Lecture 13 Outline of Last Lecture I The President and Executive Branch Outline of Current Lecture II The Judiciary Branch the three courts III District Courts IV Circuit Courts V Supreme Court and it s opinions VI Lawmaking of the Courts VII Nominees by the President Current Lecture l Judiciary Branch three tiered system a District Courts Federal trials are done here smaller issues are sorted out here POLS 206 1st Edition b Circuit Courts Appeals from District Court are heard there is NO actual trial c Supreme Court Last appeals from federal and State Supreme courts ll District Courts Federal trials done here a 94 in all at least one per state 4 in Texas and Washington D C b One judge per court chosen by the President to serve for life so the judges do not have to worry about pleasing the people and make decisions with least bias c Types of cases Federal matters law and arguments between citizens of different states dealing with at least 75 000 d A judge or jury six people hear cases e Each court has one Federal District Attorney for cases of federal crimes in that district f Special courts that have limited or special jurisdiction Bankruptcy International Trade Veteran s Appeals Federal Claims lll Circuit Courts a Appeals from District Courts and administrative agency decisions heard so if feel the district made a wrong decision NO trials b 13 in the US separated into areas according to population frequency needed for appeals to be reviewed The 13th is the Federal Circuit and Texas is in the 5th c Many judges per Circuit each selected by the President for life d Usually three judges selected at random per case However in very important cases en banc may be decided where all judges decide e The judges do not look at guilt or innocence but specifically whether the law was followed f Appeals from here go on to the Supreme Court lV Supreme Court a 9 justices one Chief Justice and 8 Associate Justices however Constitutionally there is no specific number this a number that has been decided at the moment all are selected by the President and the Senate verify b The Chief Justice votes the final decision on the cases c There is limited original trial jurisdiction between states arguments They also deal with cases with ambassadors ANY other case is an appeal d Do Not have to hear appeals but if they do decide to hear a case because there are literally thousands and so do not have time to listen to them all at least 4 must agree to hear an appeal and writ of certiorari is called summary of all the facts and decisions made previously by the courts Usually they hear about 100 150 cases per session e Most of time cases heard are about pertinent policy problems or legal problems the Circuits do not agree on f Decisions are based on lower courts decisions important details of the case and one hour spoken arguments the attorneys give Afterward they meet in a very private place and make a decision and then the Court as whole decides on the justice to write the opinion of the Court g Opinion of the Courts i Majority opinion legal standard in which the document is about the majority ruling of the justices ii Concurring opinion majority ruling but has more considerations added iii Dissenting opinion minority decision doing against majority decision this raises framework for future solutions for future problems V Lawmaking of the Courts the judge s purpose a Judicial Activism try to perfect problems of the government b Judicial Restraint make sure things are kept in order and to standard c Strict Constructionist Original Intent strict original Constitutional view and the framer s real intentions d Broad Constructionist Modernism Constitutional view with a modern perspective as living document Vl Nominees by the President a President selects each judge but the Senate confirms the choice b No qualifications but ratification though all Federal Judges so far have been lawyers c The only way to get a judge out of that position is by impeachment so far 13 have been impeached and tried and 7 taken out d It is VERY hard to become a judge about 20 of the nominees to the Supreme Court were not taken
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