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R. A. V. V. City Of St. Paul

R. A. V. v. City of St. Paul

R. A. V., Petitioner, v. City of St. Paul, Minnesota, 505 U.S. 377 (1992) was an important United States Supreme Court case involving the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and freedom of speech.

Background

The United States Supreme Court has, over its history, but particularly during the twentieth century, dealt with many cases involving the First Amendment and freedom of speech, particularly symbolic speech. In cases such as Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919), Gitlow v. New York, 268 U.S. 652 (1925), Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568 (1942), New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964), Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973) and others, the Supreme Court has had to adjudicate issues relating to freedom of speech; in more recent years, the Court has tended to rule in favor of the speech that came into question.

The Case

The case was argued in the U.S. Supreme Court on December 4, 1991. From the decision of the court, 505 U.S. 377: :"In the predawn hours of June 21, 1990, petitioner and several other teenagers allegedly assembled a crudely made cross by taping together broken chair legs. They then allegedly burned the cross inside the fenced yard of a black family that lived across the street from the house where petitioner was staying." ::See cross burning. :"[The] petitioner R.A.V. was charged under, inter alia, the St. Paul, Minnesota, Bias-Motivated Crime Ordinance, which prohibits the display of a symbol which one knows or has reason to know 'arouses anger, alarm or resentment in others on the basis of race, color, creed, religion or gender.'" ::"Whoever places on public or private property a symbol, object, appellation, characterization or graffiti, including, but not limited to, a burning cross or Nazi swastika, which one knows or has reasonable grounds to know arouses anger, alarm, or resentment in others, on the basis of race, color, creed, religion or gender commits disorderly conduct and shall be guilty of a misdemeanor." St. Paul Bias Motivated Crime Ordinance, Section 292.02 Minn. Legis. code (1990). From the defense: :"We ask the court to reflect on the 'content' of the 'expressive conduct' represented by a 'burning cross.' It is no less than the first step in an act of racial violence. It was and unfortunately still is the equivalent of [the] waving of a knife before the thrust, the pointing of a gun before it is fired, the lighting of the match before the reason, the hanging of the noose before the lynching. It is not a political statement, or even a cowardly statement of hatred. It is the first step in an act of assault. It can be no more protected than holding a gun to a victim['s] head. It is perhaps the ultimate expression of 'fighting words.'" App. to Brief for Petitioner.

The Decision

Trial Court

The trial court rejected the charge against the petitioner on the grounds that the statute in question was overly broad and "impermissibly content-based."

State Supreme Court

The State Supreme Court overturned the trial courts decision, finding cross burning to be fighting words (Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire) and the law to be reasonable given "compelling government interest in protecting the community against bias-motivated threats to public safety and order." In Re Welfare of R.A.V., 464 N.W.2 507, 510 (Minn. 1991).

Supreme Court

On June 22, 1992, the Supreme Court overturned the state supreme court's decision, declaring the City's ordinance unconstitutional. They found cross burning to be not fighting words but a "viewpoint" in the "free market of ideas" protected by the first amendment. As Justice Antonin Scalia asserted in the opinion of the Court, :Assuming, arguendo, that all of the expression reached by the ordinance is proscribable under the "fighting words" doctrine, we nonetheless conclude that the ordinance is facially unconstitutional in that it prohibits otherwise permitted speech solely on the basis of the subjects the speech addresses. [505 U.S. 377] According to Judith Butler, :"The majority on the High Court (Scalia, Rehnquist, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas) then offered a second reason for declaring the ordinance unconstitutional, a judicially activist contribution which took many jurists by surprise: the justices severely restricted the possible doctrinal scope of 'fighting words' by claiming it unconstitutional to impose prohibitions on speech solely on the basis of the 'content' or 'subjects addressed' in that speech. In order to determine whether words are fighting words, there can be no decisive recourse to the content and the subject matter of what is said." Again, Scalia: :"Let there be no mistake about our belief that burning a cross in someone's front yard is reprehensible. But, St. Paul has sufficient means at its disposal to prevent such behavior without adding the first Amendment to the fire." According to Mari Matsuda and Charles R. Lawrence, III: :"The cross burners are portrayed as an unpopular minority that the Supreme Court must defend against the power of the state. The injury to the Jones family is appropriated and the cross burner is cast as the injured victim. The reality of ongoing racism and exclusion is erased and bigotry is redefined as majoritarian condemnation of racist views." Again Butler: :"The burning of the cross which is, after all, on the black family's lawn, is thus made strictly analogous--and morally equivalent--to an individual speaking in public on whether or not there ought to be a fifty-cent tax on gasoline...the historical correlation between cross-burning and marking a community, a family, or an individual for further violence is also ignored.....The relation between cross-burnings and torchings of both persons and properties is historically established. Hence, from this perspective, the burning cross assumes the status of a direct address and a threat and, as such, is construed either as the incipient moment of injurious action or as the statement of an intention to injure....The question of whether or not the black family in Minnesota is entitled to protection from public displays such as cross-burnings is displaced onto the question of whether or not the 'content' of free speech is to be protected from those who would burn it." Justice Stevens, who disagrees with Scalia on the second reason: :"Lighting a fire near an ammunition dump or a gasoline storage tank is especially dangerous; such behaviour may be punished more severely than burning trash in a vacant lot. Threatening someone because of her race or religious beliefs may cause particularly sever trauma or touch off a riot, and threatening a high public official may cause substantial social disruptions; such threats may be punished more severely than threats against someone based on, say, his support of a particular athletic team."

Research Resources


- [http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/faclibrary/case.aspx?case=RAV_v_St_Paul First Amendment Library entry on R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul]

Additional Materials


- Butler, Judith (1997). Excitable Speech: A Politics of the Performative. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0415915880.
- Lawrence III, Charles R. and Matsuda, Mari J. eds. (1993). Words That Wound: Critical Race Theory, Assaultive Speech, and the First Amendment. Westview Press. ISBN 0813384281.

See also


- List of United States Supreme Court cases Category:1992 in law Category:United States Supreme Court cases Category:United States free speech case law Category:United States First Amendment case law

1992

1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday.

Events

January


- January 1 - Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General
- January 1 - George H. W. Bush becomes the first President of the United States to address the Australian Parliament.
- January 8 - Bosnian Serbs declare their own republic within Bosnia-Herzegovina in protest to the decision by Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats to seek EC recognition.
- January 8 - George H. W. Bush falls violently ill in the presence of the Prime Minister of Japan.
- January 11 - Paul Simon is the first major artist to tour South Africa after the end of the cultural boycott.
- January 12 - The second round of Algeria's general elections is cancelled when the first round is favorable to the Islamic Salvation Front.
- January 13 - Japan apologizes for forcing Korean women into sexual slavery during World War II.
- January 13 - Jeffrey Dahmer pleads guilty but insane to the murders of 15 young men and boys.
- January 15 - The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ceases to exist. Slovenia and Croatia gain independence.
- January 16 - El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign a pact in Mexico City that ends a 12 year civil war that claimed at least 75,000.
- January 22 - Rebel forces occupy Zaire's national radio station in Kinshasa and broadcast a demand for the government's resignation
- January 22 - STS-42: Dr. Roberta Bondar becomes the first Canadian woman in space.
- January 26 - Boris Yeltsin announces that Russia is going to stop targeting United States cities with nuclear weapons.

