POLS 354 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Political Question, Precedent, Mandamus
Document Summary
Writs and limits on the authority of the supreme court. A writ is a generic term referring to a court order. Writ of mandamus: ordering lower courts or public officials to perform a certain action. Writ of prohibition: ordering lower courts or public officials to abstain from a certain action. Writ of habeus corpus: directing a person to be brought before a court to determine if he or she is being lawfully held. Writ of error: order from an appellate court to a lower court to send record of a case to examine it for errors committed in a judicial proceeding. Case and controversy requirements: there must be opposing parties with opposing interests in order to solve an actual dispute (not a theoretical argument, must be able to provide a remedy/final decision. The political question doctrine: (cid:862)is this considered politics or law? (cid:863, baker v. carr. Judicial precedent: (cid:862)let the decision stand. (cid:863) Congress determines when/how often the court meets.
