Intro to Judicial Branch

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Intro to Judicial Branch
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Civil vs. Criminal Cases

• Civil Cases
• Relations between private citizens. (corporate
  citizens)

81 year old woman awarded millions of dollars for
spilling her coffee on her self
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Criminal Cases

• Criminal Cases
• Criminal law regulates individual conduct. Laws,
  state or federal, determine what is legal or
  illegal
• Most laws are states but some are federal.
• Kidnapping or Bank robbing (federal)

Some crimes are considered against society and
the government is usually the plaintiff in
Criminal Cases
The People of the State of California v. Michael
Jackson
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A Few Criminal Definitions

• Felony- one of the several grave crimes, like
  murder, rape or burglary, aggravated assault,
  punishable by a harsher sentence than a
  misdemeanor.
• Simple battery/assault vs. aggravated- simple is
  when you make intentional contact of an insulting
  or provoking nature when you cause intentional
  harm to another.
• Aggravated- when a person attempts to cause
  serious bodily injury to another purposefully
  with little regard for the value of human life.
  (intent to murder, rape, or with a weapon)
• Misdemeanor- a misdeed, an offense less serious
  than a felony. Generally punishable by a fine,
  penalty or imprisonment.
• Capital Offense- a crime so serious that capital
  punishment is considered appropriate.

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Drugs and the Law

• Possession of Less than an Ounce- Felony or not?
• In most instances, possession of less than on
  ounce of marijuana is a misdemeanor. However, its
  possible to possess less than an ounce and still
  be guilty of a felony- if you intend to sell or
  distribute it, even sharing a joint with a
  friend- felony
• If possess more than an ounce, sell or grow or
  intend to distribute any quantity of marijuana,
  you can go to prison for 10 years.

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There are many Lawsuits and Crimes.

• But most cases never get to court.
• Most Civil Disputes are Settled out of Court
• Most Criminal Cases are settled due to plea
  bargains or dismissals
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vWaSy8yy-mr8

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• There are 2 separate court systems in the US.
• National
• State most cases heard today are heard in state
  courts, not National courts.

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2 Types of Federal Courts

• The Constitution creates the first, and Congress
  creates the inferior federal courts.
• Two types of inferior courts- Constitutional and
  Special Courts.

Supreme Court
Special Courts- US Court of Federal Claims,
Territorial Courts, Courts of the District of
Columbia, US Tax Court, US Court of Appeals for
the Armed Forces, US Court of Appeals for Veterans
Constitutional Courts- District Courts, 12 US
Courts of Appeals, US Court of International
Trade and US Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit.
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• Jurisdiction- the authority of a court to hear a
  case (most cases tried in Federal Courts, happen
  in the Constitutional Courts)
• Exclusive Jurisdiction- these cases can only be
  heard in federal courts.
• Concurrent Jurisdiction- cases that can be tried
  in either federal or state courts.
• Original Jurisdiction- court in which a case is
  first heard.
• Appellate jurisdiction- court that hears a case
  on appeal from the lower court, can uphold,
  overrule or modify the lower court decision.

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District Courts

• District Courts are federal trial courts.
• Have original jurisdiction over most cases that
  are heard in federal courts.
• They hear criminal (broke the law) and civil
  cases (non criminal matters, like territorial
  disputes)
• Most cases heard here are final, but some are
  appealed to the court of appeals or directly to
  the Supreme Court.

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Appeals Court

• Gate keepers- to relieve the Supreme Court of to
  much burden of hearing lower court appeals.
• There are a total of 12 Courts of Appeals in the
  US.
• They only have appellate jurisdiction. Most cases
  they hear come from the US Federal courts, but
  some do come from the special courts.
• Their decisions are final unless the Supreme
  Court chooses to hear appeals taken from them.

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Dual US Court System
Supreme Court
Highest State Court
State Appellate Court
US Court of Appeals
US District Courts
State Trial Court
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Becoming a Federal Judge

• Candidates for federal judgeships are suggested
  to the president by the Justice department,
  senators, other judges, the candidates and
  lawyers and interest groups.
• President considers their experience, political
  philosophy and ethnicity.
• President makes the nomination, goes to the
  Senate, the Senate confirms or reject, decision
  made by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

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The Supreme Court
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Judicial Review

• Most courts, both federal and state, may exercise
  the important power of judicial review.
• The power to decide if an act of government is
  constitutional or not.
• The Supreme Court has the ultimate say in this
  matter.
• Judicial Review isnt mentioned in the
  constitution, derives from Marbury vs. Madison.
• Marbury had been appointed as a justice of the
  Peace by President Adams, senate confirmed him
  but his orders werent delivered. The next day
  Jefferson became President and refused to deliver
  them.
• Marbury went to the Supreme Court who ruled
• NOT IN FAVOR OF MARBURY because the law he based
  his argument on, the Judiciary Act of 1789, the
  court found to be unconstitutional and therefore
  void.
• From this point on, the Supreme Court ha the
  power to declare acts of Congress
  unconstitutional.

