1. The Courts
AP US Government

2. Some Basic Legal Terms
Litigant – Someone involved in a lawsuit. This includes both plaintiff (one bringing the charge) and the defendant (one being sued). When a court case is listed, the plaintiff comes first then the defendant. For example, in Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education, Brown was the plaintiff and the Topeka BOE was the defendant.
Cases and Controversies – According to the Constitution, the court is allowed only to hear cases and controversies. This means courts can’t give advisory opinions and the cases they hear must involve actual events not hypothetical ones. This means that its not enough for someone to think that a law is unconstitutional, they must actually show what it has done and why that was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court will sometimes reject cases that are considered not “ripe.” Ripeness has to do with giving the issues enough time to fully develop.

3. Some Basic Legal Terms
Standing to sue – Courts require plaintiffs in a case to have serious involvement in the issue. This usually depends on whether they have sustained or are likely to sustain a direct and substantial injury from a party or an action by the government. Roe v Wade had an interesting discussion about this.
Justiciable Disputes – The case must be capable of being settled as a matter of law. This means that the court generally won’t listen to political questions.
Federal Courts can only decide cases dealing with questions over federal law including the Constitution.
Lawyers must pass a special bar examine to be able to try a case in front of the US Supreme Court.
Amicus Curiae brief – Friend of the court briefs, submitted by parties not involved but interested in a case.

4. Basic Legal Terms
Precedent – When the Supreme Court makes a decision, the write an opinion explaining why they decided the way that they did. In this opinion they say how similar cases in the future should be decided. This is what is known as precedent.
Stare Decisis – this is a Latin term that roughly translates out to let the decision stand. This is the legal concept that overturning a case which established some legal precedent would do more harm to the system than good, even if it was a bad decision.

5. Structure of the System
The US Constitution did not create the federal court system. This was left to the Judiciary Act of Congress also has the authority to create legislative courts. These include: Courts of Military Appeals, the Court of Claims, the Court of International Trade, and the Tax Court.
Original Jurisdiction – This refers to which court has the right to hear a trial first. More than 90% of all cases begin and end in the court of original jurisdiction. This court is responsible for determining the facts of the case.
Appellate jurisdiction – This refers to courts that are allowed hear cases on appeal from lower courts. Appellate courts do not determine the facts of the case, only the legal issues that are involved.

6. Structure of the System
District Courts – For the federal court system, the lowest level court are the 91 district courts. For most federal cases, this is the point of entry into the federal system for most litigation. Each state has at least one district court. These are the only federal courts that may impanel a jury. These courts have no appellate authority and have original jurisdiction in cases involving: federal crimes, civil suits under federal law, diversity of citizenship (laws suits involving litigants from different states and involving more than $50,000), and a few others.

7. Structure of the System
US Courts of Appeal – These courts have the jurisdiction to review all cases tried in district court. These court can also review and enforce orders of many federal regulatory agencies. Over 80% of their cases come from the district court level. The US is divided into 12 different circuits. Each circuit has between 6 and 28 permanent judges. Most cases are heard with a panel of 3 judges, however, the judges may hear cases en banc, which means all judges are present. There is also a US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. This court only hears cases relating to patents, claims against the US, and international trade.

9. Structure of the System
The Supreme Court – Perhaps the most important job for the US Supreme Court is to resolve conflicts among the states and to maintain national supremacy in the law. It also plays a large role in ensuring uniformity in the law.
Currently there are nine justices on the US Supreme Court, however this number is not mandated by the constitution. There have been as few as 6 and as many as 10 Supreme Court justices. It was President Grant who gave us the current number of 9.
The US Supreme Court has original jurisdiction in the following areas: cases between the US and a state, cases between two or more states, cases between one state and a citizen of another state, and cases between a state and a foreign country.
Most cases get to the supreme court on appeals from either the Federal Circuit Court or the State Court of last resort. If the case is coming from a state court, it must involve a significant federal question to be heard by the US Supreme Court.

10. Structure of the System
Accepting Cases – each year, there are over 7,500 cases that request to be reviewed by the Supreme Court. Remember, these cases have all had to go through the appropriate levels of the court system. The cases are divided up among the Justices who then give most of the work to their law clerks. The information is then discussed at a weekly meeting. Only the nine justices are allowed to go to this meeting. Here they discuss the merits of the cases and vote on which ones should be heard. If four judges vote to hear the case then it is scheduled for oral argument. Most of the cases are give a writ of certiorari, this is the formal document that calls a case up for review. This is known as the rule of four. Usually about 100 case are heard each term.

11. Structure of the System
Deciding Cases – Starting with the first Monday in October and lasting until June, the court hears cases in two week cycles. They will hear cases for two weeks, then take two weeks off to discuss, conference and write opinions. Before oral arguments are heard, briefs are submitted. Oral arguments last 30 minutes for each side and when you time is up you stop even if in mid sentence. After oral arguments, the Justices will meet in conference to discuss the case. Here they take a vote and assign who writes the opinion. The opinion is as important as the decision itself. In the opinion, the Justices write about what their decision means and how things are interpreted. Sometimes the Justices will develop a test for cases similar to the one they just heard. This is how lower court judges know what precedent has been established.