Federal Judiciary

Federal Judiciary in the United States

The Constitution and the Federal Judiciary and the Federal Courts

In the words of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts: Article III of the United States Constitution establishes the judicial branch as one of the three separate and distinct branches of the federal government. The other two are the legislative and executive branches. The federal courts often are called the guardians of the Constitution because their rulings protect rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution. Through fair and impartial judgments, the federal courts interpret and apply the law to resolve disputes. The courts do not enact the laws; that is the responsibility of Congress. Nor do the courts have the power to enforce the laws; that is the role of the President and the many executive branch departments and agencies.

History

Creation of a National Judiciary

During the years the Articles of Confederation were in force (1781-1789), there were no national courts and no national judiciary. The laws of the United States were interpreted and applied as each State saw fit, and sometimes not at all. Disputes between States and between persons who lived in different States were decided, if at all, by the courts in one of the States involved. Often, decisions by the courts in one State were ignored by the courts in the other States.

Alexander Hamilton spoke to the point in The Federalist No. 22. He described “the want of a judiciary power” as a “circumstance which crowns the defects of the Confederation.” Arguing the need for a national court system, he added: “Laws are a dead letter without courts to expound and define their true meaning and operation.”

The Framers created a national judiciary for the United States in a single sentence in the Constitution: “The judicial Power of the United States shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.” Congress also is given the expressed power “to constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court” in Article I, Section 8, Clause 9.

The founders of the United States considered an independent federal judiciary essential to ensure fairness and equal justice for all citizens of the United States. The Constitution they drafted promotes judicial independence in two major ways. First, Article III federal judges are appointed for life, and they can be removed from office only through impeachment and conviction by Congress of “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Second, the Constitution provides that the compensation of Article III federal judges “shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office,” which means that neither the President nor Congress can reduce the salary of a federal judge. These two protections help an independent judiciary to decide cases free from popular passion and political influence.


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