The term Judicial Activism, or Judicial Intervention, is used to describe the belief that the Supreme Court should take an active and promiment role in shaping American national policies. It is the antonym of judicial restraint, which suggests that the Supreme Court should limit its attempts to intervene in shaping national policies.

Judicial Review is one of the more important powers of the Supreme Court and the Judicial Branch of the United States government. It was established in the Supreme Court case of Marbury v. Madison, in 1803. It allows the Supreme Court to declare an act of Congress unconstitutional, giving the Judicial Branch the ability to check the power of the Legislative Branch.

Being a Justice on the Supreme Court is a tenured position. This means Justices cannot be removed from office by either the President or by Congress. They are effectively in power for life, or until they decide to retire.

There were originally six Supreme Court Justices. This was quickly changed to seven in 1807, to prevent the obvious problem of there being frequent ties. In 1837, the number of Justices was expanded to nine, where it has remained—apart from a brief time with ten—ever since.

During the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt met with a lot of opposition from the Supreme Court, which ruled that many of his policies were in violation of the Constitution and attempted to take the powers of the government and the Presidency too far. To try to remedy this situation, Roosevelt attempted to expand the number of Supreme Court Justices to give himself a majority of supporters on the Court; this was of course met with a great deal of opposition, and is now known as "court packing."

Powers of the Federal government include regulating interstate commerce, maintaining the armed forces, coining and regulating money, declaring war, and collecting taxes. Of these answer choices only deciding marriage laws are not powers of the Federal government. States may set their own laws regarding who can and cannot marry, a contributing factor to the present-day debates over whether same-sex couples may marry.

As part of the American system of checks and balances, the President can override an action of Congress with a Presidential veto; however with a two-thirds vote, Congress can in turn override the Presidential veto.

The Eighth Amendment to the United States' Constitution protects Americans from cruel and unusual punishment (including torture) or excessive fines. The Second Amendment protects the right to carry guns; the Third Amendment protects Americans from the forced quartering of soldiers; the First Amendment protects the right to freely assemble; the Sixth Amendment protects the right to a speedy trial, and the Seventh Amendment protects the right to trial by jury. 

The First Amendment to the United States’ Constitution guarantees certain inalienable rights that cannot be infringed upon by the government. They are the freedom of speech, religion, the press, petition, and peaceful assembly. The First Amendment is the first of ten amendments that make up the Bill of Rights.

The women’s suffrage movement picked up steam during World War One, when many women stepped into the jobs and roles in society vacated by men off fighting in the war. The movement culminated in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, which prohibits any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of gender. The Amendment was ratified in 1920.