 
MILNET Brief
July 4, 2005
"The judicial Power of
the United States, shall
be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the
Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges,
both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices
during good Behavior, and shall, at stated Times, receive for
their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished
during their Continuance in Office."
- The United States Constitution, Article III, Section 1, September 17, 1787
|
"Article III of the United States
Constitution establishes the judicial branch as one of the three
separate and distinct branches of the federal government. The other two
are the legislative and executive branches.
The federal courts often are called the guardians of the Constitution
because their rulings protect rights and liberties guaranteed by the
Constitution. Through fair and impartial judgments, the federal courts
interpret and apply the law to resolve disputes. The courts do not make
the laws. That is the responsibility of Congress. Nor do the courts
have the power to enforce the laws. That is the role of the President
and the many executive branch departments and agencies.
The Founding Fathers of the nation
considered an independent federal
judiciary essential to ensure fairness and equal justice for all
citizens of the United States. The Constitution they drafted promotes
judicial independence in two major ways. First, federal judges are
appointed for life, and they can be removed from office only through
impeachment and conviction by Congress of "Treason, Bribery, or other
high Crimes and Misdemeanors." Second, the Constitution provides that
the compensation of federal judges "shall not be diminished during
their Continuance in Office," which means that neither the President
nor Congress can reduce the salary of a federal judge. These two
protections help an independent judiciary to decide cases free from
popular passions and political influence." 2
As the quote above from the Administrative website for the U.S.
Judicial
System states, much of the overall charter for the U.S. Federal Court
system is contained in the very few words of the U.S. Constitution that
framed the formation of the United States.
However, the journey from those first years of our nation to present
time has been full of change and many pendulum swings as the U.S. Court
System has attempted to fulfill its Constitutional duty.
Some say that the very fact that the framers spent so few words on the
Judicial System implied that further clarification of U.S. Federal Law
was a major first step for the establishment of a functioning and valid
government. And thus the legislative and executive branches have
sought to do just that, redefine and fine tune that legal
framework. Some will also say, that it is unfortunate in that the
process continues today and the results so far are far from perfect.
This briefing will not enter into that world of political reality,
however. The briefing will focus on the existing court system and
organization. Authorities for this court system will be assumed
to have been derived from the Constitution itself, legal
decisions since September 17, 1787, and finally changes in overall
positions and authorities of the three branches of the government since
that date. Thus we will not debate issues such as "legislation
from the bench" or "activist courts" or other political issues that
have surrounded all courts in the U.S. from that fateful day in 1787.
The
Basic Courts -
Overview
The highest court in the United States is the Supreme Court. On
this court sit nine highly experienced jurists. The lowest courts
in the land are those local courts found in the smallest towns.
Together they comprise the U.S. legal system. One should note
that the Constitution clearly spells out that criminal law at the local
level is codified at the local level -- in other words, the legal
authority is obligated downward and justified upward. If the
lowest court 's decision is challenged, it is up to the higher court to
look at the law and the lower court's decisions. If no challenge
is made, the lower court's decision remains in effect. The right
to appeal is universal in U.S. law and in all of the fifty states.
There are different types of local courts, and that part of the system
is almost wholly derived from the English Magna Carta and the British
System of Torts. Essentially there are two major types of law in
practice, Criminal and Civil. Having stated that, there is also a
third that should be obvious to anyone concerned with politics.
The third is Constitutional law, and comprises the heady work of
interpreting the sparse Constitutional obligations with the assistance
of papers and documents from the framers, and acts as an aide to the
Legislative branch as it attempts to continually fine tune U.S. Law.
Working upward from the local court system, is the higher local
system. For instance a city attorney (the prosecutor for cases of
law handled by the city) may refer a case upward to a County (or more
likely) State court. The Office of the State's Attorneys may
refer the case to a federal court, but in all cases only where these
higher courts have jurisdiction.
Jurisdiction is an interesting Constitutional requirement as
well. U.S. law states that the U.S. Law stands supreme, however
there are numerous instances where the U.S. Constitution and the U.S.
