Judges have more opportunity to make policy rather than just enforce existing ___ in cases presenting a new issue, where there are equally compelling law/facts on both sides and an answer is not clear cut, or where the legal evidence is contradictory.
The Supreme Court remains dependent on the attitudes and actions of their immediate constituents (government legal communities, and the legal profession in general) and elected officials' implementation, of their decisions, including the development of policies and programs putting into effect a new ruling. An example of this is the anticipated and initially reluctant, but now (almost) universal law enforcement procedure, of advising a criminal suspect of their rights after the Court's ___ decision.
The ___, incremental nature of the judicial decision-making process, with its emphasis on precedent, stability, and continuity, generally tempers the extent to which judges will engage in public policymaking that makes a drastic or abrupt change from the status quo.
The term “anticipatory ___” refers to lower federal court decisions that appear to anticipate the Supreme Court's future rulings on the basis of recent changes in its direction.
The ___ court theory posits that because of the judiciary's relative electoral freedom, it is uniquely free to take on issues that other political bodies cannot.
New judicial ___ is the adaptation of the traditionally conservative ideals of federalism and states' rights to a more liberal use, by interpreting state constitutions' bills of rights to give more or greater protection than the Supreme Court has interpreted as being available under the US Constitution's Bill of Rights.(Describing this trend, an example, and the Supreme Court's limitation placed on the trend would be a good essay question.)
Discussing Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (the mifepristone case) or Trump v. Anderson, in relation to any of the themes and concepts we discussed this semester, for example the implementation and impact of judicial policies on life in the U.S., cue theory, or the legal scholars’ theories/models used to explain the Court’s decision-making on the merits of a case, would be a good essay question.
O’Brien says that “a simple model of compliance” by lower courts with the Supreme Court’s decisions is not "___ because decisions bearing on major issues of public policy are not necessarily applied by lower courts." Taking advantage of any ambiguity in a Court decision, treating important language as dicta, emphasizing distinctions, and making "exceptions" to Court announced rules are all ways that lower courts maneuver to avoid or delay implementation of Court policies or decisions that do not align with their own policy preferences, political currents, and public pressures.
According to O'Brien, public approval of the Court is becoming more ___, and there is a strong relationship between public support and whether the segment of society is being looked at agrees with the Court's recent high-profile rulings and perceived political ideology.
There are multiple actions a President can take, or not take, that ___ compliance with the Court’s rulings. (Identifying and discussing these actions, with examples would be a good essay question.)
According to political scientist Matthew E.K. ___, the Courts can bring about social change, or have a greater impact on American life, when a decision bears on more vertical issues (depending on lower courts' compliance rather than on other political institutions) and also has widespread public support.
The long history and mixed results in the implementation of the Court's decision in ___ v. Board of Education (1954) highlights the problems with implementing Supreme Court rulings and the need for all three branches to cooperate and coordinate to achieve implementation. (Describing these implementation problems, and how cooperation of the other branches was required and what that eventually looked like, would be a good essay question.)