Chapter 16:
The Federal Court System
Structure, Nature, and Politics of the Judicial System
Federal (US) Courts
 Article III of the U.S. Constitution establishes the
judicial branch
 Supreme Court only court specifically
mentioned in Constitution
 Constitution allows Congress to create
“inferior” federal courts
The Nature of the Judicial
System
 Two basic kinds of cases:
criminal law cases and civil law
cases
 Criminal: government charges
an individual who violated
specific laws (I.e. prohibiting
robbery, etc.)
 Civil: Dispute between two
parties (I.e. divorce, mergers,
etc.)
 The VAST majority of all
criminal and civil cases involve
state laws and are tried in
state courts
Participants in the Judicial System
 Litigants: plaintiff and
defendant
 Groups: NAACP, ACLU, etc.
 Attorneys: Over 750,000
today in the United States
 Legal Services Corporation:
lawyers to assist the poor
 Access to quality lawyers is not
equal.
Organization of the Federal Court System
U.S. Court of Appeals
 12 judicial circuits (3-15 judgeship)
 Usually a panel of three judges hear a case
 Hear all appeals from district courts and decisions
from administrative agencies
 About 10 % of cases get appeals
 Do not review facts of the case but whether the law was
applied fairly
 D.C. Circuit has national jurisdiction
U.S. District Courts
 Trial Courts – 94 of them, and at least one in each
state
 Hear 90 % of all federal cases
 Jurisdiction:
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constitutional questions
Bankruptcy
Federal government is a party
Concerning federal laws
“Dual Court System”
 The U.S has 2 separate court systems:
federal and state
 Federal courts hear “all cases arising
under the Constitution and U.S. laws”
 Everything else left to the states (95% of all
cases)
 Question: Can a person be charged in both
federal and state courts for committing the
same act?
And the answer is….YES!!!
 During the same criminal act, the suspect(s) may have
broken both federal AND state laws, and may be tried in
both courts
 not “double
jeopardy”
The Rodney King case involved both California state
trial and a federal trial of LA police officers
Example: Oklahoma City Bombing
(1995)
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
 Timothy McVeigh, Terry
Nichols conspired to blow up
the Murrah Federal Building in
Oklahoma City killing 168
people, both federal employees
and civilians including 19
children)
 McVeigh convicted and
executed in 2001 for the murder
of federal employees
 Terry Nichols convicted of
murder in both federal & state
courts
The Structure of the Federal
Judicial System
 Constitution says very little
about the structure
 Left it to Congress’s discretion
to establish lower federal
courts
 Judiciary Act of 1789: Congress
created these constitutional
courts
 Congress also created
legislative courts for special
reasons (Court of Military
Appeals, Tax Court, etc.)
 Legislative courts have judges
with fixed terms and lack
protections against removal
Differences among Courts
 Original Jurisdiction: Courts
where cases are heard first;
usually in a trial; determine
facts about the case; More
than 90% of court cases begin
and end in the court of original
jurisdiction
 Appellate jurisdiction: Courts
hear cases brought to them on
appeal from a lower court; do
not review factual record, only
deal with the legal issues
involved (Miranda rights, etc.)
Guiding Principles
of the American
Legal System
Principle #1
Equal justice
under the law
Principle #2
Due Process
Procedural Due Process
Substantive Due Process
Principle #3
Adversarial System
of Justice
Principle #4
Presumption of
Innocence
SCOTUS
U.S. Supreme Court
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Supreme Court of the United States
 Ultimate court of appeals in the U.S.
 Does not deal with guilt or innocence
U.S. Supreme
Court
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Cases appealed from federal and state system
Control of docket (5k-7k  hear 100-150)
Session (October - June)
Justices - 9 (life, appointed by president, confirmed
by senate)
Step 1:
Court Receives a Petition
or Case
• 100/week
• 7,000/year
• SC only accepts about 100/year
Step 2:
Process of Granting Cert
a.k.a. writ of certiori
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Cert Conference weekly, Mon. and/or Fri.
if SC decides not to take case, no “petition of value”
facts already established
SC looks at legal and process issue
Step 3:
Written Arguments
briefs submitted by each
lawyer
amicus curiae
Step 4:
Oral Arguments
oEach side has 30 minutes
oJustices interrupt frequently
Step 5:
Conference
• Justices meet Wed. afternoons for Tues.
cases; Fri. for Wed. & Thurs. cases
• meet in private
• 9 justices alone: no law clerks present
Step 6:
Rendering an Opinion
o often takes months to write opinions
o majority, concurring, dissenting opinions included
o usually handed down June to early July
Session
 Cases are heard with all the Justices sitting together
in open court.
