American Judicial History Trivia Quiz

Answer: English Common Law

Our legal heritage is that of the English Common (or judge made) law, based on precedent. The origins date from the last third of the 12th century, before the emergence of Parliament. Civil (or Roman) law is based almost entirely on legislation. Constitutional Law, of course, depends on a written constitution, which did not exist before America's founding. And Canon Law is the 'law' of the Catholic Church (and some other churches).

Answer: Torture

In the Medieval era, trials were conducted before God. A trial by battle required disputants (or their proxies) to engage in combat until one party submitted, or was decisively defeated (sometimes dying). An ordeal had an accused person burned (either by a red-hot iron bar or by boiling water). If the burns did not fester within a prescribed period of time, the person was found innocent.

A wager of law was a sort of 'character test' under which the accused swore that he was telling the truth and then produced a certain number of other persons to support his oath with their own oaths. All of these methods predate the jury trial. Torture was never explicitly used as a method of trial in adversarial history. Rather it was used in civil processes (which relied on a judge to find truth), most notably during the Spanish Inquisition.

Answer: Article 3

Article Three establishes 'one supreme court' and other federal courts. Article One deals with the legislative and Article Two with the executive branch.

Answer: 6

The Constitution does not prescribe a number of Supreme Court justices. Congress changed the number six times before settling on 9 in 1869. It is unlikely that the number will change in the future (although a valiant effort was made by Franklin Roosevelt in 1937).

Answer: Secretary of State

Madison was Secretary of State under Jefferson. Jefferson ordered him not to complete the appointment of judges and justices of the peace (among whom was Marbury) who had been among John Adams' 'midnight' appointees just before he left office in 1801.

Answer: Plessy v. Ferguson

Plessy v. Ferguson (1894) famously established the 'separate but equal' doctrine. Brown v. Board of Education famously overruled that doctrine, noting that separate did not mean equal, and ordering that public schools be racially integrated.

Answer: Buck v. Bell

In the case of Buck v. Bell, the Court upheld a Virginia Law mandating the sterilization of 'imbeciles'.

Answer: Gerald Ford

The Republican Ford appointed Stevens, one of the most liberal justices on the 2002 Court.

Answer: Robert Jackson

The case was West Virginia v. Barnett which struck down a law requiring children to salute the flag in school.

Answer: Rust v. Sullivan

Rust v. Sullivan might be thought of as an abortion decision, but the issue was whether the government could prevent government-funded clinics from advocating abortion or referring patients to abortion services - so it had to do most apparently with the speech rights of the doctors, etc, but also with those of tax payers who oppose abortion. The other cases have to do with Civil Rights.