 Judicial:
relating to laws and courts
 Trial: a legal examination in which the
disputing groups meet in court and present
their positions to an impartial decision maker
 Defendant: the person accused of the
wrongdoing or crime
 Plaintiff: the person or designated
government official accusing the defendant
 Evidence: facts that support their position
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 Jury:
a group of citizens not involved in the
dispute
 Case: a dispute that has been brought into
court


Criminal law cases: disputes in which the
government charges an individual with
committing a crime and violating a law that
protects another’s safety
Civil law cases: disputes among individual
citizens or individual citizens and government
officials over property or money
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The Ohio Judicial Center
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The state court system is organized into three
levels of authority
 Level One:
 Superior or district courts
 Trial courts that handle cases throughout the
state

5

State courts of appeals
 Separated into regions
 Reviews a superior or district court’s decision
when requested
 Presided over by a panel of judges (usually
three)
 Three options
 Agree with the lower court
 Disagree with and overrule the lower court
 Order a new trial in the lower court
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
State supreme court
 Reviews courts of appeals cases
 Also involves a panel of judges
 Decision is final unless the losing party is able
to convince the Federal Supreme Court to
take the case
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 Established
by Article III of the Constitution;
left the development up to Congress
 The Judiciary Act of 1789 established the
federal district courts and the circuit courts
of appeals
 Have jurisdiction (authority to hear cases)
over such federal crimes as





Mail fraud
Counterfeiting
Smuggling
Bank robbery
Illegal interstate commerce
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 Separated


into district courts
Each state has at least one district
Each court has 2-28 judges, appointed to life
terms by the president
 The
US is divided into 13 judicial circuits,
each with its own court of appeals

Ohio belongs to the 6th judicial circuit
 Each
circuit court has between 6 and 28
permanent judges that hear cases in panels
of three
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The final authority for interpreting the Constitution
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 Heads
the Judicial Branch
 Reviews court cases
 Reviews legislative and executive decisions
that raise Constitutional questions
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The U.S. Supreme Court
Federal
United States
Court of Appeals
12 circuits
Certiorari
(to be
informed)
State
State Supreme
Courts
Intermediate
Appellate Courts
U.S. District
Courts
State Trial Courts
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Nine Justices
 Appointed by the
president to life
terms
 The Chief Justice
is in charge of the
court; the other
eight are associate
justices


Current justices:
 John Roberts (current
chief justice)—2005
 Antonin Scalia—1986
 Anthony Kennedy—1988
 Clarence Thomas—1991
 Ruth Bader Ginsburg—1993
 Stephen Breyer—1994
 Samuel Anthony Alito—
2006
 Sonia Sotomayor—2009
 Elena Kagen—2010
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Back row (left to right): Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen G. Breyer, Samuel A. Alito, and Elena
Kagan. Front row (left to right): Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, Chief Justice John G.
Roberts, Anthony Kennedy, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg
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John Jay was the first
Supreme Court chief
justice
First met in 1790 in
New York City
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A
writ of certiorari is a request for review
based on important constitutional and legal
issues raised by the court’s decision.
 Under the rule of four, only four justices
must agree to place a case on the docket
(their schedule of cases to review)
 The Supreme Court receives more than 7,000
requests each year, but places fewer than
100 on their docket.
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 Begins
the first Monday in
October each year
 Lawyers for both sides file briefs, written
documents that contain facts and legal issues
involved in the appeal; often hundreds of
pages long
 Present their case directly through oral
arguments; only have 30 minutes
 The court’s decision is the majority opinion—
what five or more justices thought
 The minority is the dissenting opinion
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 Roe
v Wade
 Marbury v Madison
 Brown v Board of Education
 Dred Scott v Sandford
 Korematsu v United States
 Miranda v Arizona
 New Jersey v T.L.O.
 Texas v Johnson
 Tinker v Des Moines
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 William
Marbury was commissioned
Justice of the Peace of the District of
Columbia at the end of President John
Adam’s term.
 New President Thomas Jefferson
instructed his Secretary of State James
Madison not to deliver the orders—
keeping the opposing party from taking
office.
 The
Supreme Court evaluated this based on the
foundation of checks and balances.
 This established the concept of judicial review.
 Dred
Scott was a slave owned by
Army Major John Emerson
 Scott travelled with Emerson to
various states, including several
free states
 Upon the death of Emerson,
Scott sued for his freedom
 Emerson’s widow Eliza’s brother
John Sandford was in charge of
the will
 The
Supreme Court ruled against Dred Scott
 He was not a citizen and therefore could not sue
 They also determined Scott was not a free man
 Obviously
Court.
this is a black mark for the Supreme
 Fred
Korematsu was a
Japanese American citizen
that was ordered into an
internment camp through
President Roosevelt’s
executive order after the
attack on Pearl Harbor.
 Korematsu attempted to
avoid being interned.
 Korematsu
argued he was being discriminated
against based on his race.
 The government argued they needed to protect the
country
 The
Supreme Court agreed that the need to protect
the country was greater than protecting an
individual’s rights.
 The
parents of Linda Brown
wanted their daughter to
attend the closest public school
in Topeka, Kansas—not the black
school that was farther away.
 They argued that this
segregation violated the
fourteenth amendment
 While
segregation was legal under Plessy v.
Ferguson (1896), the Court sided with the Brown
family.
 Linda was able to attend the school closest to her
and the Civil Rights movement was strengthened.
 Ernesto
Miranda was
arrested, but was not
informed of his fifth and sixth
amendment rights.
 He and his lawyer eventually
sued the state of Arizona.
 The Court agreed and now all
police must take the proper
steps by issuing the Miranda
Warning.
 Jane
Roe was an unmarried and pregnant
resident of Texas who wanted an abortion
 In 1970s Texas, abortions were illegal unless the
mother’s life was in jeopardy
 Henry Wade was the Dallas County district
attorney
 The
Supreme Court ruled in Roe’s
favor
 They said her rights were
guaranteed in the 1st, 4th, 5th,
9th, and 14th Amendments
 This also eliminated any state
laws that prohibited first
trimester abortions
 Norma McCorvey later came
forward and admitted she was
Jane Roe
 Do
schools have the right to search a student’s
private property? What reasons do they have
to have to search?
 This case was based on two girls that were
caught smoking in the bathroom—instead of in
the designated area.
 T.L.O. was the pseudonym for Tracy Lois Odem
who denied smoking and had her purse
searched.
 In
addition to the cigarettes, the assistant
vice principal also found drugs and other
items that showed T.L.O. was dealing
marijuana.
 The Court sided with the school, although
they agreed a “reasonable suspicion” was
needed to perform a search.
 Gregory
Johnson doused an
American flag with kerosene
and set it on fire during a
political protest and
demonstration in Texas.
 Is this protected under the
first amendment?
 Johnson
(on the
right) offended a lot
of people by burning
this symbol of
America.
 The Supreme Court
sided with Johnson
and said this
symbolic speech was
protected
 Defined
the Constitutional rights of students in U.S.
public schools
 Students John F. Tinker, Mary Beth Tinker, and
Christopher Eckhardt worn black armbands to school,
protesting the Vietnam War
 Before wearing the arm bands, the school found out
and created a policy stating anyone wearing an
armband would be removed immediately
 All three wore armbands and were suspended from
school
 7-2
majority opinion stating that First
Amendment rights apply in schools, unless
constitutionally sound reasons were given to
limit the First Amendment
 Your First Amendment right is protected in
school as long as it does not cause a
disruption