Judges and Justices in the Court System

Key Players in the Court System: Judges and Justices

• Judges preside over trials including pre- and post- trial activities
• In most states as well as the federal system, judges also serve in the first level of appellate courts
• In the supreme courts of the United States and each state, a judge is referred to as “Justice”

Judges at the Trial Level

• Judges preside over the litigation process
• Judges interpret and enforce the rules of procedure that govern litigations
• In a jury trial, the judge rules on legal issues, while the jury decides the facts
• In a bench trial, the judge decides both the facts and legal issues, because there is no jury

Judges at the Appellate Level

• Judges/justices hear arguments about disputed legal issues
• Judges/justices review the rulings of the trial court judge on those issues
• Judges/justices issue orders that explain the rationale for their decisions
• The orders that judges/justices create is an example of the creation of common law

Key Players in the Court System: Jurors

• Jurors are individuals called to serve on either a petit jury or a grand jury
• A petit jury consists of 6-12 jurors and decides guilt or liability in a criminal or civil trial, respectively
• Jurors on a petit jury assess the evidence admitted during the trial using the legal standards and instructions provided by the judge

Jury Trial and Constitutional Guarantees

• The right to a jury trial is guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution
• The Sixth Amendment grants criminal defendants the right to a speedy trial by an impartial jury
• The Seventh Amendment grants the right to a trial by jury in civil cases
• State constitutions also routinely provide for a jury trial

Grand Jury

• A petit jury may be used at trial in civil and criminal cases
• A grand jury is not part of a civil or criminal trial, and not used in civil litigation at all
• A grand jury plays an important role in the criminal process prior to trial
• The Fifth Amendment states that no one may be tried for a capital or infamous crime without an indictment by a Grand Jury, with some exceptions
• Grand jury does not decide guilt or innocence
• Grand jury determines whether there is probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed
• If probable cause exists, the grand jury issues an indictment of the defendant, who is then bound over for trial
• Grand juries typically consist of 16-23 people
• A grand jury is not open to the public, there is no judge present and often the only lawyer is the prosecutor

Key Players in the Court System: Lawyers

• Lawyers play many roles in resolution of disputes
• In litigation, lawyers represent clients and facilitate the adversarial process
• Rules of ethics and procedure place limits on lawyers actions
• Lawyers have independent obligations to the Court to act according to certain rules

Organization of the Court System: State Courts

• States have three tiers of courts
• Trial courts
• Appellate courts
• State Supreme Court

State Court Structure: Trial Courts

• Trial courts, state or federal, are where parties file lawsuits, conduct discovery, and have a trial over their dispute
• The name of trial courts varies by state, including:
  • District Court
  • Circuit Court
  • County Court
  • Superior Court
• A court's subject matter jurisdiction determines the subjects over which the court has power
• State trial courts are usually courts of general jurisdiction, which means they can hear cases on any subject matter from divorce, to negligence, to murder

State Court Structure: Court of Appeals

• A party who is dissatisfied with the outcome of the lawsuit at the trial court level typically has a right to appeal to a court of appeals
• An appeal is not a do over. The appellate court doesn't conduct a new trial
• Appellate court proceedings are limited to lawyers presenting their legal arguments to the appellate judges
• Appellate courts do not independently develop facts, instead they accept the factual record as it was developed in the trial court
• Appellate courts focus on legal issues
• Typically, a court of appeals consists of a three-judge panel that hears the arguments of the lawyers about the disputed legal issues
• Most, but not all, states have two levels of appellate courts

State Court Structure: State Supreme Court

• States are free to call their courts whatever they want, so these names are not universal
• A party dissatisfied with the decision of the Court of Appeals may request the State Supreme Court to review the case
• Parties generally do not have a right to appeal to the State Supreme Court
  • A party may request review and the State Supreme Court has discretion to grant or deny the request
• Like a Court of Appeals, the State Supreme Court focuses on legal issues and decides them in the context of the factual evidence introduced in the trial record
• Each state decides the number of Justices on its Supreme Court.
  • The Kansas Supreme Court has seven Justices

State Court Structure: State Supreme Court to U.S. Supreme Court

• A party dissatisfied with the decision of a State Supreme Court may ask SCOTUS, the United States Supreme Court, to review the case
• A litigant does not have a right to appeal to SCOTUS
• SCOTUS has discretion to grant or deny such a request
• Typically, SCOTUS will not grant review of a case unless:
  • It involves a novel and important question of federal law
  • There is split among the federal courts of appeal on a question of federal law
  • There is a dispute between states

Federal Court Structure: Federal Courts

• The authorization for the federal courts is in Art. III of the U.S. Constitution
• There is a three tier structure
  • United States District Courts (trial courts)
  • United States Courts of Appeal
  • United States Supreme Court

Federal Court Structure: United States District Courts

• Each state has at least one district
• More populous states have multiple districts
• Courts are named after the district
  • Examples:
  • United States District Court for the District of Kansas
  • United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri
• United States District Courts are courts of limited subject matter jurisdiction
• In cases where it has subject matter jurisdiction, a federal district court serves the same role as a trial court in the state court system

Federal Court Structure: United States Courts of Appeal

• A party who is dissatisfied with the outcome of a lawsuit in a United States District Court typically has a right to appeal to the United States Courts of Appeals
• As with a state court of the appeals, the United States Courts of Appeal focus on legal issues. They do not retry the case
• There are 13 different U.S. Courts of Appeals
• The geography of the country is broken into 12 regions, each of which has its own U.S. Court of Appeals
• There is also a specialized U.S. Court of Appeals that handles certain appeals on certain subjects from all over the country
  • A U.S. Court of Appeals handles appeals from U.S. District Courts in its geographic region
  • The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia covers the smallest geographic region
• Because Congress and many U.S. government agencies are located in D.C., this court of appeals is the main appellate court federal government issues
• The remainder of the country besides the District of Columbia is divided into 11 regions, each served by a court of appeals with a numeric designation
  • Appeals from the federal district court in Kansas, for example, are to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
• The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit only hears appeals on specific subject matters, e.g. Patent cases, but takes appeals on those subjects from any district court in the country
  • Appeals of certain certain subject matters are heard exclusively by the Federal Circuit
• A party who is dissatisfied with the decision of a U.S. Court of Appeals may file a petition for a writ of certiorari to SCOTUS
• Granting or denying certiorari is discretionary by SCOTUS

Federal Court Structure: Appellate Terminology

• The party who files the initial appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals is the appellant, regardless of whether that party was the plaintiff or defendant at the trial level
• The other party is the appellee
• If a party seeks to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, the party applying to the U.S. Supreme Court is the petitioner
• The other party is the respondent