AccelePrep for the ACT Test 2nd Edition Student Text

166 • S URGE TO S UCCESS ! R EADING T EST P REP

DIRECTIONS: Each passage or pair of passages is followed by a set of items. Read the passage and choose the best answer for each item. You may refer to the passage as often as necessary to answer the items. Answers are on p. 310. Items #1–10 are based on the following pair of passages. Social Science: The following passages explain two views on judicial review. Judicial review gives the Supreme Court and federal courts authority to interpret the Constitution and make sure all three branches of government follow the Constitution. Passage A I think there’s a misunderstanding of what the doctrine of judicial review means in practice. Obviously, members of Congress and the president and members of the executive branch are obligated to obey the Constitution, and the doctrine of judicial review doesn’t mean they ignore that obligation. ˆ –Š‡ ƒŒ‘”‹–› ‘ˆ ‡„‡”• ‘ˆ ‘‰”‡•• ϐ‹† something to be desirable but unconstitutional, they ought not to vote for it. If they vote for it and the president decides it’s unconstitutional, he ought to veto it. And if two-thirds of Congress overrides the presidential veto, then the Supreme Court ought to throw it out. This is not a case of one branch having supremacy over another; it is a case of a law having to pass everybody’s understanding of what is constitutional. It is being suggested that the Supreme Court should lose its power to declare acts You’ve learned now about the passages and the item-types, so it’s time to put all your new knowledge into practice with the following passages. unconstitutional. This alternative seems very unfortunate to me. While Congress has an obligation to take constitutionality into effect, the question is whether the Supreme Court should lose its power to •ƒ› Dz‘ǡdz ƒ ‘—–…‘‡ ™Š‹…Š ϐ‹† †‹•ƒ•–”‘—•Ǥ I would add that there is no crisis of judicial activism (judges letting personal beliefs on political or social issues dictate their decisions). Judicial activism is a stick that politicians use to beat things that they don’t like. Various doctrines inherent in the notion of a judiciary restrict judicial activism. One of the most important is judicial restraint: a court should not decide a matter prematurely, should not decide political questions, and should not decide a matter unless there is a genuine case involving controversy. Courts impose on themselves a strict requirement that there be real parties with real interests at stake, that there be a real injury, and that political questions are out of bounds. Passage B Courts have an obligation to determine the constitutionality of federal statutes they are asked to apply, and not simply because they are themselves required to obey the Constitution. As Marshall argued, judicial review is an essential element in the constitutional system of checks and balances— designed, as Hamilton said in The Federalist , to help keep the legislature within the limits of its authority. This does not mean that the courts have a monopoly on constitutional interpretation. Members ‘ˆ ‘‰”‡••ǡ Ž‹‡ ƒŽŽ ˆ‡†‡”ƒŽ ƒ† •–ƒ–‡ ‘ˆϐ‹…‡”•ǡ ƒ”‡ bound by their oaths to support the Constitution. Whenever a bill is introduced, every member of 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

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