Law written are silent. In those cases, local law may and usually
does "step in" to voice regulation. For example in the State of
California there are city traffic laws, county traffic laws, and state
traffic laws. Driver's Licenses are codified in State Law and
therefore while a city could attempt to issue their own driver's
license, the laws of the State are felt to supersede those of the
city. Recently, due to an increased awareness and concern over
counter-terrorism and illegal immigration, there is much controversy
over Federal Regulations which could impose minimum standards over
State Driver's License requirements. While the debate will no
doubt continue for some time, there is ample precedence for U.S. Law to
codify any sort of minimum, including those that might require the
State to expend funds to meet. Usually (but not always), U.S. law
that does require expense, will offer either temporary or permanent
relief if the form of time and/or funding in order to help the State
comply. However, this is not always the case and is certainly not
required.
When a court's rulings are challenged, as mentioned before, a higher
court is asked to rule. Higher courts do not always comply with
that request, choosing to focus on issues they deem important to the
public good and where the merits require the higher court to step in.
In most states, appeals move to a State Court of Appeals, and then if
the case merits it, from the State Court of Appeals to the State's
Supreme Court. It is at that point that the U.S. Federal Appeals
Courts appear in the picture. Federal Appeals Courts make their
rulings and again, if challenged, the U.S. Supreme Court can be asked
to rule on the case. As with all appeals, the higher court feels
no obligation and may refuse to hear a particular case.
Appeals are usually the grist of legal machinery based upon technical
aspects of law, and not so much on guilt or innocence.
However, rulings on the applicability or Constitutionality of the
law will inevitably effect the lower court's decision and thus could
mean the difference in financial matters or worse, incarceration or
even death at the hands of the convening authority. Thus the
higher the court, the more weighty the decisions, yet a State's
Criminal court alone usually has the power to execute a criminal.
There are also two other importnat court systems of interest, the U.S. Immigration Courts (administered by the
U.S. Department of Justice's Executive Officer of Immigration Review
(EOIR)) and the U.S. Tax Court (civil and criminal
proceedings administered by the DoJ's Tax Division).
The Federal Court
System
There are four primary Federal Court divisions in the U.S. Federal
Court System:
- The Supreme Court - Highest court in the land, decides issues of
Federal Law and Constitutional Law
- The U.S. Court of Appeals - Handles appeals of all types of
legal decisions in the U.S., last stop before the Supreme Court, 12
District Courts of Appeals ( regional circuits courts) decide cases
brought to them by some 94 separate district courts. The 12
District Courts will also hear appeals of patent law, International
Trade and Federal Claims or other special cases.
- The U.S. District Courts - The Trial Courts for Federal
Law, hearing both Civil and Criminal Law, and also "contains" the
framework and operation of the Court of International Trade and the
Court of Federal Claims (for cases of claims against the U.S.
Government)
- The U.S. Bankruptcy Courts - note that the States do not have
authority over bankruptcy in order to provide a uniform and fair
treatment of debt across the nation.
The
Supreme Court
The Supreme Court is organized as the Chief Justice of the United
States Supreme Court and eight associate judges. The "Supremes" are
highly experienced jurists, and appointed to the bench by the President
of the United States upon the death or retirement of a sitting judge.
The "Justices" operate as an impaneled jury, with the opportunity to
question the petitioners directly. The usual process for case
resolution is the formation of a majority decision. For instance
a 5-4 decision is the closest Supreme Court decision. In every
case where there is not a unanimous decision, the dissenting judges
work together to draft a dissenting opinion. This effort aides in
future decisions on the topic matter, and in some cases may help
overturn the Supreme Court's decision by a later panel of Supreme Court
members (usually this will only occur decades later as the court rarely
overturns itself with the same members).
The court's cases are chosen by a carefully crafted process defined in
U.S. law by the Legislative Branch, the U.S. Congress. Anyone may
bring a case before the Supreme Court, however, the legislation ensures
a series of discrete steps and other courts should have heard the case
before. The exceptions are rare, with few cases moving from anything
other than a court of appeal directly to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court's decisions usually take effect immediately.
However, the court may decide to only overturn portions of a lower
court's decision, creating a short period of interpretation and in rare
cases, a return to the Supreme Court for further clarification.
The
U.S. Court of
Appeals
When a federal court's decision is challenged, and a set of strict
criteria has been met, the U.S. Court of Appeals will hear the
case. As mentioned earlier, there are 12 District Courts of
Appeal, each with a lower District Court system in the region's
"Circuit". The term circuit comes from days when in some areas,
the judge literally moved from town to town to deal out justice until a
central circuit court was established.. The District Courts "supply"
the Circuit Court of Appeals its material. For instance, if the
California's Eastern District Federal Court (Sacramento California)
makes a decision and it is challenged, the appeals court which would
normally hear the case would be the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals,
based in San Francisco, California and operates under a Chief Judge of
the Appeals Court.
