Short Quiz

[johnkarls]

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1. Which President appointed Justice Stephen Breyer to the US Supreme Court? What was Breyer’s background?

2. Who appointed the other eight US Supreme Court Justices?

3. What is the best definition of judicial restraint, per the NY Times book review of Making Our Democracy Work?

4. Who coined the term “judicial activism” and what is meant by it?

5. How does the term “judicial activism” relate to “original intent” in terms of interpreting the US Constitution?

6. Is the US Constitution a set of ideas adopted (except for amendments) in 1787 by a group of primitive farmers that does not (the set of ideas) fit the modern-day world very well?

7. What would be the best example of one of its key provisions adopted 223 years ago that has been routinely ignored since 1941 even though it has been almost constantly the most important issue facing the nation since then?

8. What would be the best example of one of its key provisions (albeit adopted 4 years later in the Bill of Rights = Amendments 1 - 10) that arguably prevents America from being a safe place absent another Constitutional Amendment?

9. What was the ERA? What did it teach us about the virtual impossibility of improving the primitive document we call our Constitution?

10. During our discussions over the past 5 years, why did we always conclude that a parliamentary system of government would be far superior to the one with which we are saddled by our Constitution?

11. Why do you think the overwhelmingly prevailing form of government in Europe is parliamentary?

12. Why do you think that after our first nation-building attempt at saddling a country (Afghanistan) with a form of government (the hybrid Parliament-plus-President model tailored for Chas de Gaulle following the disaster of the Fourth French Republic), we scrapped that model in designing Iraq’s constitution with the pure parliamentary system featured in most civilized countries?

13. Are there 2-3 decent features of our Constitution that we can mention in order to achieve a façade of fairness for this quiz?

14. When did filibustering nominations to the US Supreme Court come into vogue and why?

15. Even though filibustering did not come into vogue initially due to the political views of nominees that they might employ in their decisions on the court, why has filibustering been a constant threat during the last 23 years? In this respect, what is the typical age and religion of nominees? Why is their typical age and religion significant?

16. Is the US Supreme Court democratic in the sense that it reflects the popular will?

17. Is the US Supreme Court a highly-political body that does not dare to apply the principles it preaches in contexts that would be too unpopular? What would be a good example of this hypocrisy?

18. The NY Times Book Review states: “As Breyer himself notes, ‘the public has developed a habit’ of accepting the court’s rulings, even egregious ones like Bush v. Gore.” Is the characterization of Bush v. Gore as “egregious” Breyer’s or the reviewer’s? Wasn’t Breyer in the 9-0 majority in Bush v. Gore I? How did Breyer vote in Bush v. Gore II and Bush v. Gore III? What were the conclusions of the studies of the Florida ballots conducted much later by a “Big Four” CPA Firm for a consortium of newspapers headed by the NY Times and by another “Big Four” CPA Firm for a consortium of newspapers headed by the Miami Herald?

19. Have US Supreme Court decisions always been followed? What has been the most frequent reason for ignoring them? Have there been other reasons? Is the court impotent to compel adherence to its decisions if the Commander-In-Chief refuses to support them?

20. How does the US Supreme Court select the cases that it will hear?

21. If there were a Holocaust taking place today in the United States, would the US Supreme Court agree to hear the case?

22. Since the US Supreme Court declined this past year to hear Karls v. Goldman Sachs, et. al., which involved the destruction of the lives of 10 million American inner-city children (vs. only 6 million lives destroyed in the World War II Holocaust) resulting from the Unconstitutional Denial of Due Process of Law and the Unconstitutional Denial of Equal Protection of the Law by both the US District Court (Northern District, California) and the Ninth Circuit in a manner that produced a substantive result diametrically opposed to well-settled law, what safeguards (if any) are there against a new Holocaust occurring in the United States and, indeed, the Holocaust that is currently destroying the lives of 10 million American inner-city children?

AND FOR FUN --

A. Has a former US President ever served on the US Supreme Court?

B. Who is the most famous candidate for US Vice President to serve on the US Supreme Court? What was his background?

C. Who is the most recent US President to seriously consider, and be considered for, nomination to the US Supreme Court?