20 U S Courts: Structure and Procedure
Learning Objectives
- Describe the court system’s basic structure
- Explain how you are protected by different U.S. court systems
- Describe the differences between the U.S. district courts, circuit courts, and the Supreme Court
- Explain the significance of precedent in the courts’ operations
- Describe how judges are selected for their positions
- Analyze the structure and important features of the Supreme Court
- Explain how the judiciary is checked by the other branches of government
The judiciary is multi-layered with courts at both the national, state, county, and local levels.
Adding complexity, the court systems sometimes intersect and overlap each other, and no two states are exactly alike in court structure. The organization of state courts does not perfectly mirror the more clear-cut system found at the federal level.[1]
Cases heard by the U.S. Supreme Court come from two primary pathways: (1) the circuit courts, or U.S. courts of appeal (after the cases have originated in the federal district courts), and (2) state supreme courts (when there is a substantive federal question in the case).
Precedent set by each ruling, particularly by the Supreme Court, builds on principles set by earlier cases and frames the ongoing decisions of the courts. Reliance on precedent has enabled the federal courts to operate with logic and consistency helping validate their role as the key interpreters of the Constitution and the law—a legitimacy particularly vital in the United States where citizens do not elect federal judges and justices but are subject to their rulings. The U.S. court system operates on the principle of stare decisis (let the decision stand) meaning today’s decisions are based largely on rulings from the past, and tomorrow’s rulings rely on what is decided today. Consistency of precedent ensures greater stability in law and constitutional interpretation contributing to the court system’s legitimacy. As former Supreme Court justice Benjamin Cardozo summarized it years ago, “Adherence to precedent must then be the rule rather than the exception if litigants are to have faith in the even-handed administration of justice in the courts.”[2] The Court makes a decision based upon numerous factors. If the justices affirm the lower court’s decision, they declare it valid and allow it to stand.[3] When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings the decision is to remand. The lower court is often required to do something differently, but that does not always mean the court’s final decision will change.[4] When an appellate court sets aside (reverses) the decision of a lower court because of an error, it is a reversal, which is often followed by a remand. For example, if the defendant argued on appeal that certain evidence should not have been used at trial, and the appeals court agrees, the case will be remanded in order for the trial court to reconsider the case without th