Courts: Judicial System

Independent Judiciary

  • Independent Judiciary means courts are independent/shielded from politics → they are independent from the other branches

    • ie house can not influence the judicial courts

  • make tough decisions without risking jobs

How the Constitution Ensures Independent Judiciary

  1. judges are appointed, not elected

  2. appointed for life (with good behavior) they either resign or die

  3. Guarantee of no reduction of salary

    1. congress controls the purse strings but cannot reduce a judge’s salary

    2. this is so they cannot threaten to offer more for a judge to vote a certain way

Justices on the Supreme Court

  • nominated by the president and confirmed by the senate

  • all but one graduated from Yale or Harvard

  • 8/9 were judges before becoming a justice

    • Elana Kagen was dean of Harvard law school

  • 8 are Christians

    • Elana Kagen is Jewish

  • 4 women

    • only ever 6, so the current women are 4 out of 6 justices ever

    • Sandra Day OConnor 1st woman justice

    • Ruth BG 2nd

  • 3 are not white

    • Sonia Sotomayor is Latina

    • Ketanji Brown Jackson is Black

    • Clarence Thomas is Black

  • 6/9 were appointed by Republicans

    • 3 of which Trump appointed (unusual)

Ideology

Appointed By

Last Name

Political Leaning

Republican

Thomas

Conservative

Republican

Roberts

Moderate (leans conservative)

Republican

Alito

Conservative

Democrat

Sotomayor

Liberal

Democrat

Kagan

Liberal

Republican

Kavanaugh

Conservative (leans moderate)

Democrat

Jackson

Liberal

Republican

Barrett

Conservative (leans moderate)

Republican

Gorsuch

Conservative

Idealogical Drift: when justices on the Supreme Court drift ideologically to the opposite ideology they were when appointed

  • i.e. not always the case that being appointed by Republican will make a judge conservative because of ideological drift.

  • conservative Justices tend to drift left more than liberal justices drift right

  • A justice’s ideology will determine how they will vote more than their gender

Argument Types and Representation

Argument types

Normative: this is how things should be.

  • “Having a back Justice might not matter because black people should be able to look after white people”

Empirical: describes how things actually are

  • “maybe it doesn't matter whether or not women are on the court because looking at Roe vs Wade, there were 9 men looking after the interest of women.”

Representation

Descriptive: is there someone on the court who looks/thinks like me?

Substantive: even though no one on the court looks like me, are there people looking out for my interests?

Legitimacy

Legitimacy: when those who are being governed recognize the right of those who are governing to govern.

  • citizens recognizing that the Supreme Court has a right to make decisions

Federalist Paper # (??) addresses legitimacy: “When the govt makes a decision that the people don’t like, what can the govt do about it?”

  • Congress and spend money to enforce the decision

  • President has the brute power of the sword, commander of armed forces, aka force the people

  • courts reason and persuade people to accept it

    • people font like decisions but accept it because they acknowledge the court to make decisions → Legitimacy: recognize that the court has the authority to make decisions so we accept it (not storm the capital)

Bush vs Gore

  • came down to the state of Florida

  • Bush was ahead by 500 votes and Gore wanted a recount

    • had to hand count because of hanging chads

  • went to the Supreme Court, 5:4 depiction to not recount and so Bush won

  • people were mad at this decision but accepted it because the court had legitimacy

How does descriptive representation affect Legitimacy?

  • people who disagree with a decision might accept it more if they look like them

What if the court is not seen as legitimate?

  • Brown vs the Board of Education: separate is inherently unequal so schools can not be separated by race.

    • One governor called the National Guard to prevent Black people from going to school so the president intervened and told the guard to escort Ruby Bridges to school instead

Structure of the Courts

  • Supreme Court: The highest court in the federal judiciary, deals with both appellate and original(first-time case is heard in court) jurisdiction (power to review decisions and overrule them)

    • It has both original and appellate jurisdiction.

