INTRODUCTION TO THE FEDERAL COURTS



INTRODUCTION TO THE FEDERAL COURTS

I. Types of Law

A. Statutory: deals w/written statutes (laws)

Common

1. Based upon a system of unwritten law

2. Unwritten laws are based upon precedents

3. Judges rely upon the principle of stare decisis (“let the decision stand”), i.e., the rule according to precedents

4. This is the basic system of law in Great Britain

Criminal: concerns violations of the criminal code, i.e., violations against society

Civil: concerns disputes between two parties rather than violations against society

1. Examples: breach of contract, slander, medical malpractice

2. Writ of mandamus: court order for one party to perform a certain act

3. Injunction: court order that forbids a party to perform a certain act

4. A class action lawsuit involves a suit brought by a group of people who share a common grievance

II. Judicial power is passive. Courts cannot reach out and “take” cases. Cases must come to them

III. Only those with standing may challenge a law or govt. action, i.e. only one who has sustained or is near sustaining an “injury” may bring a case to court. One cannot challenge a law simply because one does not happen to like it.

IV. Judicial Law Making

A. Judges, contrary to what some may think, are not simply impartial referees who only carry out the law. Judges interpret the law, and in so doing in fact make law. It is necessary that they make law because:

1. Statutes are often broadly-worded, unclear, or contradictory

2. The Constitution is certainly broad-worded, and requires interpretation

3. Thus, interpretations of statutes and the Constitution is, in effect, making law:

a) “The Supreme Court is the Constitution.” (Justice Felix Frankfurter)

b) “The Supreme Court is a constitutional convention in continuous session” (Woodrow Wilson)

B. Evidence of judicial law-making

1. Courts have ruled >1000 state laws unconstitutional

2. Courts have ruled >120 federal laws as being unconstitutional

3. The Supreme Court has reversed itself >140 times since 1810

4. Courts, since the 1960s, increasingly seem willing to rule on political questions rather than solely on legislative or constitutional questions (e.g. Baker v. Carr, Wesberry v. Sanders, Shaw v. Reno)

5. Types of remedies courts now impose go beyond what courts have imposed in the past:

a) In the past, remedies were straight-forward: the loser “paid” the winner in one way or another

b) Now, remedies often apply to large groups and can affect large numbers of people, e.g.:

1) A federal judge heard a case brought by a prison inmate regarding bad prison conditions. The judge did not merely improve that person’s condition, or even the prison’s overall conditions, but instead ordered the revamping of an entire state prison system at a cost to the state of $40 million

2) A federal judge heard a case involving the denial of welfare benefits to an individual. The judge not only ordered that he receive the benefits, but that an additional 100,000 other people receive them as well.

3) Class action suits contribute to this trend

V. Jurisdiction: 4 types:

A. Exclusive: sole authority of a federal court to try a case

B. Concurrent: authority of both a federal and a state court to try a case

C. Original: authority of a court to first try a case

D. Appellate: authority of a court to hear a subsequent appeal.

VI. Jurisdiction of federal courts. Federal courts may try a case if it involves:

A. The Constitution, a federal law, or a treaty

B. Admiralty law or maritime law

C. Disputes between two or more states

D. The US Govt. as a party

E. Citizens of different states

F. Ambassadors or diplomats

G. A state as a party

VII. Dual system of courts: In our federal system, we have both federal and state courts. We will confine our discussion to federal courts.

VIII. Structure of the federal court system. Two types of federal courts.

A. Article I (legislative, or special) courts

1. Created to carry out the enumerated powers of Congress

2. Judges in these hold fixed, not life, terms of office

3. Examples of these courts:

a) Claims Court: hears lawsuits against the federal government

b) Court of Military Appeals

c) District of Columbia Courts

B. Article III (constitutional) courts

1. Article III of the Constitution deals with the judiciary, and creates a Supreme Court while also giving Congress the power to create “inferior” (lower) courts. These three levels of courts form the main basis of our federal court system.

2. Judges in these courts hold life terms. BE SURE THAT YOU UNDERSTAND ALEXANDER HAMILTON’S RATIONALE FOR THIS IN FEDERALIST #78.

