Unit 4Chapters 11 and 12

*Judicial Branch

*Organization

*Dual Court System: state and federal courts work concurrently* Jurisdiction: the authority to hear cases (what

type of cases are heard and where)*Concurrent jurisdiction: both state and federal

courts can hear this case*State: cases involving state laws*Federal: cases involving federal laws *US laws, treaties, interpretation of Constitution, 2

state govs, people from different states, foreign diplomats

*Types of Courts

*Legislative vs Article III*Created by the Legislature (Necessary and

Proper Clause)*Tax Court, Military Court

*Created by the Constitution in Article 3:*Supreme Court + other inferior courts

*Structure of

Federal Courts

*District Courts (94 spread out across country)*Appeals (13 spread out across country)*Supreme (1 in Washington, DC)

*District (94)

Original jurisdiction – trials, cases heard for the first time, guilt or innocence is decided

Uses both a Grand and Petit juryGrand: decides if gov has enough evidence to put you on trial, issues an indictment if soPetit: Listens to prosecution and defense and decides guilt or innocenceBench: used instead of a petit sometimes, judge decides guilt or innocence

*Appeals

*Appellate jurisdiction: hears appeals from lower courts*12 districts each with one court*13th is reserved for national jurisdiction*Usually a panel of 3 judges hears the case*Decides whether or not a legal error occurred in

original trial*Can do 1 of 3 things:*Reverse the lower court’s ruling*Remand the case back to lower court for a redo*Affirm the original court’s decision

*Supreme*Highest court in the land*Appellate or original jurisdiction*9 justices (1 Chief Justice and 8

Associate Justices)*John Roberts, Jr is current Chief Justice*Article III: president appoints justices

with approval by Senate, justices serve during “good behavior” ie for life as long as they behave (freedom from political pressures)

*Reaching the Supreme Court

*Trial at the district level*Appeal to the Appeals court*Appeal to Supreme Court*Petition Supreme Court to hear your case

(~10,000/year)*Grants Writ of Certiorari, an order to send up info

(~1,000 per year)*Discuss List, consider to consider (~650)*Rule of 4, 4 justices must agree to hear case (~100)* Issue Per Curium Opinion and done or:* Request more info from attorneys

*Supreme Court at Work

*So you’ve made it past the Rule of 4 and the justices have requested more information…*Lawyers will submit “Briefs” (summaries, transcripts,

evidence, precedents, etc)*Lawyers will present Oral Arguments in front of the

justices, usually only allowed 30 minutes and justices can ask questions* Justices go into closed conferences to argue and debate* Justices vote and make their decision*Write Opinions*Make the announcement

*Opinions

*Written documents*State facts, decision and justification or reasons*Can become precedents

*Opinions

*Unanimous: all justices vote the same way*Majority: at least 5 justices vote one way,

that’s the final decision*Dissenting: those justices that are on the

losing side*Concurring: some justices are on the

winning (majority) side, but made their decision for different reasons

*Justices

*Until recently, few women, African American, or Hispanics served*LBJ: Thurgood

Marshall, first African American*Ronald Reagan:

Sandra Day O’Connor first female*Barack Obama: Sonya

Sotomayor first female hispanic

*Shaping Policy

1. Using Judicial Review: examining laws and actions of the government for constitutionality (Miranda v Arizona)

2. Interpreting laws: What do existing laws mean? (Americans with Disabilities Act)

3. Reversing previous decisions: Changes in society and court composition can bring reversals (Plessy v Ferguson/Brown v BOE)

*Judges Actions

*Judicial Restraint vs Judicial Activism*How strictly do justices interpret the

Constitution? Allow for leeway? Do they see their position as an active source of societal change or are they to strictly interpret the wishes of the founding fathers?*Judicial Restraint = strict interpretation*Judicial Activism = actively making policy

changes through decisions