 Majority, Concurring, and Dissenting Opinions
The Supreme Court’s Work
 99% of Supreme Court Cases are remanded
 This means that they original decision is upheld
(supported)
 The chief justice acts as a guide/chairperson but his vote
holds no more weight than that of another judge.
 Arguments/debates within the court are considered
private
 Lawyers are very limited in what they may present to
the judge.
Supreme Court Decisions
 Once the court has reached a majority of 5 to 9 justices,
they will share their decision with the legal community, and
explain what it means for future decisions:
 Majority Opinion: Discusses how the case at hand
influences the interpretation of the Constitution.
 Minority Opinion: Discusses the opinion of those who do
not agree with the ruling.
 Concurrent Opinion: Those who voted with the Majority,
but do not agree with the Majority Opinion, may publish
their opinion as to how the ruling should affect the
interpretation of the Constitution.
What types of cases does the supreme court hear?
Cases as laid
out by the
Article 3 of the
Constitution
Cases granted an
appeal by the
Supreme Court
from lower federal
courts
Appeals granted by
state Supreme
Courts will be heard
by the federal
Supreme Court
If any 4 of the
judges wants to
hear the case, the
entire court will
hear it
Federal laws that are
declared
unconstitutional by a
state court will be
heard by the
Supreme Court
State laws that are
declared
unconstitutional by a
lower federal court
will be heard by the
Supreme Court
Why does the Supreme Court matter?
 The Supreme Court has been instrumental in the
development of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in the United
States.
 Have guaranteed the rights of citizens independent of
their skin color, race, age, gender, political or religious
beliefs, sexual preference, weight, height, disability…. And
the list goes on.
 This list will never remain stagnant…the changes we
experience in our lifetime have the potential to be life
altering for many.
U.S. Supreme Court 2012-13
John G. Roberts, Jr.
 Chief Justice
 First among equals
 Gets to decide who
write the majority
opinion
 Nominated by George
W Bush
Reagan’s Nominees
Antonin Scalia
Anthony
Kennedy
HW Bush’s Nominees
Clarence Thomas
Clinton’s Nominees
Ruth Bader Ginsberg
Stephen Breyer
W Bush’s Nominees
Samuel Alito
Obama’s Nominees
Sonia Sotomayer
Elena Kagan
Justices of the Supreme Court
 Nine Justices led by a Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court. His/her main duty is administrational and
ceremonial. For example?
 Nomination and confirmation can sometimes become
very “political”
 Conservative, Moderate, Liberal
 Republican to Republican appointees
 Democrat to Democrat appointees
 Almost always…Why?
The Courts as Policymakers
 Accepting Cases
 Use the “rule of four” to choose cases
 Issues a writ of certiorari to call up the case
 Supreme Court accepts few cases each year
Figure 16.4
The Courts as Policymakers
 Accepting Cases (continued)
 The Solicitor General:
 a presidential appointee and third-ranking office in the
Department of Justice
 is in charge of appellate court litigation of the federal
government
 Four key functions:
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Decide whether to appeal cases the government lost
Review and modify briefs presented in appeals
Represent the government before the Supreme Court
Submit a brief on behalf of a litigant in a case in which the
government is not directly involved
Solicitor General
 Presidential appointee and
third-ranking official in the
Department of Justice, in
charge of the appellate court
litigation of the federal
government
 Donald B. Verrilli, Jr.
 Solicitor General of the United
States
Duties of the Solicitor General
 Solicitor General Duties are:
1. To decide whether to appeal cases the
government has lost in the lower courts
2. To review and modify the briefs presented in
government appeals
3. To represent the government before the
Supreme Court
4. To submit a brief on behalf of a litigant in a case
in which the government is not directly involved
Supreme Court Chief Justices
 The Rehnquist Court: (1986-2005)
Impeachment of Clinton, Bush V.
 John Marshall: (1801-1835)
Judicial Review and Marbury V. Gore
Madison
 The Roberts Court: (2005-present)
 The Warren Court: (1953-1969)
desegregation, criminal
defendants, reapportionment
 The Burger Court: (1969-1986)
Roe V. Wade, US V. Nixon,
Furman V. Georgia, Gregg V.
Georgia
Understanding the Courts
 The Courts and Democracy
 Courts are not very democratic.
 Not elected
 Difficult to remove judges and justices
 The courts often reflect popular majorities.
 Groups are likely to use the courts when other methods
fail, which promotes pluralism.
 There are still conflicting rulings leading to deadlock and
inconsistency.
Understanding the Courts
 What Courts Should Do: The Scope of Judicial
Power
 Judicial restraint: judges should play a minimal
policymaking role
 Judicial activism: judges should make bold policy
decisions and even chart new constitutional ground
 Political questions: means of the federal courts to
avoid deciding some cases
 Statutory construction: the judicial interpretation
of an act of Congress