The Judcial Branch - The Supreme Court

The Judicial Branch, when most people think of the judicial branch they think of the Supreme Court, however there are a lot more parts to the judicial branch than just the supreme court. For example there is the district courts. The district courts are trial courts which hear a wide variety of cases because they have general juristiction. There is 94 district courts in the United States so that every American is near a district court. If the defense loses its case in district court, but wins an appeal then the case would move to one of the 13 appeals courts. Appeals courts are not trial courts, but consist of a panel of three to seven judges and the trial is more of a debate. The appeals court do not determine guilt or innocence, but they do determine if the district court made a mistake. If the Appeals court decides that the district court did in fact make a mistake, then the case would move on to the supreme court. Here the supreme court can decide whether or not to hear your case. Four of the nine justices must decide to hear your case in order for it to be heard in the supreme court, this is called the rule of four. They often pick cases in which the lower courts have restricting views, if the supreme court already ruled on this, or if it is a case of historical significance. The case would be very similar to the appeals case, except for the supreme court would rule whether or not a constitutional law or right was violated. The supreme court can agree or disagree with the lower courts decision, or even send the case back to the lower courts for a re-trial. Then two justices, one from the majority of votes and the other from the minority of votes will write out why they voted the way they did, this is called the majority and dissenting opinion respectfully.

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