diana dyv (Gast)
| | COURT STRUCTURE IN THE US
Issues of crime and justice have always held the Americans attention. Americans are accustomed to
bringing their claims for justice to the courts. There are few countries where so many people treat
the law as part of their everyday lives. Local, state and federal courts handle approximately 12
million cases a year. The sheer number of Americans employed in the legal profession is
overwhelming; there is one lawyer for every 4440 Americans, whereas in Japan there is one lawyer
for every 10,000 people.
Americans‟ claims for justice rest on the provisions of the US Constitution. Most of rights and
freedoms that the Americans enjoy are guaranteed in the first ten amendments or “Bill of Rights” of
the constitution.
The Constitution, written in 1987, established a separate judicial branch of government which
operates independently alongside the executive and legislative branches. Within the judicial branch,
authority is divided between state and federal (national) courts. At the head of the judicial branch is
the Supreme Court, the final interpreter of the Constitution, which consists of nine justices and has
jurisdiction over all other courts in the nation.
The Constitution recognizes that the states have certain rights and authorities beyond the power of
the federal government. States have power to establish their own systems of criminal and civil laws,
with the result that each state has its own laws, prisons, police forces and state courts.
The separate system of federal courts, which operate alongside the state courts, handles cases which
arise under the US Constitution or under any law or treaty, as well as any controversy to which the
federal government is itself a party. Federal courts also hear disputes involving governments or
citizens of different states.
All federal judges are appointed for life. A case which falls within the federal jurisdiction is heard
before a federal district judge. An appeal may be made to the circuit Court of Appeals and, possibly,
in the last resort, to the highest court in the land; the US Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court hears cases in which someone claims that a lower court ruling is unjust or in
which someone claims that Constitutional law has been violated. Its decisions are final and become
legally binding. Not all Americans are satisfied with all Supreme Court decisions. Many Americans
believe that the court too often “takes the side of the criminals” in declaring the proceedings invalid
because an accused person‟s rights have been violated. Others argue, however, that protecting the
innocent is the real intent of these rulings, and that it is better to have a few criminals go free than to
have one innocent person be jailed. Although the Supreme Court does not have the power to make
laws, it does have the power to examine actions of the legislative, executive and administrative
institutions of the government and decide whether they are constitutional. It is in this function that
the Supreme Court has the potential to influence decisively the political, social and economic life of
the country by giving new protection and freedom to minorities or by nullifying certain laws of the
Congress, or even declaring actions of American presidents unconstitutional.
Presidents have often criticized the Supreme Court, although the criticism comes more frequently
today from the bar associations, law schools and court observers in the press. The two judicial
systems, federal and state, form layers of courts that check each other and are checked in turn by the
law profession and law schools, which study the decisions and create an informed opinion.
Congress also reviews the laws to be enforced and can change the laws and the number of Supreme
Court judges. The president nominates the Supreme Court appointee, while the Senate examines to
determine whether he or she is qualified. Similarly, the governors, the state legislatures, and the
people select the state judges. |
