1. The Federal Judiciary
Dr. Christopher S. Rice

2. How Does One Become
a Federal Judge?

3. Judiciary Act of 1789

4. U.S. Supreme Court (1)
Appellate Courts or
U.S. Courts of Appeals (13)
Trial Courts or U.S. District Courts (94)

5. “Specialty Courts”

7. Jurisdiction
A court’s authority to hear cases of
a particular type.

8. US Federal Courts may hear cases involving:
 Cases involving the  Disputes between a state
Constitution, federal statutes and citizens of another
and treaties. state.
 Ambassadors, other public  Disputes between citizens
ministers and consuls. of different states.
 Admiralty and maritime  Disputes between states
issues. (or their citizens) and
 Controversies to which the foreign states (or their
US government is a party. citizens).
 Disputes between two or
more states.

9. Trial (District) Courts

10. Original Jurisdiction
the authority to be the first court to
hear a case.

11. Criminal Law
Deals with offenses against society
as a whole.

12. Civil Law
Regulates obligations between
individuals, individuals and
government, & individuals and
corporations.

13. Appellate Courts

14. Appellate Jurisdiction
the authority to hear cases on
appeal from lower courts.

16. Appellate Courts vs. Trial Courts
• Appellate courts do not hear new cases,
just cases on appeal from federal trial
courts.
• Appeals are based on legal issues rather
than questions of factual material.
• Do not accept new evidence or hear
additional witnesses.
• Restrict their review to points of law
under dispute.

17. Most appeals courts decisions are
final.

18. Precedent
A judicial decision that serves as a
rule for settling subsequent cases
of a similar nature.

19. Stare Decisis
Doctrine of closely following
precedent as the basis for legal
reasoning.

20. Supreme Court
of the United States

21. Congress and the Supreme Court

23. “I’m going to take this
all the way to the
Supreme Court!”

24. Writ of Certiorari
Order from the Court to lower
courts demanding that they send
up a complete record of a case.

25. The “Rule of Four”

26. Oral Arguments

27. Amicus Curiae briefs
“Friend of the Court”

28. Written Opinions

29. Majority Opinion
(aka the “opinion of the court”)
Statement of the legal reasoning
that supports the decision of the
majority of the court.

30. Concurring Opinion
Opinion of a justice or justices
who support the majority
decision but have different legal
reasons for doing so.

31. Dissenting Opinion
The reasoning of the minority,
explaining their dissent.

32. Remanding to a
lower court

33. Judicial Review
the power of the Court to rule on
the constitutionality of state,
federal laws and executive actions.

35. Marbury v. Madison
(1803)