February


- February 1 - Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal court declares Warren Anderson, ex-CEO of Union Carbide a fugitive under Indian law for failing to appear in the Bhopal Disaster case, and orders the Indian government to press for an extradition from United States
- February 7 - Signing of the Maastricht treaty, which founded the European Union.
- February 10 - In Indianapolis, Indiana boxer Mike Tyson is convicted of raping a Miss Black America contestant named Desiree Washington
- February 11 - F-16 jet crashes into a residential district of Hengelo, the Netherlands. No casualties are reported.
- February 17 - A court in Milwaukee, Wisconsin sentences Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer to life in prison
- February 18 - Iraq disarmament crisis: The Executive Chairman of UNSCOM details Iraq's refusal to abide by UN Security Council disarmament resolutions.
- February 20 - The English FA Premier League was officially formed
- February 21 - United Nations Security Council approves Resolution 743 and decides to send UNPROFOR peacekeeping force to Yugoslavia
- February 26 - Supreme Court of Ireland rules that a 14-year-old rape victim may travel to England to get an abortion

March


- March - Boxer Mike Tyson is given a 6 year sentence for raping an 18 year old Miss Black America contestant, Desiree Washington
- March 1 - After a majority of the Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat communities vote for Bosnian independence, Serb snipers fire on civilians
- March 12 - Mauritius becomes a republic while remaining a member of the British Commonwealth
- March 12 - 13 are killed and several injured when a tram-car crashes into a crowd of people at the tram-station at Vasaplatsen in Gothenburg, Sweden.
- March 13 - In eastern Turkey, an earthquake registering 6.8 on the Richter scale kills over 500.
- March 17 - 29 are killed and 242 injured when a suicide car-bomb goes off in the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires.
- March 25 - Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev returns to Earth after a 10-month stay aboard the Mir space station

April


- April - Bosnia and Herzegovina secedes from Yugoslavia.
- April 2 - In New York, Mafia boss John Gotti is convicted of murder of mob boss Paul Castellano and racketeering and is later sentenced to life in prison
- April 6 - Robert Schumann (record-breaker) becomes the youngest person to visit the north pole
- April 6 - Serbian troops begin to bombard Sarajevo
- April 8 - Punch magazine publishes its final issue
- April 9 - A Miami jury convicts former Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega of assisting Colombia's cocaine cartel
- April 9 - United Kingdom general election - John Major unexpectedly re-elected.
- April 10 - IRA bomb explodes in the Baltic Exchange in the City of London - 3 dead, 91 injured
- April 13 - Flooding in downtown Chicago, Illinois
- April 13 - Roermond in the Netherlands is rocked by an earthquake along the Peel Fault.
- April 14-October 15 - The trial of the Russian serial killer Andrew Chikatilo - he is sentenced to death
- April 21 - Maria Vladimirovna of Russia succeeds her father as Head of the Imperial Family of Russia and Titular Empress and Autocrat of all the Russias.
- April 22 - Fuel that has leaked into sewer explodes in Guadalajara, Mexico - 215 dead, 1500 injured
- April 27 - Betty Boothroyd elected the first woman to be Speaker of the British House of Commons.
- April 29 - In Los Angeles, California, the police officers that were accused of excessive force in their severe beating of Rodney King, were found "not guilty". The verdict resulted in several days of riots in L.A. and smaller riots around the country.

May


- May 5 - Alabama ratifies a 202-year-old proposed amendment to the United States Constitution making the 27th Amendment law. This amendment bars the U.S. Congress from giving itself a midterm or retroactive pay raise
- May 5 - Russian leaders in Crimea declare their separation from Ukraine as a new republic. They withdraw the secession on May 10
- May 10 - Team of Sweden wins the Ice Hockey World Championships in Prague
- May 15 - The Genoa Expo '92 World's Fair opens in Genoa, Italy
- May 16 - STS-49: Space Shuttle Endeavour lands safely after a successful maiden voyage
- May 19 - Amy Fisher shoots at Mary Jo Buttafuoco
- May 23 - Mafia bomb kills Italian anti-mafia judge Giovanni Falcone
- May 26 - Charles Geschke, President of Adobe Systems is kidnapped from his company car park. Kidnappers demand ransom for $650,000 - they are later apprehended

June


- June 1 - Terrorist Carlos (the Jackal) is sentenced to life imprisonment
- June 1 - Kentucky celebrates its bicentennial statehood.
- June 1 - The Pittsburgh Penguins sweep the Chicago Blackhawks in 4 games in the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals.
- June 8 - The first World Ocean Day celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- June 12 - Medical doctor Pravin Thakkar is sentenced for 16 years for aborting fetuses of two of his former lovers without their permission
- June 15 - During a spelling bee at a Trenton, New Jersey elementary school, U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle corrects a student's spelling of the word potato by indicating it should have an e at the end.
- June 17 - A 'Joint Understanding' agreement on arms reduction is signed by U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin (this would be later codified in START II). [http://www.fas.org/nuke/control/start2/]
- June 22 - Two skeletons excavated in Yekaterinburg are identified as Czar Nicholas II and his tsarina
- June 23 - Mafia boss John Gotti is sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and racketeering on April 2 [http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/mob_bosses/gotti/don_24.html?sect=15]
- June 26 - Denmark beat Germany 2-0 to win Euro 92 at Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden.
- June 29 - Bodyguard assassinates president Mohammed Boudigh of Algeria

July


- July 6-29 - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq refuses a U.N. inspection team access to the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture. UNSCOM claimed that it had reliable information that the site contained archives related to illegal weapons activities. U.N. Inspectors stage a 17-day "sit-in" outside of the building, but leave when their safety is threatened by Iraqi soldiers
- July 10 - In Miami, Florida, former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega is sentenced to 40 years in prison for drug and racketeering violations
- July 13 - Britain's former executioner Albert Pierrepoint dies
- July 20 - Václav Havel resigns as president of Czechoslovakia
- July 22 - Near Medellín, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar escapes from his luxury prison fearing extradiction to the United States.
- July 25 - Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

August


- August 7 - Buckingham Palace opened to the public for the first time
- August 10 - The UK government bans Ulster Defence Association, a loyalist paramilitary organisation that had been legal for twenty years.
- August 17 - US Marshalls start Siege of Ruby Ridge
- August 18 - Wang Laboratories files for bankruptcy
- August 20 - Kristiansunds connection to the main land of Norway, Krifast, opens.
- August 24 - Hurricane Andrew hits South Florida.
- August 28 - Hurricane Andrew dissipates over the Tennessee valley when it merges with a storm system. Twenty-three were killed.

