Questions tagged [judiciary]
Questions about those parts of governments which interpret and apply the law. Please use with an appropriate country-tag.
53
questions
3
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3answers
236 views
Conservatism and Executive Power
The Economist cites the philosopher and political theorist Michael Oakeshott to describe conservatism as "To be conservative... is to prefer the familiar to the unknown, to prefer the tried to the ...
3
votes
1answer
221 views
Can UK supreme court justices be evaluated ideologically?
The Guardian's play by play account of today in UK politics notes that Geoffrey Cox has raised the possibility of parliamentary confirmation of judicial appointments, as is done in the US, because of ...
16
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4answers
5k views
What jurisdiction do Scottish courts have over the Westminster parliament?
What jurisdiction do the Scottish courts have to declare the suspension of the Westminster parliament is illegal? Since the Scots and English legal systems are different, and nobody has suspended the ...
11
votes
1answer
174 views
What is the nature of the court's oversight of the U.K. Parliament?
A recent BBC article (Judge rejects temporary ban on Parliament shutdown ahead of full hearing) indicates that it is possible for a judge in the U.K. to issue an interdict (“similar to an injunction”) ...
3
votes
2answers
193 views
Is a state-level legal proceeding against a sitting president any less of a burden on the president?
As contrasted with a federal-level proceeding
One of the pillars of the 2000 Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) argument to support the shield of a sitting president against federal indictment is the ...
4
votes
1answer
143 views
In the United States, how large is the political spread of all federal judges in terms of rulings?
Background
I keep hearing about the important role of Federal Judges in the United States and how their rulings as a whole results in them being labeled as a judge with a particular political ...
2
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2answers
142 views
Is it common for judicial branch to add details on laws made by legislative?
In Indonesia, there is an article 112 of drug laws.
The article says that simple possession is punished with a minimum of 4 years in prison.
This is in contrast with article 128 that says that usage ...
20
votes
6answers
5k views
In American Politics, why is the Justice Department under the President?
This may sound like an easy question.
Legislators make laws, the executive executes laws and the judiciary judges laws.
Sounds simple.
I've heard that the Justice Department is under the executive ...
4
votes
1answer
80 views
How do special prosecutors leave their role?
In the US, how do special prosecutors leave their role? Are they appointed for a limited time, do they resign or get fired?
I've looked at Mueller's appointment letter but it doesn't mention a ...
10
votes
3answers
383 views
What limits exist to stop a grand jury being used to persecute a political opponent?
Grand juries are conducted in secret by prosecutors without the oversight of a judge. The reasons for the secrecy of these proceedings have been adequately covered here but I am curious as to what ...
3
votes
1answer
136 views
Roughly how many US state judges have been charged with obstructing federal justice?
The media reported that a Massachusetts judge was charged with obstructing federal ICE agents after she allegedly let an (illegal) immigrant escape literally through the back door of her court.
This ...
2
votes
2answers
153 views
Is it common in the West for immigration judges to be subordinated to the attorney general (equivalent)?
It's been claimed that
The U.S. immigration court system suffers from profound structural problems that have severely eroded both its capacity to deliver just and fair decisions in a timely manner ...
5
votes
2answers
131 views
Athens Court of Appeal Judgement 2658/79
Looking into the Cyprus problem, I keep running into quotes referencing the Athens Court of Appeal Judgement 2658/79 on March 21 1979.
The only legitimate source I could find, which also seems to be ...
21
votes
3answers
4k views
Why is Grand Jury testimony secret?
I’ve been following US news lately, and am quite confused about something that keeps coming up: why can’t grand jury testimony be released?
William Barr and others keep mentioning that a lot of the ...
2
votes
0answers
98 views
How are subpoena'd documents physically created?
I just wondered about the mechanics of how documents requested by subpoena or by congressional inquiry (eg Nadler's current request for Trump-related files from various agencies) are physically ...
3
votes
2answers
211 views
Why was SNC-Lavalin not offered a remediation agreement?
Recently, the government of Justin Trudeau in Canada has faced a scandal concerning political interference in the corruption prosecution of the Quebec construction company SNC-Lavalin. Prosecutors ...
