PS 101 The Federal Judiciary

1. The Federal Judiciary Dr. Christopher S. Rice

2. Judiciary Act of 1789

4. Trial Courts or U.S. District Courts (94)

5. Appellate Courts or U.S. Courts of Appeals (13) Trial Courts or U.S. District Courts (94)

6. U.S. Supreme Court (1) Appellate Courts or U.S. Courts of Appeals (13) Trial Courts or U.S. District Courts (94)

7. Supreme Court of the United States

8. Congress and the Supreme Court

10. Precedent A judicial decision that serves as a rule for settling subsequent cases of a similar nature.

11. Stare Decisis Doctrine of closely following precedent as the basis for legal reasoning.

12. “I’m going to take this all the way to the Supreme Court!”

13. Writ of Certiorari Order from the Court to lower courts demanding that they send up a complete record of a case.

14. The “Rule of Four”

15. Oral Arguments

16. Amicus Curiae briefs “Friend of the Court”

17. Written Opinions

18. Majority Opinion (aka the “opinion of the court”) Statement of the legal reasoning that supports the decision of the majority of the court.

19. Concurring Opinion Opinion of a justice or justices who support the majority decision but have different legal reasons for doing so.

20. Dissenting Opinion The reasoning of the minority, explaining their dissent.

21. Remanding to a lower court

22. Remanding to a lower court

23. The Problem of Lifetime Appointments

24. Fixing the Problem of Lifetime Appointments Not-So-Early Fixed Terms Retirement A Balanced Power of the Bench Purse

30. Judicial Review the power of the Court to rule on the constitutionality of state, federal laws and executive actions.

32. Marbury v. Madison (1803)

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