Rule of Nine: Selecting and Deciding Cases
Selecting the cases for any given court year begins the summer before the Supreme Court's term begins. Law clerks assigned to each justice reduce the number of petitions that will be placed on the discuss list. If four justices agree to take a case,...
Rule of Nine: Supreme Court Vacancies
A president's opportunity to appoint someone to the Supreme Court extends his or her influence long past the presidential term. The selection of a nominee is primarily influenced by ideological compatibility, identity politics, and competence. On a ...
Rule of Nine: Lower Court Nominations
The selection of lower court nominees has its own set of problems. Although the president is generally not as involved in the process, it is becoming more difficult to recruit legal talent because of the income differential. As prestigious as a judi...
Rule of Nine: Qualifications for the Federal Bench
Legal scholars are asked to comment on qualifications and characteristics they think are important for nominees to the federal bench. Douglas Kmiec favors nominees who are "learned in the law and...capable, based on experience and temperament and in...
Rule of Nine: State Court Systems
Each state has its own court system, with the State Supreme Courts having the final say on what the state law is, and the U. S. Supreme Court stepping in with the final say on federal law. When the Federal Gun Free School Zone Act was invalidated by...
Rule of Nine: Judicial Independence
The fact that judges and justices are chosen through a partisan political process should not be interpreted to mean that they engage in blatant partisanship while on the bench. As officers of the court, a separate branch of government, they prize th...
Rule of Nine: Issuing Decisions and Opinions
Once opinion writing is complete and the justices have reviewed it, the Court's decision and the vote margin are announced at the next open session. The opinion explains the reasons behind the decision from the point of view of the majority and, sep...
Rule of Nine: Cases Heard by the U. S. Supreme Court
Except for cases of original jurisdiction, cases heard by the Supreme Court must first go though the state and federal courts. Only 1% of petitions for certiorari, asking the Supreme Court to review a lower court case decision, will be selected by t...
Rule of Nine: Creating the Judicial System
Article III of the U. S. Constitution provides that there shall be one Supreme Court and such inferior courts as Congress should permit. It was the Judiciary Act of 1789 and subsequent legislation that created the system of federal courts that exist...
Rule of Nine: Federal Court System, The
In addition to the Supreme Court, there are more than 90 district courts in the federal court system, at least one in each state. Most cases end with the district court's decision, but if an appeal is filed, it goes to the appellate court, the next ...