Summary Of Article III Of The Constitution: The Only Supreme Court

Judicial Branch is established under Article III of the Constitution. It was created to be the weakest of all three branches of government. Each branch has its own characteristics, but what distinguishes this branch from other two is that Judiciary is passive. It cannot act until someone brings case in front of them. Even if some law or act is unconstitutional, courts are powerless to do anything on their own. Contrary to Judiciary, other two branches are active, and have power to attack other subjects.

Basically, there are two types of federal courts: constitutional and legislative. Constitutional courts are presided over by the Supreme Court and

The rest of Article III, Section I points to how judges can serve stating, “shall hold Offices during good behavior.” The good behavior portion of the statement is constitutionally recognized that judges may serve to the end of their life time or leave office voluntarily. Over time the meaning of life time has expanded and become the center of the controversy surrounding the extent of service. The framers of the constitution found life tenure appropriate for the justices of the Supreme Court as an expression of their importance to the government, but also that the loss of their cognitive ability was an imaginary farce.

The federal courts have power to decide only those cases over which the Constitution gives them authority. These courts are located principally in the larger cities. Only carefully selected types of cases may be heard in the federal courts.

The U.S. Constitution created a strong government structure for the United States known as federalism. Both the federal and state governments must have their own court systems to apply and interpret their own specific laws. Both federal and state constitutions attempt to do this by specifically spelling out the jurisdiction of their own court systems. For example, U.S Constitution gives Congress the power to make uniform laws concerning bankruptcies, a state court would lack jurisdiction in this matter. Since the Constitution does not give the federal government authority in most matters concerning the regulation of the family, a federal court would lack jurisdiction in a divorce case. This is the main reason why there are two separate court systems in America. The federal court system deals with issues of law relating to those powers implicitly granted to them by the U.S. Constitution. The state court systems deal with issues of laws relating to those matters that the U.S. Constitution did not give to the federal government or deny to the states.

The Supreme Court often oversteps its perceived legal sovereignty when using judicial review. Article III of the Constitution solely vests the courts the “judicial power of the United States” never mentioning the power of judicial review. The judiciary’s duty, according to the law of the land, is “to interpret the laws, not scan the authority of the lawgiver” (Gibson, J.). The judiciary has not followed a strict interpretation of the constitution; rather, it has encroached on the power of the legislative branch and the sanctity of the separation of powers. If the Constitution “were to come into collision with an act of the legislature” (Gibson, J.), the Constitution would take precedent, but it is

A 3rd Article of the Constitution talks about the Judicial Branch. It says that there will be a court and then a “supreme” court that will make many decisions. It later says what kind of cases the federal government gets to hear. The framers wrote detailed descriptions for this Article so that the Judicial system new what cases they got and what cases the federal government got. Without the description, the federal government could possibly override the Supreme Court and get all of the cases. The framers also saw that this Article would need provisions because new cases would arise and new courts would come around.

The Third Article of the United States Constitution set up the Judicial Branch. Section One of the Article set up the Judicial Branch with “one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.” It also stated that the judges in the Court can only hold office in good behavior with a compensation that is unchanging at anytime in the Court. During their time in office, that is. The Second Section of the Constitution brings to mention the fact that the power that the Judicial Branch has goes to anyone. All cases brought under the Constitution of the United States of America are seen in Court. It also talks about criminal cases having a trial by jury. This not including impeachment trials. The

Primarily, judicial review consists of four main components.5 The first dynamic of judicial review is that the Supreme Court can reject any federal, presidential or congressional, act or law which is deemed to be unconstitutional centred upon the judiciary’s interpretation of the United States Constitution.6 For instance, the Supreme Court can void a presidential-line item veto, i.e. the President’s ability to erase part of a bill passed by the legislature involving taxation or spending.7 In addition, the second factor of judicial review is the authority of the Supreme Court to strike down any state act (gubernatorial) or law (state legislature), which is judged as unconstitutional based, again, upon the Court’s interpretation of the United States Constitution.8 One such example of this power being exercised is when the Supreme Court annulled California’s attempt to enforce congressional term limits.9

