We The People Legal Primer - Prison Book Program

First Edition Condensed May 2004
THE JURISDICTION OF THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY Middle layer. The middle level of courts contains the “trial
FEDERAL APPELLATE PROCEDURE
District courts. The limited scope of Article III of the US courts of general jurisdiction.” These courts’ authority allow
Constitution’s, in turn, restricts its empowerment of Congress them to hear and dispose of civil and criminal cases generally.
Many pro se prisoners seek post-conviction
to establish the inferior federal court’s subject matter
They maintain records, and thus, the judiciary considers them
relief by appealing to the federal district courts.
jurisdiction. Thus, Congress grants the inferior court
as “courts of record.” These middle level of courts use very Appellate procedure. The Federal Rules of Appellate
jurisdiction over: “federal questions” (cases arising under the formal procedures. Some such courts don’t have jurisdiction Procedure (FRAP) govern federal appellate courts. A state’s
Constitution or federal laws or treaties), “diversity of citizenship” over petty cases. Names for these courts include “district own rules of appellate procedure govern its appellate courts.
(cases between citizens of different states), and cases
court” and “circuit court” though in some areas they use names
involving the United States as a party (including those of such as ““superior court” or “court of common pleas.” The Appellate procedure consists of the rules and practices by
sovereign immunity and consent of the United States to New York State judiciary uses a confusing naming scheme which appellate courts review trial court judgments. Appellate
subject itself to a suit).
and applies the name “supreme court” to these middle level review performs several functions, including: the correction of
courts.
errors committed by the trial court, development of the law,
Criminal defendants can appeal decisions by their state’s
achieving a uniform approach across courts, as well as the
highest court, if applicable, to the applicable federal district In addition to these trial courts of general jurisdiction, other overall pursuit of justice.
court. The best avenue of appeal involves “federal questions.” courts exist at this level which each exercise special
jurisdictions of their own, and thus, hear and dispose of special Appellate procedure focuses on several main themes: the
Court of Appeals. The courts of appeal have jurisdiction over cases such as: probate matters, divorce and other domestic types of judgments an appeals court will hear, how to bring
appeals from the district courts. Parties appeal as of right from issues, and juvenile court.
appeals before the court, requirements for a reversal of the
“final” decisions, although parties may make “interlocutory” and
lower court (e.g., a showing of “abuse of discretion,” “clear
“collateral” appeals, mostly notably on issues regarding As stated above, the trial court of general jurisdiction also error,” etc.), and what procedures parties must follow.
preliminary injunctions.
exercises some appellate jurisdiction by taking appeals from
petty courts. However, the trial court usually handles these Appeals courts commonly limit appealable issues to “final
These courts also exercise discretionary appellate review of “appeals” as “de novo” trials. Also, these trial courts may have judgments.” However, notable exceptions to the “final
any interlocutory order in a civil case if the trial judge certifies authorization to exercise true appellate jurisdiction in their judgment rule” include: instances of plain or fundamental error
the question of law as debatable and that an appeal would review of decisions from administrative agencies (agencies of by the trial court, questions of subject-matter jurisdiction of the
materially advance the ultimate termination of the litigation. the executive branches of government).
trial court, or constitutional questions.
Other appellate jurisdiction involves appeals from
Highest layer. This layer contains the appellate courts. Most Argument in appellate court centers on written briefs prepared
administrative agencies, usually where a specific provision in states use only one appellate court – the highest court in the by the parties. These state the questions on appeal and
the statute which created the agency directs the appropriate state, also called the “court of last resort” at least at the state enumerate the legal authorities and arguments in support of
court of appeals exercise exclusive appellate jurisdiction over level. This appellate court hears appeals from the judgments each party’s position.
its findings.
of the trial courts of general jurisdiction, and either affirms or Only a few jurisdictions allow for oral argument as a matter of
Supreme Court. As defined by the US Constitution, the reverses or, occasionally, modifies the judgments.
course. Where allowed, parties must intend to use oral
Supreme Court exercises original jurisdiction in some cases, Some circumstances may benefit a party to not wait for the trial argument only to clarify legal issues presented in the briefs,
such as those with states as both parties or, more rarely, those court to hear and dispose of a case before appealing to the and not to introduce new issues. Courts normally subject oral
with Ambassadors and Consuls, or public Ministers as parties. appellate court. In such instances, a party may make an arguments to time limits and use discretion to extend those
This court almost always relegates suits between a citizen and “interlocutory appeal” to the appellate court for an
limits only upon successful persuasion by a party.
a state to a state court.
“extraordinary writ.” Such writs direct the lower court to act File notice. A trial court has entered a judgment against a
The Constitution empowered Congress to determine the (e.g., grant a change of venue, or justify its order to hold defendant. The defendant can turn to an appellate court for
Supreme Court’s appellate jurisdiction. Congress saw fit to someone in allegedly illegal custody) or to refrain from an act appeal of the judgment. To this, the defendant must quickly
unburden the Court by allowing the bulk of its cases to fall (e.g., from continuing to exercise jurisdiction in the case). file his Notice of Appeal in the trial court in order to preserve his
under discretionary “certiorari” jurisdiction. In a nutshell, the About one third of the states have intermediate appellate right to appeal. Depending on several factors, the defendant
Court’s Rule 19 shows propensity of the court to grant a writ of courts, whose functions vary from state to state. A judicial may have from 10 to 60 days to file after the entry of judgment
certiorari in cases where a lower court: (1) has ruled contrary system may require that appeals from trial courts first seek by the clerk of the trial court.
