An American Judicial question

[Lord Loser]

The recent controversies here in the u.S. and all the pontificating, prompts me to ask you all to do the following...

Rank the following American courts in order of supremecy:

State district court, U.S. Supreme Court, Federal Circut court of Appeals

U.S. Court of Federal Claims, State Appellate court, Federal District court

State Supreme court

the easiest way to do this is probably to assign numbers to each court, 1 would be the highest 2 the next, etc. If you think two or more courts share the same supremecy, give them both the same number.

Hope that's clear enough, if not, let me know, and I'll try to explain it better. This thread isn't meant to start a debate on the politics of each court, or their rulings, but just to satisfy my curiosity.

You foreigners are welcome to reply, but I wouldn't expect any of you to know these kind of things so you're excused :P

ETA: Don't look it up, just tell me what you think the order is from your memory or your current understanding. Lil... I'm gonna mix things up, cause I don't want to influence you in any way.

[grinner]

Those are three different groupings.

removing groupings for obvious reasons...

[BrowderChick]

1 State district court
3 State Appellate court
2 State Supreme court
5 Federal District court
4 Federal Circut court
6 U.S. Supreme Court
4 U.S. Court of Federal Claims

Am I even close?

ETA: I posted without looking at grinners post. :dunno:

[stellar]

What grinner said.

[LiLOrion]

Rank the following American courts in order of supremecy:

State district court
State Appellate court
State Supreme court
Federal District court
Federal Circut court
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Court of Federal Claims


Without looking anything up...at first glance I would think they are pretty much in order the way you have them listed.
Although in my mind the US Court of Federal Claims should be before the US Supreme Court.

[stellar]

You forgot The People's Court.

[grinner]

here is another diagram

edited again

[Lord Loser]

Thanks grin...

and everyone... I don't want you to look the order up. Just tell me where you think they fit in the order of things. For this thread, there are no right or wrong answers. Tell me where you think they go.

[grinner]

Anyone that had any Government classes in High School should have this knowledge already.

[stellar]

I think:

State district court - 4
State Appellate court - 3
State Supreme court - 2
Federal District court - 3
Federal Circut court - 2
U.S. Supreme Court - 1
U.S. Court of Federal Claims - 3

[stellar]

Anyone that had any Government classes in High School should have this knowledge already.

High School was a while ago. Everything I know about Civics comes from America, The Book by The Daily Show.

[grinner]

You should probably ask... Which Branch of Government has greater Authority over the others...

I would be interested to see what some people think.

[BrowderChick]

Thanks grin...

and everyone... I don't want you to look the order up. Just tell me where you think they fit in the order of things. For this thread, there are no right or wrong answers. Tell me where you think they go.
Thats what I did. :dunno:

[Lord Loser]

You should probably ask... Which Branch of Government has greater Authority over the others...

I would be interested to see what some people think.You'll have to start your own thread on that one. That's outside of my curiosity at this point, and would lead to a heated debate, certain to become banned immediately. Not that it wouldn't be an interesting discussion, but...

[StephX]

You should probably ask... Which Branch of Government has greater Authority over the others...

I would be interested to see what some people think.

I didn't think any of the branches were supposed to have much authority over the others....checks and balances.

[grinner]

I didn't think any of the branches were supposed to have much authority over the others....checks and balances.
Hmm... there are some Judges that think differently...

[StephX]

Just judges? ;)

[Lord Loser]

psst... see post #14 above...

[Dominar of Action]

The answer is ... it depends ;)

I'm not completely sure about these (federal/state jurisdiction and litigation has never been my thing), but without looking, I'd say

For State law issues (generally, anything that doesn't involve the Constitution or interstate commerce -- like family law, general contract law, torts, wills/estates/trusts, partnerships, corporations, fiduciary, etc.):

It depends, because each state has its own system, but generally (using Virginia as an example), it starts at the bottom with general district courts (for traffic and relatively small claims) and specialty courts like juvenile & domestic relations, probate, etc. Then appeals from those courts (or sometimes, original jurisdiction) lies with the circuit courts. Decisions from the circuit court can be appealed to the state supreme court. From the state supreme court, you can appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court if the matter involves something within the U.S. Supreme Court's subject matter jurisdiction, like a constitutional issue.

For Federal law issues (or state law issues where there is federal jurisdiction because of diversity between the parties, etc. or where you can get Congress and the President to pass a law over the weekend to make your issue a federal issue, even if doing so probably violates the Constitution):

You start with your local federal district court, then go to the court of appeals for the circuit in which your state lies (4th circuit for cases originating in VA, WV and MD), and then appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Federal Claims Court is for tax (and other?) matters where a taxpayer has already paid $$ and wants a refund. The U.S. Tax Court is where you go if you don't want to pay but the IRS says you owe them. So, the court depends on whether your fighting a deficiency notice (Tax Court) or seeking a refund (Claims). Either way, you appeal an adverse decision to the applicable federal court of appeals, and then ultimately to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Did I forget something? :)

[NYPinTA]

You forgot the "Court of Public Opinion"

[Alexxia]

High School was a while ago. Everything I know about Civics comes from America, The Book by The Daily Show.
:yes:

[stellar]

You forgot the "Court of Public Opinion"

And the Kangaroo Court.

[JadedLegend3]

And A Kid in King Arthur's Court.

[stellar]

And racketball court.

[Lord Loser]

This has certainly been productive...

[NYPinTA]

:lol And you thought it would be? :rollin:

[Lord Loser]

Well... there's always a chance...

[StephX]

How about the People's Court?

[NYPinTA]

stellar beat you to it. ;)

[StephX]

damn ;)

[NYPinTA]

That boy is quick! And evil... well vaguely so.

[Saajak]

And Night Court.....