Transcript The U.S. Judicial Branch

THE U.S. JUDICIAL
BRANCH
United States District Court [high]
United States Court of Appeals [higher]
United States Supreme Court [highest]
Michael Quinones, NBCT
www.socialstudiesguy.com
APK: Activation of Prior Knowledge
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Write at least 2-3 sentences describing a time when…
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you
needed someone with more authority or experience than
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you
to help solve a problem that was unsolved by every other
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means.
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How do the Federal Courts of the
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Judicial Branch guarantee the rights
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of all Americans?
Question of the Day
Federal Judicial Branch
Highest
Higher
High
United States District Courts
United States Court of Appeals
U.S. District Court Judges are
appointed by the president and
confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
One judge serves in the court
Who room
serves on
U.S.
District
Courts?
Only federal court with a jury
If confirmed, they serve for life
unless they retire, die or are
impeached for committing
crimes.
U.S. Court of Appeals Court Judges are
appointed by the president and
confirmed by the U.S. Senate. 3-5
judges hear cases as a committee and a
majority vote decides the outcome.
Who
serves
on U.S.
Court of
Appeals?
When federal laws are broken such
as kidnapping, bank robbery the
What type
of are heard for the first time
cases
jurisdiction
in U.S. District Court.
and what
type of
cases?
This means that U.S. District
Courts have original jurisdiction
in all cases of federal laws being
violated.
What type
of
jurisdiction
and what
type of
cases?
This court does not have a jury
If confirmed, they serve for life unless
they retire, die or are impeached for
committing crimes.
A decision of a U.S. District Court may be
appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals.
This can happen if there is new
evidence, a legal mistake was made or
the U.S. District Court judge applied
the law incorrectly.
This means that U.S. Court of Appeals
has appellate jurisdiction because it
hear appeals of cases from lower
courts.
Judicial Review

The power to declare laws invalid or
unconstitutional.

Another way to say it is: Whenever a
person appeals a conviction or case they
lost in a lower court because he/she
believes his/her rights were violated
they can ask the Supreme Court to
overturn the lower court’s decision.

Based on what?

The Supreme Court’s interpretation of
the Constitution, the law, a lower court
decision or an action by a government
official was unconstitutional.

That means that somewhere in the
Constitution something goes against the
law or decision.
How cases get here and how decisions are reached?
 Organized process
 Someone files a request called a writ of Certiorari to the Supreme Court
requesting that it hear the case
 The case has almost always has had to have been heard in every state court and
the U.S. Court of Appeals with each decision going against them
 The Supreme Court does not grant most appeals for Certiorari.
 The Court only hears cases that have very important constitutional issues that
affect most or all citizens.
 Supreme Court is the only U.S. Court that chooses the cases it hears
Understanding Words
-Read each of the sentences on the left and right.
-Decide what each underlined word means.
-Write the underlined word in a sentence of your own.
Mr. Quinones has jurisdiction over the grades
of students in his class.
Kernersville police could not give a speeding
ticket to Ellen because Winston-Salem was
not within their jurisdiction.
Jeff and his parents believed the school
suspension of 10 days given by the principal
was unfair so they appealed the decision to
the superintendent.
A dissatisfied worker who had a
disagreement with a supervisor over salary
sought an appellate decision from the
supervisor’s boss.
There was a lot of dissent over whether to
paint the wall black or white.
The dissenting opinions in the class room
caused many arguments.
To avoid a problem with his boss the
employee decided to concur with
everything he was told to do.
Mary and Beth had a concurrent opinion
about how good looking Lamar was.
Lessons Questions: Copy and answer based on
the lesson
1.
Does the United States have a fair system of justice?
2.
List and describe the jobs of the three [3] federal
courts.
3.
What does jurisdiction mean? [Explain]
4.
What is stare decisis? [Explain]
5.
How does the Supreme Court select and decide
cases? [Explain using examples]
THE OPERATION OF THE
UNITED STATES SUPREME
COURT
How it works….
What is the Supreme Court?
 The highest court in the United
States.
 What does that mean?
 Final avenue of appeal for all
cases in the United States.
 The last highest and last court a
person can appeal his/her case
to seek a change to decision
from a lower court.
Types of Jurisdiction
 Original jurisdiction
 Authority to be first court to
hear a case [very rare for
Supreme Court]
 Appellate jurisdiction
 Authority to hear a case from a
lower court
 What has happened then?
 They reviewed a prior decision
HOW CASES GET HERE AND HOW DECISIONS ARE
REACHED?
If the Supreme Court agrees to hear the case…
It hears arguments from both sides [defendant
and plaintiff]
The judges [called justices] get to ask questions
to the lawyers
After arguments from both sides are complete
the justices think about all of the arguments
and vote
The majority wins [need at least 5 vote of the 9
justices].
The majority side writes an opinion explaining
decision based on precedents and the
Constitution [the minority writes one too]
Assignment: Creating hypothetical cases
Write 3 separate paragraphs. Each paragraph must
describe a court case in each of the federal courts [U.S.
District, U.S. Appeals and U.S. Supreme]
Be sure to include the following:
 Reason for case coming before the court [original or appellate
jurisdiction]
 Type of law, freedom or right that was violated or broken
 Decision of the court or jury; How case was decided and why
[You may use the same as it moves through all 3 federal courts]
A complete assignment will have three [3] separate
examples in paragraph form [one for each federal
court].
Sources
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http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/1004/101804usscjustices.jpg
http://www.tlpj.org/images/court7.jpg
http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0510/images/review-cover.jpg
http://www.edteck.com/rigor/lessons/images/decision.gif
http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/01/12/01_majority.gif
http://www.cookministries.com/events/sam_journal/resources/journal/opinion.jp
g
 http://www.ericksonpress.com/img/covers/400/RFHL_aborti
on_lres_resize.jpg
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http://www.elitepaintballguns.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/bt4-digi-camogun.jpg
 http://www.kimrichter.com/Blog/uploaded_images/Percy-791045.jpg