POLS 206 10th Edition Lecture 14 The Judiciary Branch and its Powers Outline of Last Lecture I No in the news today because we need to catch up II Presidential approval ratings a Uses it to try and get members of congress to go along with him b Highest approval rating in first 3 6 months in office III Other resources a Bureaucracy b EOP c White House Staf IV Bureaucracy a 4th branch of government 1 Cabinet Departments Independent Executive Agencies Independent Regulatory Commission Government Corporations V Agency Creation a Institutions shape outcomes b Control procedure control the outcome c Advocacy d Intervention Outline of Current Lecture I Iron Triangles a Relationship is not always antagonistic between agency and members of congress II Limiting bureaucratic drif i Police Patrol Oversight ii Fire Alarm Oversight III Judiciary a Federal Court System i Federal Court System is decentralized IV Supreme Court Details a Only 100 cases granted certiorari b Writ of Certiorari V Appointment of Justices 1 Amendment 2 Super majorities 3 Impeachment 4 Unpopular decisions VI Limitations of Supreme Court Lecture 14 Notes I Test this Tuesday covering chapter 13 14 and 15 more heavily weighted on the reading II Politics of Agency Creation a Competing interest groups b Designed to be inefficient c Bureaucracies are designed to be weak i Captive agencies meaning that they are supposed to be regulating the industry but are actually not that efficient at it 1 Agency has been captured by the agency it is supposed to be regulating ii Example 1 SEC a They were supposed to regulate Wall Street bankers but they were not efective which lead to the housing crisis b They were not making sure that the Wall Street bankers were doing what they were supposed to do III Iron Triangles a Relationship is not always antagonistic between agency and members of congress b Interdependent mutually beneficial relationship between MCs and BCs i Members will give BCs more funds if they like them and need their approval and help 1 Committee Subcommittee a Scenario 1 Aging AARP SS Admin increasing benefits for seniors b Scenario 2 Specialty crops tobacco industry IS dept of agriculture selling more tobacco products ii Why do we care 1 Allow interest groups to dominate policy 2 May contribute to inflated budgets for the bureaucracy 3 All examples of when members of congress cooperate with BCs a Benefits own narrow special interest IV Limiting bureaucratic drif a How do we prevent them from doing things that the public does not want i Presidential nomination power 1 He only nominates less than 1 of bureaucrats 2 Marry the natives a When an appointee goes into an agency surrounded by natives and instead of helping presidential agenda he helps the agency and advocate on their behalf rather than the presidents b Can put in structures that opponent groups want Inhibit agency s efficacy with reporting requirements constrained jurisdictions and an appeals process ii Police Patrol Oversight 1 Another way of limiting bureaucratic drif 2 Constantly monitoring what the agency is doing a Problem limited time for engagement iii Fire Alarm Oversight 1 Reactive rather than proactive 2 Rules Regulations must be published in the Federal Register before being implemented 3 Fire alarms alerting their MC of the adverse agency decision a Interest group informs gives notice of proposed rule or regulation before it goes into efect b This is going to hurt us so delay the implementation of this rule or regulation i Banking industry oversees SEC Regulations ii Ag Groups oversee Dept of Ag rules iv Power of the Purse 1 All of the agencies are dependent on members of congress for annual appropriations a They need the budget b Agencies ultimately are held captive to MCs because the agency will not operate without congressional operations V How can we reform the bureaucracy a Streamline agencies shrink their size and complexity simplify their mission and build in structural regulations b Obstacles i There are people who are happy with the way bureaucracy works right now ii In order to institute reform you would have to convince people who are happy with the status quo VI Judiciary a FF intended it to be the least influential branch i Leave it to future people to set up the way that they saw fit ii Supreme court is the only thing mentioned in the Constitution b Dual Structure i Federal 1 Federal law and US constitution a Tax evasion and drugs ii State 1 Voter id laws death penalty c Federal Court System this is what were focusing on i District Courts Courts of Appeal Supreme Court 1 District Courts a 94 b Criminal and civil cases i Criminal murder thef robbery and assault ii Civil wrongful death personal injury breach of contract divorce c 300k cases annually most cases begin and end here 2 Courts of Appeals a 13 circuits b People who lost their district case and are now trying to appeal to a diferent verdict i TX Miss Alabama are part of the 5th circuit c 60k cases annually 3 Supreme Court a If you have lost in the previous 2 you appeal to this one b Ultimate and final case c Most are appeals cases from federal and state system mostly appeals i Original jurisdiction on disputes between states d Less than 1 is a petition e About 100 cases annually ii Federal Court System is decentralized 1 SC Relies on thousands of lower courts to adhere to the precedent cannot force them 2 Federal judges are appointed for life removed only through resignation or the impeachment process a Only congress can have a judge removed 3 Federal judges have ignored SC rulings a Brown vs Board of Education i Eventually said that separate schools are not allowed 9 0 ruling ii Schools needed to desegregate with all deliberate speed vague 1 Allowed racist people to not enforce this decision iii How do they deal with noncompliance 1 Rebuke lower court judge 2 Order the court to take specified action 3 Assign case to a diferent more favorable judge a Ultimately do not have a lot of power to force lower courts to implement precedent VII Supreme Court Details a Only 100 cases granted certiorari i Litigants will file a formal request to hear case granting it means that the SC is agreeing to hear it ii Most frequently used power is the power to deny certiorari 1 Saying that it agrees with the lower courts decision and that it is not going to make any changes to their decision 2 All they have to do it deny hearing the case b Writ of Certiorari i Request that SC hear the case ii Rule of