JUDICIAL BRANCH
Introduction
• Should the government cover the cost of medically
necessary abortions for low-income women?
• The state of Texas chose not to include abortion services in
its Medicaid programs and fund them with state money.
• Medicaid is a federal program designed to provide health
insurance coverage to poor people, the disabled, and
elderly Americans who are impoverished.
• Abortion rights advocates filed suit in Texas court against
the state’s refusal to cover medically necessary abortions in
its Medicaid program, charging that the policy amounted to
illegal sex discrimination.
• The Texas Supreme Court rejected the argument, illustrating
the important role of the Texas courts in the policymaking
process.
Types of Legal Disputes
Criminal Cases
• A criminal case is a legal dispute dealing with an alleged
violation of a penal law.
• Parties
• Criminal defendant is the party charged with the
criminal offense.
• Prosecutor is the attorney who tries a criminal case
on behalf of the government.
• Burden of proof is the legal obligation of one party in a
lawsuit to prove its position to a court.
• In a criminal case the prosecutor has the burden of
proof to show the defendant’s guilt “beyond a
reasonable doubt.”
Types of Legal Disputes
Criminal Cases (cont.)
• Classification of criminal offenses
• The penal code classifies criminal cases according to
their severity.
• A misdemeanor offense constitutes a relatively minor
criminal offense.
• The categories of misdemeanor offenses are
• Class A, B, or C
• Severity lies in descending order with regards
to jail term and fine, Class A being the most
serious
Types of Legal Disputes
Criminal Cases (cont.)
• Classification of criminal offenses (cont.)
• A felony offense constitutes a serious criminal offense.
• Texas law divides felony offenses into five categories:
• Capital felony (death penalty)
• First-degree felony
• Second-degree felony
• Third-degree felony
• Fourth-degree (state jail) felony
• Severity lies in descending order with regards to jail
term and fine
Types of Legal Disputes
Civil Disputes
• A civil case is a legal dispute concerning a private
conflict between two or more parties – individuals,
corporations, or government.
• Parties
• Plaintiff is the party initiating the lawsuit.
• Civil defendant is the responding party.
• Burden of proof
• In a civil case the plaintiff has the burden of proof to
prove the case “by a preponderance of the evidence.”
Types of Legal Disputes
Civil Disputes (cont.)
• Types of civil disputes
• Property case is a civil suit over the ownership of real
estate or personal possessions such as land, jewelry,
or an automobile.
• Probate case is a civil suit dealing with the disposition
of the property of a deceased individual.
• Domestic-relations case is a civil suit based on the law
involving the relationships between husband and wife,
and between parents and children.
• Contract case is a civil suit dealing with disputes over
written or implied legal agreements.
• Tort case is a civil suit involving personal injury or
damage to property.
Court Procedures
• The judicial proceeding is generally an adversary proceeding, which
is a legal procedure in which each side presents evidence and
arguments to bolster its position while rebutting evidence submitted
by the other side.
• In practice most legal disputes are settled not by trials but through a
process of negotiation and compromise between the parties.
• In civil cases the litigants may decide to resolve the dispute by
settling out of court rather than going through the trial process.
• In criminal cases the defendant and the prosecutor may resolve
the case through a plea bargain, which is a procedure in which
the defendant agrees to plead guilty in order to receive
punishment less than the maximum for the offense.
• Judicial proceedings are basically divided into trials and appeals.
Court Procedures
Trials
• Formal examination of a civil or criminal action in
accordance with the law before a single judge who has
jurisdiction to hear the dispute
• Involve attorneys, witnesses, testimony, evidence,
judges, and, occasionally, juries
• In general, the trial court is concerned with questions of
facts and the law as it applies to those facts.
• The verdict determines in a civil case which party
prevails in the lawsuit and in a criminal case whether
the defendant is guilty or not guilty as charged.
Court Procedures
Appeals
• An appeal is the taking of a case from a lower court to a
higher court by the losing party in a lower court decision.
• As grounds for appeal, the losing party may allege that the
lower court failed to follow proper procedures or incorrectly
applied the law.