3
votes
1answer
79 views
Press conference by SC judges
Is the historic press conference by four senior-most SC judges a sign of government interference in the workings of the judiciary?
References -
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/supreme-...
3
votes
2answers
625 views
Will the government shutdown impact federal courts?
The US government is currently partially shut down. Will the government shutdown impact federal courts or slow process on new matters filed in federal court?
-1
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1answer
170 views
Does President Trump's sister still draw a federal salary?
Maryanne Trump Barry was appointed as a federal judge to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in 1983, and elevated to its appeals court in 1999. She took senior status in 2011 and ...
3
votes
4answers
279 views
Instead of proposing a “dialogic process” for judicial review, why doesn't Mark Tushnet want to amend the Constitution as necessary?
In a recent Vox.com interview with Harvard legal scholar Mark Tushnet, Dr. Tushnet presented his ideas to journalist Sean Illing:
Sean Illing
How unusual is it for a liberal democratic system ...
3
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0answers
149 views
Are there some studies which measure the level of politicization of courts in a trans-Atlantic perspective?
It's easy enough to find a Europe-only comparative perspective on the politicization of the judiciary, e.g. Werkmann (2017):
The authors measured the level of politicization in each
country ...
4
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2answers
2k views
Judges appointment mechanisms
What are the common/main mechanisms to appoint judges in different western countries?
How is the head of the judiciary system elected?
5
votes
2answers
171 views
Are there any studies of comparative biases in adversarial and inquisitorial legal systems?
In the present-day, different liberal democracies use the adversarial and inquisitorial legal systems (e.g., the U.S. and France, respectively). Have there been any comparative studies of whether ...
10
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1answer
485 views
Entire court impeached
The West Virginia House Judiciary Committee has voted to impeach the entire West Virginia Supreme Court. This vote means that it will go to the WV house floor for impeachment consideration.
Here's ...
3
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1answer
282 views
What happens if administration doesn't meet the deadline to reunify families?
On June 27 federal judge Dana Sabraw ordered that the Trump administration had to reunify the families that were separated when they tried to enter the US. Children under 5 had to be returned to their ...
2
votes
1answer
145 views
Can a large number of federal judges be confirmed at once in the US Senate?
President Trump has nominated many federal judges for Senate confirmation. As this list from Wikipedia shows, there is a huge backlog of judiciary nominations.
For instance, only 20 judiciary ...
1
vote
2answers
276 views
Can the United States Federal Government alter the Criminal Justice System [closed]
Question
I was wondering whether or not the phrase/sentence/claim/statement: "The United States Federal Government ought to alter the Criminal Justice System" be hypothetically feasible?
To clarify,...
3
votes
1answer
139 views
Impeachment of judges
What is the procedure when a judge is to be impeached by Congress? Is there a rule on the percentage of votes required when Congress votes?
2
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0answers
146 views
Why are the EU and Media so against Poland's court reforms, when other countries have similar systems [duplicate]
Following on from this this question - There is a lot of resistance from the EU and the mainstream media to Poland's proposed changes to the way Judges are selected.
As I understand it, the current ...
4
votes
2answers
5k views
How often are US federal judges appointed who have never tried a case?
As brought up in this question, there appears to be a growing group of headlines tonight focusing on the fact that someone who has never tried a case is being nominated for federal judge.
I know very ...
1
vote
1answer
159 views
In US law, what means are there to block a nominee approved by the Senate to become a District Judge?
This is about the nomination of Brett Joseph Talley to the position of District Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.
According to this article in the Los ...
3
votes
3answers
620 views
How do democracies maintain the independence of judiciary? [closed]
While a constitutional democracy requires an independent judiciary, the same cannot be elected by popular vote. One possible way is that the Executive head would appoint and promote the judges, but ...
20
votes
3answers
2k views
How does the judicial independence in Poland after the reforms compare to other EU countries?
There have been a lot of talks recently about the erosion of judicial independence in Poland after the new government has decided to change the way judges are nominated. However to me (as a Czech ...
