1. The functioning of the judiciary system

• There's 2 distinct level because of federalism : the state level and the federal level
• There's 50 independant state courts systems + the federal court system
• There's 2 main categories of cases in the judiciary system : criminal cases and civil cases
• The criminal cases implie that someone has broken a law
• The civil cases implie that someone has broken a contract
• Each state constitution defines its own court system, the appointement of judges varies according to the state
• There's 4 general patterns of state courts : minor trial courts, major trial courts, intermediate courts of appeal and a single supreme court.
• The Minor trial courts handle petty crimes and civil cases where the amount at issue is highly limited, often using relatively informal rules of procedure and no jury
• The Major trial courts handle serious crimes and larger civil cases, and may also hear appeals from the minor trial courts (most often in the form of a right by the loser in the minor trial court to have the cases de novo under more formal rules of procedure and with a jury trial)
• There's difference between state district courts that hear evidences, establish factual records AND state courts of appeal that focus on procedures ans on the legal interpretation and NOT on facts
• The federal courts have cases related to Federal laws, the U.S. Constitution and treaties.
• there's 3 level of federal courts : district courts (trial), circuit courts (1st level of federal appeal) and the Supreme Court (final level of appeal in the federal system)
• There's 94 federal district courts, 13 federal circuit courts and 1 Supreme Court
• The Supreme Court is composed of 8 associate justices + 1 chief justice. They need to have at least 5/6 justices who agree or who concur on decisions they then write "the opinion of the court"
• All federal judges are appointed by the president + ratification by the Senate. They have a life-long tenure and a highly political nomination
• There's 2 major camps within the Supreme Court :

  • The Textualists
  • The Contextualists
• The textualists try to imagine what the Founding Fathers wanted and act in consequences.
• The Contextualists think that the Constitution is a living document and that it should be adapted to our era.
• The Case Marbury v. Madison was a Supreme Court case ruled in 1803 between James Madison (Jefferson's secretary of state) and William Marbury (a Justice of the peace) in Washington DC
• Why did Madison want to fired Marbury in the 1803 Marbury v. Madison case ?

  So that Jefferson would nominate someone who shares their political ideas.
• How this case was important for the American federal system ?

  Any courts in the US can declare an act of Congress to be “null and void”

  The federal government is stronger and have precedence over the states

  The federal constitution and laws prevail any state laws
• Any American court is the guarantor of the meaning of the Constitution.
• What did the case Marbury v. Madison prove concerning the power of the Supreme Court ?

  The federal courts very quickly showed their capacity to limit the action of the presidency. in Marbury v. Madison (1803) The Supreme Court established as legal the principle of appeal against a decision or action of the President.