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The Judicial Branch
Lower Federal Courts
• 2 Basic Types– Constitutional Federal Courts– Legislative Federal Courts
• Constitutional Courts– Federal District Courts– Federal Courts of Appeals– United States Court of International
Trade
• Created in 1789• 94 districts exist today• Trial courts for both criminal & civil federal
cases• Workhorse of federal judiciary• Jurisdiction
– Issues of federal statutory or constitutional law– Some cases involving citizens of different
states
• 2 Types of Juries in Criminal Cases– Grand Jury (16-23 people)
• Hears charges• Decides if there will be a trial (indictment)
or if the charges are dropped
– Petit Jury or Trial Jury (6-12 people)• Weigh evidence• Criminal (guilt or not guilty)• Civil (plaintiff or defendant)
• U.S. Attorney– Prosecute criminals & represent the U.S.
in civil suits
• U.S. Magistrate– Issue warrants & decide if a case should
go to the grand jury
• Bankruptcy Judge– Bankruptcy cases
• U.S. Marshals– Makes arrests, securing jurors, & keep
order
• Deputy clerks, bailiffs, & stenographer help the clerk
• Created in 1891• Ease the workload of the Supreme
Court• 13 of them• 12 (1 in each district) & a special one
with national jurisdiction• Heard by a panel of 3 judges or
sometimes all of them
•3 options–Stick with the original decision
–Reverse the original decision
–Send it back to have the case tried again
•Used to be called the U.S. Customs Court
• Jurisdiction: cases dealing with tariffs
•Based in New York City but it’s a national court
•Also hear cases in port cities (New Orleans & San Francisco)