1 / 11

The American Judiciary

The American Judiciary. The Judicial Branch. The role of the judicial branch is to interpret the laws Three levels of courts: Federal district courts: courts of original jurisdiction : courts that hear cases for the first time

shiela
Download Presentation

The American Judiciary

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The American Judiciary

  2. The Judicial Branch • The role of the judicial branch is to interpret the laws • Three levels of courts: • Federal district courts: courts of original jurisdiction: courts that hear cases for the first time • Appellate Courts: courts of appellate jurisdiction: courts that have the power to review lower court decisions • The Supreme Court: the highest court in the U.S. and the court of last resort

  3. The Supreme Court • 9 justices: one chief justice and eight associate justices • Justices are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate • Justices serve for life and can only be removed by impeachment

  4. Judiciary Act of 1789 • The Judiciary Act of 1789 established the jurisdiction of the court • JURISDICTION: the defined area of a court’s responsibility

  5. How a Case Gets to the Court • First a case is tried in federal court • This is a district court • After the case is decided it may be appealed • The case is appealed to the appellate court • The appellate court may take the case or reject the case • If the case is taken, once it is decided it may be appealed • The final level is the U.S. Supreme Court • The Supreme Court may take or reject the case • Once the Supreme Court issues a ruling on a case it has taken for consideration, it is the final ruling

  6. Marbury vs. Madison, 1803 William Marbury James Madison

  7. Marbury vs. Madison • William Marbury was appointed to the federal courts by John Adams in 1801 • Adams was about to leave office, so he wanted to stack the court with supporters • The Secretary of State had to sign the commission • The commission was signed but wasn’t delivered • At midnight on March 4, 1801, Thomas Jefferson became president • The new Secretary of State, James Madison, refused to deliver the commission

  8. Marbury’s Problem • Chief Justice of the United States, John Marshall, was Thomas Jefferson’s cousin • Jefferson thought he had the case locked up and won… • …but to his horror…

  9. The Fateful Decision • In Marbury vs. Madison, the Supreme Court ruled: • Marbury was entitled to his commission • The Judiciary Act of 1789 was unconstitutional because Congress cannot define the role of the court • The Judicial Branch is an independent branch of government • The Supreme Court has the right to declare acts and laws of Congress unconstitutional: this is called the power of JUDICIAL REVIEW

  10. By the Way… • Judicial review is not in the United States Constitution…the Supreme Court’s biggest power was made up by John Marshall! • Please respond to the following question in your civics notebook: • Why do you think having an independent judiciary is important?

More Related