The USA Court System

Being the federal republic, the USA has both a federal and a state court system. The federal court system is responsible for interpreting and applying the laws created by the federal government under the authority of the US Constitution. Article III of the US Constitution requires the establishment of a Supreme Court and permits the US Congress to create other federal courts, and place limitations on their jurisdiction.

The Supreme Court is the highest judicial body, the court of last resort and leads the federal judiciary. It meets in Washington, D.C. It is mainly an appellate court and hears only federal appeals which it has chosen. Most of the cases involve the interpretation of the Constitution. It also has the “power of judicial review ”, i.e. the right to declare laws and actions of the federal, state, and local governments unconstitutional. Besides, the Court has limited original jurisdiction in cases involving foreign diplomats and in those, in which a state is a party. In practice, the only original jurisdiction cases heard by the Court are disputes between two or more states. It consists of the Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices, who serve “during good behaviour”, that is while they obey the law. Cases are decided by majority vote of the Justices.

The federal Courts of Appeals (or circuit courts) are the intermediate appellate courts, and must hear all appeals from the district courts within their federal judicial circuits, and in some cases from other designated federal courts and administrative agencies. Now there are thirteen judicial circuits with one court of appeals. They review decisions of trial courts for errors of law and their decisions are binding precedents. An appeal is almost always heard by a panel of three judges who are selected from the available judges but in some cases all judges decide an appeal.

The District Courts are the federal trial courts. They hear both civil and criminal cases, and often decide claims based on state law. There are 94 federal judicial districts with at least one district court for each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. There is a US bankruptcy court as a unit of the district court.

Besides, some federal courts of special jurisdiction, such as the Tax Court, the Court of International Trade, Courts of Federal Claims and others administer justice in the country.

All federal judges are appointed for life by the President with the approval of the Senate.

Each state has an independent system of courts operating under the constitution and laws of the state. The names and jurisdiction of the courts differ from state to state but as a rule they have general jurisdiction. The highest court is the state supreme court (known by various names in various states), which hears appeals of legal disputes. In most states the lowest courts are the magistrates’ courts or police courts.

The relationship between state courts and federal courts is quite complicated. Although the United States Constitution and federal laws override state laws where there is a conflict between federal and state law, state courts are not subordinate to federal ones. Rather they are two parallel sets of courts with different often overlapping jurisdiction.

 

II. COMPREHENSION

1. Read the text to answer the following questions:

1. What are the tasks of the federal court system?

2. What types of courts have been created according to the US Constitution?

3. What body created other federal courts?

4. What types of cases does the US Supreme Court hear?

5. What do the federal Courts of Appeals do?

6. What is the jurisdiction of the federal District Courts?

7. What is the term of office for federal court judges?

8. Are state courts inferior to federal courts or not?

Choose the meaning of the following words in which they are used in the

Text.

1 state

a) the physical or mental condition that someone or something is in;

b) a country considered as a political organization;

с) one of the areas with limited law-making powers that together make up a country controlled by a central government.

2 justice

a) the system by which people are judged in courts of law and criminals are punished;

b) the fair treatment of people;

c) a judge in a law court.

3 case

a) a question or problem that will be dealt with by a law court;

b) a special box used as a container4 for holding or protecting something;

c) all the reasons that one side in a legal argument can give against the other side.

4 party

a) a social event when a lot of people meet together to enjoy themselves;

b) a political organization with particular beliefs and aims, which you can vote for in elections;

c) one of the people or a group of people involved in a legal argument.

5. precedent

a) an official action or decision that can be used to give support to later actions or decisions;

b) something of the same type that has happened or existed before;

c) the way that things have always been done.

3. Explain the following phrases in your own words:

Exclusive jurisdiction, binding precedent, overlapping jurisdiction, intermediate courts.

4. To check your understanding the text, complete each sentence below by choosing the correct answer:

3) The highest court in the country is

a) the Supreme Court;

b) the State Supreme Court;

c) the US Supreme Court.

4) The US President appoints

a) all judges in the country;

b) all federal judges;

c) all judges in the supreme courts.

5) The US Supreme Court has

a) appellate jurisdiction;

b) appellate and limited original jurisdiction;

c) appellate and original jurisdiction.

6) The federal Courts of Appeals hear

a) all kinds of appeals;

b) appeals on points of law;

c) appeals on points of fact.

7) The District Courts decide

a) civil and administrative cases;

b) civil and criminal cases;

c) criminal cases and appeals.

8) A state court may hear any case if it is connected to its

a) criminal law;

b) constitution and laws;

c) civil or criminal law.