federal court system

Supreme Court

  • The Supreme Court cannot choose what it wants to examine

  • A case has to be brought before the court through one of several ways:

  • Usually, lower courts need to hear issue before it can get to the Supreme Court

    • Unless it’s a matter that falls under “original jurisdiction”

    • Supreme Court will only hear under 1% of all the court cases in a year


Structure and Function of Federal Judiciary


  • Federal “judiciary” - two levels:

    • 1. Supreme Court (highest federal court)

    • 2. Inferior courts (Lots of these)

      • A. Special courts

      • B. Constitutional courts

  • Hears cases involving federal law and interstate cases

    • Also, interprets constitutionality of law

Origins


  • First, Constitution created Supreme Court

    • Congress decides how many Supreme Court justices there are

  • Then, Article III gave Congress power to create rest of federal court system

    • Congress created rest of federal court system in 1789

  • States have their own courts (for state civil and criminal issues)

    • Most cases are heard in state courts

      • Example, most murder cases are state issues and so heard in state courts 


Two types of inferior courts

  • Constitutional courts (Article III established the judicial branch)

  • Exercise judicial power of US and hears wide range of cases dealing with federal laws

  • These courts include:

    • 94 district courts

    • 13 US Courts of Appeal (one is special appeals)

    • US Court of Appeals for Federal Circuit

    • US Court of International Trade

  • Special Courts (Article 1 established legislative branch)

    • These deal explicitly with expressed powers of Congress

    • Help Congress do their constitutional job

    • These courts include:

      • US Court of Federal Claims

      • US tax courts

      • US Court of Appeals for Armed Services, etc.


How do you know which court a case will go to?

  • Federal courts hear cases based on:

    • Subject matter

      • If it involves interpretation of the constitution, law, or treaty

    • Parties involved

      • If it includes people from two or more states, international actors, or ambassadors

  • Federal courts usually try those cases that only they have the authority to hear


Jurisdiction types

  • Original jurisdiction - court in which case is first heard

    • 99% of original jurisdiction is district courts

    • Appellate courts will never have original jurisdiction

  • Concurrent jurisdiction - can be tried in either state or federal courts

    • Usually states take the case

  • Appellate jurisdiction - rules on cases that were first tried in other courts


ALL Federal Judges


  • President appoints

    • Senate confirms or rejects

  • Judges on constitutional courts (Article III courts) are appointed for life

    • Can be removed by impeachment

    • Congress decides number of judges

  • Judges on special court (Article I) have terms of 8-15 years

  • No constitutional qualifications for being a judge

    • However, most have legal background and experience


Level one: district courts

  • The federal courts: hear civil and criminal cases 

    • Handle about 80% of federal cases

  • Original jurisdiction: hear cases for the first time 

  • Responsibilities:

    • Determining the facts of the case

    • Hold trials for civil and criminal cases

    • Decide guilt or innocence

    • This is the only level of federal courts where witnesses testify, juries hear cases, reach verdicts

District courts

  • Only level that has trials

  • Number:

    • Each state has at least one district court (dependent on population size)

    • Larger states can have multiple district courts (that way they can handle the HUGE case loads)

    • Total number of US district courts = 94

    • Districts are organized into circuits geographically (For example: western states are all in one circuit together)

  • 3 judge panels try some cases that involve:

    • Apportionment 

    • Civil rights

    • Antitrust laws

  • Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) - 11 district court judges issue secret search warrants to monitor suspected spies and terrorists


Examples of federal cases

  • Civil

    • Bankruptcy

    • Postal

    • Tax

    • Civil rights

  • (Civil cases mostly between private parties BUT US maybe a plaintiff or defendant)

  • Criminal

    • Bank robbery

    • Kidnapping

    • Counterfeiting

    • Mail fraud

    • Tax evasion

    • Terrorism

  • (Criminal cases US is always prosecutor)


Appeals courts

  • Review decisions made in lower district courts

  • Appellate jurisdiction:

    • Authority to hear a case appealed from a lower court

  • Number of appeals courts: 13

  • Types of cases heard

    • Cases when an appeal was made from a decision in a district court

  • Purpose: Created in 1891 to ease burden on the Supreme Court

    • That way cases need to be appealed at a middle level before they get to the Supreme Court (which is really hard to do)

    • Each “circuit” has their own court of appeals

  • Appeals courts do not hold trials (review recording and arguments of the case)

  • Possible rulings:

    • Uphold the original decisions 

    • Reverse/overturn

    • Remand the case to the lower court

  • Less than 1% of decisions are appealed to the Supreme Court 

  • The 13th court of appeals for the Federal Circuit has nationwide jurisdiction dealing with appeals from:

    • Court of international trade

    • Court of federal claims

    • Court of appeals for veterans claims

    • 94 district courts if the case appealed involves copyright or patent issues