NAME
________DATE
PERIOD
CHAPTER 8: THE JUDICIAL BRANCH
SECTION 1: THE FEDERAL COURT SYSTEM (pages 238-242)
1.
What is the main goal of the court systems?
2.
Describe the difference between a criminal trial and a civil dispute.
3.
Describe the weakness of the Articles of Confederation that led to Article III of the Constitution.
What does Article III create? Be detailed.
4.
What did the Judiciary Act of 1789 and 1891 establish? What is a “circuit” with regards to our
court system?
5.
Fill in descriptors for the 3 levels of our Federal Court system in the graphic organizer below, with
the Supreme Court at the top:
.
.
.
6.
What is jurisdiction?
7.
Label and create a hypothetical scenario for each of the types of cases federal courts have
jurisdiction over: The first one is done for you as an example:
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(a) The Constitution: A student believes getting suspended from school for gang related tattoos
violates his “freedom of speech”.
(b)
(c
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
(h)
8. Describe the difference between exclusive and concurrent jurisdiction:
SECTION 2: How Federal courts are organized? (pages 244-247)
Level One: District Courts
1. What is original jurisdiction?
2. What is the one unique feature of federal district courts that we do not see at the next two
levels of courts?
Level Two: U.S. Court of Appeals
3. What is the job of an appeals court?
4. What are 2 other names for an appeals court?
5. What does appellate jurisdiction mean and give two examples of why someone might appeal a
case to the U.S. Court of Appeals?
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5.
There are ____ United States courts of Appeals in total. The last court of Appeals only
deals with cases involving ____________________________________________________
6.
7.
Look on page 241 and answer the two questions below:

In what judicial circuit is North Carolina located? ______________________

Which circuit covers the largest geographic area? _______________________
What are three possible ruling from an appeals court panel? Be detailed.
1.
2.
3.
9.
How many judges review these cases? _____________________________
10.
Unless appealed to the Supreme Court, decisions of U.S. Court of Appeals are _________.
11.
Why do judges write opinions?
12.
What is the purpose of a precedent in court cases?
13.
The system of using precedents to base court decisions on comes from our principle of
________________________ that we took from the British.
14.
How many judges rule over district courts? _____________________
15.
About how many judges rule over appeal courts? ________________
16.
How many Supreme Court judges do we have? __________________
17.
What is the two step process for a federal judge to get his/her job?
18.
How long do federal judges keep their jobs? _______________________________
19.
Briefly describe the duties of the other court officials:

Magistrates:

U.S. Attorneys:

U.S. Marshals:
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