    • 9 justices, always en banc (except if conflict of interest or vacancy)

    • you have no right for them to hear your case unless you’re an ambassador or your petition is accepted

    • most cases are appellate

    • Petition for a writ of certiorari: (to hear your case in the Supreme Court)

    • If you do not like what happened in circuit court you can write this they will either grant or deny it

      • If at least 4 judges agree, they will grant your case and send out for all the related documents from lower courts

  • Circuit Courts: Also known as Courts of Appeals, intermediate federal courts hear appeals from district courts and some regulatory commissions.

    • Appellate court

    • 11 geographical circuits

    • 1 D.C. circuit

    • 1 federal circuit

      • 13 IN TOTAL

    • A panel of 3 Judges (Sometimes En Banc) “As a bench”

      • more than three, choose random judges to be on panels

      • if the panel cannot come to a decision when en banc is initiated

      • decided on Congress: Stationary Law

  • District Courts: The general trial courts of the federal court system where cases are initially filed and decided. Each state has at least one district court.

    • original jurisdiction

    • starting place

    • 94 districts

    • constitutional law guarantees that if you have grievances, you have the right to go to court → district

  • State Courts: Separate from the federal system, state courts handle the vast majority of legal disputes, including family law, criminal cases, and civil rights. Each state has its own court structure with trial courts, appellate courts, and a state Supreme Court.

  • Specialized Courts: Courts that focus on specific areas of law such as bankruptcy courts, tax courts, and family courts, both at the federal and state levels.

  • The Supreme Court serves as the ultimate authority on legal interpretations in the U.S.

  • Circuit Courts primarily deal with appeals, while District Courts oversee initial cases.

  • State Courts operate independently of federal courts and deal with a wide range of legal issues.

435 congressional districts

94 Judicial districts

13 Curuits

  • Wisconsin in 7th district with 2 judicial districts (western and eastern) Oshkosh in the eastern

Supreme Court Terms

Circuit Split: circuit disagreement on a topic, ie same-sex marriage

  • the best indicator of what Supreme Court will hear your case

  • state on the law for the nation

Supreme Court will hear 75-80 cases but about 8000 will petition (1% of cases get heard)

Jurisdiction(Jx): ability of a court to hear a case of a certain type

  • Original / Appellate-the ability of the court to hear a case for the first time / hear appeals

    • Supreme Court is rare that cases are original (ambassadors, Marine Time, etc)

  • Subject Matter Jx- the ability of a court to hear cases on a certain topic

    • ie traffic court, family issues

  • State / Federal Jx- state courts deal with state laws/issues and federal courts deal with federal laws/issues

    • General rule- federal courts only hear federal issues and state courts hear both

  • Diversity Jx- exists when parties from one state sue a party in another state.

    • exception for federal courts (federal state-to-state issues)

    • Federal courts could be interpreting state law

    • congress law said if you’re going to sue in diversity court, you have to sue for more than 75,000$

  • Stare Decisis (let the decision stand)- once a case has been decided it sets a precedent, and lower courts must oblige

  • Precedent (binding)- not going to be litigated over and over in lower courts, let the decision stand

  • Judicial Review- the power of the courts to declare other branches of govt as unconstitutional

    • not an enumerated power in the constitution (implied)

    • Marbury vs Madison: based on how Constitution is structured, it is implied that courts have the power of Judicial review

  • Opinion types

    • Majority Opinion: The official decision of the court that most justices agree on, setting a precedent for future cases.

    • Plurality Opinion: The opinion with the most support, but not more than half of the justices; it doesn't set a precedent.

    • Concurring Opinion: An opinion by a justice who agrees with the majority but for different reasons.

    • Dissenting Opinion: An opinion by justices who disagree with the majority; it shows alternative viewpoints.

    • Per Curiam Opinion: An opinion by the whole court, not signed by any justice; usually addresses simple issues.

  • Judicial restraint- a philosophy where judges avoid creating policies and stick to interpreting laws. They believe making laws is the job of elected officials, not the courts.

    • only job is to interpret laws

  • Judicial Activism- occurs when courts get involved in policy-making, stepping beyond their traditional role of interpreting laws. This approach contrasts with Judicial Restraint