POLS 207 1st Edition Lecture 16 Outline of Last Lecture I Texas and the Clean Air Act of 1971 II Actors and Procedures in Bureaucratic Implementation a The Legislature Sunset Review The Governor Legislative Budget Board LBB Interest Groups and Bureaucrats III Agencies with Elected Officials and Agencies with Appointed Executives IV Boards and Commissions a Elected Ex Officio Appointed Outline of Current Lecture I State Courts How They Different From Executive and Legislative Branch II Structure of State Court Systems a Courts of Limited Jurisdiction Major Trial Courts Appellate Courts Supreme Court III Judicial Federalism involves a dual system of courts state and federal IV Five Judicial Selection Methods a Partisan Election Nonpartisan Election Legislative Selection Appointive by Governor Interim Appointments and Missouri or Merit Plans 3 Stages Topic Today s Lecture STATE COURTS State Courts 3rd branch Judicial What makes courts different from the legislative and executive branches o 1 Courts are reactive rather than proactive reacting to laws passed by legislature and signed by governor o 2 Special requirements for obtaining access A lobbyist interest group citizen can contact the legislative office with a letter call email appointment etc However in case of the courts you need to have a legal standing involved in the issue in some way o 3 Judicial procedures are more formal In order for an interest group to have an influence in the courts they have to write a micus curaie Micus curaie legal brief document stating a group s opinion in a case o 4 Range of decision making when legislature writes a law it applies to everyone or broad group of people courts are concerned about the facts of one case before and the law that pertains to that case when the higher courts make rulings and interpret laws they make precedent that must be followed by lower courts in the future example Mapp v Ohio Supreme Court decision over police entering a house looking for a fugitive and found obscene material charged with having obscene material because did not find a fugitive Court decided police had no legal justification to enter the house so could not use the evidence exclusionary rule Exclusionary Rule If police enter without a warrant they cannot use that evidence in that trial stare decisis to follow precedent lower courts are even more restricted by higher court decisions o 5 Appearance of Objectivity Do we expect governor to be objective no we expect governor and lawmakers to advocate policies Do we expect courts to be objective Yes objective impartial unbiased Structure of State Court Systems 4 Tiers Level 1 Courts of Limited Jurisdiction o examples Small Claims Court Traffic Court Juvenile Court o less formal o Judge Judy TV Level 2 Major Trial Courts o examples Circuit Court District Court Criminal Court o for both civil and criminal cases o civil dispute legal dispute between 2 parties generally over money amounts over 10 000 o criminal dispute all felony crimes o the ones that appear in the news read about in the paper o more formal need juries to determine guilty or innocent Level 3 Appellate Courts o examples Superior Court Court of Appeals o a party may be unhappy with outcome of Major Trial Court so appeal to the Appellate Courts o deal with appeals or objections coming from Major Trial Courts o these are going to be staffed by judges do not use juries o deal more with legal arguments like constitutional issues Level 4 Courts of Last Resort o Supreme Court o last resort in state court system is generally called State Supreme Court o last place can appeal o 5 9 justices typically o not looking was the person innocent or guilty but rather looking for procedural mistakes made in previous courts o not really the last place to appeal just the last place to appeal within the state o After State Supreme Court one can appeal to National Supreme Court 1 It goes directly to US Supreme Court after State Supreme Court 2 Only if there is a federal issue involved Judicial Federalism US has a dual system of courts o Some cases will go to state local courts examples assault murder etc o some cases will go to federal courts ones that involve only federal law currency violation counterfeiting crimes committed on federal government property crimes committed against federal government workers while they are on the job o some cases can go before either state or federal courts Oklahoma City Bombing federal gov building was bombed how do they decide where to try the case they venue shop which court would mostly likely give a conviction a more extreme punishment and other factors negotiation between state and federal courts as to whether where the case would get the best outcome Selection of Judges 5 Judicial Selection Methods mainly Major Trial Court judges o 1 Partisan Elections largely in southern states you have a Republican and Democrat running primaries and then general election voters have the information of party label and can vote accordingly o 2 Nonpartisan Elections no party label no political party primaries all voters can still vote but do not have information of party label Should judicial candidates take a stand on legal issues when they run in a campaign don t voters wanted to know how judges are going to judge in a court are they going to be tough on certain issues Therefore they don t run on legal issues because takes away objectivity Instead run on experience legal skills education accomplishments background etc but NOT about issues TEXAS has a nonpartisan election o Partisan and Nonpartisan Elections biggest criticism most voters know very little about the candidates they vote for o 3 Legislative Selection state legislature selects judges What is the most common profession in state legislatures lawyers a lot go on to be judges state legislatures support each other when they run for judge former legislatures have a big advantage in this method o 4 Appointment by the Governor judges are appointed by the governor few states rely solely on this method most important in Interim Appointments appointment that fill in remainder of a term 4 year terms but what if judge dies impeached falls ill etc so a lot of time governor appoints the interim judge think incumbency advantage what if a judge decides to retire early then the judge can recommend a candidate for interim to the governor who is from the same political party in two years when it comes to election interim judge has incumbent advantage
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