Understanding the Levels of US Federal Courts
District courts - These are general courts. But in some cases the jurisdiction is passed to specialized courts. These include: bankruptcy courts, tax courts and the court of private land claims.
Court of Appeals - The Court of Appeals reviews all decisions in the lower courts that people object to.
State courts - These courts decide disputes that pertain to state laws rather than federal laws.
The Supreme Court - This is another appeals court, but it is the only court that operates under discretionary review.
This means it can choose which cases to hear. The Supreme Court is also called a High Court in some countries.
2. Read the text about court structure. Mark the following statements as true (T) or false (F).
1. District courts review decisions that people protest.
2. Cases involving state laws are not heard in a federal court.
3. The Supreme Court hears all cases that are brought to it.
3. Read the sentence and choose the correct word.
1. The (District / Supreme) Court decided not to review Ms Wrights case against the company.
2. The case does not involve federal law, so it has to go through the (state / bankruptcy) courts.
3. The district court has (jurisdiction / claim) in Mr. Trujillo's case.
4. If Ms. Daws wants her money back, she needs to go through the small (claims / discretionary) court.
Use the words from the box to fill in the blanks
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1.The ____________ Court is called the High Court in Australia.
2. John deeded to go to the Court of _____________ because he didn't agree with the decision.
3. The court will _______________ Mr. Alistair's case next month.
5. Mr. Anderson is going to the ______________ court because he lost a lot of money but has no way to pay it back.
6. The court has _____________ powers, so it may decide not to investigate the case.
7. Ms Ming's case will go to a ______________ court, not a general court.
Read and translate the text.
Court Structure
The Supreme Court is the highest judicial organ of the United States and the head of the judicial branch.
The Supreme Court consists of the Chief Justice of the USA and such a number of Associate Justices as may be fixed by Congress. Power to nominate the Justices is vested in the President and appointments are made with the consent and on the advice of the Senate. The appointments are made for life, that is a Justice cannot be dismissed from this post. A Justice may if he so desires, retire at the age of 70 after serving 10 years as a Federal Judge or at the age of 65 after 15 years of service. The Supreme Court has the right to declare unconstitutional any law passed by Congress or any order issued by the President.
The Supreme Court has direct jurisdiction in only two kinds of cases:
those involving foreign diplomats and those in which a state is a party. All
other cases which reach the Court are appeals from lower courts. The
Supreme Court chooses which of these it will hear. Most of the cases involve
the interpretation of the Constitution. The Supreme Court also has the
“power of judicial review”, that is, it has the right to declare laws and actions
of the federal, state, and local governments unconstitutional
The USA is divided into eleven judicial circuits; each one being served with a federal Court of Appeals.
There are about ninety district courts in different parts of the United States. The district courts are the lowest ones in the Federal court system. Most of the criminal and civil cases are tried by these courts. Each district court has from one to eighteen Federal district judges, the number depending on the amount of work within its territory. Only one judge is usually required to hear and decide a case in a district court. Cases tried in the district courts may be appealed in one of the eleven Courts of Appeal and in the Supreme Court. The decision of the Supreme Courts is final. Each state has its own system of courts similar to that of the Federal courts.
6. Find in the text the English equivalents of the following words and phrases:
Ø Верховный суд
Ø высший судебный орган
Ø председатель Верховного суда США
Ø члены Верховного суда США
Ø может быть закреплено Конгрессом
Ø полномочия по выдвижению членов Верховного суда
Ø быть наделенным властью
Ø по согласию и по рекомендации Сената
Ø не может быть смещен с поста
Ø выходить в отставку (на пенсию)
Ø объявить неконституционным
Ø закон или указ
Ø право вето
Ø одиннадцать судебных округов
Ø федеральный районный суд (местный суд)
Ø рассматриваются этими судами
Ø объем работы на его территории
Ø заслушать и принять решение по делу
Ø имеет свою систему судов, сходную с…
7. Match the phrases in the left column with their translations in the right column:
| 1. the Supreme Court 2. the Chief Justice 3. Associate Justices 4. the right of veto 5. criminal and civil cases 6. court system 7. eleven courts of Appeal 8. ninety district courts | а. председатель Верховного суда б. выдвигать членов Верховного суда в. 90 федеральных районных судов г. уголовные и гражданские дела д. система судов е. право вето ж. 11 апелляционных судов з. члены Верховного суда |
8. Answer the questions:
1. What is the highest judicial organ of the USA?
2. What is the intermediate judicial body of the USA?
3. What is the lowest judicial level in the USA?
9. Make up sentences from the given words:
1. highest, is, the, of, the, judicial, organ, the Supreme, Court, United States.
2. about, ninety, there, are, district, in, parts, the United States, courts, different, of.
3. district, each, court, from, has, eighteen, one, to, judges, district, Federal.
10. Draw a scheme of the US legal system:
11. Listen to a conversation between a client and his
attorney.