Government

1. Government Judicial Branch

2. Judicial Branch Section 1

3. Common Law Tradition • Common Law: judge made law that originated in England. Decisions were based on customs and the decisions eventually became common to the nation. • Today courts use precedents: court ruling based on how past courts ruled on similar cases. • Based on the idea of Stare Decisis which means to stand on decided cases.

4. Sources of American Law • Constitutions: We have federal and state constitutions that tells the people and government what they can and cannot do. • Statues: laws passed by legislatures that define the rights of individuals. • Case Law: the rules and principles announced in court decisions.

5. Court System • In the United States, we have dual court system. This means we have federal courts and state level courts. • There are two kinds of federal courts: • Constitutional Courts: federal courts formed under Article III of the Constitution. Include the Supreme Court, courts of appeals, the district courts, and the Court of International Trade. • Special Courts: Created by Congress to hear specific types of cases. Include Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, Claims Court, Tax Court.

6. Jurisdiction in the Federal Courts • Jurisdiction: the authority of a court to hear and decide a case. • Article III Section 2 provides that the federal courts may hear a case either because of the subject matter or the parties involved in the case. (Look in Book) • Other types of jurisdiction: • Exclusive • Concurrent • Original • Appellate

7. Appointment of Judges • The president nominates federal judges and the Senate has to approve the nomination. • Although judges are not supposed to declare that they favor one political party over another, president’s often look to their political party to help nominate judges. • A Republican will want a conservative judge while a Democrat will want a more liberal judge.

8. Terms and Pay of Judges • The judges of the constitutional courts are appointed for life or until they retire, resign, or die. • They can be removed only through an impeachment process. • There are a few federal judges who do have term limit (Claims Court, Tax Court) • Congress sets the salary for federal judges.

9. Judicial Branch Section 2

10. Supreme Court • The Supreme Court is the only court specifically created in the Constitution. • The Supreme Court is made up of one Chief Justice and eight associate justices. • The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land and stands as the court of last resort for all cases involving a federal question.

11. Judicial Review • One of the greatest powers that the Supreme Court has is the power of judicial review. • Judicial Review is the power of the Supreme Court to review the laws and actions made by the Legislative and Executive Branches and determine their constitutionality. • This is not spelled out in the Constitution, but the Supreme Court first used this power in the case Marbury v. Madison (1803) • In this case, Chief Justice John Marshall claimed that the Court had the right to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional.

12. Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court • The Supreme Court has both original and appellate jurisdiction. • The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction in two types of cases: • Those to which a State is party. • Those affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls. -All other cases are appealed to the Supreme Court.

13. How cases reach the Supreme Court • Most cases reach the Supreme Court by a writ of certiorari. • Writ of certiorari: an order issued by the Supreme Court to a lower court to send up the record of a case for review. • Once the records of a case are sent up for review, the Supreme Court uses the Rule of Four to decide if they want to hear the case before the full Court. • Rule of Four: Supreme Court procedure where four Supreme Court justices agree to hear the case before the entire Supreme Court.

14. Types of Decisions in the Supreme Court A decision made by the Supreme Court is called an opinion. There are four types of opinions the Supreme Court may offer: 1. Unanimous Opinion 2. Majority Opinion 3. Concurring Opinion: a separate opinion made by one of the justices telling why he specifically agrees with the Court. 4. Dissenting Opinion: a separate opinion made by one of the justices telling why he specially disagrees with the Court.

15. Supreme Court Justices • John Roberts (Chief Justice) • Elena Kagan • Antonin Scalia • Anthony Kennedy • Clarence Thomas • Ruth Bader Ginsburg • Stephen Breyer • Samuel Alito • Sonia Sotomayor