THE COURTS
What Do Courts Do?
• Resolve Disputes
• Criminal
• Civil
• Contracts
• Torts
• Apply the Law
• Courts of Appeals
• Points of Law ONLY
• No witnesses/juries
Federal Courts
• Diversity jurisdiction
• Federal question jurisdiction
Structure of U.S. Court System
U.S. Supreme Court
Original jurisdiction
State Supreme Courts
State Cts of Appeals
U.S. Circuit Cts of Appeals
State Trial Cts
Federal Trial Cts
Federal Courts of Appeals
The U.S. Supreme Court
• Court Composition
• Chief Justice
• Associate Justices
CJ: John Roberts (Bush II, 59)
Scalia
Reagan
78
Kennedy
Reagan
77
Thomas
Bush I
65
Ginsburg
Clinton
82
Breyer
Clinton
75
Alito
Bush II
64
Sotomayor
Obama
60
Kagan
Obama
53
Taking This Case to the Supreme Court…
• Plenary Jurisdiction
• Writs of Certiorari
• Rule of 4
• 8000+  ~100
Case Accepted?
• Briefs
• Parties
• Amicus curiae
• Oral Arguments
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ9prhPV2PI
• Conference Vote
• Opinion Assignment
• Majority
• Dissent
• Concurrence
Power of Federal Judges
• “Weakest Branch?”
• Constitutional/Statutory Interpretation
• Judicial Review
• Marbury v. Madison (1803)
• No mechanism for enforcement
• Life tenure
• Impeachment
Implementation and Impact of Decisions
• Adherence Not a Given
• INS v. Chadha and the legislative veto
• Brown v. Board of Education
• Unexpected Consequences
• Roe v. Wade
•
Judges’ Decision-Making
• Attitudinal Model
• Strategic behavior
• Legal Model
• Deference to Congress
• Three approaches to Constitution
• Plain meaning
• Original intent
• Living Constitution
Balance in Selection
Judicial Accountability v. Judicial Independence.
• Judicial Accountability: Judges should be accountable to the public
and/or elected branches of government.
• Judicial Independence: Judges should be free to render decisions
consistent with their best understanding of the law, free from
outside influences.
Judicial Selection
Federal Article III Courts
States Use Several Methods
• Nominated by President,
• Partisan election
confirmed by Senate.
• Life-tenure
• Removal by
impeachment.
• Nonpartisan election
• Gubernatorial
appointment
• Legislative appointment
• Merit selection (aka
Missouri Plan)
Judicial Policymaking and Democracy
• Judges Shape Public Policy
• What if life-tenured judges make decisions that create bad
public policy?
• What if they make decisions that nullify popular policy
choices made by the people’s selected representatives?
• Countermajoritarian argument