The first person to hold the title of “president of the United States” was George Washington.
6. The Bill of Rights initially applied only to the federal government.
7. Freedom of speech includes only spoken words.
8. The Bill of Rights has been entirely incorporated into the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
9. Trial by jury is a right that did not exist prior to the adoption of the Bill of Rights.
10. The Eighth Amendment prohibits "cruel and unusual" punishment.
11. The Fourteenth Amendment was adopted shortly after the Civil War.
12. Under rational basis review, state actions are presumptively valid.
13. In Barron v. Baltimore, the Supreme held that the Bill of Rights applies to the states as well as the federal government.
14. The Supreme Court has generally followed the "selective incorporation" approach to incorporation.
15. Judicial review gives courts the power to write new laws.
16. Judicial review is not specifically provided for in the Constitution.
17. In Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court required President Jefferson to hire Marbury as a magistrate for the District of Columbia.
18. The term stare decisis means "let the decision stand."
19. Statutes are often written ambiguously, requiring courts to interpret their meaning.
20. The right to petition for a writ of habeas corpus is not mentioned in the Constitution.
21. According to the total incorporation position, the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is interpreted as including all of the provisions of the Bill of Rights.
22. William Blackstone was the first person to attempt to collect and explain judicial decisions.
23. Court pronouncements that establish precedent are known as ratio decidendi.
24. A bill of attainder is defined as legislation making prior conduct criminal.
25. Several of the American colonies had established religions.
26. The right to bear arms was an important right in the English Bill of Rights.
27. The Supreme Court has consistently ruled that the Second Amendment grants all Americans the right to bear arms.
28. The right against excessive bail has been incorporated.
29. In the judicial review of legislation involving suspect classifications, the rational basis

test must be used.

1. Legislation involving fundamental rights must be reviewed according to strict scrutiny.

ESSAY QUESTIONS

1. Discuss the evolution of common law.
2. Distinguish between precedent and stare decisis.
3. What are the rights protected by the First Amendment, and what are their limitations?
4. What is the doctrine of dual sovereignty? Provide a scenario example of when it would occur.
5. Using strict scrutiny review, under what circumstances can a state abridge fundamental rights?