1. The Federal Judicial System: Applying the Law
Chapter 14

2. The Federal Judicial System
The Supreme Court of the United States
Selecting and deciding cases
Issuing decisions and opinions
Majority
Plurality
Concurring
Dissenting
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*The Supreme Court is most likely to grant certiorari when the U.S. government’s high-ranking Justice Department official, the solicitor general requests it. The solicitor general serves as the government’s lawyer in Supreme Court cases. When the government loses a lower-court case, the solicitor general decides whether to appeal it. Such cases sometimes make up half or more of the cases the Supreme Court hears in a term. (Caption, p.418)
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fig.14-1: THE SUPREME COURT DOCKET
The Supreme Court accepts only a small fraction of the roughly 8,000 cases appealed to it each year. The Court normally agrees to hear only those cases that have broad legal significance. (Source: Supreme Court of the United States. Figures based on yearly average for 1990–2015 period,) P.419
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5. The Federal Judicial System
Other federal courts
U.S. district courts
U.S. courts of appeals
Special U.S. courts
The state courts
Political appointment
Elected judges (most common form)
Merit-plan judges
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Figure 14-2: THE FEDERAL JUDICIAL SYSTEM
The simplified diagram shows the relationships among the various levels of federal courts and between state and federal courts. The losing party in a case can appeal a lower-court decision to the court at the next-highest level, as the arrows indicate. Decisions normally cannot be moved from state courts to federal courts unless they raise a U.S. constitutional issue, such as whether a defendant’s right to a fair trial has been violated.
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The states use a variety of methods for selecting the judges on their highest court, including the merit system (also known as the Missouri Plan), election, and political appointment. The states that appoint judges grant this power to the governor, except in Virginia, Connecticut, and South Carolina, where the legislature makes the choice.
Source: The Council of State Governments. Reprinted with permission.
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9. Federal Court Appointees
Supreme Court nominees
Presidents nominate those with compatible political philosophy
Nominees must be acceptable to others
Very few nominees rejected by Senate after nineteenth century
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Partisan considerations have increasingly influenced the selection of federal judges. Interest groups on the right and the left have insisted that appointees hold positions compatible with their stands. Presidents and members of Congress have also increasingly sought appointees who will decide issues in a certain way. What is your view? Should politics play such a large role in judicial appointments? Or should merit—an appointee’s legal credentials—be given greater weight?
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11. Federal Court Appointees
Lower-court nominees
Senatorial courtesy
Presidents typically select members of same party
Personal backgrounds of judicial appointees
Nearly all recent appointees from appellate courts
Most are white men, but diversity has increased in recent decades
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Fig. 14-4: POLITICAL PARTIES, PRESIDENTS, AND WOMEN AND MINORITY JUDICIAL APPOINTEES
Reflecting differences in their parties’ coalitions, recent Republican and Democratic presidents have quite different records in terms of the percentage of their judicial appointees who have been women or minority-group members. (Sources: Various sources. Data based on appointees of Presidents Carter, Reagan, G. H. W. Bush, Clinton, G. W. Bush, and Obama.)
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14. The Nature of Judicial Decision Making
Legal influences on judicial decisions
The facts of a case
Three main sources of law
The Constitution
Legislative statutes
Legal precedents
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16. The Nature of Judicial Decision Making
Political influences on judicial decisions
Inside the Court: judges’ political beliefs
Justices vote in line with their political attitudes
Not all issues clear-cut
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17. The Nature of Judicial Decision Making
Political influences on judicial decisions
Outside the Court: the public, groups, and elected officials
Court cannot move too far from public opinion
Interest groups
Congressional legislation and presidential appointments
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18. Judicial Power and Democratic Government
Judicial restraint versus judicial activism
Restraint: judges should abide by precedent and legislation
Activism: judges should interpret Constitution and statutes in light of established principles when elected officials fail to do so
What is the judiciary’s proper role?
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