Chapter 9
The Courts and the Judicial Branch
Article III of the Constitution created only a Supreme Court
However, it did give Congress to create any lower federal courts (inferior courts) that it
wanted.
The Judiciary Act of 1789 created many inferior courts
Remember, the state court system was already in place because of the colonies and today
we have two levels of courts: state and federal courts.
JURISDICTION OF THE COURTS
Federal courts have restrictions on the kinds of cases it may hear…the authority to hear a
case in court is called jurisdiction
Cases “arising under the constitution, US laws, and treaties are exclusive jurisdiction of
the federal courts”…NOT THE STATES
Sometimes both the state and federal courts share jurisdiction. This is called concurrent
jurisdiction
• These cases can be tried in a federal and/or state court because both a state and
federal law has been broken
The court where a case is originally tried has original jurisdiction
• In federal systems, only the district courts have original jurisdiction
If you lose a case, you can appeal…these courts have appellate jurisdiction
• The Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction.
DEVELOPING SUPREME COURT POWERS
The courts #1 power is JUDICIAL REVIEW
• This gives the courts the ability to declare a law unconstitutional
This came from the Marbury v. Madison case
• John Marshall was Chief Justice at the time and is seen at the ‘architect’ of
judicial power
LOWER FEDERAL COURTS
CONSTITUTIONAL COURTS
Judges appointed by the President, confirmed by the senate, for life
1. U.S. District Courts
•
•
These are primary trial courts
The US has Attorneys to represent the United States in all lawsuits.
2. U.S. Court of Appeals
• Appeal decisions from a lower court
• The county is broken into 11 judicial circuits (with a DC Circuit) with 1
appellate court in each circuit
• Usually, a panel of 3 judges decides cases
LEGISLATIVE COURTS
Judges appointed by the President, confirmed by the senate, for a fixed term
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Court of Military Appeals
U.S. Claims Court
District of Columbia Courts
Territorial courts
Court of Veterans Appeals
U.S. Tax Court
SELECTION OF JUDGES
All Federal Judges are picked by the President.
• This is (sometimes) considered the ‘legacy’ of the President
Usually the president looks at specific things when deciding a judges:
1. Experience
2. Political Ideology
3. Party and personal loyalties
4. Ethnicity and gender
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said that a Supreme Court Justice should be a
"combination of Justinian, Jesus Christ, and John Marshall."
When a person is appointed, the SENATE JUDICIAL COMMITTEE holds a hearing to
‘question’ the new judge
• VERY important for SCOTUS appointees
If the committee approves them, then entire Senate confirms them
The Supreme Court at Work
There are 9 Supreme Court justices (now there are 5 men (1 African-American) and 3
women (one Latina))
Congress gives them their salaries ($213,900…chief justice gets $223,500)
Each associate justice oversees a judicial circuit in the country and looks at cases that the
S.C. can hear.
Each justice gets a few law clerks to help do research and wring first drafts of the
opinions…they people usually go on to be very successful (ask the current Supreme
Court Chief Justice John Roberts…he was a clerk for the Supreme Court).
• Some feel that law clerks do much of the work in the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court begins working on the First Monday in October
• Usually, the term runs until the end of June
Nearly 10,000 cases were appealed to the Supreme Court last year
• Of that, the court only hears 100
THEY GET TO DECIDE WHICH CASES TO HEAR
• If they don’t want to hear your case, you are out of options…and they do NOT
need to give you a reasons why they do not want to hear your case
Usually, cases get to the Supreme Court two ways
1. On Appeal from a lower court
2. by Writ of Certiorari
Writ of certiorari is the main route
• This is an order from the Court to send up records on a case from a lower
court to review it
The ‘RULE OF FOUR’ decides if a case will be heard
• If four justices want to hear the case, all 9 will
If the suit involves the Federal Government, the Solicitor General is the person who
argues for the government in front of the Supreme Court
• This is an appointed position by the president
STEPS IN THE DECIDING MAJOR CASES
1. Submitting Briefs
• Lawyers on each side issue a brief (written statement about their argument)
• Parties not DIRECTLY involved in the case can issue a amicus curiae (friend of
the court) brief to get their side across
2. Oral Arguments
• The lawyers speak their arguments to the Court
• There are NO witnesses and the justices can ask questions
3. Conference
• The Justices meet in private to talk about the case
4. The Courts Opinions
• All rulings are by majority vote
o The majority opinion is usually written by the chief justice or the highest
ranking justice if the chief dissents
o The dissenting opinion is written by the justice(s) who disagree with the
ruling
o A concurring opinion is written by those justices who AGREE with the
decision but do NOT agree with the reasoning
WHEN THE COURT RULES
Once a case is decided, it serves as precedent (model) on other cases
• However, the law will be flexible if it needs to be but typically, Stare Decisis will
apply to lower courts
o ‘let the decision stand’ is the rule those courts follow
Limits on the Supreme Court
ISSUES:
No (or very little) foreign policy issues
TYPES OF CASES:
They will only pick cases that their decision makes
AGENDA:
Only the ones that come up through the lower courts
LACK OF ENFORCEMENT:
There is no Supreme Court police force
CHECKS AND BALANCES:
President and Congress both have powers over the Court