Agenda- 1/31 Grab a chrome book and a textbook! Review test/notebooks Set up notebooks Current Events Crash Course Video WS- Structure of the Courts (LS) Unit 2 Lecture 1- Structure of the Courts (RS) Unit 2 Pathway Part I- Judicial Branch (LS) HW: Work on Pathway

Unit 2- The Three Branches of Government- Unit 2 The Three Branches of Gov. Ch. 18- The Judicial Branch Ch. 10, 11, 12- The Legislative Branch Ch. 13 and 14- The Executive Branch

Crash Course Government Court Structure

Unit 2 Lecture 1- The Structure of the Court System -How is the court system structured in America? -What do the different levels of courts do?

First, some legal vocabulary… Jurisdiction- the power of a court to try and decide a case Original jurisdiction- that court is the first to hear the case Appellate jurisdiction- that court is hearing the case on appeal Concurring jurisdiction- the case may be tried in more than one court Plaintiff- the one initiating the lawsuit Defendant- the one being sued

What does it mean that the United States has a “dual court system?” There are two levels of courts: Federal Courts- jurisdiction over federal crimes Constitutional courts deal with issues of the Constitution Special (Legislative) courts deal with powers of Congress State Courts- jurisdiction over state crimes, are the majority of cases in the U.S. *We are going to focus on the federal constitutional courts.

Congress was given the authority to create the federal courts Congress was given the authority to create the federal courts. How did they structure it? District Courts Original jurisdiction Hear most federal cases Spread out throughout the U.S. Court of Appeals Appellate jurisdiction Divided into 12 circuits Supreme Court Original and appellate jurisdiction The highest court in the land (Will study more tomorrow)

And what about the judges? Federal judges are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate Presidents nominate justices with similar ideologies to the President. Why? Judges are appointed for life and may only be removed by impeachment from Congress