(855) 4-ESSAYS

Type a new keyword(s) and press Enter to search

The Judicial System

            The writers of the US Constitution were determined to separate the powers of the federal government in to three branches: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. The prime function of the judicial branch is to interpret the law in such a way that rules made in the past can be applied reasonably in the present. This function gives the courts a role in policymaking. The Constitution establishes the Supreme Court of the United States and grants Congress the authority to establish lower federal courts. The United States has two different courts systems-the federal courts and the state courts. Federal courts make judgments in cases having to do with the U.S. Constitution or other federal law. They hear cases in which the U.S. is suing or prosecuting someone. They handle disputes between citizens of two different states and disputes involving foreign countries and U.S. citizens. Crimes that happen on ships at sea are called admiralty cases and are also held in federal court. Federal courts are set up on three levels. The lowest federal courts are the district courts, where most federal cases are heard first. The United States has 90 district courts. The Court of Appeals is the next highest in the federal court system. The Court of Appeals is divided into 11 circuits that cover all the states, territories, and possessions of the U.S. Defendants who are not satisfied with the decision of a district court can appeal to the court. The highest federal court is the Supreme Court. It consists of eight associate justices and one chief justice, appointed by the President with the approval of the Senate. Justices are appointed for life and their salaries cannot be lowered while they serve. These rules were established so that justices would be free from political pressures that might influence their decision. The court has two kinds of jurisdiction. In cases affecting ambassadors and other public ministers and in cases in which a state is one of the parties, the court has original jurisdiction.


Essays Related to The Judicial System

1. The Effectiveness of the Judicial Branch

... their limits in attempts to promote progress. Progress, however must be achieved through mechanisms which uphold the ideals of the Constitution. The judicial branch has effectively protected these ideals since its creation and continues to carry out the duties of its purpose in the way it was originally intended by the founding fathers. Without the Judicial system, our political regime would amount to nothing more than a mere power struggle between ... the Legislative and Executive branches. The Judiciary is not only necessary for effectively interpretation the Constitution, but ultimat...

  • Word Count: 1464
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

2. English Legal System and Judicial Precedent

... the judicial decisions from the higher court are binding on the lower court. This following essay will illustrate different part of the doctrine of precedent and do judges bound by their previous decisions or not in different hierarchy of courts. Moreover, explaining the problems encountered with the doctrine of precedent and the methods available to avoid precedent in the English legal system. The English law system is based on the operation of judicial precedents, judicial ... case when they are too much case law. It was in the case Merritt v Merritt (1970)5 that it departed from the ...

  • Word Count: 1319
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

3. Cambodia and the Road to Democracy

... resulted in judges being homogeneously loyal to the ruling CPP party. Additionally, there has not been a single case in the court systems history in which any form of judicial oversight was successfully implemented over the executive power (World Justice Project 2012). The government's lack of effort to actually reform the judicial system has resulted in a high level of impunity enjoyed by the well-connected and wealthy families of Cambodia ... . At the root of this problem, as with most of Cambodia ... ...

  • Word Count: 3095
  • Approx Pages: 12
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Graduate

4. The Juvenile Justice System

... been conducted involving 23 juvenile justice facilities in more than a dozen states (U.S. Department of Justice, 2007). Research consistently shows lower recidivism rates in the juvenile justice system than in the criminal justice system, but the likelihood of released youth or adults going on to lead crime-free lives is not high. Although it is very scant, data on recidivism rates ... , Piquero et al., 2010) of more than one thousand adolescents adjudicated for serious offenses in Philadelphia (Philadelphia County) and in Phoenix (Maricopa County) found that juvenile justice system ser...

  • Word Count: 2448
  • Approx Pages: 10
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

5. judicial review

... created a legacy that has endured nearly two hundred years. While writing the majority opinion for the Supreme Court case of Marbury v. Madison in 1803, he single-handedly changed the course of our judicial system. He did this by granting the judicial branch the power to determine a law unconstitutional, otherwise known as judicial review. The question at hand, then, is to explore how this one ruling ... on a seemingly insignificant case became a worthy landmark on the timeline of United States history. Just as any decision ... on this council because as federal judges, they were already...

  • Word Count: 1209
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

6. Extending the Rights of the Judicial Branch

In the standard view of the Judicial Branch people think of courts, lawyers and lawsuits, or they possibly even think of today's television court shows. However, the Judicial System goes much deeper than just discovering truths to solve disputes, murders, and insider-trading scandals. The court, which is over two centuries old, has a deep history which has helped to shape it into the grand institution that ... it has become. Today's court system is slightly confusing in that not only does each state ... have its own system of district, appellate and Supreme Courts, but the nation as a whole ...

  • Word Count: 974
  • Approx Pages: 4

7. Gittany and the Equality of Justice

... actions, this was not a mitigating factor in his offence. The judicial discretion Justice McCallum exercised in R v Gittany highlights how discretion justly allows laws to be implemented on a case-by-case basis in the criminal justice system, considering individual circumstances. Sentencing and judicial discretion are aspects of the criminal justice system which allow for the victim, offenders and society's rights to be balanced to ... and a lengthy trial can be minimized. This allows the offender's rights to be upheld and public confidence in the criminal justice system to be maintained...

  • Word Count: 1051
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

8. Life Without Parole and the Death Penalty

... an enforced punishment or not. Until this day 32 states have opt to enforce the capital punishment as for 18 have worked their judicial systems efficiently without it. By reforming the judicial system's consensus to abolish the death penalty nationwide, the United States will be able to promote a more fair and efficient judicial system to put the right people behind bars with reasonable decisions. To begin with, some may argue ... the death penalty is a punishment created during barbaric times, but reasons to keep the death penalty alive in our system are somewhat rational. Pro capital ...

  • Word Count: 861
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

9. judicial review

... Montesquieu. In his book The Spirit of the Law, Montesquieu describes a political system where governmental power is shared between an executive, a legislature, and a judiciary. According to Montesquieu, the law which is created by the legislature is applied by the executive, and the judiciary regulates the way in which the executive applies the law. The judiciary would be limited by the legislature, since only the legislature could create new laws. The legislature could create law ... excellent barrier to the encroachments and oppressions of the representative body." So, the judiciary ...

  • Word Count: 1067
  • Approx Pages: 4

10. The Main Principles of Our Federal Republic

... , independence from. Also included in the Constitution was a system called separation of powers. This was included to make sure that the three branches of government (the legislative , the executive , and the judicial ) didn't gain too much power. The Electoral College is a group of electors from each state that meets every four years to vote for the President and the Vice President. Another system included in the Constitution designed to keep each branch ... from becoming too strong was the system of checks and balances. Under this system, each branch of the federal government ... ...

  • Word Count: 1071
  • Approx Pages: 4

Got a writing question? Ask our professional writer!
Submit My Question