The Judicial Branch

The Federal Court System

 

Objectives:

1)     Explain how justices / judges in the Court System are appointed and approved

2)     Describe the powers given to each level of the Federal Court system

3)     Detail the issues and importance of selected major Supreme Court decisions

 

 

The Supreme Court

 

·        Article 3 of the Constitution – very brief in nature – the Constitution is vague, and only mentions the Supreme Court

·        Congress has created the other federal courts over the years as the country has expanded

·        Qualifications – none officially, although most federal judges today are at least 50 and have been lower level judges for many years

·        Term: Life

·        All federal judges, including the Supreme Court Justices, are appointed by the sitting president when vacancies occur, either by death or retirement

·        Once the President names a new federal judge, the Senate must grant approval, sometimes a length process, after multiple hearings and interviews

·        Since 1869, the number of justices has been set at 9, although FDR tried unsuccessfully to increase the number during the 1930s

·        The Court does not generally judge people, only laws as to whether or not they are constitutional.  See the last section of these notes for examples of how the Court makes decisions.

·        The Court normally gets its cases on an appeal from one of the circuit courts in the US Court of Appeals

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

US Court of Appeals

 

·        The US Court of Appeals is actually 12 separate courts, each one in a district (called a circuit), spread throughout the United States.  Each district handles a certain number of states.

·        US 4^th Circuit  -- in Richmond, VA – handles NC, SC, VA, MD and WV, but does not include Washington DC (that’s the 12^th Circuit)

·        This court has appellate jurisdiction – cases appealed from lower courts, normally state courts from within the boundaries of the circuit. 

 

 

US District Courts

 

·        The US District Courts actually consists of 12 separate courts, each one in a district (they match the circuit’s for the US Court of Appeals)

·        US 4^th Circuit  -- in Richmond, VA – handles NC, SC, VA, MD and WV, but does not include Washington DC (that’s the 12^th Circuit)

·        This court has original jurisdiction – the right to hear a case for the first time.  Original jurisdiction for the federal court system involves specific types of cases

·        Violations of federal laws – this is how civil rights cases are tried in federal court

·        Suits between citizens of different states – this idea also applies to businesses or other entities of different states.  For example, a citizen of NC who wanted to sue Gateway Computers, a corporation from SD, would file the suit in federal court.

·        Suits involving citizens from outside the United States

·        Court cases appealed from the US district courts go to the US court of appeals for the circuit where they come from

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Selected Supreme Court Cases

 

Note – students need to know both facts of each case and why the case is significant.  In other words, of all the cases ever decided before the Court, why do we study these cases?

 

 

Marbury vs. Madison (1803)

       

Brown vs. the Board (1954)

       

Miranda vs. Arizona (1966)