Week 9 — Political Institutions II: Judiciaries, Courts & Judicial Review

Introduction to Political Science Free sample edition

Why this matters

A business major reading how an arbitration panel settles a contract dispute and a club officer facing a student judicial board are both asking who gets the final word on the rules, and whether that body should answer to the majority.

In plain language

This week is about courts, the third branch of government, which settle disputes and, in many countries, can also tell an elected legislature that a law it passed does not count. That power is called judicial review (a court setting aside a law that breaks the constitution). You will learn where the American version of that power came from, in a case from 1803, and how other democracies give the same job to one special court instead. You will also learn to check a court case three times, because chatbots invent cases that sound real. Finally, you will weigh a hard question at full strength on both sides: does letting unelected judges strike down laws make a democracy stronger or weaker?

Already covered: Week 7 covered legislatures and executives; Week 8 added the three-layer read.
This week: courts, judicial review, Marbury v. Madison, and the counter-majoritarian debate.
How they connect: the third branch completes the machinery.
Where we're going next: Week 10, the U.S. case.

Focus

Does letting unelected judges strike down laws strengthen democracy or weaken it?

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

[ ] sort a rule as review, independence, or jurisdiction
[ ] state Marbury's three questions and its holding
[ ] tell diffuse from concentrated review
[ ] state both sides of the counter-majoritarian debate

To-do

Plan your week

Read Chapter 9 (45 minutes), then the lecture and slides.
Do the lecture tutorial (60–90 minutes) and practice set (20 minutes).
Do the Political Analysis Workshop (90 minutes), the discussion, and the assignment.
Take the quiz.

This week's checkpoint: sort one court rule as review, independence, or jurisdiction.

You've got this

Take it in order, and ask your instructor early.

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