September


- September 11 - Hurricane Iniki hits the Hawaiian Islands, Kauai and Oahu
- September 16 - Pound Sterling and Italian Lira forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (Black Wednesday)
- September 23 - A large IRA bomb destroys the forensic laboratories in Belfast
- September 24 - The Kentucky Supreme Court in Kentucky v. Wasson holds that laws criminalizing same-sex sodomy are unconstitutional, and accurately predicts that other states and the nation will eventually rule the same way.

October


- October 1 - Pittsburgh International Airport's new facility is opened in Findlay Township, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania The new terminal's were built as an expansion for US Air and an upgrade from the older Pittsburgh International Airport facility.
- October 2 - Riot in the Carandiru prison system in São Paulo, Brazil, which leads up to the events known as the Carandiru Massacre.
- October 4 - Plane crash in Amsterdam, Netherlands, known as the Bijlmerramp.
- October 7 - In Turkey, the farmer Tevfik Esenç, the last fluent speaker of the Ubykh language, dies.
- October 9 - A 13-kilogram (29-pound) meteorite landed in the driveway of the Knapp residence in Peekskill, New York destroying the family's 1980 Chevrolet Malibu.
- October 15 - In Russia, Andrei Chikatilo is found guilty of 52 serial murders.
- October 17 - Yoshihiro Hattori, a 16-year-old Japanese exchange student mistakes from an address to a party, and is shot after knocking on the wrong door in Louisiana, United States. The shooter, Rodney Peairs, is acquitted by Jury causing an outrage in Japan.
- October 24 - Toronto Blue Jays win World Series in 6 games. Marking the first Canadian team to win.
- October 26 - In Canada, the Charlottetown Accord is defeated in a national referendum.
- October 29 - The Food and Drug Administration approves Depo Provera for use as a contraceptive in the United States.

November


- November 3 - Bill Clinton defeats George H. W. Bush and H. Ross Perot in the U.S. presidential election
- November 5 - In Detroit, Michigan, black motorist Malice Green is beaten to death by policemen Larry Nevers and Walter Budzyn during a struggle (the officers were later convicted and sentenced to prison)
- November 11 - The Church of England votes to allow women to become priests.
- November 20 - In England, a fire breaks out in the Private Chapel room of Windsor Castle, rages for 15 hours, and seriously damages the northwest side of the building (an investigation found that the fire was ignited after a spotlight came into contact with a curtain over an extended period).
- November 24 - In the People's Republic of China, a China Southern Airlines domestic flight crashes, killing all 141 people on-board
- November 24 - Queen Elizabeth II describes this year as an Annus Horribilis (horrible year) due to various scandals damaging the image of the Royal Family
- November 25 - The Czechoslovakia Federal Assembly votes to split the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia starting on January 1, 1993
- November 30 - A murder trial of 14 South Vietnamese accused of murder of 24 North Vietnamese begins in Hong Kong (ends November 29, 1994)

December


- December 3 - UN Security Council Resolution 794 is unanimously passed, approving a coalition of United Nations peacekeepers led by the United States to form UNITAF, tasked with ensuring humanitarian aid gets distributed and establishing peace in Somalia.
- December 3 - The Greek oil tanker Aegean Sea carrying 80,000 tonnes of crude oil runs aground in a storm while on approach to La Coruña, Spain, and spills much of its cargo
- December 4 - US military forces invade Somalia.
- December 5 - Kent Conrad of North Dakota resigns his seat in the United States Senate and is sworn into the other seat from North Dakota, becoming the only US Senator ever to have held two seats on the same day.
- December 6 - Hindu activists destroy the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, India, triggering religious violence around the country.
- December 8 - Last blast fired in Falu Copper Mine in Sweden. The end of a millennium of continuous operation.
- December 20 - The Folies Bergere music hall in Paris, France closes.
- December 29 - Brazil's president Fernando Collor de Mello resigns, following charges that he stole more than $32 million from the government and impeachment precedings.

Unknown Dates


- The Council for National Academic Awards, UK is wound up.
- Pope John Paul II issues an apology and lifts the edict of Inquisition against Galileo Galilei
- The largest shopping mall in the US, Minnesota's Mall of America is constructed spanning 78 acres (316,000 m²)
- Carsington Reservoir opened in England after nearly 20 years planning and construction.
- Image Comics is founded by a number of former Marvel artists, seeking to create a company where creators were given exclusive ownership of their creations.

Fictional Events


- January 12 HAL 9000 is purported to become operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois.
- The events of the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? take place.

Births

For more 1992 births see :Category:1992 births
- January 10 - Eric & Brandon Billings, Twin American actors
- January 19 - Logan Lerman, American actor
- January 21 - Logan O'Brien, American actor
- February 14 - Freddie Highmore, British actor
- March 15 - Sosie Bacon, American actress
- March 21 - Bobby Preston, American actor
- April 15 - Richard Sandrak, American bodybuilder and actor
- May 18 - Spencer Breslin, American actor
- June 7 - Jordan Fry, American Actor
- June 12 - Ryan Malgarini, American actor
- June 14 - Daryl Sabara, American voice actor
- July 13 - Dylan Patton, American actor and model
- August 4 - Dylan and Cole Sprouse, Twin child actors
- September 19 - Gavin Fink, American actor
- October 9 - Tyler James Williams, American actor
- October 15 - Vincent Martella, American actor
- October 30 - Tequan Richmond, American actor
- November 25 - Zack Shada, American actor
- November 30 - Dylan Smith, American actor
- December 23 - Spencer Daniels, American actor

Deaths

January-April


- January 3 - Dame Judith Anderson, Australian actress (b. 1897)
- January 9 - Bill Naughton, British playwright (b. 1910)
- January 23 - Freddie Bartholomew, Irish actor (b. 1924)
- January 26 - José Ferrer, Puerto Rican actor (b. 1912)
- January 27 - Allan Jones, American actor and singer (b. 1908)
- January 29 - Willie Dixon, American composer and musician (b. 1915)
- February 2 - Bert Parks, American game show host (b. 1914)
- February 4 - Lisa Fonssagrives, Swedish model (b. 1911)
- February 10 - Alex Haley, American author (b. 1921)
- February 12 - Bep van Klaveren, Dutch boxer (b. 1907)
- February 20 - Dick York, American actor (b. 1928)
- March 2 - Sandy Dennis, American actress (b. 1939)
- March 9 - Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1913)
- March 23 - Friedrich Hayek, Austrian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
- March 29 - Paul Henreid, Austrian-born actor (b. 1908)
- April 5 - Molly Picon, American actress (b. 1898)
- April 6 - Isaac Asimov, Russian-born author (b. 1920)
- April 8 - Daniel Bovet, Swiss-born pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1907)
- April 18 - Benny Hill, British comedian and actor
- April 21 - Grand Duke Vladimir Cyrillovitch of Russia (b. 1917)
- April 23 - Satyajit Ray, Indian filmmaker (b. 1921)
- April 27 - Olivier Messiaen, French composer (b. 1908)
- April 28 - Francis Bacon, Irish-born painter (b. 1909)

