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The Nature of the Judicial System
• LO 16.1: Identify the basic elements of the American judicial system and the major
participants in it.
• The Structure of the Federal Judicial System
• LO 16.2: Outline the structure of the federal court system and the major responsibilities
of each component.
• The Politics of Judicial Selection
• LO 16.3: Explain the process by which judges and justices are nominated and confirmed.
• The Backgrounds of Judges and Justices
• LO 16.4: Describe the backgrounds of judges and justices and assess the impact of
background on their decisions.
• The Courts as Policymakers
• LO 16.5: Outline the judicial process at the Supreme Court level and assess the major
factors influencing decisions and their implementation.
• The Courts and Public Policy: An Historical Review
• LO 16.6: Trace the Supreme Court’s use of judicial review in major policy battles in
various eras of American history.
• Understanding the Courts
• LO 16.7: Assess the role of unelected courts and the scope of judicial power in American
democracy.
The Nature of the Judicial System
• Criminal Law
• The government ___________an individual with violating specific laws.
• Civil Law
• Involves a dispute between two ___________ (one of whom may be the government
itself) over a wide range of matters.
• Participants in the Judicial System
• Litigants – Plaintiff (bring charges) and ___________
• Standing to sue – ___________ have a serious interest in a case, which depends on
whether they have sustained or are likely to sustain a direct and substantial injury.
• Class action suits – Lawsuits in which a small number of people sue on behalf of all people
in ___________ circumstances.
• ___________ disputes – Issues capable of being settled as a matter of law.
• ___________ – About a million attorneys are practicing in the United States today.
• Access to lawyers has become more equal, but that does not mean that quality of
___________ is equal.
• Groups – Class action suits permit a small number of people to sue on behalf of all other
people ___________ situated.
• Amicus ___________ briefs – Legal briefs submitted by a “friend of the court” for the
purpose of influencing a court’s decision.
The Structure of the Federal Judicial System
• Constitutional Courts
• ___________courts created by Judiciary Act of ___________.
• Legislative Courts
• Article I courts created by ___________ for special purposes.
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Judges have ___________ terms and lack protections against removal or salary
reductions.
Original Jurisdiction
• ___________ of courts that hear a case first, usually in trial.
• ___________ facts about a case.
Appellate Jurisdiction
• Courts hear cases on ___________ from lower courts.
• Do not review ___________ record, only the legal issues involved.
District Courts
• The ___________ federal courts of original jurisdiction.
• They are the only federal courts in which ___________ are held and in which juries may
be impaneled.
• ___________ judges preside over cases alone, rare cases require a 3 judge court, and each
court has between 2 and 28 judges.
• ___________ – Federal crimes; federal civil suits; civil suits between citizens of different
states over $75,000; bankruptcy proceedings; review actions of some federal
administrative agencies; admiralty and maritime law cases; and supervision of the
naturalization of aliens.
• Decisions – More than ___________cases commenced in 2008.
• Most cases are routine, and few result in policy ___________.
• Usually judges ___________ publish their decisions.
• The loser in a case only has to ___________appeal to get one.
Courts of Appeal
• ___________ courts empowered to review all final decisions of district courts, except in
rare cases, and also hear appeals to orders of many federal regulatory agencies.
• About 75 percent of 61,000 cases filed in courts of appeal yearly come from
___________ courts.
• United States is divided into ___________ judicial circuits, including one for the District of
Columbia.
• Each circuit serves at least two states and has between 6 and 28 permanent circuit judges
(___________ in all), depending on the amount of judicial work in the circuit.
• Each court of appeal normally hears cases in rotating panels consisting of 3 judges but
may sit ___________ (with all judges present) in important cases.
• Decisions in either arrangement are made by ___________ of the participating judges.
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit – Composed of 12 judges to hear appeals in
specialized cases, such as those regarding ___________, claims against the United States,
and international trade.
• Correct ___________ of procedure and law made in original cases.
• Hold ___________ trials and hear ___________tes timon y.
• Decisions – Set precedent for all the courts and agencies within Jon their jurisdictions.
The Supreme Court
• Top of judicial system and has ___________to make decisions.
• Supreme Court ensures ___________ in interpreting national laws, resolves conflicts
among states, and maintains national supremacy in law.
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Has both original jurisdiction and ___________ jurisdiction.
