The document provides an overview of the federal court system in the United States. It describes how the Founding Fathers established an independent judicial branch to balance the powers of the executive and legislative branches. It then outlines the different levels of federal courts, including U.S. District Courts, Courts of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. It also discusses the key concepts of judicial review and how landmark cases like Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education shaped the interpretation of civil rights protections in the Constitution.

1. Federal Court
System

2. History of Federal
Judiciary
The Founding Fathers
knew that a separate
and co-equal judicial
branch was necessary
for a democratic
government to protect
the citizens and ensure
that the President and
Congress did not gain
too much power

3. Judicial
Independence

4. How do we maintain
Judicial
Independence?
 Life terms – judges can only be
removed for serious offences
 Congress cannot lower judges’
salaries during their term of office
 Federal judges are appointed, not
elected – they do not have to please
voters by their decisions

5. Types of
Jurisdiction
Original Jurisdiction: authority to hear a case
first (determines facts of the case, and in a
criminal trial, guilt or innocence)
Appellate Jurisdiction: authority to review a
case and change lower court decision
 Does NOT determine facts or guilt/innocence
 Determines if error occurred in first trial, either in
procedure or interpretation of law

6. Structure of
Federal Courts
America has a system of Federal trial courts
spread throughout the nation
 This ensures that each court has a
strong local
orientation
 Also unites all the
separate states
under a consistent
system of law

7. U.S. District Courts
 Lowest Federal Courts (94 in all)
 Have Original Jurisdiction over cases
involving federal law, treaties or
violations of the Constitution or where
federal government
is party to a
lawsuit
 Usually jury
decides the case
U.S. District Court, New Haven, CT

8. U.S. District Courts
 There is at least one district court in
every state and U.S. territory
(Michigan has 2 - Detroit and Grand
U.S. District
Court, Detroit,
MI

9. U.S. Court of
Appeals Next level of courts have Appellate
Jurisdiction – review cases from lower federal
courts and administrative agencies
U.S. Court of Appeals, Richmond, VA
• Decided by a
panel of
judges

10. U.S. Court of
Appeals
There are 13
Federal Appeals
Courts.
3. The Appeals
Court for the
Michigan
districts is in
Ohio.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th
Circuit,
Cincinnati, OH

11. U.S. Supreme Court
 Highest Court in
the land
 Mostly reviews
cases from
lower courts
(federal and
state courts)

12. U.S. Supreme Court
 Does have original jurisdiction over
a few types of cases:
 cases involving foreign ambassadors
 disputes
between the
states
 disputes
between a
state and the
federal
government

13. U.S. Supreme Court
Makeup of the Supreme Court:
 9 Justices (usually)
 Current Chief Justice: John Roberts
Minority Firsts:
•First Jewish Justice: Louis
Brandeis (Wilson)
•First African-American:
Thurgood Marshall (LBJ)
•First Female: Sandra Day
O’Connor (Reagan)
•First Hispanic: Sonia
Sotomayor (Obama)From top left: Sotomayor, Breyer, Alito, Kagan, Ginsburg,
Kennedy, Roberts, Scalia (deceased), Thomas

14. What is Judicial
Review?
 The power of the
judicial branch of
government to
decide if laws or
acts of the
President violate
the Constitution.
• If the law or action is declared
unconstitutional, it becomes NULL AND
VOID (not to be obeyed or enforced).

15. Judicial Review
 This power is NOT granted to the Courts by the
Constitution. It is IMPLIED.
 The Supreme Court gained this power just by
exercising it in the case of Marbury vs. Madison
 The Court stated that a
provision in the Judiciary
Act of 1789 was unconsti-
tutional, which started the
Judicial Branch on the road
to being equal in power to
the other branches

16. Judicial Review
Case Study
“Separate, but Equal”

17. 14th
Amendment
 Added to Constitution after Civil War
 Guaranteed “equal protection under
the law” to all Americans – everyone
is supposed to have
equal treatment from
the government

18. “Separate, But
Equal”
 The South’s answer to the 14th
Amendment –
segregation
 The argument – facilities (schools,
transportation, theaters, restaurants, etc.) are
equal, and so don’t violate 14th
Amendment
 Extremely difficult to change through
democratic process as states made it almost
impossible for Black citizens to vote

19. Plessy v. Ferguson
(1896)
 Ruling:
 Segregated facilities were constitutional
 14th
Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause
protected political equality, not social equality
 “Separate, but equal” did not imply inferiority of
one race to another
 Became basis of Jim Crow, the series of laws
that established segregation as a way of life
in the South for the next 60 years

20. Brown v. Board of Ed
(1954)
 Overturned Plessy by declaring segregation
of public schools unconstitutional
 Proclaimed that separate facilities are
inherently unequal
 No one else was going to right this wrong –
not Congress or the President or the states or
the people – the majority was oppressing the
minority and the only institution that could
help them was the Court because it was not
accountable to the people