Exam 3 CH 8 continue

State trial courts of general jurisdiction are referred to as

"Major trial courts" 1. Circuit courts 2. District courts 3. Superior courts 4. Courts of common pleas

When a case is scheduled to be heard, the attorneys file written arguments, as well as briefs on behalf of other parties that are called

Amicus Curiae ("friend of the court") briefs

All courts of last resort of have

An odd number of judges, with most typical arrangement being a seven-judge court, as found in 28 states and Puerto Rico. Sixteen states have five-judges panels, and five have nine-judge panels.

Juvenile Courts

Are apart of the state court system. Follow civil law because the primary goal of the court is rehabilitation, not punishment.

U.S district courts

Are courts of general jurisdiction that handle cases that are more serious and involve more money than the magistrate courts

U.S magistrate courts

Are the lowest level of the federal court system, created in 1968 to ease the caseload of the U.S district courts.

How many district courts are located in each state?

Each state has at least one district court

Magistrate court judges, who work within the district court are chosen by the district court judges and serve

Either full time (8yrs) or part time (4yrs)

Rule of four

Exists whereby at least four of the nine Supreme Court justices must vote to hear a case before it is out in the docket

The bulk of work of the state trial court of general jurisdiction is conducted in

Hallways, judges chambers, and over the telephone and via email as prosecutors and defense attorneys arrange pleas bargains that eliminate the need for trial

Trial courts

Hear the facts, determine guilt, and impose a sentence

State Trial courts of limited jurisdiction handle how many matters per year

More than 67 million matters a year 1. Traffic cases 2. Misdemeanors 3. Small claims 4. The preliminary stages of felony cases

How many U.S district courts are there?

94 - 89 are located within the 50 states; the rest are in U.S territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam as well as the District of Columbia

The U.S district courts try felony cases involving federal laws and civil cases in which the amount of money in controversy exceeds

$75,000

Civil courts

- deal with civil laws - employed as a general term for anything not covered by criminal law - governs private issues, such as breach of contract, probate, divorce, and negligence - violations are not punishable by a prison term

Criminal courts

- deal with criminal laws - violations are punishable by imprisonment - covers the major violations against society; homicide, rape, robbery, theft

The powers of federal magistrates are

1. Are limited because their authority and independence are not explicitly delineated in the constitution 2. They don't not serve for life and are not elected by the president

The state trial courts of limited jurisdiction have a variety of names depending on the state in which they operate

1. City magistrates 2. Justices of the peace 3. County courts 4. City courts

The tribal judicial system (Traditional courts)

1. Court of Indian offenses 2. Intertribal Courts 3. The court of appeals 4. Tribal courts of general jurdiction

For more serious felony cases that are typically handled by the district court, the U.S magistrate court assist by

1. Dealing with the preliminary work of sitting for initial appearances 2. conducting preliminary hearings 3. Appointing counsel for those who cannot afford their own lawyers 4. Setting bail 5. And issuing search warrants

Types of community courts

1. Drug courts 2. Conflict-resolution programs 3. Family courts 4. Magistrate courts

U.S District Courts also handle cases involving

1. Federal questions 2. Diversity of jurisdiction 3. Prisoner Petitions

State supreme courts

1. Has a discretionary docket (which means it can select the cases it wishes to consider). 2. Hear appeals from the lower courts from populated states with no intermediate courts of appeals

State Trial courts of general jurisdiction handle major cases in

1. In both civil and criminal arenas 2. Hear most of th serious street crime cases

The structure of state courts

1. Juvenile Courts 2. State trial Courts 3. State intermediate courts of appeals 4. State Supreme courts 5. Local courts and community courts

State intermediate courts of appeals

1. Located in 39 of the 50 states 2. Hear all appeals from the lower state courts 3. Small states such as Wyoming do not have this level of court 4. often have a roatating panel of three or ore judges review cases, rather than a full component of judges 5. Must accept all criminal cases, but not necessary all civil cases

federal courts are compromised of four levels

1. Magistrate court 2. U.S district courts 3. U.S courts of appeals 4. U.S Supreme Court

Name some cases, historical events, and individuals that have affected the way the courts have envolved

1. Marbury v. Madison (1803) 2. McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) 3. Supremacy Clause 4. Reconstruction and the expansion of federal authority 5. Business, unions, and civil liberties 6. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) 7. The Warren Court

Classify the three types of jurisdiction

1. Subject-matter jurisdiction 2. geographic jurisdiction 3. Hierarchical jurisdiction

Specialized federal courts

1. Tax court 2. Court of federal claims 3. The court of appeals for veterans 4. The court of International trade 5. The court of appeals for the federal circuit

Federal courts hear cases involving the following issues

1. cases in which the u.s government or one of its officers is being sued 2. cases between two or more states 3. cases involving counsels, ambassadors and other public ministers 4. cases involving laws enacted by congress, treaties and laws related to maritime jurisdiction and commerce on the high seas

