The Supreme Court:
-Consists of 9 justices (8 associate justices and 1 chief justice
-Is the highest court
-Have the ability to choose the cases they hear
-Choose less than 1% of the cases presented to them
-Pick their cases base on 1) the conflicting opinions of two lower courts, 2) rulings conflict with previous Supreme Court rulings, and 3) the issue has historical significance
-President's most important legacy because it is a LIFETIME position
Court of Appeals:
-There are 12 courts, each serving at least two states (see this map)
-There are a total of 178 judges
-Do not base rulings on guilt vs. innocents, rather to correct errors made at the district level
-Cases are heard by a rotating panel of 3 judges
District Courts
-Lowest court in the system
-There are 91 total district courts (at least one per state)
-Total of 678 judges
-Hear about 350,000 cases per year
-Deal with federal crimes, bankruptcy, civil suits between states, and naturalization
-Consists of 9 justices (8 associate justices and 1 chief justice
-Is the highest court
-Have the ability to choose the cases they hear
-Choose less than 1% of the cases presented to them
-Pick their cases base on 1) the conflicting opinions of two lower courts, 2) rulings conflict with previous Supreme Court rulings, and 3) the issue has historical significance
-President's most important legacy because it is a LIFETIME position
Court of Appeals:
-There are 12 courts, each serving at least two states (see this map)
-There are a total of 178 judges
-Do not base rulings on guilt vs. innocents, rather to correct errors made at the district level
-Cases are heard by a rotating panel of 3 judges
District Courts
-Lowest court in the system
-There are 91 total district courts (at least one per state)
-Total of 678 judges
-Hear about 350,000 cases per year
-Deal with federal crimes, bankruptcy, civil suits between states, and naturalization