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PS 360

Court Structure

Structure of US Court System

• Article III of Constitution did little

• http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articleiii– Section 1

• One Supreme Court, Congress creates lower courts

– Section 2• Jurisdiction

– Original jurisdiction

– Appellate jurisdiction

» Writs of certiorari, writs of habeas corpus

» Congress to regulate appellate jurisdiction

Court Structure – Judiciary Act of 1789

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Court Structure – Judiciary Act of 1789Had 3 goals for setting up the court structure

• 1st – structured the federal court system– Trial courts, circuit courts

– Set number of Supreme Court justices at 6, now 9

• 2nd – created jurisdictions of federal Court

• 3rd – (appellate) Jurisdiction of Supreme Court – power to issue writs of mandamus

Basic Principles of Court Organization: Dual Court System – 3 Tiers

• In reality, we have 2 separate and complete court systems– US Supreme Court sits at the top or “caps”

our court system

• Book does not have any figure depicting structure

• Federal Diagram– http://wlwatch.westlaw.com/aca/west/uscourt.

htm

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US Court Structure

Federal Trial Courts State Trial Courts

U.S. Courts of Appeals State Courts of Appeals

U.S. Supreme Court

State Supreme Courts

Basic Principles of Court Organization – types of jurisdiction

• Hierarchical Jurisdiction

– Original jurisdiction• Trial courts hear most original cases

• State Supreme Courts vs. US Supreme Court

– Appellate jurisdiction

Basic Principles of Court Organization – 3 types of jurisdiction

• Geographic– Geographical boundaries – tend to follow the

boundaries of other governmental bodies • Eg. cities, counties, states

2 Complications with Geographic jurisdiction

- events that occur near borders or boundaries

- Extradition

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Basic Principles of Court Organization – 3 types of jurisdiction

• Subject matter– The type of crime matters for what court has

jurisdiction.

– General jurisdiction vs. Limited jurisdiction• Examples:

– Juvenile matter (juvenile court)

– Bankruptcy (bankruptcy court)

– Bank robbery (federal court)

– Traffic violation (city/county traffic court)

– Tax matters (tax court)

Basic Principles of Court Organization – jurisdiction continued

• Concurrent jurisdiction– Authority to hear case is shared with other

courts

– Cases can be tried in either state or federal court (sometimes both: e.g., Michael Vick)

• Example-– tobacco litigation

Basic Principles of Court Organization: Trial and Appellate Courts

• Almost all cases begin at Trial Court– Losing side can appeal to a higher appellate

court

• Trial and Appellate Courts have different functions– Facts & evidence vs. error correction &

devising legal rules

• Other notable differences– # of judges for case; written opinions

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US District Courts• Basic input point for federal judicial system

– 99% of all cases begin here

• District courts are the trial courts

• Two types of jurisdiction– Courts of General jurisdiction (eg. district courts)

– Courts of limited jurisdiction (eg. Tax Courts)

• Organized by 1 rational characteristic– By state Boundary, but…..

Map of Federal District Courts and Circuits

Kentucky’s Federal District Courthouses

Kentucky has 2 Federal Districts, but 10 federal courthouses

http://www.uscourts.gov/

U.S. District Court - Western District of Kentucky

http://www.kywd.uscourts.gov/

U.S. District Court – Eastern District of Kentucky

http://www.kyed.uscourts.gov/

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US District Courts

• Each district originally staffed with 1 judge– Congress is responsible for adding judges

• “Riding Circuit”

• Judges nominated by President and Confirmed by Senate

• Lifetime tenure, Article III protection

US District Courts

• 3 categories of cases a Federal court hears– 1st: Federal issue

• Federal law

• Banks

• Cross border

• Petitions of habeas corpus

US District Courts

• 3 categories of cases a Federal court hears– 2nd: Federal Govt. is a party to case

• Example: US v. Nixon

– 3rd: 2 citizens of different states & high monetary value >$75,000

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US District Courts

• District Courts are policymakers

• Decisions do not set legal “precedent”

Specialized Federal Courts

• Limited jurisdiction– Created by Congress for specific purpose of

helping administer a specific Congressional statute

• 2 characteristics– Permanent vs. Borrowed judges

– Article I vs. Article III judges

Specialized Federal Courts (Source: Neubauer and Meinhold 2004; same as Table 3.3, page 77 of Neubauer and Meinhold 2010)

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US District Courts• Have ENORMOUS caseloads

– Almost completely determined by 1 judge panels

– http://www.uscourts.gov/statistics/table/na/federal-court-management-statistics/2016/06/30-1