May-December


- May 6 - Marlene Dietrich, German actress (b. 1901)
- May 12 - Robert Reed, American actor (b. 1932
- May 17 - Lawrence Welk, American musician (b. 1903)
- May 22 - Tony Accardo, American gangster (b. 1906)
- May 23 - Giovanni Falcone, Italian judge (b. 1939)
- June 22 - Chuck Mitchell, American actor (b. 1927)
- July 15 - Hammer DeRoburt, first President of Nauru (b. 1922)
- August 5 - Jeff Porcaro, American musician (b. 1954)
- August 12 - John Cage, American composer (b. 1912)
- August - Mark Heard, American singer (b. 1951)
- September 2 - Barbara McClintock, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1902)
- October 7 - Tevfik Esenç, last known speaker of Ubykh (b. 1904)
- October 8 - Willy Brandt, Chancellor of Germany, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1913)
- October 17 - Yoshihiro Hattori, Japanese exchange student (b. 1975)
- October 19 - Arthur Wint, Jamaican runner (b. 1920)
- October 25 - Roger Miller, American singer (b. 1936)
- October 27 - David Bohm, American-born physicist, philosopher, and neuropsychologist (b. 1917)
- November 22 - Sterling Holloway, American actor (b. 1905)
- December 18 - Mark Goodson, American game show producer (b. 1915)
- December 21 - Nathan Milstein, Ukrainian-born violinist (b. 1903)
- December 22 - Albert King, American musician (b. 1930)

Unknown date


- E. Harold Munn, American activist (b. 1903)

Nobel Prizes


- Physics - Georges Charpak
- Chemistry - Rudolph A. Marcus
- Medicine - Edmond H. Fischer, Edwin G. Krebs
- Literature - Derek Walcott
- Peace - Rigoberta Menchu Tum

Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel


- Gary Becker

Templeton Prize


- Kyung-Chik Han

Alternative


- Finnish Village Action Movement, Gonoshasthaya Kendra / Zafrullah Chowdhury, Helen Mack, John Gofman and Alla Yaroshinskaya
- als:1992 ko:1992년 ms:1992 ja:1992年 simple:1992 th:พ.ศ. 2535

Supreme Court of the United States

:"Scotus" redirects here. For the medieval theologian, see Duns Scotus ---- The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States of America. As such, the Court provides the leadership of the Judicial Branch of the Federal Government. The Court consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed with the "advice and consent" of the Senate. Appointed to serve for life, they can only be removed by Congress through the impeachment process, although they may resign. No justice has ever been removed from office, though many have retired or resigned. The Supreme Court is the only court established by the United States Constitution; all other federal courts are created by Congress. The Court holds both original and appellate jurisdiction, but the latter is used quite a bit more often. Like other federal courts, the Supreme Court may exercise the power of judicial review, or the power to declare federal or state laws, as well as the actions of federal and state executives, unconstitutional. The decisions of the Supreme Court may not be appealed to any other body; as Justice Robert H. Jackson once famously remarked, "We are not final because we are infallible, but we are infallible only because we are final." The Supreme Court meets in Washington, D.C., in the United States Supreme Court building. The court is sometimes referred to by the acronyms SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) and USSC (United States Supreme Court).

History

The History of the Supreme Court is generally told in terms of the Chief Justices who have presided over it.
- Initially, during the tenures of Chief Justices Jay, Rutledge, and Ellsworth (1789–1801), the Court lacked a home of its own and any real prestige.
- That changed forever during the Marshall Court (1801–1835), which declared the Court to be the supreme arbiter of the Constitution (see Marbury v. Madison), and made a number of important rulings which gave shape and substance to the Constitutional balance of power between the Federal government (referred to at the time as the "general" government) and the states.
- The Taney Court (1836–1864) made a number of important rulings (for example, Sheldon v. Sill, holding that, while Congress may not limit the subjects the Supreme Court may hear, the Constitution does not so restrain it where lower courts are concerned) but is primarily remembered for its ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford, the case which may have helped precipitate the Civil War. In the years following the Civil War, the The Chase, Waite, and Fuller Courts (1864–1910) began to interpret the new civil war amendments to the Constitution, and developed the doctrine of substantive due process (Lochner v. New York; Adair v. United States); under the White and Taft courts (1910–1930), the substantive due process doctrine reached its first apogee (Adkins v. Children's Hospital; ), and the Court held that the 14th Amendment applied the Bill of Rights to the states (Gitlow v. New York).
- During the Hughes, Stone, and Vinson courts (1930–1953), the court gained its own accommodation (see United States Supreme Court building, and radically changed its interpretation of the Constitution, in order to facilitate the New Deal (West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish).
- The Warren Court (1953–1969) made a number of alternately celebrated and controversial rulings expanding the application of the Constitution to civil liberties, leading a rennaisance in substantive due process. It held that segregation was unconstitutional (Brown v. Board of Education), that the Constitution protects a general right to privacy (Griswold v. Connecticut), that schools cannot have voluntary prayer (Engel v. Vitale) (or, a fortiori, mandatory bible readings, Abington School District v. Schempp), dramatically increased the scope of the doctrine of incorporation (Mapp v. Ohio; Miranda v. Arizona), wrote an equal protection clause into the Fifth Amendment, held that the states may not apportion a chamber of their legislatures in the manner in which the United States Senate is apportioned (Baker v. Carr; Reynolds v. Sims), and that the Constitution requires active compliance (Gideon v. Wainwright).
- The Burger Court (1969–1986) ruled that abortion was a constitutional right (Roe v. Wade), reached muddled and controversial rulings on affirmative action (Regents of the University of California v. Bakke) and campaign finance regulation (Buckley v. Valeo), that death penalty was unconstitutional (Furman v. Georgia) and then that the death penalty was not unconstitutional (Gregg v. Georgia).
- The Rehnquist Court (1986–2005) narrowed the focus of Roe v. Wade (Planned Parenthood v. Casey) but dramatically circumscribed the ability of states to regulate abortion (Stenberg v. Carhart), and began to limit the power of Congress under the Commerce Clause (United States v. Lopez; United States v. Morrison).

Composition

Size of the court

United States v. Morrison The Constitution does not specify the size of the Supreme Court; instead, Congress has the power to fix the number of Justices. Originally, the total number of Justices was set at six by the Judiciary Act of 1789. As the country grew geographically, the number of Justices steadily increased. The court was expanded to seven members in 1807, nine in 1837 and ten in 1863. In 1866, however, Congress wished to deny President Andrew Johnson any Supreme Court appointments, and therefore passed the Judicial Circuits Act, which provided that the next three Justices to retire would not be replaced; thus, the size of the Court would eventually reach seven by attrition. Consequently, one seat was removed in 1866 and a second in 1867. By the Circuit Judges Act of 1869, the number of Justices was again set at nine (the Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices), where it has remained ever since. President Franklin D. Roosevelt attempted to expand the Court (see Court-packing Bill); his plan would have allowed the President to appoint one new, additonal, justice, for every justice who reached a pre-set age but did not retire from the bench, until the Court reached a maximum size of fifteen justices. Ostensibly, this was to ease the burdens of the docket on the elderly judges, but it was widely recognized that the President's actual purpose was to add Justices who would favor his New Deal policies, which had been regularly ruled unconstitutional by the Court. The plan failed in Congress and the court changed course to accommodate the President's desires (see The switch in time that saved nine). In any case, Roosevelt's long tenure in the White House allowed him to appoint a large number of Justices.