3. The three levels of constitutional courts:

a). District Courts:

1) handle 90% of all federal cases

2) 91 such courts, ~610 judges

3) cases are tried by a judge and jury

4) use grand juries to issue indictments (orders that charge an individual with a crime. Does not mean that one is guilty; it merely means that one will be tried)

5) a petit (trial) jury decides the outcome of a case

6) use magistrates, who issue warrants, hold preliminary hearings, and set bail

7) jurisdiction: original

8) may try civil, criminal, or constitutional cases

9) decisions may be appealed to Courts of Appeals

10) Recent problems of high turnover among judges

b) Courts of Appeals (Circuit Courts)

1) are 12 of these, spread out in 12 districts, or “circuits”

2) 156 judges try > 18,000 cases per year

3) Cases tried by a panel of three judges, except all judges of a Circuit Court hear a case “en banc”

4) Jurisdiction: appellate. Hear appeals from District Courts and regulatory commissions

5) Decisions may be appealed to the Supreme Court.

d) Supreme Court: covered later

Federal Attorney and Judges

I. Federal Attorneys

A. Attorney General

1. Appointed by the President with Senate consent

2. Head of Justice Dept.

B. Solicitor General

1. Appointed by the President with Senate consent

2. Represent the US government in Supreme Court

3. Decides which cases the federal govt. will appeal to the SC

4. Decides the federal govt’s position in these cases

C. US Attorneys

1. At least one for each district court, 94 in all

2. Heads a staff of Assistant US Attorneys

3. Prosecutes federal cases before the District Courts and Courts of Appeals; though most cases are settled by plea-bargaining

4. Represents US govt. in civil cases before these same courts

5. Appointed by the President for 4-year terms

D. Assistant US Attorneys: appointed by the Attorney General to assist US Attorneys.

II. Federal Judges

A. Appointed by President w/Senate consent

B. Article III states that they shall hold their offices “during good behavior” (i.e. for life) they can, however, be impeached and removed by Congress (very rare—only a handful of removal in >200 years)

C. Compensation: determined by Congress, though compensation cannot be lowered during judges’ term of office. 2000 salaries:

District Court: $141,000

Courts of Appeals: $144,900

Supreme Court: $177,600 (Chief Justice: 180,200)

D. Factors affecting selection of federal judges:

1. Senatorial courtesy: when appointing District Court, the President must consult with the two Senators from the state in which they are to be appointed

2. Senate Judiciary Committee:

a. Screens the nominees, and sends a recommendation to Senate floor for approval or rejection

b. In recent years, has given more scrutiny to appointments, particularly those at the Supreme court level (e.g. Bork hearings, Thomas “high-tech” lynching)

c. The committee has held up confirmation of many of Clinton’s lower court judges for months, and even years (44 months in one case) This trend now seems to be continuing with a Democratic majority and President Bush

3. Senate: Majority vote needed for confirmation. Has refused to act upon, or has rejected~21% of Supreme Court nominees this century.

4. Political parties: judges are generally from the same political party as the President

5. Race:

a. Mostly White

b. Carter appointed more minorities than all previous presidents

c. “Black seat” on the SC was established by Thurgood Marshall--> Clarence Thomas

6. Sex:

a. mostly male

b. Carter appointed more women than all the previous presidents combined.

c. “Women’s seat” established by Sandra Day O’Connor; Ruth Bader Ginsberg also has a seat on the SC

7. Age: Since judges have lifetime appointments, judges may live on long after the Presidents who appointed them die.

8. Ideology of prospective judges

a. presidents generally try to appoint people of similar philosophy

b. This is difficult to ensure however:

1) Predicting the future behavior on part of the judges is at best an imperfect science

2) New issues may arise which the President could not have possibly considered

3) Since judges have life terms, Presidents can do nothing about decisions they do not like

4) Approximately 25% of Supreme Court judges “stray” from the philosophy that had been anticipated by the Presidents who appointed them (e.g. Warren, Brennan, Souter)

c. ideology also can affect the decision of a judge to retire, e.g. a judge may want to delay retiring until there is a President with a more favorable philosophy

9. American Bar Association evaluates nominees

10. Existence of a “paper trail,” e.g., with Robert Bork. If a prospective judge has written extensively, his writings may be used against him during confirmation hearings. Bush, for example, did not want to undergo a confirmation hearing battle with a nominee who had an extensive paper trail, so he played it safe by nominating David Souter, who was such an unknown that he was dubbed the “stealth candidate”

11. Number of judges: Congress can increase or decrease the number of courts and judges. If it has a President of the same party, it would be more likely to increase the number than if it has a President of the opposing party. If it had a VERY undesirable President, it could reduce the number of judges by not allowing vacancies to be filled by judges who had retired or died.

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