The Federal Court System
…and Justice For All
The Adversarial System
• Courts settle civil disputes
between private parties, a private
party and the government, or the
United States and a state or local
government.
• Each side presents its position.
The court applies the law and
decides in favor of one or the
other.
Prosecuting the accused
• Courts also hold
criminal trials for
people accused of
crimes.
• Witnesses present
evidence and a jury or
a judge delivers a
verdict of guilt or
innocence.
Rights of the Accused
• All accused people have the right to a
public trial and a lawyer. If they cannot
afford a lawyer, the court will appoint
and pay for one. (Gideon v.
Wainwright, 1963)
• Accused people are considered
innocent until proven guilty. They may
ask for a review of their case by a
higher court if they think the
court has made a mistake. This review
is called an appeal.
The American Legal System
• The goal of the legal system is equal
justice under the law.
• This goal is difficult to achieve.
• Why is the goal of equal justice under the
law difficult to achieve?
The US
Federal
Court
System
U.S. District Courts
• District courts are the federal
courts where trials are held and
lawsuits are begun.
• All states have at least one.
• For all federal cases, district
courts have original
jurisdiction, the authority to
hear the case for the first time.
•District courts hear both civil and criminal cases.
•They are the only federal courts that involve
witnesses and juries.
U.S. Courts of Appeals
• People who lose in a district court often
appeal to the next highest level—a U.S.
court of appeals.
• Appeals courts review decisions made in
lower district courts. This is appellate
jurisdiction—the authority to hear a case
appealed from a lower court.
The US Circuit Court of Appeals
• Each of the 12 U.S. courts of appeals covers a
particular geographic area called a circuit. A
thirteenth appeals court, the Court of Appeals for
the Federal Circuit, has nationwide jurisdiction.
• Appeals courts do not hold trials. Instead, a panel
of judges reviews the case records and listens to
arguments from lawyers on both sides.
• The judges may decide in one of three ways:
uphold (AGREE) the original decision, reverse
(disagree) the decision, or remand the case—send
it back to the lower court to be tried again.
The Supreme Court Justices
• The main job of the nation's top court is
to decide whether laws are allowable
under the Constitution.
• The Supreme Court has original
jurisdiction only in cases involving
foreign diplomats or a state. All other
cases come to the Court on appeal.
• The Court chooses the cases it hears
through the writ of Certiorari.
• The Court chooses the cases it hears. In
cases the Court refuses to hear, the
decision of the lower court stands.
The Current Supreme Court
• The president appoints Supreme Court justices, with
Senate approval.
• The president's decision may be influenced by the Justice
Department, American Bar Association, interest groups,
and other Supreme Court justices.
• The court has final authority on cases involving the
constitution, acts of Congress, and treaties.
• Eight associate justices and one chief justice make up the
supreme court.
Service
Name, state
Antonin Scalia, DC
Birth
Assoc.
Chief
Justice
Justice
Place
Date uReligion
N.J.
1936
Roman Catholic
Calif.
1936
Roman Catholic
Ga.
1948
Roman Catholic
N.Y.
1933
Jewish
Calif.
1938
Jewish
N.Y.
1955
Roman Catholic
2006–
N.J.
1950
Roman Catholic
2009–
N.Y.
1954
Roman Catholic
2010–
N.Y.
1960
Jewish
1986–
Anthony M. Kennedy, 1988–
Calif.
Clarence Thomas,
1991–
DC
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 1993–
DC
Stephen G. Breyer,
1994–
Mass.
John G. Roberts,
2005–
DC
Samuel A. Alito, Jr.,
N.J.
Sonia Sotomayor
N.Y.
Elena Kagan N.Y.
Powers of the Court
• The Court's main job is to decide whether laws
and government actions are constitutional, or
allowed by the Constitution. It does this through
judicial review—the power to say whether any
law or government action goes against the
Constitution.
• The legislative and executive branches must
follow Supreme Court rulings. Because the Court
is removed from politics and the influences of
special-interest groups, the parties involved in a
case are likely to get a fair hearing.
Marbury v. Madison
• The Constitution does not
give the Supreme Court the
power of judicial review. The
Court claimed the power
when it decided the case
Marbury v. Madison.
• As President John Adams
was leaving office, he signed
an order making William
Marbury a justice of the
peace. The incoming
president, Thomas Jefferson,
refused to carry out the order.
Marbury took his case to the
Supreme Court.
The Power of Judicial Review
• In the Court's opinion, Chief Justice John
Marshall set forth three principles of judicial
review:
• (1) The Constitution is the supreme law of the
land.
• (2) If a law conflicts with the Constitution, the
Constitution rules.
• (3) The judicial branch has a duty to uphold the
Constitution. Thus, it must be able to determine
when a law conflicts with the Constitution and
nullify that law.
• Through its rulings, the Supreme Court
interprets the meaning of laws, helping the police
and other courts apply them.
Limits on the Courts' Power
• The Court depends on the executive branch and state and
local officials to enforce its decisions. Usually they do.