• Number of judgeships (includes vacancies) vs. approximate caseload

– US District Courts: 663 vs. ~ 390,000 filings each year

– US Court of Appeals: 167 vs. ~55,000 appeals

– Supreme Court: 9 vs. ~80 full treatment

US Courts of Appeals – 12 circuits

US Courts of Appeals

• Right to 1 appeal

• Also known as “circuit courts”

• Circuit decision– Sets “precedent” for entire circuit

– Circuit conflict – within and across circuits

– Composed of 3 judge panels• Assigned to cases randomly

– En banc hearing

– Comity

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US Courts of Appeals

• Purpose of Appeals Courts– Error Correction not fact finders

– Look for Procedural errors

United States Supreme Court

The Court• “…impossible to understand American government and

society without understanding the Supreme Court.”

– Political Scientist Lawrence Baum (2007, The Supreme Court, pg. 1)

• Why?

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United States Supreme Court

• 1 chief justice – 8 associate justices

• A few things that make job of Chief unique– Talk first at conference

– Head administrator for the Supreme Court

– Head administrator for Federal courts, deliver yearly address on state of courts

• http://www.supremecourt.gov/publicinfo/year-end/year-endreports.aspx

United States Supreme Court

• Institution- historically not always prestigious

• Lifetime position (president nominates, senate confirms)– Most prestigious job in legal field

• Term start – First Monday in October– Usually ends in June.

– Cases are petitioned to Court all year long

United States Supreme Court: Caseload

• Typically hear 75-90 cases a year (in recent years)- shrinking docket over time

• Cases come mostly from petitions for Writ of Certiorari

• Asked to hear over 8500 cases each year -growing each year

• Court docket is now completely discretionary

• Cases selected by “rule of four”

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Salaries

• Salaries of Justices (2016) (source: uscourts.gov)

– Chief Justice – $260,700

– Assoc. Justice – $249,300

– Justices are limited to 23,000 in outside income from activities such as teaching, but no limits on book incomes (e.g. Thomas – 1.5 mil for book)

• Judge, US Courts of Appeals- $215,400 (2016)

• Judge, District Court- $203,100 (2016)

President – $400,000 (with $50k expense/$100k travel)

US Senators & Reps – $174,000 (party leaders make slightly more)

Military Justice Courts

• Interest in these risen since 9-11• Different motto than civilian courts

– “promote efficiency and effectiveness in the military establishment, and thereby to strengthen the national security of the United States”

– Civilian courts: “equal justice under law” or “justice is blind”

• Differences from civilian court• Mostly invisible- popularized with movies

and TV – A Few Good Men, JAG

Judicial Administration

• Initially, no administration of courts

• Administrative Office Act of 1939– Chief Justice

– Judicial Conference• http://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-

courts/governance-judicial-conference

– Administrative Office of Courts

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State Courts• Differences

– Names

– Justice of Peace

– Juvenile• Influence of progressive movement

• Legal doctrine of parens patriae

• Major differences with juvenile court

• Explicit tradeoff in what the state values

Justices of the Peace• In chapter 18, Neubauer (2008) states, “By and large, present-

day JPs are part-time nonlawyers who conduct court at their regular place of business…(p 407).” If the JPs mentioned in this quote are “nonlawyers,” where do they get their authority to conduct “court” from? How are their decisions credible and how are their sentences imposed?

• JPs are unique – no need for formal legal training

• Authority & credibility- elections- the people – (local, town/village) – Lack of oversight from states, failure to reform system

• One justice of the peace in New York said many of his decisions were down-to-earth solutions. “You’ve got to use your own judgment,” he said. “That’s why they call us judges. The law is not always right.”

• Imposed? Jail, usually money though

• Example- New York

State Courts– State Court Organization

• Nationwide movement to “unify” or centralize administration of courts

Kentucky Court System

http://courts.ky.gov/

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Kentucky Court Structure

• http://www.courtstatistics.org/Other-Pages/State_Court_Structure_Charts/Kentucky.aspx

Minnesota Court

Structure

Highly Centralized

Arkansas Court System (moderately centralized)

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Access to Courts• Jurisdiction, standing, must be a real “case” or

“controversy” (from Article III)

• Decision on threshold issue vs. decision on merits (example: Pledge of Allegiance case)– Elk Grove Unified School Dist. V. Newdow (“under

God”)

• Advisory opinions

• Collusive suits

• Mootness

• Ripeness

• Political questions

Class exercise• Read handout (both sides)

• With partner in class: answer basic questions– List arguments for and against splitting the 9th

circuit

– Assume Congress will split the 9th, list a potential solution that could gain majority support (or consensus) and briefly explain why

• Class debate