Chapter 8 Notes: Judicial Branch

Section 1: The Federal Court System

• Article III- est. a national Supreme Court & gave Congress power to est. lower federal courts.

• -Congress created 2 kinds of lower courts

• -1789 passed the *Judiciary Act- est. federal districts.

• *Circuit court of appeals.

• *1891 congress est. federal appeals court.

The fed court system has 3 levels:

• -District courts at the bottom.

• -Appeals courts in the middle.

• -Supreme courts at the top.

• -Each state has its own laws and courts.

• *Jurisdiction- a court authority to hear and decide cases.

• -Fed courts have jurisdiction over 8 kinds of cases.

• *Exclusive jurisdiction- cases in which only fed court can hear, states courts have jurisdiction over all other matters.

• *Concurrent jurisdiction-cases in which state and fed courts share jurisdiction.

Section 2: How Federal Courts are Organized • US District Courts• -Most federal cases are handled in the 94 US

District courts.• *District Courts- are federal courts where

trials are held and lawsuits are begun. • -All federal cases must begin in a district

court, b/c district courts have *original jurisdiction- the authority to hear cases for the first time.

• -District courts are the only federal courts in which witnesses testify and juries hear cases and reach verdicts.

• -US Courts of Appeals- also referred to as federal appeals courts, circuit courts of appeals, or appellate courts.

• *Appeals Court- reviews decisions made in lower district courts. Referred to as *Appellate Jurisdiction- the authority of a court to hear a case appealed from a lower court.

• -There are 12 US courts of appeals. • -Each covers a particular geographic are

called a *circuit. • -A 13th appeals court- the *Court of Appeals

for the Federal Circuit, has nationwide jurisdiction to hear special cases.

• -Appeals courts do not hold trials.

• -They may decide an appeal in one of three ways:

1. Uphold the original decision.

2. Reverse the Decision.

3. *Remand the case- sending the case back to the lower court to be tried again.

• -A panel of at least 3 judges reviews the record and listens to lawyers for each side.

• -Make decision by majority vote, for most cases, the decision of the appeals court in final, but lawyer can appeal to the Supreme Court.

• -When the appeals court makes a decision, one judge writes an opinion for the court.

• *Opinion- offers a detailed explanation of the legal thinking behind the decision.

• -The opinion sets a precedent for all courts and agencies within the district.

• *Precedent- gives guidance to other judges by offering a model upon which to base their own decisions on similar cases.

Federal Judges• -More than 550 who preside over the

district courts.• -Each appeals court has 6 to 27 judges.• -Supreme Court has 9.• -When naming judges, the Pres. usually

follows a practice called *senatorial courtesy- where the Pres. first gives the names to the Senators of the judges home state before he asks all of Congress to approve them.