BELLWORK

Take out a sheet of

paper. Watch the
movie clip from To
Kill a Mockingbird
(1962).
1. What is strange
about the seating
arrangement in the
court room?
2. What does
Atticus Finch
(Gregory Peck)
mean when he says
The courts are our
great levelers?

All Men Are Created Equal - To Kill A

Mockingbird (1968)

VOCABULARY
For each word create a Frayer Diagram for each of the
words
1. Dual Court System: two (or more) court systems
with individual jurisdictions, usually one at the local
level and national level.
2. Jurisdiction: the official power to make legal
decisions.
3. Criminal Cases: a court case where a person is
charged with a crime by the community or
state/nation.
4. Civil Case: a noncriminal lawsuit, usually involving
private property (i.e., suing a person for breach of
contract, divorce, etc.)

THE JUDICIAL
SYSTEM: THE
ADMINISTRATION

Created by Bonnie
Bittman
University of Central
Florida

THE AMERICAN COURT

STRUCTURE
America has a dual court system.
One level at the national level, one ate each
state level.
Each court has its own jurisdiction

THE FEDERAL COURTS

The authority for the
federal court system is
from the Constitution,
Article III.
Three Levels
The Supreme Court
The federal courts of
appeals
The federal district courts

US DISTRICT COURTS
Heard by a judge
General trial courts

A masked man threatens a bank

employee in this 1931 photo

Criminal cases or civil cases

Federal Criminal Cases Involve:
Bank robbery
Counterfeiting
Mail fraud
The security strip of a
Kidnapping
U.S. $20 bill glows under
Civil rights abuses
black light as a safeguard
against counterfeiting.

CIRCUIT COURTS OF
APPEALS
When someone loses a case, a person may
appeal their case to the federal circuit court
of appeals.
Appeals do NOT overturn guilty verdicts,
they examine if any mistakes were made by
lawyers.

Map of the geographic boundaries of the various United States Courts of Appeals
and United States District Courts

THE US SUPREME
COURT
Court of last resort for all questions of federal
law and the US Constitution.
Hears cases from
Federal courts of appeals
Appealed directly from federal district courts
Appealed from the high court of a state (i.e.
Floridas Supreme Court)
If it concerns federal law or the Constitution

THE STATE COURTS

Each state has their own court system
Generally, four levels
Trial courts of limited jurisdiction
Trial courts of general jurisdiction
Intermediate appellate courts
State supreme courts

KAHOOT QUIZ

Students, on your
cellphone, tablet, or
computer, go to
kahoot.it and enter
the game code
projected.