U.S. Federal and State Courts: A 1788 Legacy - Essay Sample

Introduction

These courts have been in existence since 1788 when a group of nerdy individuals approved the constitution of Americans (Shrimali, Lynes, & Indvik, 2015). The federal court system has its judicial power invested in them by article III of the constitution, whereby section 1 permits Congress to establish lower federal courts. The president always does the nomination of the federal judges, then the senate, later on, reaffirms them. The system of the state court is acknowledged by the system of laws from various states, and their judges are selected either through elections, appointments, or a combination of the two.

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Structure of the Federal Court System and the Type of Issues Heard There

It is divided into three main levels: The district courts, which are 94 in number, circuit courts (appeal), which sums up to 13, and one Supreme Court in the entire country (Kromphardt, 2014). Cases often start in district courts; this is where the trial is carried out, and facts are found in case both opponents have varying stories on what happened. After that, the district court writes an official summary of what transpired and gives a legal decision on the matter depending on their findings. Opponents of the law are allowed to ask the circuit court to revise the decision made in the district court if they feel the case was decided wrongly. If the circuit court happens to differ with the initial judgment made depending on the findings, they examine carefully the legal decision made by the district court for errors of the law. The circuit court then gives a correct judgment applying the law. Those who are not contented with the circuit court ruling can request the Supreme court for further hearing though they only here 100 cases annually, thus making the federal circuit case to be almost final.

The following are the type of issues heard at the different levels of the federal court: constitutional cases of law, issues related to the American laws and treaties, disagreement among states, bankruptcy, and habeas corpus issues.

Similar and Different Characteristics That Are Common in the Functions of Federal and State Courts

The first similarity is that the federal courts are permitted to listen to cases related to states if the problem at hand is whether the laws of the states have violated the federal constitution (Shrimali, Lynes, & Indvik, 2015). Another incident that can be shared by both federal and state courts is when there is a behavior that is considered illegal by both courts. For example, if both federal and state courts have laws prohibiting discrimination in employment, a respondent of the law can report to state court or federal court to file a case on the two laws.

The two courts differ in their functions in that the laws involving the state can only be addressed in the state courts and cannot be heard in the federal, and the reverse is also true.

State the Common Features Shared in the Role and Function of Court Administrators (The Trial, Appellate, and Limited-Jurisdiction Courts) and also, how they Differ

They are similar in that judge who conducts proceedings at trials and reviews them on appeal both rule on the interrogation of the law. The court administrators in the three courts mentioned (trial, appellate, limited-jurisdiction court) are similar as all of them are limited to hearing only specific types of cases where controversy is not much. Another similarity is that judges in trial courts weigh the evidence provided to make the final decision, this is similar to what appellate court does as it consists of a panel of judges who look onto the documents provided by the trial court and check if the right decision was made (Howard, 2014).

The differences in the administrators of the mentioned courts are that cases first start in the trial courts with pieces of evidence provided by both opponents, with most evidences coming from those who witnessed what occurred. However, in appellate courts, witnesses and evidences are not required. The second difference is that the trial court only has one judge during proceedings, unlike appellate, where there are five groups of three judges.

Select a State of Your Choice and Write Down Its Structure and Roles Played in the Different Courts

The United States of America is my state of choice. Its federal court has three tiers known as the district court, circuit court and the last place for final hearing known as Supreme court (Kromphardt, 2014). The responsibility of these courts is to hear cases in the U.S, which involves the constitution, laws and treaties, disputes among states, and maritime law.

Definition of a Quasi-Judicial Body, and the Kind of Decisions That Can Be Reached Through Adjudication and Other Quasi-Judicial Proceedings

The quasi-judicial body is institutes created for specific purposes such as human rights commission; they are not courts but they have similar power to bodies that impose the law. The quasi-judicial body imposes laws on administrative agencies and is always confined to matters that involve the particular agency (Nasir, Chaudhry, Hadi, Saleem, & Saqib, 2015). Adjudication and other quasi-judicial proceedings can assist in reaching decisions such as ALJ which is the preliminary decision. Various agencies in different state systems would a time ask for records from ALJ without a decision. The decision from ALJ is also considered as final since, in most cases, getting the head of an agency is difficult, thus hinders review.

References

Howard Jr, J. W. (2014). Courts of Appeals in the federal judicial system: A study of the second, fifth, and District of Columbia circuits (Vol. 647). Princeton University Press. https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691642772/courts-of-appeals-in-the-federal-judicial-system

Kromphardt, C. D. (2014). Fielding an excellent team: Law clerk selection and chambers structure at the US Supreme Court. Marq. L. Rev., 98, 289. http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5222&context=mulr

Nasir, A., Chaudhry, A. G., Hadi, S. A., Saleem, H., & Saqib, A. (2015). Quasi-Judicial Role of Panchayat System: A Case Study Southern Rural Punjab. Science International (Lahore), 27(2), 1591-1593. http://www.sciint.com/pdf/7359740103%20Special%20issue%202%20Adnan%20Nasir%20Panchayat%20as%20a%20Justice%20agency.pdf

Shrimali, G., Lynes, M., & Indvik, J. (2015). Wind energy deployment in the US: An empirical analysis of the role of federal and state policies. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 43, 796-806. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1364032114010193