Courts II I II Court Organization Court Activity I Congress has organized federal court system they created the courts supreme court sits on top of this but didn t create it What determines where a case goes some cases have original jurisdiction to the supreme court and others have appellate Few cases with original jurisdiction If you have a case that involves foreign dignitaries you begin at supreme court level and you wouldn t have to appeal it up Also when you have disputes involving the states that also goes to the supreme court with original jurisdiction Bigger distinction for us when do you have a federal case and when do you have a state case Cases that originate in the federal system if you violate a federal civil or criminal law your cases will be in the federal courts Federal laws state laws local laws Federal starts in district courts to court of appeals then requests for review then supreme court of the U S Federal government are also federal system suing the fed government or it sues you Civil cases between 2 individuals of 2 different states where the monetary amount that you are fighting over is at least 75 000 Murder is not federal they are state and local Most murder cases go through the state system If you break a state or local law in the state system it is much more difficult to get to the supreme court State system starts at trial courts then state appellate courts then state supreme court then requests for review then supreme court of the U S To get to the Supreme Court your case must have a federal question Federal question you can have something that has to do with the Constitution or civil liberties civil rights actual question of the federal law Otherwise if you have only broken a state law without federal question you are done at the state supreme court Not all cases have the possibility of going all the way up How do you get the Supreme Court to take your case In 1925 congress gave the supreme court most of the power of its dockit list of cases the court decides to hear Certiorari power of Certiorari the power to choose its cases Also called the Rule of 4 The supreme court picks its cases by voting When 4 justices vote to hear a case they hear the case It is not a majority 9 justices on the supreme court so they only need 4 votes to hear it NOT A MAJORITY The supreme court hears roughly 1 of the cases filed The court doesn t have a lot of time so it picks specific cases the court is usually interested in cases that have a new legal question that the court has not had a chance to investigate and make a decision on The court also pays attention to the district and appeals court courts below it and it looks at the decisions by the lower courts When the court sees discrepancies and don t agree with what those courts ruled if the court needs to make a stand and let the lower courts know what its stand is on certain issues You need to have an issue that the court sees that it is important to make a decision on You need something where the court believes the cases touches on an issue and it needs to become a part of the discussion and make a stand The bulk of the cases filed tend to be frivolous Important player when it comes to trying cases in the supreme court Justice department executive branch the 3rd ranking member has a title called solicitor general 3rd ranking He is like the government s lawyer When the federal government is a partner in the case in front of the supreme court the general will be the one in front of the supreme court It s important because he is the lawyer the supreme court sees the most The Solicitor General will write an amicus curiae friend of the court briefs he ll write the briefs letting the supreme court know what the federal government thinks about the cases that Interest groups use amicus all the time to try to influence the courts When the court heard the case dealing with Healthcare they were swamped with amicus from all different views Ways for not involved in a case to try to influence the court s decision amicus Writs of habeas corpus cases where you are asking for a writ these are prisoners death row inmates asking the supreme court to review their case Habeas technically means produce the body if you re asking for a writ you are asking the judge to issue a writ saying produce the prisoner in the courtroom taking a look at the case They don t actually bring the prisoner to the Supreme Court but they will review the case When they file for a writ they want the court to check it out Most of these are frivolous because most prisoners have been convicted of a state crime without a federal question If the court looks at the case it makes the news The court has been interested in civil liberties cases like treatment II What the court actually does To say what the law is Marshall Say if a case is constitutional or unconstitutional Supreme Court interprets the law in cases brought to it It s all about interpretation 2 types of interpretation a The court is involved in statutory court interprets meaning of statutes Court has to decide what these actually mean How broadly narrowly we should interpret Court can look at the history if it s a congressional bill what happened during markup look at history of the passing what did congress mean by that word Can get into the language and history and interpret what it means and what the law is b Supreme Court is involved in constitutional interpretation court has to decide what to do when bills potentially conflict with the fundamental law of the constitution What does the constitution say what does it mean It interprets the constitution Congress faces a dilemma in trying to interpret an old vague document The Supreme Court does a lot when it is interpreting things Example wiretapping Constitution doesn t say anything about phones wire computers no technology Supreme court had to decide what the 4th amendment search and seizure what is says about warrants and wiretapping Supreme court said that the 4th amendment meant that in order to wire tap the government would need a warrant because in order to wire tap they would have to go onto your property Present technology gets better and better you can wiretap from another house city down the street It isn t about your property anymore so that means people can wiretap without warrants because they didn t have to get on your property The power of the supreme court it decides what bills mean what the constitution means Questions about its
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