Supreme Court Process

In the case of Robert Tolan and Marian Tolan vs. Jeffrey Wayne Cotton, I will be discussing what interest me about this case. I will also deliberating on the liability and criminal liability of this case. The Tolan vs. Cotton case interests me because the United States have so many police that are brutalizing citizens. In some cases the police officers are getting away with it. After reading, reviewing, and studying this case I have learn a lot about the criminal system and laws that men and women should obey. I will explain how the nine judges on the Supreme courts all came to a verdict against the police officer Jeffrey Cotton after he shot an innocent suspect. This people

The courts play a huge role in the criminal justice system. The dual court system of the United States (U.S.) was established through the U.S. constitution. The court systems have a multiple purposes and elements of court. Federal and state court system is what makes up the dual court system of the U.S. Today the U.S. court system is what it is today because of previous legal codes, common law, and the precedent it played in the past. Making the U.S. court system a vital role in the criminal justice system..

The United States’ attention was captivated on the Supreme Court Case of Powell vs Alabama during the 1930s. During the time period, this case revealed the brutal treatment towards African Americans more than any other event. The case began on March 25, 1931, when a group of young white and African American youths were traveling on a train to find a job. A physical encounter broke out between them and the white youths were thrown out of the train. Then they reported the incident to a stationmaster, who stopped the train. The police arrived to gather the nine African Americans and brought them to jail. Nine young African Americans were recognized as the “Scottsboro boys”. They were accused of rape of two white women on that train. The white jury convicted eight of them, all except one, the youngest at 12-years-old, and were sentenced to death. These youths were falsely charged with raping two white women in Alabama. Although there was no evidence that linked the African Americans to the white women, they were still charged with sexual assault. The two women -- fearing prosecution for their sexual relationship with the white men agreed to testify against the black youths. The Supreme Court Case of Powell vs Alabama is crucial in both Civil Rights history and in the evolution of the Constitution.

Distinctive within American history, the duration in which Earl Warren served as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1953 to 1969) witnessed a vigorous court fearless to challenge controversial issues. Changing the way Americans today perceive their relationship with their government, an activist court did much to expand the rights of the individual and the power of the federal government to enforce civil rights legislation. Not since then has the Supreme Court generated so much power in shaping American culture. And because of all what Earl Warren has done he is remembered as one of the most influential Supreme Court Justices in American history. Through all the cases during Earl Warren’s tenure I strongly believe that

Judicial Review is one of the court's most important powers and arguably the most powerful one that this branch or any branch has. This is a power that allows the supreme court to make legislative and executive actions subject to review and possible invalidation. The power of Judicial Review was earned in the Supreme Court Case Marbury v. Madison. In this case it was decided that James Madison’s decisions to prevent William Marbury from taking office as justice of the peace was unconstitutional, this has extended the power and now created what is known as judicial review. This has continued to affect laws and acts presently such as in the case of United States v. Nixon when Nixon was denied the powers of absolute executive privilege due to

Plessy V. John H. Ferguson dealing with the separation of black and white residents. In 1980 the state of Louisiana passed a law called “ The Separate Car Act” which mandated separate public accommodations for black and whites on railroads. On July 7, 1982 a man named Homer Plessy purchased a railroad ticket and boarded the “whites-only” section of the railroad. Plessy was immediately told to flee the “whites-only” area and enter “black-only” area. Plessy refused and was arrested for violating the Separate Car Act. Interesting enough, Homer Plessy was 7/8th European descent and 1/8th African descent but was considered black. Plessy was then placed into trial in which his lawyers argued the state denied him his rights under the fourteenth amendment which provided equal treatment under the law. Plessy lost every court in Louisiana before appealing to the Supreme Court. In a 7-1 decision, the court decided as long as facilities are equal, their separation satisfied the fourteenth amendment “Separate But Equal”. This was a huge milestone for black citizens in the United States although they later realized it didn’t seem as nice as it did on paper. This was was later overturned by Oliver Brown, et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka, et al in the year 1965 and was mandated unconstitutional for the reason that black facilities weren’t equal compared to white

One of the most important cases in the history of the judicial system is little known in the modern world. The case of the Scottsboro Boys made headlines in early 1931 when nine African-American men were charged with the gang rape of two white females on a freight train from Chattanooga to Memphis. Since the time of the trial, it has become widely accepted that the allegation was false and that no rape actually occurred. However, the case represents an issue greater than itself, one that is explored similarly in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee through the case of Tom Robinson. The issue of large scale racism and discrimination has been a problem plaguing American culture for a very long time, finally becoming an issue of the

The website Remembering Jim Crow gave useful information on the harsh lives endured by the African Americans in the South during the late 1800’s and mid 1900’s. This information expanded my knowledge of how the racist whites treated blacks unfairly and unjust. Places I visited on this site included “Bitter Times”, “Danger Violence and Exploitation”, and audios such as “Wrongly Accused” and “Mob Attack”. With this information, I was able to understand the cruelty that the African Americans felt. Listening to audios of peoples’ stories made me feel what they were going through, as I heard the fear in their own voices. In addition, I learned how the whites disgraced the blacks, and the blacks were put under the constant fear of the white man, even in their own communities. This material enhanced my understanding of Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird by helping me understand the circumstances of the Finches town and the biased judgement of the Tom Robinson trial due to the color of his skin.