Nomination, confirmation and tenure of Justices

Per Article II §2 of the United States Constitution, the power to appoint Justices belongs to the President of the United States, acting with the advice and consent of the Senate. As a general rule, Presidents nominate individuals that broadly share their ideological views. However, Presidents tend to exercise restraint, as nominees with views perceived as extreme may be blocked by the Senate (see List of Failed Nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States). In many cases, a Justice's decisions may be contrary to what the nominating President anticipated. A famous instance was Chief Justice Earl Warren; President Dwight D. Eisenhower expected him to be a conservative judge, but his decisions are arguably among the most liberal in the Court's history. While the President may nominate anyone s/he chooses, the "advice and consent" of the Senate is required for appointment. The confirmation process often attracts considerable attention from special interest groups, many of whom lobby senators to confirm or to reject. The Senate Judiciary Committee conducts hearings, questioning nominees to determine their suitability. Thereafter, the whole Senate considers the nomination; a simple majority vote is required to confirm or to reject a nominee. Rejections are relatively uncommon; the Senate has explicitly rejected only twelve Supreme Court nominees in its history. The most recent rejection of a nominee came in 1987, when the Senate refused to confirm Robert Bork. In 1991, Clarence Thomas' nomination was almost derailed by allegations of sexual harassment; Thomas was eventually confirmed by a vote of 52–48. In some cases, the Senate has defeated a nominee by failing to take a final vote on them, rather than by explicit rejection. For example, the minority may filibuster a nominee, indefinitely prolonging debate and refusing to permit a vote, or the nominee may simply not be reported out of the Judiciary Committee. Furthermore, the President may withdraw a nomination, for instance if he or she feels that the nominee has little chance of being confirmed. Most recently, President George W. Bush granted a request by Harriet Miers to withdraw her 2005 nomination, citing her concerns about Senate requests for access to internal White House documents during the confirmation process. While filibuster of a Supreme Court Justice may be an option to bar their nomination, no Supreme Court nominee has ever been filibustered when their nomination would seat them on the Court. As a sitting Associate Justice of the Court, Abe Fortas's nomination to become Chief Justice was successfully filibustered in 1968. President Johnson had nominated him to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court after Earl Warren retired from the Court. Until the 1980s, the approval process of Justices was frequently rather quick. From Truman through Nixon, Justices were typically approved in a month. From Reagan through Clinton, the duration of the approval process extended to much longer. Some speculate this is because of the increasing political role Justices play. When the Senate is in recess, the President is constitutionally authorized to make a temporary appointment without the Senate's advice and consent. A recess appointee to the Supreme Court holds office not for life, but only until the end of the next Senate session (at most, approximately two years). In order to continue to serve thereafter, the nominee must be confirmed by the Senate. In the history of the Supreme Court, two Chief Justices and six Associate Justices have received recess appointments. They were all subsequently confirmed for full terms with the exception of Chief Justice John Rutledge. The Constitution provides that Justices "shall hold their Offices during good Behavior" (again, of course, unless appointed during a Senate recess). The term "good behavior" is interpreted to mean life. However, Justices may resign, retire into senior status, or be removed by impeachment and conviction (the last has never occurred). On average, a vacancy arises every two years; however, long stretches without any vacancies occur from time to time. For instance, no vacancy arose after Stephen Breyer's appointment in 1994 until Sandra Day O'Connor's announcement of her retirement from the Court in 2005—a period of eleven years. The Supreme Court's jurisprudence is often evaluated with respect to the service of a particular Chief Justice. Thus, for example, the Court between 1969 and 1986 is referred to as the "Burger Court" (after former Chief Justice Warren E. Burger) and the Court between 1986 and 2005 is referred to as the "Rehnquist Court" (after the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist).

Qualifications for membership

The Constitution does not explicitly establish any qualifications for Justices of the Supreme Court. In fact it does not even specify citizenship or age as it does for the executive and legislative branches. However, Presidents normally nominate individuals who have prior legal experience. Typically, most nominees have judicial experience, either at the federal or state level. Several nominees have formerly served on federal Courts of Appeals, especially the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which is often considered a stepping stone to the Supreme Court. Another source of Supreme Court nominees is the federal executive branch—in particular, the Department of Justice. Other potential nominees include members of Congress and academics. On the current Supreme Court, seven Justices previously served on federal courts (including three on the D.C. Circuit); two served on state courts; three were former law school professors; and three held full time positions in the federal executive branch. Nominees to the Supreme Court, as well as to lower federal courts, are evaluated by the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary. The panel is composed of fifteen federal judges (but not Supreme Court Justices), including at least one from each federal judicial circuit. The body assesses the nominee "solely to professional qualifications: integrity, professional competence and judicial temperament," and offers a rating of "well qualified," "qualified," or "not qualified." The opinions of the committee bind neither the President nor the Senate; however, they are generally taken into account.

Other functions

Each Justice on the Supreme Court is assigned to at least one of the United States' thirteen judicial circuits. The Chief Justice is usually allotted to the District of Columbia Circuit, the Federal Circuit and the Fourth Circuit; each Associate Justice is allotted to one or two judicial circuits. Under the Judiciary Act of 1789, each Justice was required to "ride circuit," or to travel within the assigned circuit and consider cases alongside local judges. This practice, however, encountered opposition from many Justices, who complained about the difficulty of travel. Moreover, several individuals opposed it on the grounds that a Justice could not be expected to be impartial in an appeal if he had previously decided the same case while riding circuit. Circuit riding was abolished in 1891. Now, the duty of a Supreme Court Justice in this regard is limited to hearing emergency petitions in the relevant circuit and some other routine tasks like addressing certain requests for extensions of time.

Current membership

The current Justices of the United States Supreme Court, in order of seniority, are: During Court sessions, the Justices sit according to seniority, with the Chief Justice in the center, and the Associate Justices on alternating sides. Therefore, the current court sits as follows from left to right: Ginsburg, Souter, Scalia, Stevens, Roberts, O'Connor, Kennedy, Thomas and Breyer (who has been the junior justice for 11 years, the third longest period in history between appointments of an Associate Justice). Justices Scalia and Thomas, the court's two Originalists are generally perceived as the Court's conservative wing. Justices Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg and Breyer are generally perceived as its liberal wing. Justices O'Connor and Kennedy are considered moderates and are hence the swing votes who often determine the outcomes of close cases. Chief Justice Roberts is generally thought to be in between Scalia and Thomas and the moderates, but has not been on the bench long enough for this to be ascertained. On July 1, 2005, Justice O'Connor announced that she would retire from the Supreme Court when her successor is nominated and confirmed. President Bush nominated Judge John Roberts to replace O'Connor on July 19, 2005; however, following the death of Chief Justice Rehnquist on September 3, he re-nominated Roberts as the new Chief Justice. The President subsequently nominated White House Counsel Harriet Miers to replace Justice O'Connor on October 3, 2005. Due to controversy, Miers withdrew her nomination on October 27, 2005. On October 31, 2005, President Bush nominated United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Judge Samuel Alito to replace Justice O'Connor.

