The courts and society

Courts, especially the Supreme Court, are very powerful in the US. Congress makes laws and the President approves them, but if the Supreme Court decides that a law is unconstitutional (=goes against the Constitution) it cannot be applied.

The Supreme Court has decided many important issues. For example, the case ‘Brown v Board of Education’ helped to end separate schools for black and white children. For many years the police encouraged people they arrested to confess to a crime, even though they have the right not to. In ‘Miranda v Arizona’ the Court said that the police had to tell people their rights, and now the police Mirandize people they arrest by reading them a formal statement saying that they have the right to remain silent and to see a lawyer.

Most Americans believe that their legal system is fair. The idea of innocent until proven guilty is especially important. Americans also want their legal system to be open. Members of the public can go into the courts, and real trials are shown on television.

The Federal Courts Have Clearly Defined Functions

The judiciary of the United States consists of two different systems of courts. On the one hand are the various kinds of federal courts. On the other hand are the courts of each of the fifty states. For the most, these two systems operate independently. State courts deal mainly with cases that arise from the application of state laws. Federal courts handle cases that involve the application of federal laws and interpretation of the Constitution. Since the United States has two court systems existing side by side, it may be called as dual court system.

Jurisdiction of the Courts

Every court, whether it is a federal court or a state court, has the authority to hear certain kinds of cases. This authority is called the jurisdiction of the court. In the dual court system, the state courts have jurisdiction over cases involving state laws, while the federal courts have jurisdiction over the cases involving federal laws. As you will learn below, the jurisdiction of the state courts and of the federal courts sometimes overlap.