Download The Supreme Court

The United States Supreme Court
The Roberts’ Court, 2012
Back row (left to right): Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen G. Breyer, Samuel A. Alito, and Elena Kagan.
Front row (left to right): Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Anthony
Kennedy, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Structure of the Federal Courts
Article III of the Constitution
• ‘The judicial power of the United States shall
be vested in one supreme Court and in such
inferior Courts as the Congress may from time
to time ordain and establish’.
Judiciary Act, 1789
• Congress immediately set up a system of
lower federal courts
United States Supreme Court
1 court with 9 justices
United States Courts of Appeals
1 in each of 11 circuits (regions)
Plus 1 in Washington D.C.
Plus 1 federal Circuit Court
United States District Courts
1 in each of 94 districts.
Constitutional Powers of SCOTUS
• Separate, independent judicial branch of government, with clearly defined
powers and a role in the system of checks and balances
• National judiciary should be ‘Supreme’
• Supreme Court should be responsible for hearing certain types of cases
• Final court of appeal
• Court is independent of the other branches of government and political
pressures therefore the judges would not be elected, but appointed
• To ensure that the judges had independence from the people who
appointed them, the appointment process was split
• To ensure that judges decisions were based entirely on the merits of the
case they were hearing, without concern about political pressure they
were provided with protections
– Could not be removed from office for political reasons
– Income could not be reduced
– Could only be removed if their personal conduct was inappropriate for a judge
• Judges could reach any decisions they thought appropriate, although
some aspects of justice were still to be regulated
– Crime of treason, and punishment was strictly defined.
Constitutional Powers not given to SCOTUS
• Should there be other Federal courts? Some people felt that lower Federal
courts would be too similar to the highest courts of the states, causing
confusion and conflict
– The Convention decided not to set up lower Federal courts, but gave Congress
the right to do so at a later date.
• Should the Supreme Court be given the right of judicial review?
– Should they have the right to decide whether another branch of government
had passed a law or taken action that was not allowed by the Constitution
– Issue had already caused controversy in some states before the Constitutional
Convention
– Experience of states suggested that it was logical that the Supreme Court
would have the power of judicial review.
• Two views on whether this should be the case at Federal level.
– Some argued that the limitations on the power of government in the
Constitution would be meaningless unless they were enforced by a Supreme
Court
– Others argued that the power of judicial review would make unelected judges
more powerful that the elected legislature and elected executive.
Checks and Balances of the SCOTUS
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Determines which laws Congress intended to apply to any given case
Determines whether a law is unconstitutional
Determines how Congress meant the law to apply to disputes
Determines how a law acts to determine the disposition of prisoners
Determines how a law acts to compel testimony and the production of
evidence
• Determines how laws should be interpreted to assure uniform policies in a
top-down fashion via the appeals process, but gives discretion in
individual cases to low-level judges. (The amount of discretion depends
upon the standard of review, determined by the type of case in question.)
• Polices its own members.
• Appointment has to be approved by 2 other branches of government