• Involve attorneys, briefs, written court records, and oral
arguments
• In general, the appellate court is concerned with issues of
law and procedure.
• The ruling of court may uphold, reverse, or modify the lower
court decision.
The Texas Court System
• The Texas court system has three
levels:
• Local Courts
• District Courts
• Appellate Courts
Local Courts
Municipal Courts
• Created by the Texas legislature in every incorporated
city
• Operate in 894 cities staffed by 1,342 judges
• Exercise criminal jurisdiction involving Class C
misdemeanor offenses
• Exclusive jurisdiction involving violations of city
ordinances, which are laws enacted by the governing
body of a municipality
• Generally function as traffic courts
• Perform magistrate duties
Local Courts
Justice of Peace (JP) Courts
• Texas constitution requires each county to
operate at least 1 JP court.
• In 2004, 827 JP courts operated statewide.
• Exercise criminal jurisdiction involving Class C
misdemeanor offenses
• Exercise civil jurisdiction handling civil cases
involving amounts of money of $5,000 or less
• Function as small claims courts
• Perform magistrate duties
Local Courts
County Courts
• Constitutional County Courts
• Created by Texas Constitution in each of the
state’s 254 counties
• Exercise criminal jurisdiction involving Class A and
B misdemeanor offenses
• Exercise civil jurisdiction handling civil cases
involving amounts of money between $200 and
$5,000
• Handle appeals de novo (new trials) from Justice of
Peace courts or municipal courts
Local Courts
County Courts (cont.)
• Statutory County Courts
• Established by the Texas legislature
• Exercise criminal jurisdiction involving Class A and B
misdemeanor offenses
• Exercise civil jurisdiction handling civil cases involving
amounts of money up to $100,000
• Handle appeals de novo (new trials) from Justice of
Peace courts or municipal courts
• Statutory Probate Courts
• Established by the Texas legislature
• Possess limited jurisdiction involving probate cases
District Courts
• Texas has 424 district courts.
• Each court serves a specific geographic
area, which may encompass several
counties in the rural areas.
• Basic trial courts of the state
• Exercise criminal jurisdiction involving felony
offenses
• Exercise civil jurisdiction handling civil cases
involving amounts of money of $200 or more
Appellate Courts
• Handle appeals from the lower trial courts
• Review the trial court record, schedule oral arguments, study
legal briefs, and render a decision/opinion
• The court may affirm the lower court decision, reverse it, modify
it, or affirm part of the lower court ruling while reversing or
modifying the rest.
• Types of opinions the court may issue:
• Majority opinion is the official written statement of the court
that explains and justifies its ruling and serves as a guideline
for lower courts.
• Dissenting opinion is the written judicial statement that
disagrees with the decision of the court’s majority.
• Concurring opinion is a written judicial statement that agrees
with the court’s ruling but disagrees with the reasoning of the
majority.
Appellate Courts
• Three types of appellate courts:
• Courts of Appeals
• Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
• Texas Supreme Court
• Texas is one of two states with two
supreme courts.
• Oklahoma is the other state with two
supreme courts.
Appellate Courts
Courts of Appeals
• Fourteen Courts of Appeals, each serving
a specific geographic area
• Hear both civil and criminal appeals from
the district and county courts
• Number of justices in each court varies
from 3 to 13, depending on workload
Appellate Courts
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
• Highest appellate court for all criminal cases
in the state
• Considers death penalty cases appealed
directly from the district court
• Consists of one presiding justice and eight
additional judges
• Decisions from this court may be appealed to
the US Supreme Court when they involve
matters of federal law or the US Constitution.
Appellate Courts
Texas Supreme Court
• Highest appellate court for all civil and juvenile
cases
• Consists of one chief justice and eight
associate justices
• Decisions from this court may be appealed to
US Supreme Court when they involve matters
of federal law or the US Constitution.
• Administers the judicial branch of state
government
Judges
• The Texas judicial system is staffed by a wide array of judges,
who may possess different qualifications and who serve for
different terms.
• The next slide summarizes the length of term, method of
selection, and qualifications for the more than 3,100 judges
who staff Texas courts.
