This is an interesting and practical question. The American Rule refers to the American practice of requiring each side to bear their own attorney’s fees regardless of whether you win or lose! This is in direct contradiction to the European or English Rule that places attorney’s fees on the shoulders of the loser (talk about adding insult to injury). There are a variety of reasons for the American Rule, but the most articulated is that it removes a significant barrier to litigation: money. If people went to court terrified that they may have to pay (1) their attorney’s fees, (2) a judgment (if they lost), and (3) their opponent’s attorney’s fees, they may refuse to bring a meritorious case to court. 

“Voir dire” roughly translates to “to see to speak” and it refers to the process of selecting a jury—in both criminal and civil cases, and at both a state and federal level. Without going into detail that is far beyond the scope of your course, jury selection is an important part of every case. Take, for example, a criminal case involving the alleged theft of a pair of diamond earrings from a jewelry store. If you were the defendant, would you want a jury box full of jewelry store owners? Probably not. 

This should have been an easy question. Nobody ever gets to “automatically” write all of the opinions for the Supreme Court. The author of the opinion depends in large part on the makeup of the majority. If, for example, the Chief Justice is on the majority, he has the right to assign authorship of the opinion to whoever he desires (including himself). If, however, the Chief Justice is part of the minority (that is, not a part of the majority decision) the most senior justice on the majority side retains that right.

This date was selected to mark the date of the opening of the current Supreme Court building. The Supreme Court has a very busy schedule. The justices review briefs and decide if the case has Constitutional merit and is should be granted a hearing. They hold hearings to gather information and evidence on which they will base their decisions. The justices meet in conference to determine which cases will be brought before them, review the case materials and discuss their decision. Then a justice is selected to write the deciding opinion, another justice is chosen to write a dissenting opinion if one exists and other judges may write concurring opinions. The justices and their clerks are extremely busy from October to the last day in June. And just like students and teachers, after taking a short summer break, many justices read to update their knowledge of the law and some even speak to school groups regarding their role in government and the law