Judicial BranchArticle III – Lecture Notes

United States Judicial BranchØArticle III of the United States Constitution establishes the Judicial BranchØConsists of 9 “Justices”ØJohn Roberts – Chief Justice of the Supreme CourtØHighest Judicial officer in the countryØActs as the Court spokesmanØPresides over the Court

How to Become a Supreme Court JusticeØSupreme Court Justices are nominated by the President§“Confirmed” by Senate (only need a simple majority)

ØOnce confirmed, Justices serve for LIFE§Death, retirement, or impeachment are the only ways to leave the Court

ØOnly 12 nominations have ever been rejected§Ronald Reagan, 1987

Judicial ReviewØThe most critical power of the Supreme Court is “Judicial Review”

ØInterestingly, this is not stated in the Constitution§ It was introduced during Marbury v. Madison

ØSimply put, Judicial Review is the responsibility of the Court to ensure that actions of the Government & States do not violate the Constitution

Original JurisdictionØThe Supreme Court has “original jurisdiction” over cases involving:§Foreign Ambassadors & Consuls (diplomats)§Any US states

ØThis means that those cases go straight to the Supreme Court§Only ~30 or so of these cases in US History

Appellate JurisdictionØFor all other cases, the Supreme Court has Appellate Jurisdiction§The Court cannot “try” the case (like a trial)§It can only review decisions from lower courts to ensure they are Constitutional

ØThe Court gets to pick which cases it hears§This ends up making all Supreme Court cases significant

“Lower” Federal CourtsØMany delegates at the Constitutional Convention feared that the Supreme Court would be overwhelmed by cases & petitionsØCongress was given the power to decide on additional Federal CourtsØJudiciary Act of 1789ØUnited States is divided into 94 “District Courts”§Florida has 3 districts

US Circuit Courts of AppealsØIf the losing party of a trial case wishes to appeal the decision, they must file a formal appealØThree-judge panel reviews the case§2/3 must agree on the appeal

ØIf still unsatisfied, the losing party can then appeal to the Supreme Court (writ of certiorari)

US District Court (Trial

Court)

US Court of Appeals

(Appellate Court)

US Supreme Court

(Appellate Court)

Supreme Court RulingsØSupreme Court Rulings are FINALØMajority Opinion§Summary of the ruling in the case

ØDissenting Opinion§Summary of why Justices disagree

ØSupreme Court rulings are released as public record§You can Google them!

Judicial BranchArticle III – Lecture Notes