Judicial Branch

Institutions - District court, appeals court, Supreme court

Officials - Judges, jury, justices, supreme justices - witnesses and lawyers - there are only juries for district courts

Functions - The function of this branch of government is to interpret the law and decide whether the law is being followed in accordance with the Constitution. The courts decide whether the law has been broken or not. The cases begin in the district courts and will move up to the appeals court if an appeal is sent in for a different result. Courts use the law to settle civil suits and to decide guilt or innocence of people who committed crimes.

Policies - This branch works to interpret the law and decide if someone has broken the law or not in a case. The branch also has the power of judicial review to decide if a law proposed by another branch of government is constitutional or not and it can cancel out the law if it isn´t constitutional. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Eveyone accused of breaking the law is innocent until proven guilty. When they go to the appeals court the judge gives a precedent on why they decided that

Checks and Balances - Appeals court if someone doesn´t like the way the district court decided the case they can appeal it to try to get a different result. Judicial review The Supreme Court can decide if a law proposed by the Legislative branch is unconstitutional and can cancel it. Supreme Court justices number is set by Congress.

Popular Sovereignty - This branch upholds the constitution and the law to make sure that our country´s democracy and justice is protected. The justices are appointed for life to prevent bias over an election to protect the law and execute the law based on the Constitution and not their personal opinions. The Judicial branch makes sure everyone is treated the same (equal justice under law) every person has the right to a lawyer and a public trial and are innocent until proven guilty, everyone is treated the same Innocent until proven guilty Right to a lawyer

Abuse of Power - If you are poor you will not have access to the same resources or lawyers if you are involved in a case because even though you´re given a public lawyer it´s not as good as a private expensive lawyer. If you are poor you have a lesser chance of winning. If you are in a position of power you are able to break the rules set by the Judicial branch Andrew Jackson violated treaties but there was no public pressure on him so the Supreme Court didn´t condemn him. Judges can have personal prejudices