Established in 1789, the Supreme Court was created to interpret the meaning of the Constitution and to use that interpretation to declare any actions of the Legislative or Executive Branches unconstitutional. However, the Supreme Court was capable of also acquiring more functions as evidence of the landmark case of Marbury v. Madison (1803). The case dealt with President John Adams appointing sixteen new circuit court justices for the District of Colombia. Adams appointed these justices so that his political party would have more justices than the rival party. Problematically, the appointment letters were not delivered by the end of his term. By that basis, President Thomas Jefferson annulled the appointments because he retained the right to appoint the justices during his time of jurisdiction. Consequently, this aggravated the appointed justice and therefore one of the justices named William Marbury filed a case in the Supreme Court over the commissions that they were promised (Goldstone). The Court ruled that Marbury did have a right to commission and also with it made a statement that enacted the doctrine of Judicial Review. This meant that the court had the "right to review, and possibly nullify, laws and governmental acts that violate the constitution. Judicial Review is a means of assuring that politicians and various other leaders adhere to the constitution and do not use powers granted to them by

Constitution, and “appoints federal judges by advice and consent of the Senate” (SITE, p.). The judicial branch is comprised of the Federal, District, and Appeals Courts, which judge cases concerning federal law, but the Supreme Court decides if the law agrees with the U.S. Constitution. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080521155230AAz04SP

The Constitution states that “the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction in all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a state shall be a party. In all other cases, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction.” If it had been intended to leave it in the discretion of the Legislature to apportion the judicial power between the Supreme and inferior courts according to the will of that body, this section is mere surplusage and is entirely without meaning. If Congress remains at liberty to give this court appellate jurisdiction where the Constitution has declared their jurisdiction shall be original, and original jurisdiction where the Constitution has declared it shall be appellate, the distribution of jurisdiction made in the Constitution, is form without substance.

The powers of the judicial branch rest in the courts, which decide arguments about the meaning of laws, how they are applied, and whether they violate the Constitution. The latter power is known as judicial review and it is this process that the judiciary uses to provide checks and balances on the legislative and executive branches. However, judicial review is not an explicit power given to the courts, but it is an implied power. The judicial branch is established in Article III of the Constitution. The judicial branch consists of nine justices, including a chief justice, appointed for life terms by the president with the consent of the Senate. The court also serves as a trial court in cases involving foreign ambassadors, ministers, and consuls, and in cases where a U.S. state is a party.

As a result of federalism, whereby government system of the United States has generated an overlap of power as a result of delegating some powers to the federal government and others to the state to exercise, there has therefore been a conflict in the undertaking of criminal justice in courts. Article six of the United States constitution contains a supremacy clause that pronounces the role of judges in every state as bound by the constitution (Banks, 34). This is however subject to different interpretation because when these laws interfere with the laws of the congress, the act of congress is deemed supreme even though the latter is in pursuance of the constitution, it must conform to the laws of congress. For instance, the United States district courts have jurisdiction to hear federal cases and deciding the constitutionality of federal laws. However the constitution gives powers to the congress to control and determine the cases to

The Supreme Court’s largest responsibility rests in its power of judicial review. The Supreme Court has the final say in all legal matters concerning the Constitution. The Supreme Court has the authority “to invalidate legislation or executive actions which, in the Court 's considered judgment, conflict with the Constitution” (The Court and Constitutional Interpretation n.p.). This means that anything passed by Congress, or mandated by the President can be struck down if the Court deems it unconstitutional. The Court can also strike down laws made by local and state governments if they violate the Constitution ("The Role of the Supreme Court” n.p.). Judicial review has been important in making sure that a citizen’s individual rights, stated in the Bill of Rights, are protected. There is no express consent written in the Constitution to grant the Court the power of judicial review. The idea of it, however, was around before the Constitution was written. Before the formal establishment of the Court in 1789, state courts had exercised it by overturning several laws passed by their legislatures that conflicted with their state constitutions (The Court and Constitutional Interpretation n.p.). It was not until the 1803 Supreme