Ages of current justices

At the start of the 2005–2006 term, the ages of the justices were:

- Samuel A. Alito, Jr., nominated to replace Justice O'Connor, is 55 years old.

Quarters

Samuel A. Alito, Jr.] The Supreme Court occupied various spaces in the United States Capitol until 1935, when it moved into its own purpose-built home at One First Street Northeast, Washington, DC. The four-story building was designed in a classical style sympathetic to the surrounding buildings of the Capitol complex and Library of Congress by architect Cass Gilbert, and is clad in marble quarried chiefly in Vermont. The building includes space for the Courtroom, Justices' chambers, an extensive law library, various meeting spaces, and auxilliary services such as workshop, stores, cafeteria and a gymnasium. The Supreme Court building is within the ambit of the Architect of the Capitol, but maintains its own police force, separate from the Capitol Police

Jurisdiction

Article Three of the United States Constitution outlines the jurisdiction of the federal courts of the United States. It provides: :The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority; to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls; to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction; to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party; to Controversies between two or more States; between a State and Citizens of another State; between Citizens of different States; between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects. The jurisdiction of the federal courts was further limited by the Eleventh Amendment, which forbade the federal courts from hearing cases "commenced or prosecuted against [a State] by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State." However, the Eleventh Amendment is not deemed to apply if a state consents to be sued (see Sovereign immunity. Moreover, the Supreme Court has ruled that Congress may abrogate the states' immunity from lawsuits in certain circumstances. In addition to constitutional constraints, the jurisdiction of the federal courts is also limited by various federal laws. For example, the federal courts may consider "Controversies ... between Citizens of different States" only if the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000; otherwise, the case may only be brought in state courts (see diversity jurisdiction). The Constitution specifies that the Supreme Court may exercise original jurisdiction in cases affecting ambassadors and other diplomats, and in cases in which a state is a party. In all other cases, however, the Supreme Court has only appellate jurisdiction. The Supreme Court considers cases based on its original jurisdiction very rarely; almost all cases are brought to the Supreme Court on appeal. In practice, the only original jurisdiction cases heard by the Court are disputes between two or more states. The power of the Supreme Court to consider appeals from state courts, rather than just federal courts, was created by the Judiciary Act of 1789 and upheld early in the Court's history, by its rulings in Martin v. Hunter's Lessee (1816) and Cohens v. Virginia (1821). The Supreme Court is the only federal court that has jurisdiction over direct appeals from state court decisions, although there are a variety of devices that permit so-called "collateral review" of state cases. The Supreme Court may only hear actual cases and controversies. It does not hear moot cases or issue advisory opinions. However, the Supreme Court does often hear test cases, or cases specifically designed to test the constitutionality of a statute (rather than to merely redress a particular wrong). Many significant Supreme Court cases were test cases; examples include Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education. Furthermore, the Court may consider some cases, such as Roe v. Wade, that become moot during the judicial process, if it appears that the legal issue involved is likely to arise again but would not be reviewable by the Court under a strict mootness analysis. "Roe" had already had her baby when the case came to the Supreme Court, because judicial activity (trials, appeals and so on) takes much longer than human gestation. Because future abortion cases would face the same time constraints, the Court decided the case in spite of its mootness. The Supreme Court is not required to hear every case presented to it. In cases that are heard by a three-judge United States district court (a practice that formerly was somewhat common but has been limited to very few cases by legislation in recent years), there is a right of appeal directly to the Supreme Court, although the Court may dispose of these appeals by summary order if it does not believe they are important enough for full briefing and argument. In most instances, however, the party must petition the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari. By custom, certiorari is granted on the vote of four of the nine Justices. In most cases, the writ is denied; the Supreme Court normally only considers matters of national or constitutional importance. If the Court refuses to grant certiorari, it does not comment on the merits of the case; the decision of the lower court stands unchanged as if Supreme Court review had not been requested.

Procedure

Court reports and citation style

Supreme Court decisions are typically cited as in the following example: "Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)." The citation consists of the names of the opposing parties; the volume number; "U.S." (signifying United States Reports, the official reporter of Supreme Court decisions); the page number on which the decision begins; and the year in which the case was decided. The names of the opposing parties are listed in the format "Petitioner v. Respondent" or "Appellant v. Appellee." The Reporter of Decisions is responsible for publication of the Court's rulings. Two other widely used citation formats exist: the Supreme Court Reporter and the Lawyer's Edition, corresponding to two privately-published collections of decisions. Citations to cases in the Supreme Court Reporter would be structured as follows: Snowden v. Hughes, 64 S.Ct. 397 (1944). Citations to cases in the Lawyer's Edition would be as follows: Snowden v. Hughes, 88 L.Ed. 497 (1944). Judicial opinions often use the citation from all three sources (the United States Reports, Supreme Court Reporter, and Lawyer's Edition), as seen here: Martin v. Texas, 200 U.S. 316, 26 S.Ct. 338, 50 L.Ed. 497 (1906). Decisions of the Supreme Court are precedents that bind all lower courts, both federal and state. The Supreme Court generally respects its own precedents, but has in some cases overturned them.

Checks and balances

The Constitution does not explicitly grant the Supreme Court the power of judicial review; nevertheless, the power of the Supreme Court to overturn laws and executive actions it deems unlawful or unconstitutional is a well-established precedent. Many of the Founding Fathers accepted the notion of judicial review; in Federalist No. 78, Alexander Hamilton writes: "A constitution is, in fact, and must be regarded by the judges, as a fundamental law. It therefore belongs to them to ascertain its meaning, as well as the meaning of any particular act proceeding from the legislative body. If there should happen to be an irreconcilable variance between the two, that which has the superior obligation and validity ought, of course, to be preferred; or, in other words, the Constitution ought to be preferred to the statute." The Supreme Court first established its power to declare laws unconstitutional in Marbury v. Madison (1803), consummating the system of checks and balances. The Supreme Court cannot directly enforce its rulings; instead, it relies on respect for the Constitution and for the law for adherence to its judgments. One notable instance of nonacquiescence came in 1832, when the state of Georgia ignored the Supreme Court's decision in Worcester v. Georgia. President Andrew Jackson, who sided with the Georgia courts, is supposed to have remarked, "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!"; however, this quotation is likely apocryphal. State militia in the South also resisted to desegregate schools after the judgment Brown v. Board of Education in the 1950s. More recently, many feared that President Richard Nixon would refuse to surrender the Watergate tapes, as he had been ordered to do by the Court in United States v. Nixon (1974). Nixon, however, ultimately complied with the Supreme Court's ruling. The Constitution provides that the salary of a Justice may not be diminished during his or her continuance in office. This clause was intended to prevent Congress from punishing Justices for their decisions by reducing their emoluments. Together with the provision that Justices hold office for life, this clause helps guarantee judicial independence. However, as seen above, the President's practice of appointing justices with similar real, perceived or expected ideology can be seen to compromise judicial independence.

