Unit 5 - All Lessons/Notes

The National Judiciary

Creation of a National Judiciary

• During the Articles of Confederation, there was no national court system

• Disputes were settled on a state-wide basis rather than a nation-wide basis

Two Kinds of Federal Courts

• Supreme Court created by the Constitution

• Inferior Courts - Lower courts beneath the Supreme Court, created by Congress

  • Any federal court other than the Supreme Court

Federal Court Jurisdiction

• Jurisdiction - The authority of a court to hear a case

• Jurisdiction is decided either because of the subject matter or the parties involved

• All cases not heard by the federal courts are within the jurisdiction of state courts

Exclusive and Concurrent Jurisdiction

• Exclusive Jurisdiction - Cases can only be heard in federal courts

• Ex.

  • Federal crimes, patent or copyright infringement, case involving an act of Congress

• Concurrent Jurisdiction - Federal and state courts share the power to hear these cases

• Plaintiff - The person who files the suit

  • Lawsuit - Person

  • Criminal Court - State

• Defendant - The person whom the complaint is against

Original and Appellate Jurisdiction

• Original Jurisdiction - Given to the court who first hears the case

• Appellate Jurisdiction - Given to a court that hears a case on appeal from a lower court

• District Courts have original jurisdiction

• Appellate courts have appellate jurisdiction

• The Supreme Court has both

Appointment of Judge

• The Constitution provides that the President appoints and the Senate confirms Supreme Court Justices

• Congress approves this procedure for all other federal judges

• Most judges have a legal and political background

• Presidents tend to pick judges from their own party

• Judicial Restraint - Judges should decide cases on the basis of the original intent of the Constitution or author of the legislation or precedent

  • Often used by Conservative judges

Judicial Activism

• Judicial Activism - Judges should act more boldly; case should be interpreted with changes in conditions, values, and politics

  • Often used by Liberal judges

• Decisions are made with the spirit of the times

Terms and Pay of Judges

• Judges are in office until they resign, retire, or die in office

• Can only be removed through impeachment

• 13 have been impeached, 7 removed

• Judges of the special courts serve 15 year terms

• Chief Justice - $223,500

• Associate Justice - $213,900

• Other Federal Judges - $174,000

• Federal judges are eligible for retirement after 10 years of service at age 70 or after 15 years of service at 65

• They retire with their full salary

Court Officers

• Includes clerks, deputy clerks, bailiffs (function as security), stenographers (create transcript of proceeding), probation officers

• Magistrates, bankruptcy judges, US attorneys, US marshals

The Inferior Courts

Federal Judicial Courts

• The 50 states are divided into 94 federal judicial districts

• Each state has at least one district, some have more than one

• D.C., Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands have federal district courts

District Court Jurisdiction

• The district courts have original jurisdiction in most federal cases

• They hear criminal and civil cases

• Criminal Case - The defendant is tried for committing a federal crime

• Civil Case - Any non-criminal matter

• Most decisions are final, but there are a few appeals

• These are the only federal courts that impanel juries 

The Courts of Appeals

• Established in 1891

• Designed to relieve the Supreme Court

• Docket - List of cases to be heard

• 12 throughout the nation

Appellate Court Judges

• 179 total

• A Supreme Court Justice is assigned to each of the 12 circuits

• Usually have panels of three judges

• Sometimes the court sits en banc

• En Banc - With all the justices participating

The Supreme Court

Judicial Review

• The Supreme Court has judicial review

• Is given to any federal court

• Judicial Review - The power to decide the constitutionality of an act of government

• Not given in the Constitution

Terms

• A term lasts from the first Monday in October to sometime in June or July

How Cases Reach the Court

• Out of the thousands of cases that are appealed to the Supreme Court, only a few hundred are heard each year

• The Court uses the rule of four to decide whether or not hear cases

• Most cases reach the Supreme Court by writ of certiorari

• Writ of Certiorari - Latin, meaning to be made more certain, an order by the Court directing a lower court to send up the record in a given case for review

• Some cases reach the Court by certificate

• Certificate - When the Supreme Court certifies an answer to a lower court’s question in a matter

1. Briefs

• Briefs are written documents filed with the Court before oral arguments begin

• Amicus briefs are filed by those who have a substantial interest in the outcome of a case

• Solicitor general represents the US in the Supreme Court, and can appear in other federal or state courts

