Name: ______

Unit 5: The Judicial Branch

Chapter 18: The Federal Court System

Section 1: The National Judiciary (p. 461-466)

Terms to know:

  1. Jurisdiction ______
  2. Original Jurisdiction ______
  3. Appellate Jurisdiction ______
  4. Exclusive Jurisdiction ______
  5. Concurrent Jurisdiction ______
  1. The Creation of a National Judiciary
  1. Constitution
  1. “The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish”
  1. A Dual Court System
  1. National Courts (federal courts)
  2. State Courts (county, city, municipal)
  1. Two Kinds of Federal Courts
  1. Constitutional Courts
  1. Federal courts that Congress has formed to exercise “the judicial power of the United States”
  2. Supreme Court, Courts of Appeals, district courts, and the Court of International Trade
  1. Special Courts
  1. Created by Congress to hear cases arising out of some of the expressed powers given to Congress
  2. “Legislative courts”
  3. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, the Court of Veterans Appeals, the Claims Court, the Tax Court, the various territorial courts, and the courts of the District of Columbia
  1. Jurisdiction in the Federal Courts
  1. Jurisdiction
  1. The authority of a court to hear and decide a case
  1. Subject Matter

Federal courts may hear a case if it deals with:

  1. The interpretation and application of a provision in the Constitution or in any federal statute or treaty
  2. A question of admiralty (matters that arise on the high seas or navigable waters of the U.S.) or a question of maritime law (matters arising on land but directly relating to the water)
  1. Parties

Federal courts may hear a case if it deals with:

  1. The United States or one of its officers or agencies
  2. An ambassador, consul, or other official representative of a foreign government
  3. A State suing another State, or a citizen of another State, or a foreign government or one of its subjects
  4. A citizen of one State suing a citizen of another state
  5. An American citizen suing a foreign government or one of its subjects
  6. A citizen of one State suing a citizen of that same State where both claim land under grants from different States
  1. Exclusive and Concurrent Jurisdiction
  1. Exclusive Jurisdiction
  1. Those cases can be heard only in the federal courts
  1. Concurrent Jurisdiction
  1. The federal and State courts share the power to hear cases
  2. Disputes involving citizens of different States are an example
  1. Congress has provided that the federal district courts may hear cases in diverse citizenship only if the amount of money involved in a case is over $50,000
  1. Plantiff-the one who initiates the suit
  2. Defendant-the party who must defend against the complaint
  1. Original and Appellate Jurisdiction
  1. Original Jurisdiction
  1. A court in which a case is heard first has original jurisdiction
  2. District Courts
  1. Appellate jurisdiction
  1. A court that hears a case on appeal from a lower court
  2. Appeals Court
  3. Supreme Court exercises both
  1. Appointment of Judges
  1. President
  1. “shall nominate, and, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint...the judges of the Supreme Court”
  2. Federal judges as well
  3. Appointees to the Supreme Court will serve many years, so Presidents look for justices who share his political ideology
  1. Terms and Pay of Judges
  1. Terms
  1. The judges of the constitutional courts are appointed for ______(until they resign, retire, or die)
  2. May be removed through the impeachment process
  3. Why appointed for life? ______
  4. Some federal judges serve 15, 12, 10, or 4 year terms (p. 465)
  1. Pay
  1. Set by Congress
  2. Cannot be diminished while they are in office
  3. Supreme Court $______(p. 478 for others)
  4. May retire at age ___ and, if they have served at least ___ years, receive their yearly salary for the rest of their lives (or at 65 and 15 years of service)
  1. Court Officers
  1. United States magistrate
  1. An officer of the court who handles a number of legal matters once dealt with by the judges themselves
  2. One in each of the 91 federal district courts
  1. Bankruptcy Judge
  2. United States Attorney
  1. Responsible for the prosecution of ______
  1. United States Marshal
  1. Duties like a county sheriff