H6

a. Define Judicial Review: 
-Judicial review is the power of the courts to determine whether or not an act of Congress is in accordance with the Constitutional.
b. Explain how Judicial Review empowers the Supreme Court within the system of Checks and Balances: 
-The Court has the power to interpret the Constitution and decide whether or not a law is constitutional.
c. Describe the process through which the Court grants a writ of certiorari: 
-A writ of certiorari is a document that calls up a case.The petition is filed by the Supreme Court. Included is an argument explaining why the case should be heard, and then there must be a vote. The vote follows the rule of four, meaning at least four justices must vote in favor of hearing the case.
d. Explain how each of the following influences decisions made by individual justices when deciding cases heard by the court: 
-Stare decisis: This means "let the decision stand", meaning that the decision is final. This is a way for the court to say that they want to uphold the decision previously made concerning the case.
-Judicial activism: This refers to a decision that has been made that more than likely was influenced by personal opinion rather than the Constitution. Members of the Supreme Court take cases that relate to them in a way, or if the topic is important to them.

H4

1. 

A. Identify three characteristics of Supreme Court nominees: 

-Supreme Court nominees typically have ideals similar to that of the president. Nominees tend to be older due to the correlation between knowledge and age. The nominee also has shown that they're dedicated to not only their job, but the sanctity of the job. This means that they stick by their decisions and to their political affiliation.
B. Discuss how each characteristic has been politically relevant during the appointment process:
-In order to extend a president's power, he or she usually appoints someone with similar ideals which makes their political party stronger. This can however be bad in terms of appearance (if a president only nominates people from his respective party). As recently seen, John Roberts voted in favor of Obama Care despite the fact he was nominated by George Bush. Age also is an important factor, the older a person is the more mature they are (generally speaking). All of the nominees higher on the scale of age.
(c) USE real facts from the confirmation of Elena Kagan to illustrate at least ONE of these characteristics: 
-Elena Kagan, who was appointed by Obama, has similar ideals to Obama which could be one of the reasons she was appointed.

2.

(a) Identify two methods that have been used by interest groups to influence the appointment process. 

-Interest groups share information and support a specific candidate. They could also lobby. 

(b) Explain how each of these methods has been used to influence that process.

-The interest group could send out informational pamphlets, flyers, or make phone calls to express their opinion concerning a nominee. An interest group could also influence the process by lobbying by allocating money to their campaign or to someone of the same party. 

(c) USE real facts from the confirmation of Elena Kagan to illustrate at  least ONE of these methods:

-An interest group send out a flyer with the title being: "Ensure Elena Kagan gets a fair hearing..."