The Judicial Branch
Chapter 15
Fun with Legal Terminology
• Criminal Case
– Case that involves a violation of the
statutes that are intended to protect the
public’s health, order, safety and morality
• Civil Case
– Case that concerns a violation of the legal
rights or obligations of one individual
toward another
Fun with Legal Terminology
• Plaintiff
– Party who initiates a lawsuit
• Defendant
– Party being sued or accused of a crime
• Jury
– Group of citizens selected to listen to a
trial and issue a final verdict
Fun with Legal Terminology
• Standing
– The requirement that for a plaintiff to
bring a case to the court, they must have
suffered a well defined injury that is a
result of violation of the civil code.
• Ripeness Doctrine
– Principle by which the courts will accept
only cases where actual harm has already
taken place.
Fun with Legal Terminology
• Original Jurisdiction
– The right of a court to be the first to hear
a case rather than simply review the
decision of a lower court.
Fun with Legal Terminology
• Appellate Jurisdiction
– The authority of a given court to review cases
that have already been tried in lower courts and
are appealed to it by the losing party; such a
court is called an appeals court or an appellate
court.
– Not “re-trying” a case, but rather determining
whether the original court acted in accord with
applicable laws.
The Federal Judiciary
• District Courts
– First tier of the federal judiciary where
most cases are decided
• Appellate Courts
– Second tier of the federal judiciary
primarily responsible for reviewing
decisions rendered by the first tier.
The Supreme Court
• Supreme Court
– Highest court in the land where all
decisions are final.
Current Supreme Court
• Chief Justice John
Roberts
• Antonin Scalia
• Anthony Kennedy
• Clarence Thomas
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg
• Stephen Breyer
• Samuel Alito
• Sonia Sotomayor
• Elena Kagan
The Supreme Court
• Supreme Court members (and all
federal judges) are nominated by the
President and confirmed by the
Senate.
• Once confirmed, members serve for
life (or until they retire).
• Presidents have nominated 158
Supreme Court justices and the Senate
has confirmed 122.
The Supreme Court
• The Supreme Court of the United
States has both Original and Appellate
Jurisdiction
– Original Jurisdiction over legal disputes
involving foreign diplomats and cases
between state governments
– Appellate Jurisdiction over cases arising
under the Constitution, federal law,
treaties, and cases that cross state or
international lines.
The Supreme Court
• Judicial Review
– The power of the Supreme Court to
interpret and overturn actions taken by
the legislative and executive branches of
government.
– Not included in the Constitution, rather
the court decided it had this power in
Marbury v. Madison.
The Supreme Court
• Precedent
– A judicial decision that serves as a rule for
setting subsequent cases of a similar
nature.
– Lower courts are expected to follow
precedent – by resolving cases of a like
nature in ways consistent with uppercourt rulings.
– The Supreme Court itself will often rely on
past decisions to make current opinions,
following its own precedent.
The Supreme Court
• Stare Decisis
– Principle that judges deciding a case must
carefully weight the precedents set in
similar cases and come to the same
decision if the basic elements of the case
before them are the same.
What cases will reach the
Supreme Court?
• When two lower courts are in
disagreement
• When a lower court’s ruling conflicts
with an existing Supreme Court ruling
• When a case has broad significance (as
in desegregation or abortion decisions)
• When a state court has decided a
substantial federal question
What cases will reach the
Supreme Court?
• When the highest state court holds a
federal law invalid, or upholds a state
law that has been challenged as
violating a federal law
• When a federal court holds an act of
Congress unconstitutional
• When the solicitor general is pressuring
the Court to hear a case
What cases will reach the
Supreme Court?
• What specific cases will the Court
hear?
– The court will not accept just any case,
even if a lower court obviously made an
error. The court sees its job as resolving
legal issues, not making corrections.
Thus, most cases raise major
Constitutional issues, affect the lives of
many Americans and/or involve rulings
being inconsistently decided by lower
courts or involve rulings that conflict with
previous Supreme Court precedent.
The Supreme Court
• Writ of Certiorari
– A formal acceptance by the Supreme
Court to review a decision of a lower
court.
– The Supreme Court follows a “rule of four
meaning that at least four of the nine
justices must agree to hear a case for the
writ to be issued.
The Supreme Court
• Although oral arguments are allowed at
the Supreme Court, they are often very
short and less detailed than briefs
submitted by each side.
• Brief
– A written statement by a party in a court
case that details its argument.
The Supreme Court
• Amicus Curiae (Friend of the Court)
Brief
– Brief written by someone who is not a
party to a case but who submits
information or an argument related to the
dispute at hand.
The Supreme Court
• Judicial Conference
– A closed meeting of the justices of the
Supreme Court to discuss and vote on the
cases before them; the justices are not
supposed to discuss conference
proceedings with outsiders.
– This conference determines the Court’s
decision, which is accompanied by one or
more opinions.
The Supreme Court
• Decision
– A vote of the Supreme Court in a
particular case that indicates which party
the justices side with and by how large a
margin
• Opinion
– A court’s written explanation of its
decision, which serves to inform others of
the legal basis for the decision.