The lynching of Ed Johnson or the Shipp Case as it later came to be known was one of the most controversial cases in Tennessee at the time. Nevada Taylor a young woman at 21 years old made a call to the sheriff’s office in St Elmo to report she had been “choked insensible” and raped by a negro man with a “kind and gentle voice” while walking home from her bookkeeping job January 23rd (Testimony of Nevada Taylor). This sparked a widespread manhunt in the community leading with an initial reward of $50 for any person who found the rapist though the search fund grew to massive $375 within a day’s time. A witness (Will Hixson) came forward stating that he had seen a Negro man walking towards the cemetery about an hour earlier baring a leather strap similar to that described and found at the crime scene (Testimony of Witness Will Hixson). That Negro man was later identified as Ed Johnson, he was arrested and taken to Nashville county jail upon the request of Sheriff Shipp. Nevada Taylor was summoned to the office where she was asked to identify the suspect from a selected line up. It was there that she selected and identified Ed Johnson as her perpetrator based on his familiar voice and a hat she claimed he had worn the

African-American’s also experienced ‘battles’ in the courtrooms after the Civil-War, some which they won. In the case of Sweatt v. Painter, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Sweatt,

The history of the United States is bursting with instances of extreme racism, discrimination, segregation and prejudice. The gruesome murder of Emmett Till, a 14-year old, Chicago teenager shined a light on these subjects. The Mississippi Trial of 1955 which was the trial held for Emmett Till’s murder, became a sensational case that was watched and followed around the United States. The response followed by the trial would shape the history of racism in the United States, catalyzing many civil right movements, protests. Without massive coverage of the event through the Chicago Defender, the trial never would have become famous, leading to an enormous draw back in civil right movements both at the time and throughout history.

Court and process: Constitutional Court ruled that the law is the prerogative of the federalism, not only reconciliation state governments. The state of government did not agree that would be their responsibility for repaid Mr. Barron. The chief justice John Marshall thought that this is not the states problem, and there is nothing to do in the side of the city of Baltimore. Mr. Barron insists that is in the faith amendment and it should be until the bill of right of the state government, and the federal government were unsure of the faith amendment was so clear. However, after the civil war the state of government made the fourth amendment that the state can’t take any bill of rights from the citizen.

The United States court system is the institution were all the legal disputes in the american society are carryed out and resolved. However, one single court is not enough to resolve every single dispute in society and that is why the court system is made up of two different courts, the federal courts and the state courts. Moreover, the federal and state courts are made up of several divisions made to handle legal disputes differently depending on its seriousness. For example, the state court is made up of trial courts of limited jurisdiction and probate courts were cases and disputes originate and then move up to trial courts of general jurisdiction, intermediate apellate courts, and courts of last resort respectively depending on the case.In contrast, the federal court consists of district courts, territorial coutrs, tax court, court of international trade, claims court, court of veterans appeals, an courts of military review which then move on to courts of appeals respectively and may ultimately end up in the United States supreme court. In addition, cases from state court may also appeal into the federal court system but not the other way around.

There are many different reasons a person can find themselves in a court as the defendant.

The legal process is very lengthy, but it attempts to ensure that the guilty, and innocent are treated in justifiable ways. Whom ever is charged stands in a trial, within reasonable time, with either a judge, jury, or both. If guilty, they are sent to a correctional facility in which they will serve the sentence stated by the judge, jury, or both. After their sentencing, they are released back into society. They can apply for an probationary release if they have been considered not to be a threat in the community, or to the lives of others. If innocent, the legal process can cause stress and worry about being wrongfully convicted for a crime one did not commit. If found innocent, the defendant is released immediately, and can go back to their families because noone would want to see an innocent person go through so much over something that they didn’t even do. It is exceptionally hard to try to judge a case with little, or no evidence, and this is usually the case with trials with a wrongful conviction. It is even more difficult to judge a trial of someone who are labelled as criminally insane. Criminally insane refers to the state of mind the defendant was in during the time of the criminal act. However these laws do not apply, for the most part, to those who are found unfit to stand trial, and they undergo a process of their own. During this process their innocence, or guilt becomes unclear, and the victims may begin to feel as though justice has not been done. In the