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Municipal Judge
Justice of Peace Judge
Constitutional County Judge
Statutory County Judge
District Judge
• Appellate Judge
Texas Judges
Judicial Selection
• Except for some municipal judges who are
appointed, Texas judges are chosen by partisan
election, which is an election contest in which both
the names of the candidates and their party
affiliations appear on the ballot.
• Texas and eight other states elect judges on the
partisan ballot.
• Despite the formality of an election system, a
substantial number of the state’s district and
appellate judges reach the bench through
appointment.
Judicial Selection
Is Justice for Sale in Texas?
• Critics of the judicial selection system based upon
partisan elections believe that money plays too
prominent a role in the process.
• Successful candidates for the Texas Supreme Court
must raise and spend at least $1 million or more.
• Candidates for district judgeships may raise and spend
more than $30,000 on their campaigns
• Critics of the Texas’s judicial system believe that
campaign contributions undermine the integrity of the
state’s court system.
Judicial Selection
Do voters know the candidates?
• Critics also charge that many voters are unable to intelligently
evaluate the qualifications of judicial candidates.
• Elections suggest that voters are often uninformed about the
judicial candidates.
Is the Texas judiciary representative of the state’s population?
• Critics of judicial selection also note that it has produced a
judiciary that does not reflect the ethnic and racial diversity of
the state’s population.
• As the next slide shows, whites are overrepresented on the
Texas bench; whereas, Latinos, African Americans, and
people of other ethnicities are underrepresented.
Profile of Texas Judges
Source: Office of Court Administration
Judicial Selection
Is Partisan Politics Incompatible with Judicial Impartiality?
• Can a Republican defendant receive a fair trail from a
Democratic judge or vice versa?
• As long as Texas elects judges on a partisan ballot, at
least some individuals will be believe that party politics
will determine the outcomes rather than the law and the
constitution.
Reforming the Judicial Selection Process
• Merit selection (or the Missouri Plan) is a method for
selecting judges that combines gubernatorial
appointment with voter approval in a retention election.
Judicial Selection
Reforming the Judicial Selection Process (cont.)
• Former Chief Justice John Hill’s plan
• Selection of a 15-member nominating commission to
recommend to the governor a list of three to five
qualified persons from which the governor would fill a
vacancy on the bench
• Approval of the governor’s choice by a two-thirds
confirmation vote in the state Senate
• Retention election in the next general election in which
the newly appointed judge must receive a majority of
the vote
• Multiyear term before the judge is required to face
another retention election
Judicial Selection
Reforming the Judicial Selection Process (cont.)
• Supporters of the merit plan believe that it is a compromise
between a system of appointing judges and the election method.
• Critics of the merit selection charge that it is an elitist system that
produces a judiciary unrepresentative of the state’s population.
• Other proposed reforms
• District election is the method for choosing public officials in
which a political subdivision, i.e., county, is divided into districts,
with each district electing one official.
• Nonpartisan election is an election in which the candidates run
without party labels.
• Other proposals suggest eliminating straight-ticket voting, which
refers to citizens casting their ballots only for the candidates of
one party.
Judicial Selection
Judicial Retirement and Removal
• Departure from bench due to death, retirement, or loss of
reelection
• Removal from office for incompetence or unethical conduct
• Disciplinary actions against a judge may entail an admonition,
warning, reprimand, and recommendation to remove from
office.
• Impeachment by majority vote in the state House and removal
by a two-thirds vote of the Senate
Visiting Judges
• Visiting judge system allows judges who have retired or been
defeated for reelection to continue working as visiting judges.
• Visiting judges are especially in demand in the state’s rapidly
growing urban areas.
Conclusion
• The judicial branch of Texas government plays an
important role in the policymaking process in a broad range
of policy areas.
• Litigants to the state’s court set the agenda by filing cases
that raise policy issues; the judicial branch participates in
policy formulation and adoption in selected policy areas;
and the judicial branch plays a key role in implementing the
state’s criminal and civil justice system.
• The stages of the policymaking process are:
• Agenda building
• Policy formulation and adoption
• Policy implementation and evaluation