Judicary

• oral argument - Spoken presentations made in person by the lawyers of each party to a judge or an appellate court outlining the legal reasons their side should prevail.

  
  

  majority opinion - a court ruling on which more than half of the members agree.

  
  

  concurring opinion - an opinion of the court that agrees with the majority decision, but  feels passionately about one specific part (can disagree.)

  
  

  dissenting opinion - an opinion of the court that disagrees with the majority decision in a case. 
• writ of certiorari - The most common way for a case to reach the Supreme Court, in which at least four of the nine justices agree to hear a case that has reached them via an appeal from the losing party in a lower court’s ruling.

  • Order by which a higher court reviews a decision of a lower court 
  • Lawyers file peition to get certiorari 
  • SCOTUS grants certiorari and decides to review a case
  • Certiorari is denied when the case case isn’t picked up 
• Appellate Jurisdiction - The authority of a court to hear appeals from lower courts and change or uphold the decision.

  
  

  Also:

  • Must be brought to them
  • Must involve a federal question

  Appellate jurisdiction - over cases involving violation of federal laws or treaties (hears appeals from the district courts)
• US District Court

  Original jurisdiction - in cases involving violation of federal laws or treaties

  Original Jurisdiction - The authority of a court to handle a case first, as in the Supreme Court’s authority to initially hear disputes between two states. However, original jurisdiction for the Supreme Court is not exclusive; it may assign such a case to a lower court.
• US Supreme Court

  • Original jurisdiction - in disputes between states
  • Original jurisdiction in cases involving ambassadors & foreign nations
  • Appellate jurisdiction hears appeals from US court of appeals & highest state courts
  • Interprets laws
  • Determines constitutionally of acts of other branches of government 
• MD District Court

  Non-jury trials

  • Original jurisdiction in most minor civil cases and misdemeanors
  • Original jurisdiction over mostly traffic
• MD Circuit Court

  Jury Trials 

  • Original jurisdiction in most civil & criminal felony cases
  • Appellate jurisdiction are all appeals from the district courts
• Criminal Law

  • Prosected by the government
  • Results in a fine, jail, or both
  • Rights of accused 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th amendment
  • Must be found guilty beyond reasonable doubt (100%)

  Civil Law

  • Dispute between 2 parties (Plaintiff/Defendant)
  • Usually involves: contract, family, negligence (torts)
  • Must show preponderance of evidence: more evidence favors the plaintiff than defendant
  • Guilty party pays damages
• Federal Cases

  Must involve US law or Constitution

  • Ambassadors
  • US Gov’t
  • States
  • Citizens of different states

  State Cases

  • Interprets and applies the laws of states
  • Most laws that affect our daily lives
• Enforcement

  • SCOTUS does not have enforcement power
  • Decisions are binding lower executive branch to uphold ruling
  • They rely on lower courts
  • The only way to change a SCOTUS decision is with a Constitutional amendment OR another SCOTUS decision
  • People who think SCOTUS decisions are not being implemented currently can sue or file a complaint with the Justice
• Strict Interpretation: using the literal meaning of Constitution

  
  

  Loose Interpretation: taking into account the evolving nation while interpreting the constitution instead of solely the text alone. 

  
  

  Judical Restraint: strict interpretation

  Judges should strictly follows the constitution; let the decisions of other branches of government stand

  
  

  Judical Activism: loose interpretation 

  follows a more loose interpretation that judges should use power to further justice in interpretating the law even if it overrules the elected executive and legislative branches of government.
• Constitutional Interpretation - The process of determining whether a piece of legislation or governmental action is supported by the Constitution.

   

  Statutory Interpretation - The various methods and tests used by the courts for determining the meaning of a law and applying it to specific situations. Congress may overturn the courts’ interpretation by writing a new law; thus, it also engages in statutory interpretation.
• How Courts Make Policy:

  • Sets or overturn precent 
  • Ablity to overrule with another SCOTUS decision
  • Courts may address issues that legislature are not addressing 
  • Courts do not have enforcement power they need support from the executive branch, states, lower courts and the Justice department
• Precedent -  Precent is the idea of prior decisions help guide future rulings regarding the same questions. It deserves special attention because it isnt always clear-cut

  
  

  Standing - Legitimate justification for bringing a civil case to court.

  
  

  Mootness - The irrelevance of a case by the time it is received by a federal court, causing the Court to decline to hear the case.
• attitudinalist approach - A way of understanding decisions of the Supreme Court based on the political ideologies of the justices.

  
  

  Class-action Lawsuit - A case brought by a group of individuals on behalf of themselves and others in the general public who are in similar circumstances.
• • Judiciary Act of 1789 The law in which Congress laid out the organization of the federal judiciary. The law refined and clarified federal court jurisdiction and set the original number of justices at six. It also created the Office of the Attorney General and established the lower federal courts.
• Executive checks on Judical:

  • Appoints federal judges 
  • Can grant pardons to federal offenders

  Legislative checks on Judical:

  • Creates lower federal courts
  • Can impeach and remove judges
  • Can propose amendments to overrule judicial decisions 
  • Approves appointments of federal judges
• Judical Checks on Executive:

  • Can declare executive actions unconstitutional 

  Judical Checks on Legislative:

  • Can declare acts of Congress unconstitutional 
• cert pool - A system initiated in the SC where law clerks screen cases that come to the SC and recommend to the justices which cases should be heard.

  solicitor general -  Presidential appointee in the Justice Department who conducts litigation on behalf of the federal government for the SC and supervises litigation in the federal appellate courts.


  amicus curiae - “friend of the court,” an interest group/person shares relevant information about a case to help the Court reach a decision.

  Stare decisis - the legal principle of determining points in litigation according to precedent.