The structure
Article III creates one Supreme Court and lets Congress create lower courts. Today, there are three main tiers:
- District courts (94 of them) are the trial courts, where facts are found and evidence is heard.
- Courts of appeals (13, including 12 regional circuits and the Federal Circuit) review cases from the district courts for legal errors. They do not hold new trials.
- The Supreme Court is the final appeal, with nine justices: a Chief Justice and eight associate justices. The number is set by statute, not the Constitution.
Federal judges are nominated by the president and confirmed by a majority of the Senate. They hold office "during good behavior", which in practice means for life unless impeached and convicted. Life tenure is meant to protect judicial independence from political pressure.
Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction is a court's authority to hear a case. Federal courts hear cases involving the Constitution, federal laws and treaties, disputes between states, and diversity cases between citizens of different states over larger sums. State courts handle most legal disputes. The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction in a few cases, such as disputes between states, and appellate jurisdiction in most others.
Judicial review
Marbury v. Madison (1803) established judicial review: courts may decide that a law or action conflicts with the Constitution and so is invalid. The power is not stated in the text, but has been accepted since.
How the Supreme Court works
Each year several thousand parties ask the Court to hear a case by filing a petition for a writ of certiorari. Under the rule of four, if four justices vote to hear it, the case is taken. The Court takes only about 60 to 80 cases a year. It decides by majority vote after reading briefs, hearing oral argument and conferring in private. The majority opinion states the ruling and reasons; a concurring opinion agrees with the result for different reasons; a dissent disagrees.
Courts follow stare decisis, "let the decision stand": earlier decisions (precedent) should usually be followed, which gives stability. The Court sometimes overrules precedent, as Brown did to Plessy.
Approaches to interpretation
Judges differ in how they read the law. Originalists look to the meaning of the text when it was adopted. Others stress a "living" constitution whose principles apply to new circumstances. Terms like "judicial restraint" (deferring to elected branches) and "judicial activism" (willingness to strike down laws) are used by commentators across the political spectrum, usually about decisions they dislike.
Worked example: tracing a case
- A person is convicted in a federal district court after a trial.
- She appeals to the court of appeals, arguing the judge made a legal error. The court reviews the record but does not hold a new trial.
- She loses, and petitions the Supreme Court for certiorari.
- If four justices agree to hear it, there are briefs and oral argument, and the Court decides by majority.
- If five of nine side with her, her conviction is overturned. A decision of 4-4 (with one seat empty) leaves the lower ruling in place.
The rule of four decides whether the case is heard, and a majority of five decides the outcome.