POLS 207 Chapter 11

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Judicial System

Only 4% of judges in US are federal; other 96% are state judges

Nearly all laws that people can violate are state laws

State/local gov'ts most frequently prosecute criminal cases (99.9% of all criminal cases)

felonies: serious violations with substantial fines and imprisonment
misdemeanors: less serious crimes.

State courts adjudicate nearly all civil cases (99.8% of all civil cases)

civil cases: disputes between 2 entities (individuals, corporations, organizations, etc.)

More criminal than civil cases

Rights

5th Amendment

Rights of accused persons in criminal trials

Indictment of a Grand Jury
Can't be accused for same crime twice
Can't be used as witness against himself

6th Amendment

Right to speedy trial and more criminal trial protections

Speedy public trial by impartial jury
informed of nature and cause of accusation
confronted with witnesses against him
Assistance of counsel for his defense

8th Amendment

Bails and punishments

no excessive bail
no cruel and unusual punishments

Organization

Ordinary, everyday courts are trials courts.
Loser of a trial may "appeal" to an intermediate appellate court
Loser of Appeals Court decision may appeal to higher appellate court

Appeals are expensive and few are actually overturned

Corporations are most likely to seek appeals

Appeals Court

Validate decisions (constitutionality) of trial court
Do not retry cases
decide whether to uphold or overrule decisions
Accepts few cases for review

Supreme Court

State supreme court also called final appeals court or court of last resort

mainly concerned with constitutionality
also does not retry cases
"final decision"

Individuals not involved in original trial may submit advice in form amicus curiae briefs

Activity

Measured by the number of cases (discretionary or mandatory) accepted by appellate courts

Judicial activism: Courts that judge laws and behavior as constitutional are not deemed active; occurs when courts play balancing role of checking other branches
Judicial restraint: Interpreting the law rather than making the law; courts should defer to elected legislative and executive branches (representative of people)

Last 15 years: US Supreme Court has made more activist conservative decisions than activist liberal decisions. (liberal receives more publicity)

Primary US (genius) concerns: Majority rule and minority rights

Noteworthy Criminal Rights Cases

Mapp v. Ohio (1961): "exclusionary rule": excludes illegally seized evidence from being presented in trials
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963): state provides attorney always (even in misdemeanors)
Miranda v. Arizona (1966): right to be informed of rights: "right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you ..."
Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008): Protection agains cruel and unusual punishment; ensure against arbitrary and capricious application (of death penalty); Equal protection (African-Americans have been more likely to be convicted of capital crimes.

Noteworthy Equal Protection Cases

Brown v. Board of Education (1954): "Separate but equal is not constitutional
Loving v. Virginia (1967): Racial limitations on marriage violated "due process guarantees" of 14^th Amendment
Lawrence v. Texas (2003): State laws could not make private sexual practices between consenting adults of the same sex criminal; overruled Bowers v. Hardwick (1986), which came to opposite conclusion
Defense of Marriage Act (1996): federal government does not recognize same-sex marriage; protects states from having to recognize it either

Selecting Judges

US Supreme courts are appointed by president for life

In states, voters elect most judges for a limited term of office.

appointment with state senate advice and consent: governor appoints judges with majority approval of state senate; selected from a list of qualified judjes; 10 States
legislative appointment: appointed by majority vote of state legislature; 2 States
partisan elections: Dem. and Rep. candidates contest positions; 12 States
nonpartisan elections: contested elections, but no party affiliation; 14 States
merit system (Missouri Plan): governor fills vacancies from list of candidates; candidates must undergo retention election (retain or kick out and reappoint); 10 States; Most popular for selection of appeals court judges

Some notes:

appellate judges and trial judges are selected differently
regardless of method of electoral selection, incumbency advantage is very common for judicial branch. Very few incumbants lose elections.

Terms

Common term lengths:

6-year: 17 states
8-year: 12 states
10-year: 11 states

All states provide for legislative impeachment of judges
Few permit recall votes remove them from the bench

Qualifications

Licensed to practice law
Membership in state bar (often for at least 5 years)
minimum ages (usually 30, but anywhere in 18–35)

Most judges are male, white, middle-class, better educated, and wealthier Judges seem unrepresententative of those they judge, and there is little variation among states

Women and minority are underrepresented

"have-nots" (e.g. defendant, wife in divorce, debtor, victim of injury) are favored by minority and democratic judges

State supreme court judges receive highest salary of all judges

max: CA $210,000
min: MT $106,000
avg: $143,000

Intermediate appeals courts are next best paid

Trial court are lowest paid, usually below $150,000

Court Load

More property crime than violent crime

incerceration is more strongly related to population than to crime or prosecution.

many innovations suggested to cope with crimes, caseloads, selection of judges, and judicial salaries. None seem to matter

Problems with State Courts

plea-bargaining: if someone accused of a criminal offense agrees to plead "guilty," no trial needs to be held.; accused have to be encouraged, so more serious offense would be dropped in exchange fo pleading guilty to a lesser offense.
Bell v. Cone (2002): legal counsel guaranteed by 6th amendment has to be better than not having an attorney at all
Cockrell v. Burdine (2002): attorney sleeping throughout trial proceedings is an example of an absence of legal representation; better justice is harder to afford, so the wealthy probably get better justice

Justice is not uniform across the country: something legal in one state might be illegal in another

No such thing as an impartial jury since jury has some limitations on who can serve.

Summary

US has dual state and federal courts. Each has trial and appeals courts.
Activism is not based on liberal decision, courts have been more conservative in the last 15 years.
Constitution protects accused in federal courts, with extensions to state corts.
Interpretation of "Equal protection" has changed; courts have taken lead role in issue
Many states urge selection by merit system: knowledgeable committee selects applicants with merit for final selection by governor. Voters later [dis]approve
Size/population is biggest factor of crime, caseload, and incarceration. Nothing else seems to matter
Plea-bargaining, better justice for wealty, and other problems pervade courts, and there's little chance to solve them