Original Jurisdiction – Cases involving ___________ diplomats and cases involving a state.
Appellate Jurisdiction – Cases from U.S. Courts of Appeal, Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit, ___________ Courts, and State Courts of Last Resort.
The Politics of Judicial Selection
• The Lower Courts
• ___________ Courtesy – District court nominees are Jon usually not confirmed if opposed
by senator of the president’s party from state the nominee will serve.
• Courts of appeal nominees are not confirmed when opposed by a ___________ of the
president’s party who is from the nominee’s state.
• The Supreme Court
• Through 2010, there have been ___________ nominations to the Supreme Court, 112
people have served on the Court, and 29 failed to secure Senate confirmation.
• Presidents have failed ___________of the time to appoint the nominees of their choice to
the Court.
• Nominations are likely to run into trouble if president (1) party is in the Senate
___________, (2) makes a nomination at the ___________ of their terms, (3) views are
more distant from the ___________ in the Senate, and (4) nominee faces ___________
or ethics questions.
The Backgrounds of Judges and Justices
• Backgrounds of Federal Judges
• They are all ___________ (although this is not a constitutional requirement), and they are
overwhelmingly white males.
• They have typically held office as a judge or prosecutor, and often they have been
involved in ___________ politics.
• All justices have been lawyers.
• All but 6 (Marshall, O’Connor, Thomas, Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Kagan) have been
______________
• Most age 50s and 60s when they took office, from upper-middle or ______________, and
Protestants.
• Most held high ______________ or judicial positions.
• Most have experience as a judge at appellate level, and many worked for
______________
• Some held elective office, had no______________service, or had no previous judicial
experience.
• ______________ influences judicial selection.
• 13 of 112 members of the Supreme Court have been nominated by presidents of a
______________ party.
• ______________of nominees are members of the president’s party.
• Ideology influences judicial selection – ______________ nominees shared the president’s
ideology, but were not from president’s party.
• Presidents want to appoint to the federal bench people who share their views because
they want ______________ they agree with.
The Courts as Policymakers
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Accepting Cases
• Requests for Supreme Court review (about ______________cases).
• Appeals discussed in ______________.
• Appeal accepted that obtains four votes (______________) and denied if not (99% of
cases).
• Case placed on the______________ (fewer than 100 cases).
• ______________General – 3rd ranking Justice Department office and in charge of the
court appeals made by the federal government.
• Decide what cases to appeal, review and modify the briefs, represent federal government
before the Supreme Court, and submit ____________________________briefs.
• Making Decisions
• Briefs submitted by both sides and amicus curiae briefs filed.
• ______________ argument – 1 hour hearing.
• ______________ – Discuss case, vote, and assign opinion writing.
• Opinions drafted and circulated for comments.
• Decision announced.
• ______________ – Statement of legal reasoning behind a decision.
• ______________opinion – 5 justices.
• ______________ opinions – Justices opposed to majority decision.
• ______________ opinions – Support a majority decision but stress a different
constitutional or legal basis for the judgment.
• ____________________________– Phrase meaning “let the decision stand.”
• Most cases in appellate courts are settled on stare decisis.
• ______________ – How similar cases have been decided in the past.
• Lower courts are expected to follow the precedents of higher courts in their decision
making.
• Implementing Court Decisions
• Judicial ______________ – How and whether court decisions are translated into actual
policy.
• Courts rely on other government units to enforce decisions.
• Judicial implementation involves the interpreting, implementing, and consumer
populations.
The Courts and Public Policy: An Historical Review
• Policy Eras of Supreme Court
• Until the Civil War, dominant questions before the Court concerned slavery and strength
and legitimacy of the federal government, and latter issues were resolved in favor of the
supremacy of federal government.
• From the Civil War until 1937, questions of the relationship between the federal
government and the economy predominated, and the Court restricted the power of the
federal government to regulate the economy.
• Since 1938, personal liberty and social and political equality questions have dominated,
and the Court has enlarged the scope of personal freedom and civil rights and has
removed many of the constitutional restraints on the regulation of the economy.
• John Marshall and the Growth of Judicial Review
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Marbury v. Madison (1803) – The 1st use of ____________________________.
Judicial review – Power of the courts to determine whether acts of Congress and
President are in accord with the ______________.
