THE JUDICIAL BRANCH Article 3 of the Constitution

THE JUDICIAL BRANCH

• The Judicial Branch INTERPRETS the laws and PUNISHES LAWBREAKERS!

CONSTITUTIONALLY SPEAKING…

• The only court that the US Constitution actually creates is the SUPREME COURT.

• This does not mean that all cases are tried in the Supreme Court…

• The Constitution told Congress they could create courts and they did just that…

• Thus we have two court systems. • FEDERAL COURTS• STATE COURTS

How to Understand the American Judicial System

FEDERAL COURTS

EXAMPLES OF FEDERAL CRIMES•Murder during a hostage-taking•Murder for hire •Bank-robbery-related murder or kidnapping •Murder by the use of a weapon of mass destruction •Selling massive amounts of drugs•Treason •Murder related to the smuggling of illegal immigrants•Murder of a member of Congress, an important executive official, or a Supreme Court Justice •Murder during a kidnapping•Murder involving torture •Espionage (spying on the US)•Hijacking of airplane

Deal with disputes about laws that apply to the entire UNITED STATES.

STATE COURTS• STATE COURTS GENERALLY HEAR CASES

LIKE…• Traffic violations• Divorce/custody hearings• Crimes (anything that isn’t considered a

Federal crime)• Civil cases between citizens

Deal with disputes about state laws and hear cases of people who are accused of breaking STATE laws.

NOT EVERYONE WHO GOES TO COURT IS A CRIMINAL!

• CRIMINAL CASES• COURT CASES THAT INVOLVE

SOMEONE WHO HAS COMMITED A CRIME

• CIVIL CASES• COURT CASES THAT GENERALLY

INVOLVE ONE PERSON SUING ANOTHER PERSON

YOU’RE ON TRIAL

• Regardless of the type of trial (civil vs criminal OR federal/state)

the TRIAL COURT is the first court to hear a case.

• In the trial court, lawyers use EVIDENCE to try to prove their client’s side of the story is what really happened

• Evidence can be almost anything- witnesses, videos, photos, murder weapon, crime scene details, etc.

•Most trial courts have JURY TRIALS, meaning a group of 12 jurors listens to the evidence and they decide who is innocent or guilty or who’s side of the story is right.

• This decision is called a VERDICT.

IT’S NOT OVER UNTIL IT’S OVER! • Losing in trial court doesn’t mean the case is over. If the losing side thinks

there has been an error, they can APPEAL.

• APPELATE COURTS are courts that have more power than trial courts. They can review cases that have been appealed and then they have three options• 1. Stick with the trial court’s decision- the verdict STAYS THE SAME. • 2. REVERSE the decision• 3. Demand that the case be RETRIED.

STILL THINK THE COURTS ARE WRONG?

• APPEAL, APPEAL, APPEAL!

• The last and final step to getting a decision overturned is the highest court in the country, THE SUPREME COURT!

THE SUPREME COURT

• The Supreme Court is the end of the line!

• They get to choose what cases they want to take and they usually don’t choose very many. • If they choose to not hear your case, whatever decision was made in the

APPELATE COURT stands and there is nothing you can do about it!

• Most of their cases involve disputes about whether laws legal according to the constitution…• Constitutional= something that is legal according to the Constitution• Unconstitutional= something that is illegal according to the Constitution.

WHO IS THE SUPREME COURT?

• Made up of 9 judges. Called the Supreme Court Justices.

• The PRESIDENT appoints the Supreme Court judges, then CONGRESS must approve each appointment.

• There are NO Constitutional requirements to be a Justice.

• There is NO TERM LIMIT meaning they serve until the retire or die!

LET’S REVIEW

• Circle the correct word to make the sentence correct.

1. When someone is accused of a crime, the type of case is: civil /criminal

2. If you appeal a case, you are going to appellate court/ trial court

3. The court that gets to decide what is constitutional Supreme Court /Court of Appeals

4. A word that means “relating to the rights of citizens” criminal/ civil

5. The Supreme Court has three justices/ nine justices

6. If you break a law of the United States, your case will probably be in federal court/ state court.