- Identify and explain the organization of the Judiciary - supreme court, court of appeals, and the district courts. Among all these courts the supreme court is the most important/strongest of the courts. The supreme court has a total of 9 justices. The court of appeals is the next most important of the courts at a medium level in government. The appeals court is considered to be strictly appellate which means that they have the jurisdiction to review cases on an appeal and reverse the decisions of inferior courts. The district courts are the most common of the courts in which they are considered to be the lowest level of the courts. There are about 94 district courts across the states and the court of appeals has 12 regional circuit courts.
- Identify and provide examples of the powers of the Judiciary powers. - The Judiciary branch has the power of Judicial review in which they could check the constitutionality of a law. They interpret the laws and make sure that they are faithfully applied. They mainly deal with laws that violate the constitution and serve to resolve the problem and eventually come up with a final decision of a case.
- Identify and explain how Judiciary shares powers with the Congress, Executive, and bureaucracy. - Each branch of government has the ability to check the other branches to make sure that neither is holding too much power. The president gets to choose the seats of the courts as congress gets to determine how many are allowed to be on the Judiciary. The bureaucracy can also aid in the making/enforcing of laws while the Judiciary can only interpret them.
- Discuss the implications of Judiciary sharing powers with each of the following: Congress, Executive, and bureaucracy. - Judiciary branch has to follow all the laws that the executive and congress impose on them. With the bureaucracy also aiding in the making of the laws and standards the Judicial branch must learn to follow there laws/standards.
- Discuss the functions that Judiciary performs. - review the constitutionality of the law by looking over the court case and finally coming up with a decision of certainty. interpret the laws and make sure that they are faithfully applied meaning that they make sure that the court case follows the law and in no way bend the law in their favor or go against a law.
- Identify how the power of the Judiciary has/may evolve gradually. - they have opened up their diversity which means more people have a chance to serve on the courts. The Judiciary needs to have some power because they are dealing with important court cases and have a lot of responsibility to ensure that the constitution is applied in the court.
- Identify and discuss the ties between the Judiciary and political parties. - the president appoints all judges who are of his own party affiliation.
- Identify and discuss the ties between the Judiciary and interest groups. - they inform the constituents about what the court officials are leaning towards in government and this causes them to create appointments with them. The interest groups can either promote or go against the Judiciary branch, The Judiciary can obtain information from the interest groups and use it to their advantage in court cases.
- Identify and discuss the ties between the Judiciary and media. - they act as the watchdog over the executive, Judiciary, and legislative branches to make sure there isn't any corruption going on. The media can serve to inform the public on these court hearings and add in their personal opinion that may or may not have an overall influence on the public.
- Identify and discuss the ties between the Judiciary and state and local governments. - The state and local governments have something called original jurisdiction which is when if they find a case to be unconstitutional then that case is moved to the supreme court which is the most superior of the courts. The case must travel up the court system in order to be viewed at by the SCOTUS.