– Supreme Court opinions are expected to
guide the decisions of other courts.
Decisions
• Affirm
– To declare that a court ruling is valid and
must stand.
• Reverse
– To annul or make void a court ruling on
account of some error or irregularity
• Remand
– To send a case back to the court that
originally heard it.
Opinions
• Majority Opinion
– A court opinion that results when a
majority of the justices are in agreement
on the legal basis of the decision
• Plurality Opinion
– A court opinion that results when a
majority of justices agree on a decision in
a case but do not agree on the legal basis
for that decision. In this instance, the
legal position held by most of the justices
on the winning side is referred to as the
plurality opinion.
Opinions
• Concurring Opinion
– A separate opinion written by one or more
Supreme Court justices who vote with the
majority in the decision on a case but who
disagree with their reasoning.
• Dissenting Opinion
– The opinion of a justice in a Supreme
Court case that explains his or her reasons
for disagreeing with the majority’s
decision.
Federal Judiciary
District and Appeals Court
Boundaries
Judicial Decision Making
• The relevant circumstances of every
court case are comprised of the
“facts” and the “laws”
• Facts
– The relevant circumstances of a legal
dispute or offense as determined by a trial
court. The facts of a case are crucial
because they help determine which law or
laws are applicable in the case.
Judicial Decision Making
• Laws
– The constitutional provisions, legislative
statutes, or judicial precedents that apply
to a court case.
Judicial Decision Making
• Legal Model
– A theory of judicial decision making in
which judges make decisions by
deciphering the correct interpretation of
the law and the relevant portion of the
Constitution, and determining whether
there is a conflict between the two.
Judicial Decision Making
• Attitudinal Model
– The theory of judicial decision-making in
which judges use their own policy
preferences in deciding cases
Judicial Decision Making
• Strategic Model
– The theory of judicial decision-making in
which judges consider their own policy
preferences as well as the possible actions
of the other branches of government when
making decisions.
Judicial Decision Making
• Judicial Restraint
– The doctrine that the judiciary should
closely follow the wording of the law, be
highly respectful of precedent, and defer
to the judgment of legislatures.
– Claims the job of judges is to work within
the confines of laws set down by tradition
and lawmaking majorities.
Judicial Decision Making
• Judicial Activism
– The doctrine that courts should develop
new legal principles when judges see a
compelling need, even if this action
places them in conflict with precedent or
the policy decisions of elected officials.
Interpreting the Constitution
• Originalism Theory
– A method of interpreting the Constitution
that emphasizes the meaning of its words
at the time they were written.
– Often advocated by Conservative justices,
this theory holds that once one figures out
the true meaning of the words of the
constitution, based on the culture of the
time they were written, they merely need
to be applied to the case at hand and that
is all that is needed.
Judicial Decision Making
• Living Constitution Theory
– A method of interpreting the Constitution
that emphasizes the principles it
embodies and their application to
changing circumstances and needs.
– Often advocated by liberal justices, this
theory holds that the Constitution
provides a framework that must be
adapted as the times change: That the
Constitution is a Living Organism that
grows over time.
The Missouri Judicial System
Missouri Judicial System
• Missouri has a three level Court System
– Circuit Courts
– Appellate Courts
– The Missouri Supreme Court
• There are 405 judges and
commissioners in the judicial branch
Missouri Judicial System
• Circuit courts have original jurisdiction
for both Civil and Criminal Matters
• Within circuit courts, there are various
divisions, such as associate circuit,
small claims, municipal, family,
probate, criminal, and juvenile.
• There are 45 Circuits with a courthouse
in each county.
Missouri Judicial System
• Except in St. Louis City and St. Louis,
Jackson, Platte, Clay and Greene
Counties, circuit judges are elected in
general election.
• Those counties, along with Appeals
Court Justices and Supreme Court
justices use the Missouri Non-Partisan
Court Plan (Missouri Plan)
Missouri Judicial System
• The Missouri Non-Partisan Court Plan is
used in many states, but is named as
such because it originated in Missouri.
• Under the plan, a non-partisan
commission submits a list of eligible
judicial candidates to the governor,
who appoints them. Those justices
periodically come up to a vote before
the people who vote “yes” or “no” as
to whether or not to retain them.
Missouri Court of Appeals
• Handles appeals from the Circuit
Courts
• Composed of three geographic
districts, each of which hears appeals
from circuits within that district
• There are 32 appellate justices
amongst these three districts.
Missouri Supreme Court
• Made up of seven justices
• Pursuant to Article V Section 3 of the Missouri
Constitution, the Supreme Court hears cases
involving:
– The validity of a United States statute or treaty.
– The validity of a Missouri statute or constitutional
provision.
– The state's revenue laws.
– Challenges to a statewide elected official's right to hold
office.
– Imposition of the death penalty.
– Cases which have a question of general interest or appeal,
involving laws which need re-examined, or those in which
the lower court conflicts with precedence.