law and politics midterm Flashcards
codified v common law
Codified: Based on written statutes passed by legislatures. Laws are formally organized and compiled in legal codes. Examples include the U.S. Code or the Criminal Code of Canada.
Common: Based on judicial decisions and precedents set by court rulings rather than written statutes. Judges interpret the law in the context of previous rulings, which gradually evolve over time.
civil v criminal law
criminal case burden of proof is on gov’t, civil case burden of proof is on petitioner
Public v Private
public law government is involved, private law the government is not involved ex.) fender bender
Tiers of Federal Law
1.Constitutional
2.Judicial
3.Legislative
4. Executive
What does Article III establish for the federal judiciary
-Judiciary should be the weakest power
The power of money belongs to Congress, and the power of war belongs to the president.
-The selection of district, circuit, and supreme federal judges is the same -There’s no such thing as mandatory retirement→ so you can’t get rid of them without impeachment→ they are appointed for life
-This was done to remove them from the political process→ they wouldn’t be worried about reappointment
-Original jurisdiction: A small set of categories of cases that go directly to the Supreme Court ex.) states suing states it goes straight to the supreme court
-The majority of the court’s time is in appellate cases.
-Appellate jurisdiction: The first aspect is that Congress sorts out how that jurisdiction is handled
-District courts: the most common courts→ you will end up there if you are in federal court
-The Constitution says that the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction
Appellate v Original Jurisdiction
Appellate jurisdiction:
jurisdiction over lower courts
Original juri (Supreme Court):
Cases involving ambassadors, public ministers, and consuls.
Cases in which a state is a party. This typically involves state disputes, such as boundary disputes or water rights cases.
Judicial Review
Supreme court checks constitutionality-Marbury v Madison, john Marshall did it to make sure no one branch would become too powerful
Structure of Federal court system
-Degrees of policy-making possible within each:
District: courts of fact,
Circuit: main appellate courts, review district court decisions
Supreme: highest tier, most policymaking power
Federal Court workload
-district courts get the most work-hear the most cases (workhorses of the system)-hears drug, criminal, civil cases
-Circuit court of appeals: Consideration given to all cases, Takes a long time→ that is why death row inmates sit on death row for 15-20 years
-Supreme: not a lot of work-get to choose their workload
Jurisdiction
Which courts hear what cases?
All these hear federal questions vvv
Supreme court: only hears cases that they have original jurisdiction over or have gone through the appellate
Appellate: only cases through district courts
District courts: violations US Penal code, federal questions
What about state courts?
-State law → not federal questions, family, drugs, civil lawsuits
How can a case reach the Supreme Court?
Federal court: party is unhappy with district court, then they appeal to the circuit court and then they can appeal to the Supreme Court with writ of certiorari.
state court: Involves a federal or constitutional question, and can move from the state circuit courts to the state Supreme Court
What restraints are there on the Supreme Court?
They have to answer a political question: cannot answer questions that are better suited to be resolved by the legislative or the executive
can only hear cases or controversies: need an actual situation not a hypothetical
-cannot create new laws, interprets them
who hears cases of fact
district
who hears cases of legality
appellate
How are Federal Judges Selected
nominated by president, confirmed by senate
