The Court has original jurisdiction a case is tried before the Court over certain cases, e. Some examples include cases to which the United States is a party, cases involving Treaties, and cases involving ships on the high seas and navigable waterways admiralty cases.
When exercising its appellate jurisdiction, the Court, with a few exceptions, does not have to hear a case. The Certiorari Act of gives the Court the discretion to decide whether or not to do so. In a petition for a writ of certiorari, a party asks the Court to review its case. The Supreme Court agrees to hear about of the more than 7, cases that it is asked to review each year. The best-known power of the Supreme Court is judicial review, or the ability of the Court to declare a Legislative or Executive act in violation of the Constitution, is not found within the text of the Constitution itself.
The Court established this doctrine in the case of Marbury v. Madison In this case, the Court had to decide whether an Act of Congress or the Constitution was the supreme law of the land. The Judiciary Act of gave the Supreme Court original jurisdiction to issue writs of mandamus legal orders compelling government officials to act in accordance with the law. A suit was brought under this Act, but the Supreme Court noted that the Constitution did not permit the Court to have original jurisdiction in this matter.
In subsequent cases, the Court also established its authority to strike down state laws found to be in violation of the Constitution. Before the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment , the provisions of the Bill of Rights were only applicable to the federal government.
Some tasks of the district court are given to federal magistrate judges. Magistrates are appointed by the district court by a majority vote of the judges and serve for a term of eight years if full-time and four years if part-time, but they can be reappointed after completion of their term. In criminal matters, magistrate judges may oversee certain cases, issue search warrants and arrest warrants, conduct initial hearings, set bail, decide certain motions such as a motion to suppress evidence , and other similar actions.
In civil cases, magistrates often handle a variety of issues such as pre-trial motions and discovery. Federal trial courts have also been established for a few subject-specific areas. Each federal district also has a bankruptcy court for those proceedings.
Once the federal district court has decided a case, the case can be appealed to a United States court of appeal. There are twelve federal circuits that divide the country into different regions. Cases from the district courts of those states are appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which is headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana. Additionally, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has a nationwide jurisdiction over very specific issues such as patents.
Each circuit court has multiple judges, ranging from six on the First Circuit to twenty-nine on the Ninth Circuit. Circuit court judges are appointed for life by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Appeals to circuit courts are first heard by a panel, consisting of three circuit court judges. En banc opinions tend to carry more weight and are usually decided only after a panel has first heard the case. Beyond the Federal Circuit, a few courts have been established to deal with appeals on specific subjects such as veterans claims United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and military matters United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the American judicial system, and has the power to decide appeals on all cases brought in federal court or those brought in state court but dealing with federal law. For example, if a First Amendment freedom of speech case was decided by the highest court of a state usually the state supreme court , the case could be appealed to the federal Supreme Court.
However, if that same case were decided entirely on a state law similar to the First Amendment, the Supreme Court of the United States would not be able to consider the case. After the circuit court or state supreme court has ruled on a case, either party may choose to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Unlike circuit court appeals, however, the Supreme Court is usually not required to hear the appeal. The classic example is child support nonpayment by an ex-spouse who lives in another state. Despite living in this other state, Texas could reach the laggard paying ex-spouse. In other words, the concept of minimum contacts, and the stream of commerce notions. Review Case 2. In the old days this might have worked, but not with new technology considerations. A related concept is jurisdiction over property in rem , where the court has jurisdiction over the property within the county, district or state.
Subject Matter Jurisdiction. In both federal and state court systems, a trial courts subject matter jurisdiction may be limited by:. A court limited by one or more of these factors is considered to have limited jurisdiction, otherwise, the court has general unlimited jurisdiction.
Consider the various special courts, such as probate, criminal courts, family courts, admiralty, patents, etc. When a case may be tried only in a certain court state or federal , the court is said to have exclusive jurisdiction.
Jurisdiction of Federal Courts. Federal Question Jurisdiction arises if a case involves an alleged violation of the US Constitution, federal statute or regulation, or a treaty between the US and a foreign county ies. Diversity Jurisdiction of a federal court arises if:. For purposes of diversity jurisdiction, a corporation is a citizen of both the state of incorporation and the state of its principal place of business.
Venue and Standing. Jurisdiction deals with whether a court has the authority to hear a case involving specific persons or property and subject matter. Two other concepts of importance are venue and standing. Merely because a court may have jurisdiction dos not mean it has venue.
0コメント