The Judicial Branch

Throughout this topic, you learned about the organization, power, and jurisdiction of the federal judiciary. America has a dual court system consisting of courts at the state and federal level. The federal judiciary is divided into a three-tier system. The district courts are at the bottom, the courts of appeals are on the second tier, and the Supreme Court is at the top. There are different types of jurisdiction held among these courts. Exclusive jurisdiction is the sole right to hear a case. Concurrent jurisdiction is the shared right to hear a case. Original jurisdiction is the right to hear a case first, while appellate jurisdiction refers to the right to review a case and possibly overturn a lower courts decision.

The judicial branch's main check over the other branches of government is the power of judicial review. This refers to the judicial branch's ability to decide whether actions of legislative or executive branches are constitutional. The way a judge interprets the Constitution has an impact on his or her judicial philosophy. At one end is the idea that the Constitution should be interpreted in a narrow manner. This principle is known as judicial restraint, and it attempts to interpret the Constitution based on the Founding Fathers' original intentions. At the opposite end is the principle of judicial activism, which supports a looser interpretation of the Constitution. These philosophies, along with precedents set in previous cases, have an impact on the rulings of judges and justices.