The court's criteria for accepting cases is standardized across the
nation and reflects on matters dealing with Federal Law or where State
Law may conflict with Federal law. The courts also hear appeals
from district patent law, International Trade and Federal Claims court
cases.
The Circuit Courts are located as
follows:
Court
|
Location
|
Serves
|
1st
Circuit Court of Appeals
|
Boston, Massachusetts
|
Maine, Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, Rhode Island and Puerto Rico
|
2nd
Circuit Court of Appeals
|
New York, New York
|
Connecticut, New York, and
Vermont
|
3rd
Circuit Court of Appeals
|
Philadelphia, PA
|
Delaware, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, U.S. Virgin Islands
|
| 4th
Circuit Court of Appeals |
Richmond, VA.
|
Maryland, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia
|
| 5th
Circuit Court of Appeals |
New Orleans, LA.
|
Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas
|
| 6th
Circuit Court of Appeals |
Cincinnati, Ohio
|
Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio,
Tennessee
|
| 7th
Circuit Court of Appeals |
Chicago, Illinois
|
Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin (as
well as the southern district of West Virg)
|
| 8th
Circuit Court of Appeals |
St. Louis, MO/St. Paul, MN
|
Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota,
Missouri, Nebraska, North/South Dakota
|
| 9th
Circuit Court of Appeals |
San Francisco, CA.
|
Alaska, Arizona, California,
Guam, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington
|
| 10th
Circuit Court of Appeals |
Denver, CO.
|
Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico,
Oklahoma, Utah, Wyoming
|
| 11th
Circuit Court of Appeals |
Atlanta, GA.
|
Alabama, Florida, Georgia
|
| 12th (D.C.) Circuit Court of
Appeals |
Washington, D.C.
|
District of Columbia
|
Note: All District Court of Appeals documents (unless sealed by
strict regulations) are available via the PACER system (Public Access
to Court's Electronic Records) service. Any citizen may sign up
to the use the service, however, small fees are assigned in order to
pay for the service, and can be up to $1.00 or so per document (cost
per page) or near ten cents for a search. You can sign up to
PACER simply by searching for the court's web page and clicking on the
PACER link. PACER is available on all Federal Courts in the
system.
U.S.
District Courts
The Federal Court System's courthouses are the 94 U.S. District Courts
spread throughout the nation and served by the 12 Circuit Courts of
Appeal. The District courts are usually found in Eastern/Western
or Northern/Sourthern districts depending on whether the served state's
geography suits those divisions. For instance, in
California which runs basically from North to South across nearly all
the Ninth Circuit's area, contains an Eastern District as well as a
Northern, Southern and Central District, while Hawaii only has one
District Court.
To find the District Court that serves your state and area, use the
locator map at: http://www.uscourts.gov/courtlinks/index.cfm.
To see a writer's impression of a metropolitan area's U.S. District
Courthouse and venue, see the MILNET Chief Editor's description of the California Eastern District Courthouse
in Sacramento, California as presided over by one of the many Federal
Magistrates, Peter A. Nowinski.
Other than the fact that the courts are Federal Courts, there is little
difference in day-to-day operation than any other court in the United
States. The U.S. District Courts are trial courts, and thus the
same laws and bill of rights apply. The protocol is the same, with only
physical differences in the courtrooms forcing minor adjustments.
The Judge sits at the center-rear of the courtroom, typically on a
raised dias, with court clerks and stenographers in front and out of
his direct line of sight to both the prosecution and defense
tables. A bar separates the officials from the visitors, who
typically are allowed for all proceedings with very few
exceptions. Judges have been known to clear the courtroom for
hearings of sensitive testimony before the Judge rules on its
admissibility or if the visitors present a clear disruption to
continued proceedings.
Judges, especially Federal Magistrates, are extremely sensitive to
their appointed authority, and are not to be trifled with. The
least display of disrespect may land the incautious in a jail cell to
rethink attitude and comportment. This is both a necessary means
of control in the courtroom, as well as a leftover from the stern hand
of the British court system from which the U.S. has derived its own.
District Courts handle civil and criminal cases, as well as bankruptcy,
patents, International Trade, and Federal Claims. Typically
Judges specialized in on of the six areas defined above, and are
assigned cases in that area of expertise by the Chief Judge of the
court.
