1. Supreme Court and Lower Courts

2.  Judicial Review  Supreme court has right to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional  Power to determine the constitutionality of a government action  Limited Government  “Constitutionalism”  Government itself must obey the law  Every public official, every public agency at every level in this country is bound to follow principle of limited government  Checks and Balances  Independence of the federal judiciary  Appointed by Executive branch, confirmed by Senate  Serve for life –”during good behavior”

3.  William Marbury had been commissioned by Federalists (John Adams) midnight appointments to a justice of the peace position  Jefferson (Democratic-Republicans)  held executive/legislative branches  refused to honor appointments-Marbury took issue to Court  Marshall Court declared that Judiciary Act (Congress) violated Article III Section 2 and therefore was unconstitutional  Marbury could not get appointment because he based his argument on unconstitutional law

4.  In US there are two separate court systems  National Judiciary—Constitutional Courts/ Regular Courts/Article III Courts  Supreme Court (1)  Courts of Appeals (12)  District Courts (94)  US court of International Trade  State courts  Majority of cases get heard hear

5.  Trial Courts  Civil  Criminal  State courts  found in counties  Appeals courts  Lead to State Supreme Courts  Then can lead to Federal Supreme Court  Municipal Courts  City courts  Handle items like traffic issues, city ordinances  Limited Jurisdiction courts  Juvenile courts, Family courts, small claims court  General Jurisdiction courts (Superior courts)

6.  These courts do not exercise “broad judicial power of the United state”---they exist as “tribunals inferior to Supreme Court”  Hear narrow range of cases  US Court of Federal Claims  Territorial Courts (Guam, virgin islands, Northern Marianas)  US Tax Court  Courts of the District of Columbia  US court of Appeals for the Armed Force  US court of Appeals for Veterans Claims

8.  Subject Matter  The interpretation of Constitution, federal statute, treaty  Questions of admiralty law  Parties involved in the Case  US, its officers, its agencies  An ambassador, consul or other official representative of foreign government  One of 50 states suing a citizen, another state or a foreign government  A citizen of one state suing citizen of another state  US citizen suing a foreign govt. or a foreign subject  Land grant issues involving citizens from different states

9.  Authority of courts to hear cases  Federal courts have jurisdiction in cases of federal law, treates and interpretation of Constitution  Original jurisdiction  Lower courts hear cases for 1 st time  In federal system district courts and Supreme Court (limited) where trials are conducted, evidence presented, juries determine outcome

10.  Appellate jurisdiction  Review or appeals of decisions  Court of Appeals and Supreme Court have appellate jurisdiction  Concurrent jurisdiction  Certain types of court cases to be tried can be tried n either the federal or state courts

11.  Incredibly large number of appointments in lower courts  Senatorial courtesy  Practice of allowing individual senators who represent the states where the district is located to approve or disapprove potential nominees  Traditionally has been used to make appointments to District Courts

12.  Party affiliation  Judicial philosophy  Race, gender, religion, region  Judicial experience  Litmus test  Test of ideological purity toward a liberal or conservative stand  Acceptability  Noncontroversial for appointment purposes

13.  Term of Supreme Court begins  1 st Monday in October  Acceptance of Cases  Rule of four  Four of the nine justices must agree to hear the case  Brief orders  This is when an accepted case is returned to the lower court for reconsideration because of a related case that was recently decided  Writ of certiorari  Order by Court (when petitioned) directing a lower court to send up records of a case for review—interpret law, decide a constitutional question  Certificate  A lower court may ask Supreme Court about a rule of law or procedures in specific cases

14.  Brief  Once case reaches the Court, lawyers file a “brief”  Detailed statement of facts of case supporting particular position by presenting arguments based on relevant facts and citations from previous cases  Amicus Curiae briefs  “friends of the court”  Support or reject arguments of the case  Oral arguments  Both sides present positions to justices during 30 minute period  Justices may interrupt with questions or challenging points of law

15.  The decision of the Court in a written statement  Majority Opinion  Majority of justices agree on decision and its reasons  Concurring Opinion  Justice agrees with majority opinion BUT NOT with reasoning behind decision  Dissenting Opinion  Justice (s) who disagree with the majority opinion  Majority opinions often become precedents  Standards or guides followed in deciding similar cases in the future

16.  New Deal Era  Congress passed numerous laws that were later declared unconstitutional  FDR attempted “court packing” plan  2 justices /Chief Justice Charles E. Hughes and Associate Justice Owen Roberts began voting in favor of New Deal legislation “ the switch in time to save nine”  Warren Court (1953-1969)  “the most liberal court ever”  Chief Justice Earl Warren heard cases  Brown v. Board..(1954)/Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)/Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

17.  Burger Court (1969-1986)  Chief Justice Warren Burger (Nixon appointee)  Conservative ideology in regards to narrowing rights of defendants  Roe v. Wade (1973)/ U.S. v. Nixon (19740  Abortion constitutional /executive privilege over information in criminal cases not constitutional  Regents of the University of CA v. Bakke ( 1978)  Quotas unconstitutional /affirmative action constitutional  Rehnquist and Roberts Courts  Conservative ideology  Limit but not reverse decisions on defendants’ rights to abortion  2007 Robert’s Court upheld decision in federal Partial-Birth Abortion Act of 2003

18.  Strict Constructionist  Limits or restricts judicial interpretation/apply text only as spoken  Loose Constructionist  Allows inference in regards to text of Constitution or law  Judicial Activism  Judicial intervention  Court should play an active role in determining national policies  Apply Constitution to social and political questions  Judicial Restraint  Avoid taking initiative on social and political questions  Operate strictly within the limits of the Constitution and uphold acts of Congress