POLI 172 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Terri Schiavo Case, Judicial Restraint, American Civil Liberties Union
26 Apr 2016
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Federalism: complete set of national courts side by side with complete systems of state courts. Constitution: mentions only one court a supreme court: allows congress to set up additional courts, article iii, section 1. Federal district courts: trial courts, 94 of them, based on population, but each state has at least one, single judge or a jury decides each case, although there are multiple judges within any district. Egypt and china are examples of authoritarian unitary systems. Hear far more than the federal courts. Despite these separate jurisdictions, there are some cases that begin in the state courts and end in the federal courts: involve state and federal law, frequently a state statute and a federal constitutional right. Example: a criminal law and a legal question about the search and seizure (fourth amendment) or interrogation (fifth amendment) conducted by the police. Litigant who lost at state supreme court level to appeal to the u. s.
