THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT and THE JUDICIARY BRANCH

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Helen Haynes
5 years ago
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1 Elana Kagan (Obama) Samuel Alito (G.W. Bush) Sonia Sotomayor (Obama) Neil Gorsuch (Trump) Ruth Bader Ginsberg (Clinton) Unit Four- BA Anthony Kennedy (Reagan) Chief Justice John Roberts (G.W. Bush) Clarence Thomas (G.H.W. Bush) THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT and THE JUDICIARY BRANCH Stephen Breyer (Clinton)

2 The United States judiciary is comprised of a dual system of courts. There are the federal courts, and each individual state and has its own court systems as well. The Constitution establishes the Supreme Court and leaves to Congress the creation of inferior courts, the lower federal courts beneath the Supreme Court. Throughout United States history, Congress has created two distinct types of federal courts; the constitutional courts and the special courts. The constitutional courts include the courts of appeals, the district courts, and the U.S. Court of International Trade. The special courts include the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the U.S. Tax Court, the various territorial courts, and the courts of the District of Colombia, as well as the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review.

3 Rules of The Federal Courts The constitutional courts hear most of the cases in the United States, or they have jurisdiction over federal cases. Jurisdiction is defined as the authority of a court to hear and try cases. The federal courts only have jurisdiction over certain cases, as most cases are heard in state courts, and not federal courts. Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution provides that federal courts may hear cases either because of the subject matter or the parties involved in the case. Subject matter refers to the involvement of a federal question. In order for a federal court to have jurisdiction, the subject matter must be related to the operations or constitutional power and authority of the federal government. So, questions regarding the constitutionality of state laws, the meaning of a particular federal statute, or a treaty, would all be federal questions.

4 Rules of The Federal Courts A case also falls within the jurisdiction of the federal courts if one of the parties involved in the case is: The United States, or one of its officers or agencies An ambassador, consul, or other official representative of a foreign government, or one of its subjects A citizen of one state suing the citizen of another An American citizen suing a foreign government or one of its subjects A citizen of a state suing another citizen of that same state where both claim title to land under grants from different states. Types of Jurisdictions Most of the cases that can be heard in a federal court fall within their exclusive jurisdiction, meaning that they can be tried only in federal courts Some cases may be tried in either a federal or state court because in those instances they have concurrent jurisdiction, such as when cases of diverse citizenship (involving parties from two separate states) occur, and the money amount in question is over $75,000.00

5 Rules of The Federal Courts Types of Jurisdictions A court in which a case is first heard is said to have original jurisdiction over that case. It is referred to as the trials court. A court that hears a case on appeal from a lower court exercises appellate jurisdiction over that case. Appellate courts do not retry cases. Rather, they determine whether a trial court has acted in accord with applicable law. The appellate court, as a higher court, may uphold the judgements of the lower, trial, court, overrule them, or in some way modify the decision appealed from the lower courts. In the federal judiciary system, the district courts have only original jurisdiction, and the courts of appeals have only appellate jurisdiction. The Supreme Court mostly hears appeals, but the Constitution does give it original jurisdiction in some cases.

6 Federal Judges If you recall federal judges are nominated by the President. In the practice of Senatorial Courtesy the President will almost always nominate judges from that state where the vacancy occurs whom the Senators from that state recommend. There are no age, residency, or citizenship requirements for federal judges. Tradition, and common sense, however, have dictated that federal judges have an education, or professional background in the law. President s consistently look to members of their own party to fill these vacancies, and though they deny it, there is often an ideological litmus test in order to be considered. A litmus test is a question asked of their beliefs that they cannot vary in the answer to. For Democrats that question since the 1970 s has been Would you vote to overturn Roe v. Wade? and if they answered yes, they would not be considered. For Republicans, that question has varied with answers on overturning Roe v. Wade in the affirmative, to protecting political donations and the right to choose whether to belong to a union, and today would most likely be would you vote to overturn State of Florida vs. The Department of Health and Human Services, and The State of Virginia vs. Kathleen Sebulius which is the Obama Care cases.

7 Federal Judges Judicial Philosophy Another major impact on the judicial selection process is the judicial philosophy of candidates. There are two main judicial philosophies: Judicial Activism which is a broad view of judicial power. Proponents of this philosophy argue that provisions in the Constitution and federal statute should be interpreted and applied in light of ongoing changes in conditions and values, especially in cases involving civil rights and social welfare issues. Judicial Restraint proponents believe that judges should decide cases based on the original intent of the Founding Fathers who drew up the Constitution, or those who enacted a specific statute involved in a case. All federal judges make decisions in which they must interpret and apply provisions in the Constitution and acts of Congress. That is, they often decide questions of public policy, and in doing so they inevitably shape public policy.

8 Federal Judges Terms and Pay The Constitution reads in part, The Judges of both the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior. This means that the judges of the constitutional courts are appointed for life, they serve until they resign or retire or die in office. Federal judges can be removed only by the impeachment process. Those justices on the special courts do not serve for life, instead they are usually appointed for terms of up to 8 to 15 years, and may be, but seldom are, reappointed. Congress has set the salaries of federal judges, and it does vary, and has cost of living adjustments. They also have a generous retirement program included as part of their compensation.

9 The Federal Courts The District Courts The 50 states are divided into 89 federal judicial districts, and there are also federal district courts for Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. Each state forms at least one judicial district and some are divided into two or more. At least two judges are assigned to each district, but many districts have several. The District Courts have original jurisdiction over more than 80% of the cases that are heard in the federal court system. The only federal cases that do not begin in the District Courts are those few that fall within the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, and those cases heard by the special courts. District court judges hear a wide range of both criminal and civil cases. They try criminal cases ranging from bank robbery, kidnapping, mail fraud, securities fraud, RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act), counterfeiting, terrorism and tax evasion. They hear civil cases arising from disputes over bankruptcy, postal, tax, public lands, civil rights and other laws of the United States.

10 The Federal Courts The Courts of Appeals The Courts of Appeals were created by Congress in 1891 in order to save the Supreme Court from hearing appeals from the District Courts. At that time the docket, or schedule of cases to be heard, by the Supreme Court had placed them more than three years behind schedule. There are now 13 Courts of Appeals. The country is divided into 12 judicial circuits, including the District of Columbia, and the Courts of Appeals are known as the United States Circuit Courts. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is located in Washington, D.C., but its jurisdiction is nationwide, while the other circuits only hear appeals from the District Courts in their Circuit. The Federal Circuit mostly hears cases regarding patent, copyright and international trade cases.

Topic 7 The Judicial Branch. Section One The National Judiciary

Topic 7 The Judicial Branch. Section One The National Judiciary Topic 7 The Judicial Branch Section One The National Judiciary Under the Articles of Confederation Under the Articles of Confederation, there was no national judiciary. All courts were State courts Under