Calendars (who is scheduled to appear and when) are usually available
online and may be be found by first using the locator map to find the
appropriate courthouse website using the link: http://www.uscourts.gov/courtlinks/index.cfm.
and then looking for Calendar link (usually allows you to choose the
specific judge's calendar). I you do not know the particular
judge of interest for a case, you may have to search online on the
courthouse site, or resort to a phone call to the general information
phone number for the courthouse. Make sure you have the exact
spelling of the name of plaintiff or defendant (most criminal cases
will have U.S. Attorneys prosecuting so the defendant's name is the key
piece of information required).
As mentioned before, all but few proceedings are open to the public,
however, rules of conduct are strictly enforced, especially quiet and
such things as prohibitions of cameras or perhaps even cell
phones. For security reasons, you will face electronic
surveillance in the courthouse as well as some method of search,
usually a metal detector and perhaps an electronic scanning wand.
Prohibited items can usually be checked with the Marshall's
service. Be advised that a weapon found in a search may result in
charges or arrest.
U.S.
Bankruptcy Courts
Like any other civil court, the rules are very much the same.
However, U.S. Law places the responsibility of decisions on bankruptcy
in the hands of Federal Courts, thus this special division of the U.S.
court system. Bankruptcy courts are also found within each of the
12 circuits, and a challenge to decisions are appealed to that Circuit
Court of Appeals.
According to the U.S. Courts web page:
"The primary purposes of the law of
bankruptcy are: (1) to give an honest
debtor a "fresh start" in life by relieving the debtor of most debts,
and (2) to
repay creditors in an orderly manner to the extent that the debtor has
property
available for payment" 2
You may find the bankruptcy court for your area by clicking on the
link: http://www.uscourts.gov/courtlinks/index.cfm
and then choosing the circuit (1st through 11th or D.C.) Circuit
Court.
Other than the topic matter, the Bankruptcy Court is no
different than any other civil court and the same rules of conduct and
operation apply.
U.S.
Immigration Courts
The Immigration Courts in the United States are administered by the
U.S. Department of Justice, while the enforcement has moved from the
Immigration and Naturalization Service to
the Department of Homeland Security (as of March 1, 2003). The
Office
of
the Chief Immigration Judge is a component of DoJ's Executive Office of
Immigration Review, an organization separate from the enforcement
organization in the Office of Homeland Security, the DoHS Office
of
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The Chief
Immigration Judge resides in Falls Church, VA. and there are
a number of assistant chief Judges who actually provide services to the
various regions of the country. The folloiwng chart comes from
the DoJ
Immigration Judge list:
| Assistant Chief
Immigration Judge |
Back-up |
Courts |
David W.
Crosland
|
Larry R. Dean |
Elizabeth, Jamaica
Queens, Fishkill,
New York, Newark, Ulster, Varick Street |
| Larry
R. Dean |
David
Neal |
Dallas,
El Paso, El Paso SPC, Harlingen, Houston, Houston SPC, Port Isabel SPC,
San Antonio |
| Anne J. Greer |
Robert P. Owens |
Batavia,
Bloomington, Buffalo, Chicago, Denver, Detroit |
| Michael C. McGoings |
Phillip T. Williams |
Memphis, Portland,
San Francisco, Seattle, New Orleans, Oakdale, Headquarters |
| David
Neal |
David Crosland |
Honolulu, Lancaster, Los Angeles,
San Pedro |
| DCIJ
- Brian M. O'Leary |
Thomas
L. Pullen |
Boston, Hartford, Philadelphia,
York |
| Robert P.
Owens |
Anne J. Greer |
Eloy, Florence, Imperial, Las Vegas, Phoenix,
Tucson, San Diego |
| DCIJ - Thomas L.
Pullen |
Brian M. O'Leary |
Arlington, Atlanta, Baltimore |
| Michael Rahill |
|
Training |
| Phillip T.
Williams |
Michael C. McGoings |
Bradenton, Krome Miami, Orlando,
San Juan |
The actual immigration courts can be found on the immigration court
page.
Unlike the Federal Court System, the Immigration Courts do not maintain
online information on cases, requiring defendants and those seeking
information on immigration cases to phone the court when seeking
information.
The
Tax Courts
The U.S. Federal Tax Courts are under the auspices of the U.S.
Department of Justice, and typically occupy tenent offices throughout
the coutnry in a set of designated cities, with Presentially appointed
judges travelling to these cities to conduct most of the tax courts
remote business.
The following is from the U.S.
