1. Judicial Branch
Rohan Moorjani, Andrea Peralta, Calvin Loebrich, Kevin Coffee, Sienna Gavino

2. What are the tiers and courts of the Federal Justice System?
Trial Courts
Court hears a case for the first time
Appellate Courts
Court that reviews the case to make sure everyone was following procedure
Supreme Courts
Court that makes a final decision
District Courts
There is at least one for each judicial district in a state
Court of Appeals
They “filter out” cases for the Supreme Court
This court only hears appeals from their own Judicial Circuit
Supreme Court
Appellate Cases
A question of if the Constitutional or National law was broken
Have Original Jurisdiction if:
More than 2 States are involved
There are Government Leaders involved
The Federal Government is a Party

3. What are some important court cases?
Santa Fe v. Doe: School had a student led prayer before football game. Group of parents (Doe) decided to sue the school (Santa Fe) for violating the student’s first amendment rights. Santa Fe defended themselves by saying that the students were not forced to participate. Doe ended up winning 6-3.
Boy Scouts of America v. Dale: Dale, a Boy Scouts Scout Leader, was fired for being gay. He sued the Boy Scouts of America for discrimination based on sexual orientation. The BSA stated that they are a private organization and have the right to. The BSA won 5-4.
Bond v. United States: Steven Bond was on a passenger bus when they passed through Texas for an immigration checkpoint and the immigration officer manipulated and searched Bond’s bag. The officer found a brick of methamphetamine. Bond said the officer had manipulated the bag in a way which violated his expectation of privacy. He won the case 7-2.

4. What are some important court cases 2
Lockyer vs Andrade
Convicted of petty theft
25 to life sentence
3rd felony means life in prison
They argued it was unfair due to how non severe each of his felonies were.
Lockyer won 5-4 (In favor of the 3 strike law)
Morse vs Frederick
“bong hits for Jesus”
School forbids drug advertising
School supervised event
Do school officials have power at events not on campus?
Ruled 5-4 in favor of Morse (Principal)

5. What is the process for a Supreme Court Case?
file a petition
a rule of 4 justices needed to grant writ if certiorari
in deciding the case, each side gets a 30 minute oral argument
justices meet to discuss each case on Wednesdays and Fridays
the rulings can be:
unanimous- everyone votes the same way
majority- 5 or more vote the same way

6. EQ:Before the actual trial, what rights are the accused entitled to?
-A crime is a wrongful act that is committed with conscious intention and is prohibited by the law.
-Misdemeanors are less serious than felonies.
-The detectives, police, etc must have a search warrant to seize a person’s personal belongings. -Otherwise, citizens have the right to privacy as declared by the Fourth Amendment.( there are some exceptions such as sobriety checkpoints)
-As an accused person is arrested they must be read their Miranda rights in order to preserve the admissibility of their statements against them during trial.

7. During the Trial EQ: How do trials work?
Pretrial
Initial appearance
potential for bail, money to guarantee he/she will return for their trial
Preliminary hearing. Will there be a trial?
Trial
Right to a speedy trial
acquit suspect, taken into custody, or hung jury
Death penalty and federal cases have unanimous jury
Sentencing
Indeterminate sentencing - variable review board decides parol
determinate - fixed amount, no parole
Concurrent v.s. consecutive