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SC Jurisdiction

• Has both original and appellate jurisdiction.
  Most of its cases come from appeals from the
  lower federal courts or the highest state courts.
  
• Article III, sec 2 spells out what two cases can
  be heard by the SC.
• Those to which a state is a party
• Those affecting ambassadors, other public
  ministers and consuls.
• Over 8000 cases appeal to the SC each year, but
  the SC only hears a few hundreds a year.
• Rule of 4 gets a case on the docket
• Most cases reach the SC by writ of certiorari

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The Rule of Four

• If four justices vote to grant cert, it is
  granted
• Designed to prevent tyranny of the majority
• If a case does not gain four votes, a justice may
  write a dissent from denial, but this is
  extremely rare.
• All votes are secret
• Deny cases usually because they agree with the
  lower courts decision or they think no important
  point of law is involved.

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Writ of Certiorari

• The Supreme Court is mainly an APPELATE COURT
• If you want the Supreme Court to review your
  court case, you will need to have the supreme
  court grant you a
• WRIT OF CERTIORARI
• An order issued by a higher court to a lower
  court to send up the record of a case for review.

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95 cases are granted a Writ of Cert each year
Original Jurisdiction
80 of cases accepted come from federal system
lt1 of cases accepted are original jurisdiction
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals 12 circuits
Federal Circuit
State Supreme Court highest state court
Intermediate Appeals Court
U.S. District Court 94 districts Federal Trials
Trial Courts municipal or county Local Trials
FEDERAL 1 million cases/yr
STATES 30 million cases/yr
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The Supreme Court

• The court sits from the first Monday in October
  to sometimes the following June/July.
• Once the SC accepts a case, it sets a date for
  the case to be heard.
• They hear oral arguments on cases for 2 weeks,
  lawyers are limited to 30 min a piece and then
  take 2 weeks to consider those cases and make
  decisions.
• Briefs must be filed before oral arguments begin,
  detailed statements supporting one side of a
  case.
• Twice a week the Justices meet in conference and
  they consider the cases they have heard.
• 1/3 of the courts decisions are unanimous but
  most find the court divided.
• OPINIONS- The courts opinion is called the
  majority opinion, announces the courts decision
  and reasoning/precedent. Dissenting opinions are
  also written by justices not supporting the
  decision.

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Elected by the President, confirmed by the
Senate, appointed for LIFE. Most SC justices
were previously judges or worked in the legal
system. One Chief Justice- John Roberts- head
of the other 9 justices and head of the
bureaucracy that runs the court systems. Oversees
the 5.5 billion dollar justice budget
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Restraint or Active?

• SC Justices are usually characterized by either
  being activist or restraintist.
• Judicial Restraint- a doctrine holding that the
  Supreme court should defer to the decisions made
  by the elected representatives of the people in
  the legislative and executive branches. Usually
  linked with conservatism.
• Judicial Activism- a doctrine holding that the
  Supreme Court should take an active role in using
  its powers to check the activities of the other
  branches or bodies who exceed their authority.
  Usually linked with liberalism.
• Most active period has been under Judge Earl
  Warren during the Civil Rights movement.

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Checks on the Supreme Court

• Executive Branch is in charge of implementing
  laws- judicial implementation- the enforcement of
  judicial decisions in a way that they translate
  into policy.
• President rarely does, but can refuse to enforce
  a Supreme Court decision. It means a huge loss of
  political support from the people, so it is rare.
  
• More commonly Presidents appoint new judges and
  justices as seats become vacant that will rule in
  their political philosophy favor.
• Legislative Branch- courts make rulings but it is
  up to Congress to give funds to carry out the
  courts rulings.
• Court Rulings can also be overturned by
  constitutional amendments at both the federal and
  state levels (the 14th, 15th and 26th amendments
  are examples)
• Finally Congress can rewrite laws or enact new
  ones to overturn the SC rulings if the
  legislature concludes that the courts rulings if
  the legislature concludes that the court is
  interpreting laws or intentions erroneously.