Judicial Branch

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• Article III of the Constitution establishes the judicial branch of the federal government
• vests the judicial power of the United States in one supreme court
  • highest court in the country
  • only court specifically required by the U.S. Constitution
• Congress determines the number of Supreme Court justices
  • currently 9
• president nominates justices when there is a vacancy
  • nominees typically highly respected state or federal judges or attorneys
• Senate confirms nomination
• Supreme Court justices are appoint for life
  • serve until retirement, death, or removal
  • can be removed if the are impeached and convicted by congress
  • Why life terms?
    • original drafters did not want the review of law to be dependent on popular political ideas
    • don’t want federal judges fired if decisions were unpopular or not favorable to a political party

Structure of the Federal Judiciary

Jurisdiction

• important to understand how different courts in the federal system relate to one another
  • can be applied to state judicial systems
• Courts have the ability to hear only cases (disputes) that are within their jurisdiction
  • jurisdiction describes the types of cases that a court has the authority to hear
    • 3 main types of jurisdiction:
      • Original jurisdiction
        • power of a court to hear the initial dispute between parties
        • courts conduct trials
        • usually trial courts have original jurisdiction
      • Concurrent jurisdiction
        • jurisdiction that is shared by several different courts
      • Appellate jurisdiction
        • power of a court to review a decision made by a lower court
• federal courts have limited jurisdiction
  • can hear only certain types of cases that fall within a limited subject matter
  • determined by the Constitution and laws made by Congress
  • Can hear only these cases:
    • disputes regarding federal laws or constitutional issues
    • disputes between residents of different states where the amount of money in controversy is great than $75,000
  • cannot hear cases outside its functional or subject matter jurisdiction

Hierarchy

• Article III also gives Congress the power to make as many lower-level federal courts as needed
  • Congress has established:
    • district courts
      • lowest level courts
      • 94 judicial districts in U.S.
        • each has at least one judicial district
        • some states may be divided into many judicial districts
        • each distract may have more than one judge
        • # of judges is determined by the number of cases, caseload, in the district
        • one judge hears a case at the trial court level
      • are the workhorse of the federal judicial system
        • serve as courts of original jurisdiction
      • may hear disputes between parties or conduct criminal trials for violations of federal law
      • each district court has its own bankruptcy court
        • Constitution gives federal government the sole power over bankruptcy law
    • appellate courts
      • intermediate appellate courts are the next level
        • called U.S. Courts of Appeals
          • 13 Courts of Appeals
          • 94 district courts are grouped into 12 geographical circuits
            • one Federal Circuit that hears cases from specialized courts
          • hears appeals from the district courts in their circuit
            • E.g., Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals hears cases from Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, located in Chicago
          • Congress determines number of judges in each circuit
            • usually hear cases in 3 judge panels
          • is a court of appellate jurisdiction
          • do not review the facts of a case, nor accepts any additional evidence
            • reviews the record of the trial court only for mistakes of law
          • court of last resort is the highest level of court in any judicial system
            • in federal system, it’s called Supreme Court
              • court of appellate jurisdiction
              • typically decides cases on appeal from U.S. Court of Appeals
              • reviews the decision of the lower court
              • no obligation to review a decision
                • a party has to ask the Supreme Court to review the case with a petition called a writ of certiorari
                • approved by 4/9 justices
              • may decide to hear a case if:
                • a federal law is unconstitutional
                • two or more federal appellate courts have ruled differently on same issue
              • has exclusive original jurisdiction to decide cases about disputes between state governments
                • exercises concurrent jurisdiction with federal district courts in some cases and original jurisdiction very rarely
              • most cases are appeals cases
              • has the power to decide cases that involve questions about the federal Constitution and other federal laws
              • can review both state and federal laws to ensure they don’t conflict with Constitution
                • called judicial review
              • final authority on cases heard in the federal court system
                • decisions cannot be appealed
    • specialized courts
      • E.g., FISA Court

Info

An appeal is a formal request for a higher authority to review the decision of a lower court.

• Any party who is unhappy with the judgment received in a district court can appeal to the Court of Appeals for that district
• unhappy party must be able to show that the trial court made a legal error that affected the holding, or decision, in the case