8
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2answers
2k views
Why do countries maintain a Ministry of Justice?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_ministry
Why isn't having a Judiciary enough? Why do countries maintain a Ministry of Justice?
23
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2answers
11k views
What exactly did the federal judge do to Trump's executive order?
Source: The Hill
U.S. District Court Judge Ann Donnelly ruled in favor of a habeas
corpus petition filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on
behalf of two Iraqi men who were ...
3
votes
1answer
97 views
Why is driver's test privatization in purvue of Israel's Supreme Court?
So this minor news article ("High Court order against privatization of driving tests") caught my attention, by the fact that it seems like such a strange and insignificant topic to rise to Supreme ...
6
votes
2answers
1k views
If judges are supposed to be impartial, why are some elected if that risks them having biases towards their constituents?
It is my understanding that US judges are supposed to be impartial. Indeed, a common symbol of the justice system is Lady Justice wearing a blindfold as a symbol of this ideal.
There are a number of ...
14
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2answers
391 views
Judicial Independence in Turkey
In the aftermath of the failed coup in Turkey nearly 3000 judges were "sacked" among them two members of the constitutional court (source for example this Washington Post article) as well as many ...
31
votes
2answers
6k views
Why were 2745 judges dismissed in Turkey?
According to the BBC at least 2,745 judges have been dismissed in Turkey, following the recent failed coup d'état attempt.
Why? How were these judges involved in the coup attempt? And if they were ...
2
votes
2answers
647 views
How do proponents of the “Living Constitution” view respond to the argument that it undermines democracy?
Those who reject originalism as a judicial philosophy generally say that the Constitution is a "living document" which changes in meaning as society changes. Further, they believe that the Supreme ...
4
votes
1answer
656 views
US Courts of Appeals - What are the roles of the Circuit Justices?
I was reading the Wikipedia page for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit when I noticed that a "Circuit Justice" (in this case, Ruth Bader Ginsburg) was mentioned.
I then found the page ...
10
votes
1answer
177 views
When a U.S. administration decides to do a prisoner swap with another country, how does the US judicial system handle the request?
What are the mechanisms that are in play, for example in the recent swap of prisoners for the American citizens that were held in Iran? Is it a presidential pardon? Or is there some other ...
10
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1answer
2k views
Majority Opinion of Supreme Court cases
I am learning about US Government and the Judicial Branch. According to my course lesson, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court will write the majority opinion if he is part of the majority or assign ...
4
votes
0answers
135 views
When courts draw maps, do they gerrymander?
It's well known that when legislatures draw maps, the majority protects members of their own party. When courts do maps, do they do the same thing? If so, what are some modern-day examples where a ...
1
vote
2answers
299 views
If judges are appointed, why should law makers be elected? [closed]
I'm from the UK. I think the following reasons are why we appoint judges instead of electing them:
Appointed judges make decisions that are more independent and unbiased, because they only care about ...
11
votes
2answers
3k views
What is the percent of Police Officers that are indicted by a Grand Jury?
In light of the Eric Gardner and Micheal Brown Grand Jury outcomes. I wanted to know what % of Police Officers are actually indicted by a Grand Jury.
I found some interesting charts that may give ...
7
votes
5answers
274 views
What jurisdictions, if any, have preemptive judicial review of bills or laws, without a suit being brought challenging the law?
In the US, a court typically can only review a law if a case is brought, which generally requires a plaintiff with standing to sue. I seem to recall that some other country or countries have a system ...
3
votes
1answer
8k views
The “Basic Structure” of the Constitution of India and the other constitutions
Indian Constitution has something called 'basic structure', defined by Basic Structure Doctrine. This doctrine is based on, and evolved from, the Supreme Court of India's decision in the most ...
6
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2answers
288 views
Congress delegating statutory rewriting power?
Does the United States Congress have the power to authorize a court to rewrite a statute to save that statute from constitutional invalidity?
1
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3answers
952 views
Do any of the judges in USA (any jurisdiction) have to run for re-election?
Some of the judges in USA are elected positions.
In those cases, there are 4 options:
Position is elected for life
Position is elected for a term and the person can't run again
Position is elected ...