• Also decides what cases the Supreme Court should review and what position the US should take

2. Oral Arguments

• Once a case is accepted, the Court sets a date to hear the case

• The justices hear oral arguments for several cases for two weeks

• They then take a two-week recess to consider the cases

• After the justices express their opinion, they debate the case

3. Opinions

• Majority Opinion - the Opinion of the Court; it announces the decision and the reasoning behind the decision

• Concurring Opinion - Written by a justice who agrees with the decision reached by the Court in a case, but not with the reasons why the Court made that decision

• Dissenting Opinion - Written by justices who disagree with the Court’s majority decision

• Precedents - Examples to be followed in similar cases in lower courts

  • Stare Decisis = Precedent

Current Supreme Court Justices in Chronological Order and Who Appointed Them

Clarence Thomas

• Joined: 10/23/1991

• Chosen by George HW Bush

• Born 1948

John Roberts

• Joined: 9/29/2005

• Chosen by George W Bush

• Chief Justice

• Born: 1955

Samuel Alito

• Joined: 1/31/2006

• Chosen by George W Bush

• Born: 1950

Sonia Sotomayor

• Joined: 8/8/2009

• Chosen by Barack Obama

• Born: 1954

Elena Kagan

• Joined: 8/7/2010

• Chosen by Barack Obama

• Born: 1960

Neil Gorsuch

• Joined: 4/10/2017

• Chosen by Donald Trump

• Born: 1967

Brett Kavanaugh

• Joined: 10/6/2018

• Chosen by Donald Trump

• Born: 1965

Amy Coney Barrett

• Joined: 10/27/2020

• Chosen by Donald Trump

• Born: 1972

Ketanji Brown Jackson

• Joined: 6/30/2022

• Chosen by Joe Biden

• Born: 1970

The Unalienable Rights

A Commitment to Freedom

• Civil Liberties - protections against government

  • Includes: freedom of religion, freedom of speech and press, guarantee of fair trial

• Civil Rights - Positive acts of government that seek to make constitutional guarantees a reality for all people

  • Includes: prohibitions of discrimination based on race, sex, religious belief or national origin

Rights are Relative, Not Absolute

• You do not have the right to do as you please

• You can do as you please as long as you don’t infringe upon the rights of others

When Rights Conflict

• Some rights can conflict with others

  • Examples: Right to a fair trial, freedom of the press

• Sheppard v. Maxwell, 1966

Due Process of Law

The Meaning of Due Process

• Due Process - The government must act fairly and in accord with established rules

• Found in the 5th Amendment and the 14th Amendment

• Substantive Due Process - The policies of governmental action

• Procedural Due Process - The procedures of governmental action

The Police Power

• Police Power - The authority of each State to act to protect and promote the public, health, safety, morals, and general welfare

• The courts have found a balance between police power and civil rights

• Drunk driving

Federal Civil Rights Laws

The Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Longest debated bill in the Senate’s history

  • 83 days

  • Cloture had to be invoked

• Besides voting rights, it also required:

  • No segregation

  • No discrimination in federal funding

  • No discrimination in hiring

The Voting Rights Act of 1965

The Civil Rights Act of 1968

• Those who are selling or renting a house cannot discriminate on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, or whether or not a family has children

Important Amendments

• 13 - No slavery

• 14 - Citizenship

• 15 - Right to vote

• 19 - Women

• 24 - No poll taxes

Affirmative Action

• Affirmative Action - Policy that requires that most employers take positive steps to remedy the effects of past discrimination

• Applies to any entity that is associated with the federal government

• Quotas - Rules requiring certain numbers of jobs or promotions for members of certain groups

The Bakke Case

• Allan Bakke sued the University of California because he had been denied admission to its medical school since there were not enough spaces left for white males

• The school had set aside 16 seats for minorities and some of these seats were still open

• Bakke won and was admitted with a 5-4 majority decision

National Organization for Women (NOW)

• Led women’s rights movement in the 1960’s and 1970’s

Equal Pay Act of 1963

• Requires equal pay for equal work; banns wage discrimination on the basis of sex

Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972

• Prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federal funded education program

Interpretations of the Equal Protection Clause

Colorblind Constitution

• The Equal Protection clause ban any policy that makes racial distinctions, even if they are intended to help minorities

Race Conscious

• The Equal Protection clause only bans policies designed to harm, not help minorities