| A | B |
|---|
| Article III of the US Constitution | establishes the judicial branch of government |
| Judiciary Act of 1789 | created federal district courts |
| appeals courts | judiciary level between the district courts and the Supreme Court |
| criminal cases | juries decide whether people have committed crimes |
| civil cases | one party sues another for damages |
| jurisdiction | authority to hear and decide a case |
| district courts | where most federal lawsuits begin |
| magistrates | issue court orders and hear preliminary evidence |
| US attorney | U. S. government's lawyer |
| US marshal | arrests suspects, delivers defendants to court, and serves subpoenas |
| subpoena | order requiring someone to appear in court |
| appellate jurisdiction | appeals courts can only hear cases that have already been tried in district court |
| the highest law of the land | Constitution |
| Judicial Review | the Court can determine the Constitutionality of any federal or state law |
| John Marshall | Supreme Court Chief Justice who set out the 3 principles of judicial review |
| President | appoints judges to federal courts |
| Senate | must approve appointments to the federal courts |
| 9 | number of judges on the Supreme Court |
| Thurgood Marshall | first African-American to serve on the Supreme Court |
| Sandra Day O'Connor | first woman to serve on the Supreme Court |
| 5 | number of votes needed to determine the outcome of a case before the Supreme Court |
| majority opinion | written to explain why the Supreme Court decided as it did in a case |
| dissenting opinion | written by a Justice who did not agree with the verdict of the Supreme Court |
| Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) | established the "separate, but equal" doctrine |
| Brown v. Board of Education (1954) | outlawed "separate, but equal" |
| Miranda v. Arizonia (1966) | ruled that police officers must inform suspects of their rights at the time of arrest |
