1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
|
The Supreme Court has the highest support of the American People
- Least visible
- Assumed to be nonpolitical and objective
- But they ARE political actors
Federalist 78
- Hamilton: "[the court] will always be the least dangerous to the
political rights of the Constitution."
- Since they have "no influence over the sword or the purse"
- Strictly dependent
- On the executive for enforcement
- And on legis for appropriations and rules
- Means it doesn't need to be elected/representative
- Independent protectors can be nominated for life
But it might not really be as weak/unpotent as Hamilton believed.
American Law based on English legal system
- Common Law: judge-made law based on customs and eventually precedent
- Stare decisis: stand on decided cases
- Establishes efficient and stable judgments
- Alternative: Code Law establishes judicial range, precedent irrelevant
Federal Court System
- based on "concurrent powers"
- a power that both states and feds have
- Article III Section 1
- designed to punish guilty parties
- fed courts are more punitive than states
- Do Federal Courts have authority?
- Involves a "federal question"
- Federal question: based in part or in whole on Constitution,
federal law, or international treaty
- Diversity of citizenship: parties in different states
- or sue citizen of another country, but having legal
standing in int'l courts is improbable
- $75,000 must be in contest
- Must also have "standing to sue"
- Real harm has to be committed
Selection of Federal Judges
- State courts have various methods: appoint, confirm, vote
- Federal courts are only appointed by the president
- Longlasting impact of presidents
- Ex: Byron White served under 8 presidents
- 2016/2020 are super important because justices are dying
- Trump winning might make 7-2 Repub majority for 20-30yrs
- Biden winning might mean 5-4 or 5-4 swing for dems.
- The court has become more strategic and political since FDR and in the
last 30 years.
- Bush administration packed the courts with very conservative nominees
to push the country in a conservative direction
- Obama administration did similar w/ liberal, progressive judges in
lower courts
- SC nominations have become less and less about cross-party vetting
in the Senate
- Political Party is a huge consideration, esp. in SC
- less important for lower courts
- Importance of Ideology
- presidential nominations are based on certain ideological issues
- Ex: Trump's main points are Roe v Wade and healthcare/individual
mandate
Three-tiered court model
- US District Courts
- 94 Districts
- Districts are distributed evenly on geographic population
- Minimum one per state
- First entry of civil/criminal case into court
- May see an appeal
- US Court of Appeals
- 13 Courts
- Panel of Judges
- Mostly organized as covering several US district courts
- Thirteenth circuit court covers ALL fed gov't cases
- Procedural "how was the law applied?" not about case evidence
- US Supreme Court
- 9 justices with lifetime appointments
- Many appelate cases are appealed, but SC chooses which cases
it will hear.
- It hears both "original" (first) and appellate cases (from US
circuit court)
- More typical style trial than appellate court
- Lawyers have to be certified to argue cases in front of SC
- Consider how the cases fit into larger picture of US
constitutionalism, legal system
- SC has limited time Oct--June
US Supreme Court
- Why would the Supreme Court select a case?
1 Lower courts disagree
2 Ruling conflict: appellate or district court conflicts w/ existing
SC doctrine
3 "Broad Significant:" broad implications of a case's precedent
Not a guarantee---sometimes SC lets district/appeals have juris
4 Substantial federal question: taking over jurisdiction from a
state court ruling over fed legislation or constitution
5 Laws invalid (federal): e.g. SC of Georgia invalidates federal law
Almost guaranteed
6 Acts of Congress: unconstitutional laws
Requires a case to go through the fed court system still
7 Solicitor General can demand the SC immediately review case
Speeds up and lowers threshold to SC
"Rule of four": four justices can choose to see
Supreme Court decisions
- Decisions are made on "Points of Law" not facts
- The final decision is backed by Majority Opinion
- Dissenting Opinions describe why justices ruled against majority
- Name conditions for a basis of a Reversal
Policymaking
- "Judicial Review": review Congressional policies on Constitutional
bases
- Judicial Activism
- Use power to direct policy toward a desired goal
- Broad view of Constitution
- Judicial Restraint
- Rarely use power of judicial review
- Limit judicial action in political process
- Since WW2, the SC has tended to be Active
O'Brien's "The Court in American Life"
- The Court reflects (imperfectly) the political culture
- Political cycles: people are a bit left-of-center now
- Public opinion
- Brown v. Board of Education
- Political cycle realized that "separate but equal" didn't work
- Delayed decision, deadlines allowed for a shift in public opinion
- Because it wouldn't have been implemented earlier
- Argues the Court is aware of its legitimacy and likelihood of
compliance
- The Court "sparks" action
What checks our courts
- The courts are more powerful than the Founders thought
- Executive Checks
- Judicial Implementation: executive enforces court decisions
- Power of Appointment - political presidents/executives can
(slowly) affect the Supreme and lower courts, making the Court a
bit political too
- Legislative checks
- New bills and Amendments
- like court packing
- Public Check
- Because Supreme Court can't do anything without support, the Court
needs to maintain its legitimacy with the people
- but people don't pay attention to it
|
