• Found in Article III

• Judges appointed by the President with

the consent of the Senate & serve for life
based on good behavior
• Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presides
over presidential impeachment trials

• Congress creates courts “inferior” to the

Supreme Court
• Criminal Law: The government charges an
individual with violating one or more
specific laws.

• Civil Law: The court resolves a

dispute between two parties and
defines the relationship between
them.
-- Most cases are tried & resolved in
state courts, not federal courts.
• Plaintiff-the party bringing the charge

• Defendant-the party being charged

• Jury-the people (normally 12) who

often decide the outcome of a case
• Standing to sue-plaintiffs have a
serious interest in the case

• Justiciable disputes-A case must

be capable of being settled as a
matter of law
• Groups>Use the courts to try
to change policies, and amicus
curiae briefs (aka “friends of
the courts”) are used to
influence the courts
• The first major organizational
act of Congress occurred in
1789 with the Judiciary Act
creating district courts.
• Federal District Courts
• Circuit Courts (courts of appeal)
• The Supreme Court
• Original Jurisdiction-courts that hear
the case first and determine the
facts (the trial court)
• Federal Crimes
• Civil suits under federal law and across
state lines
• Supervise bankruptcy and
naturalization
• Review some federal agencies
• Maritime law cases
• Appellate Jurisdiction:reviews the legal
issues in cases brought from lower courts
• Hold no trials and hear no testimony
• 13 circuit courts
• Focus on errors of procedure & law
• 9 justices (1 Chief Justice & 8 Associate
Justices)
• Supreme Court decides which cases it
will hear
• Some original jurisdiction, but mostly
appellate jurisdiction
• Most cases come from the federal
courts
• Most cases are civil cases
– Senatorial Courtesy:
• Unwritten tradition where a judge is
not confirmed if a senator from the
state where the nominee will serve
opposes the nomination.
• Has the effect of the president
approving the Senate’s choice
• The Supreme Court
– President relies on attorney general and DOJ
to screen candidates.
– 1 out of 5 nominees will not make it.
– Presidents with minority party support in the
Senate will have more trouble.
– Chief Justice can be chosen from a sitting
justice, or a new member.
• Characteristics:
– Generally white males
– Lawyers with judicial and often
political experience
• Other Factors:
– Generally of the same party as the
appointing president
– Judges and justices may disappoint
the appointing president
In 1987, President Reagan nominated Robert
H. Bork to fill a vacancy on the Supreme
Court. Bork testified before the Senate
Judiciary Committee for 23 hours. A wide
range of interest groups opposed the
nominee. In the end, following a bitter floor
debate, the Senate rejected the president’s
nomination by a vote of 42 to 58.
• Derived from the
Marbury v Madison
decision, it gives the
Supreme Court the
power to interpret
the Constitution and
specifically acts of
Congress, the
president, and the
states.
• Use the “rule of four” to choose cases.
• Very few cases are actually accepted each
year.
• Issues a writ of certiorari to call up the case.
– Oral arguments may be made in a case.
– Justices discuss the case.
– One justice will write the majority opinion (statement of legal
reasoning behind a judicial decision) on the case.
– Dissenting opinions
are written by
justices who oppose
the majority.
– Concurring opinions
are written in support
of the majority but
stress a different
legal basis.
– Stare decisis: to let the previous decision
stand unchanged.
– Precedents: How similar past cases were
decided.
– Original Intent: The idea that the
Constitution should be viewed according
to the original intent of the framers.
– Must rely on others to carry out decisions
– Implementing population: the people who
need to carry out the decision – may be
disagreement
– Consumer population: the people who are
affected (or could be) by the decision
 – Judicial restraint: judges
should play a minimal
policymaking role - leave the
policies to the legislative
branch.
– Judicial activism: judges
should make bold policy
decisions and even charting
new constitutional ground.
– Statutory construction: the
judicial interpretation of an
act of Congress.
• The John Marshall Court
• The Warren Burger Court
• The Earl Warren Court
• The William Rehnquist Court
• The John Roberts Court
• Longest-serving chief justice
• Marshall made that court a coequal
with the other branches
• Landmark Decisions:
– Marbury v. Madison 1803
– McCulloch v. Maryland 1819
– Gibbons v. Ogden 1824
Best known as an “activist court”
creating new precedent and
expanding the rights of the accused
“Almighty God, we acknowledge our
dependence upon Thee, and we beg
Thy blessing upon us, our parents,
our teachers and our Country.”

The court forbids non-

denominational prayer in public
schools, ruling that the
Constitution prohibits government
from “endorsing religion in
general.”
 The court ruled
that evidence
obtained by
unreasonable
search and
seizures must be
excluded from
trial.
Holding that a right to privacy is
implicit in the Constitution, the
Supreme Court, by a 7-2 vote,
struck down a state law that
prohibited the use of birth
control by married couples.
By a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court ruled
that truck driver Ernesto Miranda, who
confessed to abducting and raping an
18-year-old girl, should have been
informed by the police of his right to
remain silent and to consult with an
attorney.
• President Nixon name Burger chief justice
in 1969, hoping that Burger would lead the
Court in a more conservative direction
• Though Burger was known as a “strict
constructionist” he voted to expand civil
liberties
 • Reagan nominated Rehnquist as chief justice in
1986, hoping that he would be able to reverse many
of the activist decisions of the Warren Court
• Court became known as a court reflecting judicial
restraint, but struck down congressional acts that
it felt infringed on states’ rights
 By a vote of 7-2, the Court upheld provisions of a
Pennsylvania statute that required (1) physicians to
provide patients with anti-abortion information,
including pictures of fetuses at various stages of
development, to discourage women from obtaining
abortions; (2) a mandatory 24-hour delay following
these lectures; (3) the filing of reports, available for
public inspection and copying, including the name
and location of any facility performing abortions that
receives any state funds; and (4) a one-parent
consent requirement for minors with a judicial
bypass.
• Appointed by Bush in 2005 after
Rehnquist died