See also


- History of the Supreme Court of the United States
- Lists of Supreme Court cases:
  - From the Jay Court through the Taft Court
  - From the Hughes Court through the Burger Court
  - From the Rehnquist Court through the Roberts Court
- List of Supreme Court Justices
- List of Supreme Court Justices by court composition
- List of Supreme Court Justices by seat
- Demographics of the Supreme Court of the United States
- Unsuccessful nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States
- United States Supreme Court building
- United States federal courts
- United States federal judicial circuit
- United States district court
- Supreme Court appointment history
- Court citation
- Judicial interpretation
- Federal government of the United States
- Judiciary
- Legal research

References


- American Bar Association. (2002). [http://www.abanet.org/scfedjud/backgrounder.html "The ABA Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary: What It Is and How it Works."]
- Joan Biskupic and Elder Witt. (1997). Congressional Quarterly’s Guide to the U.S. Supreme Court. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press.
- [http://sources.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_United_States_of_America The Constitution of the United States.]
- Kermit Hall, et al. (1992). The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Harvard Law Review Assn., The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (17th Ed. 2000).
- Peter Irons. (2000). A People's History of the Supreme Court. New York: Penguin.
- Martin v. Texas, 200 U.S. 316, 26 S.Ct. 338, 50 L.Ed. 497 (1906).
- William Rehnquist (1987). The Supreme Court. New York: Knopf.
- [http://www.supremecourtus.gov/ctrules/rulesofthecourt.pdf The Rules of the Supreme Court of the United States] (2005 ed.) (pdf).
- Catherine Hetos Skifos. [http://www.supremecourthistory.org/04_library/subs_volumes/04_c01_e.html The Supreme Court Gets a Home]
- Snowden v. Hughes, 321 U.S. 1, 64 S.Ct. 397, 88 L.Ed. 497 (1944).
- Charles Warren. (1924). The Supreme Court in United States History. (3 volumes). Boston: Little, Brown and Co.
- Bob Woodward, and Scot Armstrong. (1979). The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- [http://www.supremecourtus.gov/ The Supreme Court of the United States]
- [http://www.supremecourtus.gov/about/courtbuilding.pdf The Court Building]

Suggested Readings


- Garner, Bryan A. [http://west.thomson.com/product/40235008/product.asp Black's Law Dictionary®], Deluxe 8th ed. West.
- Irons, Peter, A People's History of the Supreme Court (Viking, New York, 1999) ISBN: 0670870064

External links


- [http://www.supremecourtus.gov/index.html Supreme Court of the United States. Official Homepage.]
- [http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/index.html Legal Information Institute Supreme Court Collection.]
- [http://www.oyez.org Oyez Project Supreme Court Multimedia.]
- [http://www.justia.us US Supreme Court Decisions (v. 1+) Justia, Oyez and US Court Forms.]
- [http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0101289.html Milestone Cases in Supreme Court History.]
- [http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html FindLaw Supreme Court Opinions.]
- [http://www.michaelariens.com/ConLaw/justices/list.htm Supreme Court Justices.]
- [http://www.ericdigests.org/2002-2/court.htm Teaching about the United States Supreme Court. ERIC Digest.]
- [http://www.ericdigests.org/1995-2/court.htm Teaching about Landmark Dissents in United States Supreme Court Cases. ERIC Digest.]
- [http://www.ericdigests.org/1992-5/law.htm Teaching the Law Using United States Supreme Court Cases. ERIC Digest.]
- [http://www.supremecourthistory.org The Supreme Court Historical Society. Official Homepage.]
- [http://voteview.com/the_unidimensional_supreme_court.htm The Unidimensional Supreme Court.]
- [http://judgejohnroberts.com/ Supreme Court Zeitgeist.] Category:Judicial Branch of the United States Government Category:Article III tribunals United States, Supreme Court of the Category:Constitutional law ja:アメリカ連邦最高裁判所

Constitution of the United States

The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It was completed on September 17, 1787, with its adoption by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was later ratified by special conventions in each of the original thirteen states. It created a federal union of sovereign states, and a federal government to operate that union. It replaced the less defined union that had existed under the Articles of Confederation. It took effect in 1789 and has served as a model for the constitutions of numerous other nations. nations] nations nations nations

History

During the Revolutionary War, the thirteen states first formed a very weak central government—with the Congress being its only component—under the Articles of Confederation. Congress lacked any power to impose taxes, and, because there was no national executive or judiciary, relied on state authorities (who were often uncooperative) to enforce all of its acts. It also had no authority to override tax laws and tariffs between states. The Articles required unanimous consent from all the states before they could be amended and states took the central government so lightly that their representatives were often absent. For lack of a quorum, Congress was frequently blocked from making even moderate changes. In September 1786, commissioners from five states met in the Annapolis Convention to discuss adjustments to the Articles of Confederation that would improve commerce. They invited state representatives to convene in Philadelphia to discuss improvements to the federal government. After debate, the Confederation Congress endorsed the plan to revise the Articles of Confederation on February 21, 1787. Twelve states (Rhode Island being the only exception) accepted this invitation and sent delegates to convene in May 1787. The resolution calling the Convention specified its purpose was to propose amendments to the Articles, but the Convention decided to propose a rewritten Constitution. The Philadelphia Convention voted to keep deliberations secret and decided to draft a new fundamental government design which eventually stipulated that only 9 of the 13 states would have to ratify for the new government to go into effect. These actions were criticized by some as exceeding the convention's mandate and existing law. However, Congress, noting dissatisfaction with the Articles of Confederation government, unanimously agreed to submit the proposal to the states despite what some perceived as the exceeded terms of reference. On September 17, 1787, the Constitution was completed in Philadelphia, and the new government it prescribed came into existence on March 4, 1789, after fierce fights over ratification in many of the states. The original transcribed copy of the Constitution is on permanent display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. For a list of those who signed the Constitution, see List of signatories of the United States Constitution.

The Constitution

The U.S. Constitution styles itself the "supreme law of the land." Courts have interpreted this phrase to mean that when laws (including state constitutions) that have been passed by state legislatures, or by the (national) U.S. Congress, are found to conflict with the federal constitution, these laws are ultra vires and have no effect. Decisions by the Supreme Court over the course of two centuries have repeatedly confirmed and strengthened the doctrine of Constitutional supremacy, or the supremacy clause. supremacy clause The Constitution guarantees the legitimacy of the American state by invoking the American electorate. The people exercise authority through state actors both elected and appointed; some of these positions are provided for in the Constitution. State actors can change the fundamental law, if they wish, by amending the Constitution or, in the extreme, by drafting a new one. Different kinds of public officials have varying levels of limitations on their power. Elected officials can only continue in office if they are reelected at periodic intervals; appointed officials serve, in general, at the pleasure of the person or authority that appointed them, and may be removed at any time. The exception to this practice is the lifetime appointment by the President of Justices of the Supreme Court and other federal judges; the justification for this exception is that once appointed for life, these judges are presumed capable of acting free of political obligations or influence.