• Congress can get around a Court ruling by passing a new
law, changing a law ruled unconstitutional, or amending
the Constitution.
• The president's power to appoint justices and Congress's
power to approve appointments and to impeach and
remove justices serve to check the power of the Court.
• The Court cannot decide that a law is unconstitutional
unless the law has been challenged in a lower court and the
case comes to it on appeal. The Court accepts only cases
that involve a federal question. It usually stays out of
political questions. It never considers guilt or innocence.
Websites
• http://supremecourt.cspan.org/Video/VirtualTour/SC_VT_EastPe
diment.aspx
• http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/inde
x.html
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unyswl3
6q8w
The Supreme Court
• The Supreme Court of the United States is often
referred to as the “Court of Last Resort,” because
it is the highest court in the United States; there is
no court with higher authority.
• Also, except for specific limited case types
specifically listed in Article III of the Constitution,
all cases that reach the Supreme Court have been
heard and are on appeal from the decisions of
lower courts across the nation.
Steps to the Supreme Court
• Once a case works its way through the lower courts, a party may
petition to have their case heard by the Supreme Court.
• However, the Supreme Court of the United States has great latitude in
which cases it will hear.
• The Supreme Court receives thousands of requests to hear cases,
which are called petitions for certiorari. Of these many requests, the
Justices will agree to hear only a handful, generally less than 100,
cases per term.
• The Supreme Court’s term begins the first Monday of October and
ends the first Monday of October the following year.
• In order for a case to be heard before the Supreme Court, four of the
nine Justices of the court must agree to hear the case.
Steps to the Supreme Court
• If certiorari is granted, the time frame for the parties
involved in the case is set.
• The petitioner (the party that has requested the Court
review the case), has 45 days to file their “brief on the
merits”, which lays out their arguments to the court.
• The respondents (the other party) then has 30 days to
respond.
• Amicus (friend of the court) brief filing deadlines are a few
days after the deadline for the side that they support.
• These times are set by the rules of the Court, and may only
be extended with the permission of the Court.
Steps to the Supreme Court
• The next step for the case will be oral arguments before the Supreme
Court.
• The case will be placed on the Court’s calendar for some time in the
Fall or the Spring.
• And when the day comes, one attorney for each side will stand before
the Justices for their oral argument and will present their case to the
Justices.
• The attorneys will have only a set time (generally 30 minutes apiece)
to plead their case before the Court.
• However, any Justice may interrupt at any point to ask questions or
debate a point with the attorney; so the attorney must think quickly on
their feet, and know the law and their case inside and out.
• So even though an attorney has 30 minutes to plead their side of the
case, Justices’ questions and attorneys’ answers can go on for much
longer.
Steps to the Supreme Court
• After oral arguments, the Court will deliberate on
the matter, and will release a written opinion at
some point before the term in which the case was
argued ends.
• Opinions are generally released on Thursdays, but
it is not known when the opinion for a specific
case will be released.
• Once the opinion is released, it will represent the
law of the land, and creates precedence that will
shape future laws and court decisions that are
binding throughout the United States of America.
The Supreme Court 1st
Amendment Cases
• By law, the Court opens the first Monday in October of each year. The
session usually ends in June.
•
•
•
•
2012 Calendar
Morse v. Frederick
Bond v. Floyd
Engle v. Vitale
Impact
• The Supreme Court decisions involving the rights
identified in the first ten amendments of the
United States Constitution can have a profound
effect on one’s personal freedoms (or liberties).
• The Court’s decision may strengthen, weaken, or
somehow alter our right of free speech, freedom of
religion, freedom of the press, etc.
• Individual rights may be weakened for the benefit
of the majority, or majority rights are weakened
for the benefit of the minority.
Supreme Court Justice for the Day
• Use the following websites to find a Supreme Court
case decided on First Amendment grounds.
• The case must relate to speech, expression, religion,
assembly, petition, and press.
a.Legal Information Institute’s Supreme Court
Collection
(http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cases/topics/to
g_first_amendment.html)
b.Oyez (http://www.oyez.org/)
c.Supreme Court of the United States
(http://www.supremecourtus.gov/)
Supreme Court Justice for the Day
• Once you choose a Supreme Court Case,
check in with me for approval
• Once your case is approved, find the decision
using one of the above sites.
• Read and summarize the majority and
minority opinions.
• After the case has been read, decide whether
to side with the majority or minority opinion.
• Then draft an opinion encompassing the
following elements:
– Identify the First Amendment right in question.
– Summarize the facts or history of the case, the key
issue(s) involved, and the decision of the Court,
including a summary of the majority and minority
opinions.
– Identify and defend you vote by writing an opinion
supporting you decision. In addition, state whether
you opinion will strengthen or weaken the First
Amendment right in question.
• The opinion should be typed-written,
double spaced, and not exceed 750 words.
In addition, you will present a summary of
your opinion during the next class period if
time permits.