Transcript The Bureaucracy and the Courtsx

The Bureaucracy and the Courts
What is a Bureaucracy?
• A bureaucracy is defined as the complex
structure of offices, tasks, rules, and principles
of organization that are employed by all largescale institutions to coordinate the work of
their personnel.
• The origin of bureaucracies in the United
States comes from Congress when it passes
laws creating bureaus and appropriating its
funding as well.
The Major Role of Bureaucracies
• The major role of bureaucracies are the
following:
• Enforcing laws passed by Congress
• Issuing bureaucratic rules of organization and
management
• Promoting the public welfare. The bureaucracy
promotes the public’s welfare by enhancing or
protecting the general well being. These agencies
provide services, build infrastructure, and enact
regulations designed to enhance the well being of
the vast majority of citizens.
The Federal Reserve
• The Federal Reserve System, a system of
twelve banks that facilitates cash exchange,
checks, and credit; regulates member banks;
and uses monetary policies to fight inflation
and deflation. It has authority over the
interest rates and lending activities of the
nations’ most important banks.
The Size of the Federal Workforce
• The size of the federal service has actually
declined over the past two and a half decades.
The number of civilian federal employees was
approximately 2.7 million in 2008, compared
to 3.0 million in 1968. In fact, the proportion
of the U.S. workforce that works for the
federal government has not risen in over fifty
years.
Department of Homeland Security
• In the wake of 9/11, the federal government
also created the Department of Homeland
Security, signaling the high priority domestic
security has. Since 2002, DHS joined DOJ in
domestic security efforts.
• Prior to 9/11, most national security efforts
went into prosecuting federal crimes, and the
Department of Justice was charged with this
task.
The U.S. Mint
• The United States Mint primarily produces
circulating coinage for the United States to
conduct its trade and commerce. The Mint
was created by Congress with the Coinage Act
of 1792, and originally placed within the
Department of State.
Jurisdiction
• Definition of Jurisdiction: Jurisdiction is generally the sphere
of a court’s power and authority. Article III of the
Constitution gives the Supreme Court two types of
jurisdiction
• 1. Original jurisdiction is all cases involving foreign
ambassadors and issues in which a state is one of the parties
involved. It is defined as the authority to consider a case
initially, as distinguished from appellate jurisdiction, the
authority to hear appeals from a lower court’s decision.
• 2. Appellate jurisdiction in all federal cases and in cases
originating in state courts that raise a federal question. For
example, an appellant may assert that due process of law (the
right of every citizen against arbitrary action by national or
state government, for example, the right to counsel) was
denied.
Federal Jurisdiction
• Federal Trial Courts: Courts of original jurisdiction are the
courts that are responsible for discovering the facts in a
controversy and creating the record on which judgment is
based. Although the Constitution gives the Supreme Court
original jurisdiction in several types of cases, such as those
affecting ambassadors, most original jurisdiction goes to the
federal district (trial) courts. Lower federal courts include the
ninety four district courts.
• Federal Court of Appeals. In courts that have appellate
jurisdiction, judges receive cases after the factual record is
established. Ordinarily, new facts be presented before
appellate courts. The United States is divided into eleven
multistate circuits with a separate circuit for the District of
Columbia.
The Supreme Court
• This is America’s highest court. Article III of the
Constitution vests the “judicial power of the United
States” in the Supreme Court. The Court is made
up of a chief justice (Supreme Court justice who
presides over the Court’s public session) and eight
associate justices. Congress has the authority to
change the size of the Supreme Court. The
Supreme Court is the only federal court established
by the Constitution. The lower federal courts were
created by statute. Congress can restructure or,
presumably, even abolish them.
The Supreme Court in Action
• The Supreme Court controls the number of cases it
reviews with its appellate jurisdiction. Its original
jurisdiction includes the following:
• • Cases between the United States and one of the
fifty states
• • Cases between two or more states
• • Cases involving foreign ambassadors or other
ministers
• • Cases brought by one state against citizens of
another state or against a foreign country
Landmark U.S. Supreme Court
Decisions
• 1954 - Brown v. Board of Education - This decision overturned Plessy v.
Ferguson and granted equal protection under the law.
• 1963 - Gideon v. Wainwright - This decision guarantees the right to counsel.
• 1964 - New York Times v. Sullivan - This decision upheld the First
Amendment rights of freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
• 1966 - Miranda v. Arizona - The decision established the rights of suspects
against self-incrimination.
• 1973 - Roe v. Wade - This decision the right to privacy extends to include a
woman's right to choose pregnancy or abortion.
• 2000 – Bush v. Gore – This decision stopped the vote recount in Florida,
thus George W. Bush won the Electoral College vote.
• 2008 - District of Columbia v. Heller - The Second Amendment does protect
the individual's right to bear arms, 5-4 for Heller.
• 2010 - Citizens United v. FEC - The Court rules corporations can contribute
to PACs under the First Amendment's right to free speech, 5-4 for Citizens
United.
• 2015 – Obergfell vs. Hodges – Declared same sex marriage bans in several
states unconstitutional because those bans violated the 14th Amendment.
How Judges Are Appointed
• Federal judges are appointed by the president and confirmed
by the Senate. Nominees are generally selected from among
the more politically active members of the legal profession.
• Often, before the president makes a formal nomination,
senatorial courtesy (the practice whereby the president,
before formally nominate a person for a federal judgeship,
seeks an indication that senators from the candidate’s own
state support the nomination) is observed.
• There are no formal qualifications for service as a federal
judge. In general, presidents appoint judges with legal
experience and of good character, who have ideological and
partisan views similar to the president’s.
Judicial Nomination Process
• Once the president formally nominates an
individual, the nominee must be considered by the
Senate Judiciary Committee and confirmed by a
majority vote in the full Senate. In recent years,
Supreme Court nominations have involved intense
partisan struggles. Typically, after the presidential
nomination, interest groups opposing the
nomination mobilize the media, public, and Senate
against it.