Week 9 — Readings & Resources

Introduction to Political Science Free sample edition

Your primary reading is Chapter 9 (in this module). Everything below is the optional, go-deeper layer — pick what helps, skip the rest.

How to use this page

This page has 11 items (5 readings and 6 videos). Allow 51–64 minutes for everything. Use the full menu when you want more depth on one idea, or take the quick path below when you want the week's core in about twenty minutes.

Every video here has captions: turn them on with the CC button in the player. The chapter covers the same ideas in text.

Pick-one quick path (20–22 min total)

① What do courts do, and which court hears what?

Chapter 9, Section “Pull apart three ideas: review, independence, jurisdiction” · Session 1, Segment 2, “Review, independence, jurisdiction” · Remember: review is the power, independence is the conditions that protect judges, and jurisdiction is which court may hear which case.

Court Role and Structure — United States Courts — the federal courts' own short page on what the judicial branch does and how trial courts, appeals courts, and the top court divide the work; as you read, mark each sentence that is about jurisdiction. This builds on Week 7's work with legislatures and executives, the other two branches. (reading, 2–4 min)
Structure of the Court System: Crash Course Government and Politics #19 — CrashCourse — a fast, captioned tour of how cases move from trial courts up to the top court, with the word jurisdiction doing much of the work; use it while working through the Week-9 module overview. (video, 7 min) (captions: creator)
The Importance of Judicial Independence — Human Rights Pulse — a two-minute explainer on why judges must be able to decide without pressure from any quarter; afterward, name which of the three supports, tenure, selection, or compliance, it stresses most. (video, 2 min) (captions: automatic)
Judicial Appointments (Constitution-Building Primer 4) — International IDEA — the description page of a free primer for people drafting constitutions, on the common ways judges are chosen, from career judiciaries to independent commissions; the page's summary is enough for this week. (reading, 3–5 min)

② Where did American judicial review come from?

Chapter 9, Section “Trace the power to Marbury v. Madison” · Session 1, Segment 4, “Marbury v. Madison” · Remember: Marbury got the right, not the remedy, and the Court got the power.

About the Supreme Court — United States Courts — the federal courts' own explainer of the top court, including the point that judicial review is not found in the Constitution's text and was established in the 1803 case; as you read, note where the page says the power came from. Stop here before federalism and implied powers; next week takes that up. (reading, 3–5 min)
Judicial Review: Crash Course Government and Politics #21 — CrashCourse — a fast, illustrated telling of the 1803 case and how the Court claimed the power to set laws aside; as you watch, listen for the moment the Court says it cannot issue the writ. (video, 8 min) (captions: creator)
Marbury v. Madison, EXPLAINED — Heimler's History — a review-style walk through the dispute over a judgeship and how it became a case about the Court's power; afterward, check any line it quotes from the opinion against the reference at the bottom of this page. (video, 6 min) (captions: automatic)

③ One court or every court?

Chapter 9, Section “Compare two architectures: diffuse and concentrated review” · Session 2, Segment 6, “Two ways to build the power” · Remember: diffuse review spreads the power across courts, concentrated review gathers it in one constitutional court, and neither is more democratic by fiat.

Who Guards the Constitution? Judicial Review in Australia, the United States and Europe — Aussie Law — a comparative explainer of the diffused model, where any court decides inside an ordinary dispute, and the concentrated model, where one specialist court can rule in the abstract; it also shows countries where courts cannot strike down laws at all. (video, 10 min) (captions: automatic)
Constitutional Courts — Center for Civic Education — a one-minute civics segment on how judicial review in the United States differs from review in many European countries; say which architecture each side uses. (video, 1 min) (captions: automatic)
The History of the Constitutional Court: An Overview — Constitutional Court of Austria — the Austrian court's own short history, including the 1920 constitution that gave it the power to review federal laws; read it as one real example of a specialized constitutional court. (reading, 4–6 min)

Optional one-stop reference (free online reference)

Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137 (1803) — Legal Information Institute — the opinion this course quotes; use your browser's find command to search province and duty, and then repugnant, to find the two sentences quoted this week, then stop unless you want more. (reading, 5–10 min)

Heads-up (links rot): these point to outside sites that occasionally move or rename pages. If a link ever fails, tell your instructor and use the reference above in the meantime.

Provenance: Built with The Course Maker · samples.thecoursemaker.com