chief justice

chief justice
noun
the judge who presides over a supreme court (Freq. 1)
• Topics: ↑law, ↑jurisprudence
• Hypernyms: ↑judge, ↑justice, ↑jurist
• Instance Hyponyms:

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↑chief justice

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ˌchief ˈjustice (also Chief Justice) noun
the most important judge in a court, especially the US Supreme Court
 
Culture:
the Supreme Court [chief justice the Supreme Court]
The judicial branch is one of the three branches of US ↑federal government and operates the system of law courts. The Supreme Court in ↑Washington, DC is the highest court in the US, and is very powerful. It has nine judges, called justices. Traditionally, they are called the nine old men, although in 1981 Sandra Day O’Connor became the first woman justice. The head of the court has the title of Chief Justice of the United States. Justices are appointed by the ↑President, although the ↑Senate must confirm (= give its approval to) the choice.
Some of the power of the Supreme Court was given to it in the Constitution. In 1803, in a famous case called ↑Marbury v Madison, the Court gave itself the additional power of judicial review. This means that it has the power to decide if a law is constitutional (= follows the principles of the Constitution). If a law is said to be unconstitutional, it cannot be put into effect unless it is added to the Constitution, a long and difficult process that has succeeded only 27 times in more than 200 years. In this way the Supreme Court has the power to blocklaws made by the US government and state as well as local laws.
The Supreme Court is a court of appeal and hears cases on appeal that were first heard in the lower courts. It can hear only a small number of appeals and so tries to choose cases that involve important principles of law. Once the Court has decided a case, lower courts use it as a precedent, i.e. they follow the Supreme Court’s decision in similar cases.
Many of the Supreme Court’s decisions are famous because they changed some aspect of US life. For instance, in the cases ↑Scott v Sandford (1857), ↑Plessy v Ferguson (1896) and ↑Brown v Board of Education (1954) the Court made important decisions about the rights of African Americans. In Miranda v Arizona (1966) the Court said that police officers must inform the people they arrest of their constitutional rights. In 1978, the decision in Regents of the University of California v Bakke upheld (= supported) ↑affirmative action but made ↑reverse discrimination illegal. This means that, when trying to give more opportunities to women, African Americans and minority groups, people cannot deny members of other groups fair treatment. The ↑Roe v Wade decision of 1973 gave women across the US the right to abortion. The decision in US v Nixon (1974) required President Nixon to hand over evidence that later led to his having to resign.

Useful english dictionary. 2012.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • chief justice — chief justiceship. 1. Law. the presiding judge of a court having several members. 2. (caps.) Official title, Chief Justice of the United States. the presiding judge of the U.S. Supreme Court. See table under Supreme Court. [1685 95] * * *… …   Universalium

  • chief justice — n: a chief judge of a usu. higher level court; specif often cap: the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court chief jus·tice·ship n Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam Webster. 1996 …   Law dictionary

  • Chief justice — Chief jus tice The presiding justice, or principal judge, of a court. [1913 Webster] {Lord Chief Justice of England}, The presiding judge of the Queen s Bench Division of the High Court of Justice. The highest judicial officer of the realm is the …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Chief justice — Justice Jus tice (j[u^]s t[i^]s), n. [F., fr. L. justitia, fr. justus just. See {Just}, a.] [1913 Webster] 1. The quality of being just; conformity to the principles of righteousness and rectitude in all things; strict performance of moral… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Chief Justice — steht für Oberster Richter oder Gerichtspräsident eines bestimmten Gerichts oder eines Landes. siehe etwa: Chief Justice of the United States, das nominelle Oberhaupt der Bundesgerichte der Vereinigten Staaten Chief Justice (Ghana), der Oberste… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Chief Justice — Chief Justices N COUNT; N TITLE A Chief Justice is the most important judge of a court of law, especially a supreme court. ...Chief Justice Marshall …   English dictionary

  • chief justice — n the most important judge in a court of law, especially the US Supreme Court …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • chief justice — noun count the most senior judge in a court of law, especially the U.S. Supreme Court …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • chief justice — n. the presiding judge of a court made up of several judges …   English World dictionary

  • Chief Justice — The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional …   Wikipedia

  • Chief Justice — Juge en chef Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Chief Justice (que l on peut traduire en français par Juge en chef) est le titre du président de la Cour suprême dans de nombreux pays du… …   Wikipédia en Français

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