Principles of government

Although the Constitution has been amended several times since it was first adopted, its basic principles remain the same now as in 1789. There are three branches of the national government—executive, legislative, and judicial—and they are separate and distinct from one another. The powers given to each are in theory balanced and checked by the powers of the other two. Each branch ideally serves as a check on potential excesses of the others. This is known as "separation of powers", and was partly taken from the ideas of the Baron de Montesquieu. Baron de Montesquieu.]] The United States is federal in nature. Powers enumerated in the Constitution are given to the Federal Government, and all other, unenumerated, powers remain with the states or the people. (See the Tenth Amendment.) The Constitution, together with laws passed according to its provisions and treaties entered into by the president and approved by the Senate, stands above all other laws, executive acts, and regulations. Beginning with the case of Marbury v. Madison, the United States judiciary has engaged in judicial review. This means that the federal courts will examine duly enacted laws, and, if they are found to be unconstitutional, will overturn them. They also examine the acts of public officials—up to and including those of the president. (See United States v. Nixon.) Since the enactment of the Fourteenth Amendment, all persons have been equally entitled to the law's protection. All states are equal and in principle none can officially receive special treatment from the federal government. Within the limits of the Constitution, each state must recognize and respect the laws of the others. State governments, like the federal government, must be republican in form, with final legitimacy resting with the people. By means defined in the Fifth Article of the Constitution, Congress may propose amendments to the Constitution. Moreover, any two thirds of the states may themselves initiate a convention for proposing amendments. When ratified as specified, all amendments are considered part of the Constitution.

Preamble

The Preamble reads: :We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. The Preamble neither grants any powers nor inhibits any actions; it only explains the rationale behind the Constitution. The preamble, especially the first three words ("We the people"), is one of the most quoted and referenced sections of the Constitution.

Articles of the Constitution

The remainder of the constitution consists of seven articles.

Legislative power

100px Article One establishes the legislative branch of government, U.S. Congress, which includes the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Article establishes the manner of election and qualifications of members of each House. In addition, it outlines legislative procedure and indicates the powers of the legislative branch. Finally, it establishes limits on federal and state legislative power.

Executive power

100px Article Two describes the presidency (the executive branch): procedures for the selection of the president, qualifications for office, the oath to be affirmed, the powers and duties of the office, and procedures for selection. It also provides for the office of Vice President of the United States, and specifies that the Vice President succeeds to the presidency if the President is incapacitated or resigns. The article nominally makes the Vice President the presiding officer of the Senate, but in practice the Vice President only serves as such under limited circumstances. Article Two also provides for the impeachment and removal from office of civil officers (the President, Vice President, judges, and others). (See presidential system).

Judicial power

100px Article Three describes the court system (the judicial branch), including the Supreme Court. The article requires that there be one court called the Supreme Court; Congress, at its discretion, can create lower courts, whose judgments and orders are reviewable by the Supreme Court. Article Three also requires trial by jury in all criminal cases, defines the crime of treason, and charges Congress with providing for a punishment for it, while imposing limits on that punishment.

States' powers and limits

Article Four describes the relationship between the states and the Federal government, and amongst the states. For instance, it requires states to give "full faith and credit" to the public acts, records and court proceedings of the other states. Congress is permitted to regulate the manner in which proof of such acts, records or proceedings may be admitted. The "privileges and immunities" clause prohibits state governments from discriminating against citizens of other states in favor of resident citizens (e.g., having tougher penalties for residents of Ohio convicted of crimes within Arizona). It also establishes extradition between the states, as well as laying down a legal basis for freedom of movement and travel amongst the states. Today, this provision is sometimes taken for granted, especially by citizens who live near state borders; but in the days of the Articles of Confederation, crossing state lines was often a much more arduous (and costly) process.

Process of amendment

Article Five describes the process necessary to amend the Constitution. It establishes two methods of proposing amendments: by Congress or by a national convention requested by the states. Under the first method, Congress can propose an amendment by a two-thirds vote (of a quorum, not necessarily of the entire body) of the Senate and of the House of Representatives. Under the second method, Congress must call a national convention for the purpose of considering amendments when two-thirds of the state legislatures "apply" to Congress for such a convention. Thus far, only the first method (proposal by Congress) has been used. Once proposed—whether submitted by a national convention or by Congress—amendments must then be ratified by three-fourths of the states to take effect. Article Five gives Congress the option of requiring ratification by state legislatures or by special conventions assembled in the states. The convention method of ratification has been used only once (to approve the 21st Amendment). Article Five currently places only one limitation on the amending power—that no amendment can deprive a state of its equal representation in the Senate without that state's consent.

Federal power

Article Six establishes the Constitution, and the laws and treaties of the United States made in accordance with it, to be the supreme law of the land. It also validates national debt created under the Articles of Confederation and requires that all legislators, federal officers, and judges take oaths to support the Constitution.

Ratification

Article Seven sets forth the requirements for ratification of the Constitution. The Constitution was originally proposed as an amendment of the Articles of Confederation, which required ratification by all 13 of the original states for amendments to take effect. Article Seven of the Constitution, however, only required ratification by 9 states for that document to take effect. Scholars have traditionally resolved this contradiction by arguing that when the ninth state ratified the Constitution and the document took effect, those 9 states implicitly seceded from the union governed by the Articles and created a new, separate federal union. Under this theory, those states that did not ratify the Constitution would have remained part of a separate country. However, eventually all the states did ratify the Constitution.

Provisions for amendment

The authors of the Constitution were clearly aware that changes would be necessary from time to time if the Constitution was to endure and cope with the effects of the anticipated growth of the nation. However, they were also conscious that such change should not be easy, lest it permit ill-conceived and hastily passed amendments. Balancing this, they also wanted to ensure that an overly rigid requirement of unanimity would not block action desired by the vast majority of the population. Their solution was to devise a dual process by which the Constitution could be altered. The first option must begin in Congress which, by a two-thirds vote (of a quorum) in each house, may initiate an amendment. Alternatively, the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states may ask Congress to call a national convention to discuss and draft amendments. To date, all amendments have been proposed by Congress; although state legislatures have on occasion requested the calling of a convention, no such request has yet received the concurrence required for such a convention. In either case, amendments must have the approval of the legislatures or of smaller ratifying conventions within three-fourths of the states before becoming part of the Constitution. All amendments save one have been submitted to the state legislatures for ratification; only the 21st Amendment was ratified by individual conventions in the states. Unlike most constitutions, amendments to the U.S. constitution are appended to the existing body of the text, rather than being revisions of or insertions into the main articles. There is no provision for expunging from the text obsolete or rescinded provisions. Some people feel that demographic changes in t