The jurisdiction of any court depends on three features

1. the seriousness of the case 2. the location of the offense 3. whether the case is being heard for the first time or is on appeal

U.S courts of appeals consist of how many district courts

11 district courts

How many judges in the U.S court of appeals are nominated by the president, confirmed by the Senate, and serve life terms as long as their behavior is not called into question

179

The 94 district court have how many judgeships that are distributed according to population served and the political clout of members of Congress and Senators

646

Formal written opinions in the U.S Supreme Court are delivered in

80 to 90 cases

Cases that are heard by the U.S Supreme Court are heard by all nine justices, as opposed to the court of appeals in which a panel of

A panel of 3 Justice hear a case

In the U.S Supreme Court, cases it hear must involve

A substantial federal question that concerns the Constitution or a federal law

What type of judges district courts use to handle bankruptcy cases

Adjunct judges that are appointed for 14yrs and hear cases from both individuals and corporations

Tribal law

Administered by American Indians

Why is the U.S court of appeals the "court of last resort" for almost all federal cases

Because the U.S Supreme Court hears relatively few cases each year

Why is the intermediate court of appeals level is the final decision

Because the state Supreme Court, like the U.S Supreme Court, sleepy only a small percentage of cases to consider each year.

Amicus Curiae (Friend of the court)

Brief in which someone who is not part of a case gives advice or testimony

The state trial of general jurisdiction are subdivided into

Circuits or districts

What constitutes most of U.S district courts workload

Civil cases

In addition to criminal cases, the bulk of the U.S courts of appeals caseload is take up with cases dealing with

Civil right violations, sex discrimination, and cases of discrimination aganist the disabled.

How many state trial courts of limited jurisdiction in the United States

Close to 14,000

State and federal courts might have

Concurrent jurisdiction - cases typically involve circumstances in which a resident of one state sues the resident of another state

circuit court

Court that holds sessions at intervals within different areas of a judicial district - included features such as military installations, American Indian reservations, or national parks.

Most juvenile courts are attached to

Family or trial courts

The u.s court system is divided into

Federal and state courts

The U.S Supreme Court

Is at the top of the hierarchical jurisdiction for both the federal and state court systems

One of the primary features of the U.S government is that it should be

It should be close to the people

The state supreme courts have some authority to discipline

Lawyers and judges and often serve as a venue for judicial training

The U.S Supreme Court grants plenary review meaning that

Meaning that the court independently examines the issues, with oral arguments by attorneys in about 100 cases per term.

Which states have more than one district court?

New York and Texas, have many as four

Writ of certiorari

Order from a superior court calling up for review the record of a case from a lower court

The magistrate court handles misdemeanor cases by

Presiding over trials, accepting pleas, and passing sentence.

Whereas the federal courts deal with major white-collar offender and large scales drug dealers, the state courts handle most cases involving

Rape, murder, theft, and smalle scale drug dealing and drug possession

Appellate courts

Review the work of the trial court judge and whether the case was handled within the constraints of the constitution

Rule that states that at least four of the nine Supreme Court Justices must vote to hear a case

Rule of four

Lower courts

Sometimes called inferior courts, in reference to their hierarchy. These courts receive their authority and resources from local or municipal governments

General courts and special courts funded and run by each state

State courts

Bankruptcy cases are handled by which courts

The U.S district courts

Geographic Jurisdiction

The authority of a court to hear a case based on the location of the offense

Hierarchical jurisdiction

The authority of a court to hear a case based on where the case is located in the system

Subject-matter jurisdiction

The authority of court to hear a case based on the nature of the case. - classifies drug courts, traffic courts, and juvenile or family courts

At the lowest level of state courts are

The courts of "first instance", state trial courts of limited and general jurisdiction

The magistrate court have range of duties that greatly relieves the workload of

The district courts

Why aren't judges of district courts given specific terms of four or six years?

To allow them to be independent and objective

Operate as courts of limited jurisdiction

U.S Magistrate courts

The "court of last resort." The highest court in the United States, established by Article III of the constitution, hears only appeals, with some exceptions

U.S Supreme Court

Serve as intermediate courts of appeals that dispose of many appeals before they reach the Supreme Court

U.S court of appeals

Courts of general jurisdiction that try fekony cases involving federal laws and civil cases involving amounts of money over $75,000

U.S district courts

Issued by the U.S Supreme Court to the lower court that orders the records of a case to be sent to the justices so they can decide whether the case presents the type of questions that should be decided by the Supreme Court

Writ of certiorari

Like the U.S Supreme, the state supreme courts have

all the justices hear each cases instead of having roatating three-judge panels.

The unites states has no

centralized court system that uses equivalent terminology, jurisdictions and personnel

The state trial courts of limited jurisdiction are called

lower courts or inferior courts

Jurisdiction

the authority of the court to hear certain cases

Like federal courts, state courts are generally divided according to a

three-tier hierarchy