The Federal Courts

• Categories
  • Criminal (violating statutes)
  • Civil (settle disputes among individuals)
  • Public (power of government)
• Precedent: “Stare decisis”
• Most laws/cases in states

“Lower” Courts

• District (or “Trial”) courts
  • original jurisdiction
• Courts of Appeals (or “Circuit Courts”)
  • appellate jurisdiction

Supreme Court
[web extra: NewsHour, PBS, Supreme Court Watch]
[web extra: Supreme Court Historical Society]

• Chief Justice and 8 associate justices
  [web extra: all past and present Supreme Court justices (PDF)]
• Final appellate court
  • discretionary
• Original court for US and foreign officials, states and the US
  • mandatory
• Solicitor General of the US affects Court work

Appointment

• Presidential nomination list
• Senatorial Courtesy
• ABA ratings, FBI check
• Senate confirmation
  • Judiciary Committee hearings and vote
  • Floor vote

Powers

• Most important: Judicial Review
  [web extra: "Exploring Constitutional Conflicts: Judicial Review"]
  
  • Power to review...
    • state court decisions, lower federal court decisions
    • state laws, federal laws
  • ...and to overturn those deemed unconsitutional
  • Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Powers: Marbury v. Madison

• Pre-election: 1800
• Pres.: Adams
• State: Marshall
• Party: Federalists
• 1789 Judiciary Act: appoint judges (e.g., Wm Marbury and John Marshall)
  [web extra: "Senate Debate on Marbury"]
  
  
• Post-election: 1801
• Pres.: Jefferson
• State: Madison
• Party: Republicans
• Ignore “midnight appointments”
  
  
• Marbury: Mandamus
• Court (Marshall): NO!

Powers

• Other powers
  • Interpretation
    • What does the law or Constitution mean to us...today
  • "Boundary Maintenance”
    • Can they do  that?
• 98% of Supreme Court cases are appeals
• Only 2% original

Appeals

• Criteria
  • Controversy: must be real
  • Standing: must show ‘injury’
  • Mootness: must not already be resolved
• Types: Writs
  • Certiorari (or “Cert”): Review
    • Conflict with previous Supreme Court decision;
    • New federal question
      [web extra: NewsHour, PBS, 3/29/05, "File Sharing"];
    • Confliciting or inconsistent lower court decisions;
    • “Too great a departure”
  • Habeas Corpus: Evidence
    [audio extra: NPR report 4/21/04, "High Court Hears Cuban Detainees' Case...", requires RealPlayer]
    [web extra: NewsHour PBS 4/20/04, "War and Liberties"]

Procedure
[see also Supreme Court Historical Society: How the Court Works]
[web extra: 2006 Supreme Court calendar (PDF)]
[video extra: oral argument example—C-SPAN, Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (2004), requires RealPlayer]

• Appeals for Certiorari
  • Petitions for Cert -> No? Tough luck; Yes? Written briefs ->
    Oral arguments -> Conference -> Opinions
• Opinions
  • Majority/plurality, Concurring, Dissenting
• Strategy
  • Chief Justice Warren Burger, Justice Harry Blackmun, and Roe v. Wade  (1973)
    [video extra: Blackmun comments on Roe, requires RealPlayer]

Influences

• Judicial Restraint: “Strict Constructionism”
• Judicial Activism: Broad construction (‘Read between the lines’?)
 
• Ideology
• Unpredictability: Life tenure
• Judiciary not democratic!