Warm-up
Write each sentence and answer on your warm-up page in
your notebook.
1. Authority of only the federal courts to
2.
3.
4.
5.
hear certain cases is called___________.
District courts have only __________
jurisdiction
The Supreme Court has justices but no
______.
The Appeals Courts have only
______________ jurisdiction.
Most federal court cases begin in the
________
 Exclusive
jurisdiction
 Original
 Jury
 Appellate
 District
Courts
Review Homework
Answers on flip chart
The Judicial
Branch
How the courts work
READING
Meet with your
partner.
Complete the front part of the worksheet.
You have 15 minutes.
How does the federal court
system work?
Remember!
Supreme
Court
S
Appeals
Court
A
D
District Court
How do Supreme Court Justices
and federal judges get their jobs?
appointed by the president
+
approved by Senate
=A federal Judge/justice
Sonia Sotomayor
Obama/ 1 year
Clarence Thomas
Bush Sr. / 19 years
Stephen Breyer
Clinton/ 16 years
Antonin Scalia
Reagan/ 24 years
Samuel Alito
Bush/ 5 years
Elena Kagan
Obama/ 6 months
Chief Justice
John Roberts
Bush/ 5years
Anthony Kennedy
Reagan/23 years
Ruth Ginsberg
Clinton/17 years
How long is the term of a federal judge?
Life
Why might the Senate reject a president’s nominee for
Supreme Court justice?
Throughout history, the Senate has rejected many presidential
nominees to the Supreme Court because of doubts about the
qualifications or the legal philosophy of the persons nominated.
(pages 200–201)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the answer.
Step #1: The District Courts
)
District courts have original jurisdiction which means
they try most cases for the first time.
You break a federal law; your case will be heard
here first
Step #2: The Appeals Courts
 The purpose of appeals courts is to review
decisions made by the lower courts
 The Court of Appeals only has appellate
jurisdiction
An appeals court can do any of the
following:
1. Uphold the original decision
2. Reverse the decision
3. Remand (send) the case back to a
lower court to be tried again
Under what circumstances might someone
decide to appeal?
Lawyers usually appeal when they think the judge in their case
applied the law incorrectly or used the wrong procedures or if new
evidence turns up.
(pages 197–198)
Checking for Understanding
Define Match the terms on the right with their
definitions on the left.
__ 1. federal courts where trials
A
A. district
are held and lawsuits are
courts
begun
B. appeals
C
__ 2. the authority of a court to
courts
hear a case appealed from C. appellate
a lower court
jurisdiction
B
__ 3. courts that review
D. original
decisions made in lower
jurisdiction
district courts
D
__ 4. the authority to hear cases
for the first time
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the answers.
Step #3: The Supreme Court
 This is the highest court in the land
 The decisions of this court are final.
 The decisions of the courts are very powerful
 They set a precedent or basis for decisions in
similar cases
How cases are decided in the
Supreme Court?
JIGSAW
ACTIVITY
1. Teacher Created Groups
2. Get reading assignment card
3. Read and study your part for 5 minutes
4. Meet with the other “specialty” reading partner
in the other groups.
5. Discuss concept and what notes to give for 3
minutes
6. Meet back with your 6-person group to discuss
reading assignments and take notes.
How cases reach the
court
acceptance
conference
Written and oral
arguments
Opinion
Writing
Announcement
How cases reach the court
- Most through appeals
process
- States need help on a
ruling
Acceptance
- review cases
- 4 of 9 justices agree
to take case
Conference
-private meeting
- discuss/debate case
Majority (5 of 9) justices
needed to decide case
Written and oral arguments
Opinion Writing
- majority opinion- tells
what the ruling is and
why
- brief prepared by
lawyers explaining the
case
- Meet the justices for
30 minutes
Announcement
- opinions needed to
be complete first
- Decision announced
to media
Infer The Supreme Court refuses to
hear many more cases than it
accepts. What happens in a case
when the Supreme Court refuses to
hear it?
The decision of the lower court remains
unchanged when the Supreme Court
refuses to hear a case.
No
Homework
Return the Executive Branch
Test
 If you do not want to make test corrections- place
your scan sheet in your notebook. We will use the
green side later or put it in your bin for me to hold
on to
 If you want to make test corrections- put your
scan sheet on my desk. I will send it to resource