Sweatt v. Painter

Glossary

• Amici curiae Latin for “friends of the court,” referring to outside parties who submit briefs to the court in support of one position or the other
• certiorari a writ by an appeals court commanding a lower court to produce the records of a case; “granting certiorari” means that the higher court has agreed to hear the case.
• Chief Justice Hughes Charles Evans Hughes, whose tenure as chief justice coincided with the years of the Great Depression
• ex relatione a Latin expression used in the law to mean “on behalf of”
• mandamus Latin for “we command,” used in law to refer to a court order requiring a lower court or a government official to perform a duty or to refrain from doing something
• Order of the Coif a prestigious national scholastic society for law students
• remand the act of a higher court sending a case back to a lower court for action
• Reversed an indication that a higher court has reversed the ruling of a lower court in the case at hand
• writ of error a judicial writ from an appellate court ordering the court of record to produce the records of trial; an appeal