POLS 2312 1st Edition Lecture 14 Courts Plessy v Ferguson 1896 segregation was perfectly fine as long as its separate but equal Brown v Board 1954 separate is unequal in schools Loving v Virginia 1967 looking at law that people cannot marry someone from another race using the 14th amendment as their defense U S v Windsor 2013 does not recognize gay marriages in states but Supreme Court said that the law was unconstitutional State Court System Federal District Courts hear several hundred thousand cases a year Around 100 million cases are filed in state trial courts every year State courts resolve the vast majority of legal disputes in the United States State Court Structure Trial Courts an empty state o Lowest of all courts cases that have the basic problems Justice courts Municipal courts Country level courts and State district courts Appellate Courts Appellate courts do not decide issues of guilt or innocence or ensure that trials were conducted perfectly An appeal must argue that prejudicial legal errors errors that affected the outcome were made in the original trial In some cases a court may hear an actual innocence appeal Courts of Last Resort Hear appeals from the intermediate appellate courts Texas Supreme Court 9 justices Has final appellate jurisdiction in civil cases Texas Court Criminal Appeals 9 Justices Has final appellate jurisdiction in criminal cases Civil Law Often deals with relations between individuals and or between organizations state or federal government may take action for violations of regulations or contracts May face fine or penalty may have to give up property but NO jail time Criminal Law Violations of law The state takes action through a prosecutor Jail IS an option Trial level is a four year term Appellate is a six year term Last Report is a six year term All are elected through the partisan elections State of Texas v Calvin Burdine Cockrell v Burdine Burdine appealed to the federal court system 6th amendment right to council extended to state criminal trials in Gideon v Wainwright 1963 Supremacy clause Unconscious council amounts to no council at all Ruling from the Federal Fifth Circuit of Appeals New Orleans in Cockrell v Burdine 2002 Federal Court Structure U S district courts trial courts U S appellate courts hears the appeals of District court decisions The Supreme Court The 9 justices 8 associate justices and one chief Justice All judges have equal say and each has one vote If Chief Justice is in the majority he assigns the writing of the majority opinion if not the most senior justice in the majority does Article II Section 2 The President shall nominate and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate shall appoint Judges of the Supreme Court and all other officers of the United States whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for Sit on the bench for life until death retirement or preachment All federal justices judges must be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate Robert Bork Elected by President Regan in 1988 but was never elected as a supreme court justice Ted Kennedy got on the platform and started listing all the things that Bork had said in public on the many issues