gov judicial branch

Judiciary Act of 1789

The law in which Congress laid out the organization of the federal judiciary. The law refined and clarified federal court jurisdiction and set the original number of justices at six. It also created the Office of the Attorney General and established the lower federal courts.

District Courts

Lower-level trials courts of the federal judicial system that handle most U.S. federal cases

Appellate courts

The authority of a court to hear appeals from lower courts and change or uphold the decision.

Judicial Review

The supreme court's power to strike down a law or an executive branch action that it finds unconstitutional

Original Jurisdiction

the authority of a court to handle a case first, as in the Supreme Court’s authority to initially hear disputes between two states. not exclusive; it may assign such a case to a lower court.

Common law

law based on the precedent of previous court rulings rather than on legislation. It is used in all federal courts and 49 of the 50 state courts.

Precedent

 A legal norm established in court cases that is then applied to future cases dealing with the same legal questions

Standing

 legitimate justification for bringing a civil case to court

Jurisdiction

The sphere of a court's legal authority to hear and decide cases

Writ of certiorari

the most common way for a case to reach the supreme court, in which at least 4 of the 9 justices agree to hear a case that has reached them via an appeal from the losing party in a lower court’s ruling.

Solicitor general

a presidential appointee in the justice department who conducts all litigation on behalf of the federal government before the supreme court and supervises litigation in the federal appellate courts

Amicus curiae

latin for “friend of the court”, referring to an interested group or person who shares relevant information about a case to help the court reach a decision

Majority opinion

 a court ruling on which more than half of the members agree. The ruling will present the decision of the court and explain the reasoning behind the decision

Concurring opinion

an opinion of the court that agrees with the majority decision, but disagrees on at least part of the rationale for the decision

Dissenting opinion

an opinion of the court that disagrees with the majority decision in a case

Judicial restraint

the idea that the supreme court should defer to the demographically elected executive and legislative branches of government rather than contradicting existing laws

Judicial activism

 the idea that the supreme court should assert its interpretation of the law even if it overrules the elected executive and legislative branches of government