• The “Nine Old Men”
• Schechter Poultry Corporation v. United States (1935) – National Industrial Recovery Act
was declared unconstitutional because it regulated purely local business that did not
affect interstate commerce.
• The Warren Court
• Brown v. Board of Education – In this 1954 case, the Court held that laws requiring
segregation of the public schools were unconstitutional.
• The Burger Court
• Roe v. Wade (1973) – Decision holding that a state ban on all abortions was
unconstitutional.
• U.S. v. Nixon (1974) – Ordered Nixon to turn his White House tapes over to the courts.
• Rehnquist and Roberts Courts
• Bush v. Gore (2000) – Decided the 2000 presidential election.
• McDonald v. Chicago (2010) – The Court extended 2nd Amendment’s limits on restricting
right to bear arms to state and local gun control laws.
Understanding the Courts
• The Courts and Democracy
• Courts are not very democratic because judges are not elected and are difficult to remove.
• The courts often reflect popular majorities and preferences.
• Groups are likely to use the courts when other methods fail, which promotes pluralism.
• The Scope of Judicial Power
• Judicial restraint – Judges play a minimal policymaking role.
• Judicial activism – Judges make bold policy decisions and even chart new constitutional
ground.
• Political questions – How courts avoid deciding some cases.
• Statutory construction – Courts interpret the act of Congress.
LO 16.1 Summary
• Nature of the Judicial System
• The vast majority of cases are tried in state, not federal, courts.
• Courts can only hear “cases” or “controversies” between plaintiffs and defendants.
• Plaintiffs must have standing to sue, and judges can only decide justiciable disputes.
• Attorneys also play a central role in the judicial system.
• Interest groups sometimes promote litigation and often file amicus curiae briefs in cases
brought by others.
LO 16.2 Summary
• The Structure of the Federal Judicial System
• District courts have original jurisdiction and hear federal criminal, civil, diversity of
citizenship, and bankruptcy cases, and handle admiralty and maritime, naturalization,
and review the actions of some federal administrative agencies.
• Circuit courts hear appeals from the district courts and from many regulatory agencies.
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They focus on correcting errors of procedure and law that occurred in the original
proceedings of legal cases.
• The Supreme Court sits at the pinnacle of the system, deciding individual cases,
resolving conflicts among the states, maintaining national supremacy in the law, and
ensuring uniformity in the interpretation of national laws.
• Most Supreme Court cases come from the lower federal courts, but some are appeals
from state courts and a very few are cases for which the Court has original jurisdiction.
LO 16.3Summary
• The Politics of Judicial Selection
• President nominates and Senate confirms judges and justices.
• Senators play an important role in the selection of lower court judges, as a result of
senatorial courtesy, while the White House has more discretion with the Supreme Court
justices.
• Although the Senate confirms most judicial nominations, it has rejected or refused to
act on many in recent years, especially for positions in the higher courts.
LO 16.4 Summary
• The Backgrounds of Judges and Justices
• Judges and justices are not a representative sample of the American people.
• They are all lawyers and are disproportionately white males.
• They usually share the partisan and ideological views of the president who nominated
them, and these views are often reflected in their decisions.
• Other characteristics such as race and gender are also seen to influence decisions.
LO 16.5 Summary
• The Courts as Policymakers
• Accepting cases is a crucial stage in Supreme Court decision making, and the Court is
most likely to hear cases on major issues, when it disagrees with lower court decisions,
and when the federal government, as represented by the solicitor general, asks for a
decision.
• Decisions are announced once justices have written opinions.
• Judicial implementation depends on the interpreting (judges and lawyers),
implementing (the other units of government), and consumer (citizens affected by
decision) populations.
LO 16.6 Summary
• The Courts and Public Policy: An Historical Review
• Until the Civil War, the dominant questions before the Court concerned slavery and the
strength and legitimacy of the federal government, with the latter questions resolved in
favor of the supremacy of the federal government.
• From the Civil War until 1937, questions of the relationship between the federal
government and the economy predominated, with the Court restricting the
government’s power to regulate the economy.
• From 1938 until the present, the key issues before the Court have concerned personal
liberty and social and political equality.
• The Court has enlarged the scope of personal freedom and civil rights and has removed
many of the constitutional restraints on the regulation of the economy.