Lecture 13Outline of Last Lecture I. The President and Executive BranchOutline of Current Lecture II. The Judiciary Branch (the three courts)III. District CourtsIV. Circuit CourtsV. Supreme Court and it’s opinionsVI. Lawmaking of the Courts VII. Nominees by the PresidentCurrent Lecturel. Judiciary Branch (three-tiered system)a. District Courts- Federal trials are done here (“smaller” issues are sorted outhere) POLS 206 1st Editionb. Circuit Courts- Appeals from District Court are heard (there is NO actual trial)c. Supreme Court- Last appeals from federal and State Supreme courtsll.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 $75,000d. A judge or jury (six people) hear casese. Each court has one Federal District Attorney for cases of federal crimes in that districtf. Special courts that have limited or special jurisdiction: Bankruptcy, International Trade, Veteran’s Appeals, Federal Claimslll. Circuit Courtsa. 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 5thc. Many judges per Circuit, each selected by the President for lifed. Usually three judges selected at random per case. However, in very important cases, en banc may be decided, where all judges decidee. 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 CourtlV. Supreme Courta. 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 verifyb. The Chief Justice votes the final decision on the casesc. 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 onf. 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 justicesii. Concurring opinion- majority ruling but has more considerations addediii. 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 governmentb. Judicial Restraint- make sure things are kept in order and to standardc. 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 Presidenta. President selects each judge but the Senate confirms the choiceb. No qualifications but ratification, though all Federal Judges so far have been lawyersc. 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
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