Unit 4
Judicial Branch
Discuss this quote:
• “…a free court is a court where a judge is at
liberty to express his views and exercise his
own discretion…without any coercion or
pressure from anyone. That is liberty, and
that is what America stands for.” Federal
Judge Waties Waring,
Federal Court System
I. Characteristics
A. Adversarial
1. Plaintiff brings a charge
2. Defendant is the one being charges
B. Passive
1. Federal judges are restrained by the Constitution to
deciding ACTUAL disputes or cases
2. depends on others to take the initiative.
C. Jurisdiction
1. court’s authority to hear a case
2. types of jurisdiction
2. types of jurisdiction
a. Original jurisdiction – courts in which a
case is 1st heard
b. Appellate jurisdiction – courts that hear
cases brought to them on appeal from lower
courts
c. exclusive jurisdiction – cases that can be
heard only in certain courts
d. concurrent jurisdiction – cases that can
be heard in either federal or state court
D. A complex dual court system
1. 2 separate court systems
2. Each state has its own system of courts.
over 97% of all criminal cases are heard in
state and local courts
3. Federal judiciary system spans the entire
country.
Two Levels of Law
(Dual Court System)
State Courts
 Deal with state laws
 Three levels
 Trial courts
 Appellate courts (aka courts of
appeal)
 State supreme court (aka court
of final appeal)
 Cases may be appealed to
the USSC if a federal or
constitutional issue is
involved
Federal Courts
Original jurisdiction over federal issues
–
Federal laws
–
Constitutional issues
–
Resident of one state v resident of
another state
–
Treaties
–
Maritime issues
–
Foreign govt is involved
–
US govt is involved
Three levels
a. Trial court (aka District Court)
b. Appellate court (aka Court of Appeals)
c. Supreme Court (aka Court of Final
Appeal)
The Federal Court System
• A. The Constitution
– 1. Supreme Court is the only court mentioned in
the constitution.
– 2. Congress has the power to create all other
courts
• B. The Judiciary Act of 1789
– 1. established 3 tiered structure of federal courts
– Set the size of the Supreme Court at 6 justices; it
was later expanded to 9 in 1869
C. District Courts
• 1. Currently 94 district courts staffed by about
700 judges.
– Each state has at least 1
• 2. District courts handle 300,000+ cases a year
or about 80% of the federal caseload
• 3. Most cases end in a plea bargain
– Only about 2% go to trial
D. Courts of Appeals
• 1. appellate courts authorized to review
district court decisions
– Empowered to rule on decisions of federal
regulatory agencies such as the FCC
• Do not hold trials or hear testimony
The Supreme Court
• America’s “court of last resort.”
• Reviews cases from the US courts of appeals and
state supreme courts
• Final arbiter of the Constitution
– Decisions establish precedents that are binding on
the entire nation
• Marbury vs. Madison
– Established judicial review
– Judicial review: the power of the Supreme Court to
declare federal legislation invalid if it violates the
Constitution
Structure of the Courts
III. The Selection of Judges
A. The Lower Courts
1. Appointed by the president and confirmed by a
majority vote of the Senate
2. Senatorial courtesy: unwritten tradition – the
Senate will not confirm nominations for lower
court positions that are opposed by a senator of
the president’s own party from the state in which
the nominee is to serve
Robert Bork and Anita Hill
• Nominated to the
Supreme Court in 1987
• Views of Constitution
seemed Controversial
• Rejected by Senate
• Clarence Thomas
nominate to SC in 1991
• Hill was an associate of
Thomas; accused him of
sexual harassment in
confirmation hearings
B. The Supreme Court
1. Nomination criteria
a. Competence – credentials including prior judicial
or governmental experience
b. Ideology & policy preference – expected to share
the president’s policy preferences
i.
Example: FDR appointed justices who supported New
Deal programs
ii. Reagan appointed justices sympathetic to conservative
goals
B. The Supreme Court (cont’d)
c. Race, ethnicity and gender
2. confirmation process
a. names of possible nominees sent to FBI for
background check & to ABA for professional rating
b. Interest groups increasingly important
i. Public protest
ii. Appearances on TV & radio talk shows
iii. Emails to senators
c. Senate Judiciary committee hold public hearing on
each nominee
i.
Recommendation to the full Senate
Activism vs. Restraint
• Judicial restraint: judges' own philosophies or policy
preferences should not be injected into the law
– whenever reasonably possible construe the law so as to
avoid second guessing the policy decisions made by other
governmental institutions
– based on the concept that judges have no popular
mandate to act as policy makers and should defer to the
decisions of the elected "political" branches
– so long as these policymakers stay within the limits of their
powers as defined by the US Constitution and the
constitutions of the several states.
• Judicial activism: seeks to determine what is "just," not
necessarily what is intended by law
– the U.S. Constitution is a living, dynamic document which
must necessarily be interpreted to meet the needs
of modern times.