Tax Court website:
"The Court and Its Jurisdiction
The U.S. Tax Court
is a Federal court of record established by Congress under Article I of
the Constitution of the United States. Congress created the Tax Court
to provide a judicial forum in which affected persons could dispute tax
deficiencies determined by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue prior
to payment of the disputed amounts. The jurisdiction of the Tax Court
includes the authority to hear tax disputes concerning notices of
deficiency, notices of transferee liability, certain types of
declaratory judgment, readjustment and adjustment of partnership items,
review of the failure to abate interest, administrative costs, worker
classification, relief from joint and several liability on a joint
return, and review of certain collection actions.
Judges
The Tax Court is
composed of 19 presidentially appointed members. Trial sessions are
conducted and other work of the Court is performed by those judges, by
senior judges serving on recall, and by special trial judges. All of
the judges have expertise in the tax laws and apply that expertise in a
manner to ensure that taxpayers are assessed only what they owe, and no
more. Although the Court is physically located in
Washington, D.C., the judges travel nationwide to conduct trials in
various designated cities."
The tax court's designated cities are listed in the table below:
|
Alabama:
|
|
Birmingham
Mobile
|
| Alaska: |
|
Anchorage
|
| Arizona: |
|
Phoenix
|
| Arkansas: |
|
Little Rock
|
| California: |
|
*Fresno
Los Angeles
San Diego
San Francisco
|
| Colorado: |
|
Denver
|
| Connecticut: |
| Hartford |
| District of
Columbia: |
|
Washington
|
|
Florida:
|
|
Jacksonville
Miami
* Tallahassee
Tampa
|
| Georgia: |
|
Atlanta
|
| Hawaii: |
|
Honolulu
|
| Idaho: |
|
Boise
*Pocatello
|
| Illinois: |
|
Chicago
*Peoria
|
| Indiana: |
|
Indianapolis
|
| Iowa: |
|
Des Moines
|
| Kansas: |
|
*Wichita
|
| Kentucky: |
|
Louisville
|
| Louisiana: |
|
New Orleans
*Shreveport
|
| Maine: |
|
*Portland
|
| Maryland: |
| Baltimore |
| Massachusetts: |
|
Boston
|
| Michigan: |
|
Detroit
|
| Minnesota: |
|
St. Paul
|
| Mississippi: |
|
Jackson
Biloxi
|
| Missouri: |
|
Kansas City
St. Louis
|
| Montana: |
|
*Billings
Helena
|
|
Nebraska:
|
|
Omaha
|
| Nevada: |
|
Las Vegas
Reno
|
| New Mexico: |
|
Albuquerque
|
| New York: |
|
*Albany
Buffalo
New York City
*Syracuse
Westbury
|
| North
Carolina |
|
Winston-Salem
|
| North Dakota: |
|
*Bismarck
|
| Ohio: |
|
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Columbus
|
| Oklahoma: |
|
Oklahoma City
|
| Oregon: |
|
Portland
|
| Pennsylvania: |
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh |
| South Carolina: |
|
Columbia
|
| South Dakota: |
|
*Aberdeen
|
| Tennessee: |
|
Knoxville
Memphis
Nashville
|
| Texas: |
|
Dallas
El Paso
Houston
Lubbock
San Antonio
|
| Utah: |
|
Salt Lake City
|
| Vermont: |
|
*Burlington
|
| Virginia: |
|
Richmond
*Roanoke
|
| Washington: |
|
Seattle
Spokane
|
| West Virginia: |
|
Charleston
Huntington
|
| Wisconsin: |
|
Milwaukee
|
| Wyoming: |
| *Cheyenne |
*
denotes cities where only small tax cases are held
|
The Tax Court website
offers the ability to search the court dockets for all cases since May
1, 1986 using name and state for individuals or corporate
entity's name and state for companies.
- The
U.S. Constitution, The United States Congress, House of
Representatives, September 17, 1787, ratified per Article VII on June
21, 1788.
- U.S. Courts, The
Administration of U.S. Courts, the Judicial Branch of the U.S.
Government, 2/08/2002
- The Court of Peter A. Nowinski,
Federal Magistrate, U.S. Ninth Circuit Court, California Eastern
District, MILNET Brief, June 2005
- U.S.
Immigration Courts, Department of Justice
- U.S. Tax Courts,
Department of Justice, 11/16/2004
©
Copyright 2005, Michael G. Crawford for MILNET