to decisions of the Supreme Court or other courts, (2) has relief from its intermediate appellate court, and that a party Party name. The courts refer to the party filing the Notice of
decided an important question of federal law that should be would seek an appeal from the intermediate court in the Appeal as the “Appellant.” The courts refer to the opposing
settled by the Supreme Court, or (3) has departed too much highest court. Some states allow appeal on serious issues party who may wish to defend the appeal as the “Appellee.”
from “the settled and usual course of judicial proceedings.” A directly to the highest court, skipping the intermediate appellate The courts also refer to an appellee who files his own Notice of
party should not read into a denial of certiorari about the merits court. Other states allow appeals from the trial court only to Cross-Appeal as the “Cross-Appellant.”
of the issues presented. 338 U.S. 912, 917-918 (1950). the intermediate court, and either don’t allow an additional Transcript and record. The appellant must order a transcript
However, a great many of the decisions made after granting appeal to the highest court or allow it only for special reasons of the proceedings in the trial court from that court’s reporter.
certiorari do favor the petitioner, and many dissents from the or upon the discretion of the highest court. States increasingly In turn, that court’s clerk will assemble the record, a package of
denial of the writ have discussed the merits of the issues. And consider this limited-review provision as a means of coping documents for the appellate court, which will help it understand
a strong relationship does exist between a Justice’s vote on with the overburdened dockets of their highest courts.
the events that transpired in the trial court. Except for indigent
whether to grant certiorari and later vote on the merits of the In order for the United States Supreme Court to hear an criminal defendants, the appellant must pay the court reporter
appeal.
appeal from a state’s supreme court, the case must come for the work to create the transcript. Creating the transcript
Congress also empowered the Supreme Court to exercise within the “judicial power of the United States” as outlined by and assembling the record may take many several months
appellate jurisdiction, as a matter of right, over various classes the US Constitution. Congress, in exercising its constitutional and, in some busy courts, a year or more.
of cases mostly involving the constitutionality of federal and power to determine the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Appellate docket. When the appellate court receives the
state laws. Congress did drastically reduce a party’s ability to Court, limited most of that court’s appellate review powers record of appeal, its clerk will docket the case and assign a
appeal to the Supreme Court directly from a district court in under the discretion of that court – review by writ of certiorari. case number to it. A Federal Court of Appeals may docket a
order to keep the Supreme Court from becoming overloaded. According to Congress, the Court can demand review of a case and assign it a case number before the transcript has
state court decision as a matter of right only when the highest
Pro se and Certiorari. Of the several thousand appeals to
been finished. In this event, the appellant must continue filing
state court empowered to decide the case has held a federal
the Supreme Court by pro se defendants for writ of certiorari,
motions until the transcript arrives in order to extend the time
law or treaty invalid, or upheld a state law against a claim that it
the Court decides to hear a few dozen. These odds amount to
for filing the Brief for Appellant.
violates the federal constitution, laws, or treaties.
about 1 in every 200 cases. The incarcerated pro se appellant
Clock starts. When the clerk dockets the case, the clerk also
should understand these odds, but should also understand Court delays. Despite the fact that three of four defendants notifies counsel and the clock begins to run for filing the Brief
that all cases differ in their circumstances and issues. So pro plead guilty (no trial), criminal courts continue to suffer serious for Appellant. Rules of the court in most jurisdictions allow 40
se defendants should not feel discouraged.
congestion. Indigent defendants especially suffer from court days for this filing. Upon the filing of that brief, the rules usually
delays because they wait in jail unable to raise bail.
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then allows the appellee 30 days to file its response called the
THE STRUCTURE OF THE STATE JUDICIARIES Suggestions to reduce criminal court congestion include: Brief of Appellee. Upon filing of the Brief of Appellee, the rules
adding more minor criminal court judges; replacing criminal usually allow the appellant 15 days to file his Reply Brief. In
Triple layer. Each state has implemented a triple-layered penalties for some offenses with alternatives such as civil virtually every case, the appellant needs more than 40 days to
hierarchy in their court system.
monetary penalties; and processing addiction-related
file the brief and usually files a motion for an enlargement of
Lowest layer. The lowest, or petty, courts deal only with petty defendants through medical, psychiatric, or other treatment time. Courts typically grant one or two enlargements. Some
cases involving small monetary values or small criminal facilities.
courts require special circumstances in order to grant more
penalties. In rural area, justices of the peace, often part-time At the appellate level, suggestions to reduce delays include: than one enlargement.
positions, preside over such courts. In urban areas, a
adding more appellate court judges (as California did),
Issues of appeal. Criminal defendants in prisons often
magistrate or judge usually preside over such courts, which declaring some cases as not appealable, empowering the misunderstand the powers of an appellant court and, thus, the
tends toward specialties, such as: police court, traffic court, appellate court with discretionary review powers, and a issues of appeal that the court will consider. The judge,
and small claims court.
preliminary screening procedure resulting in a summary judges, or jury in the trial court already considered and
These courts operate on more informal procedures than the disposition without benefit of, or greatly reduced amounts of, determined the facts of the case. An appellate court does not
higher courts. Many of these courts maintain records of only briefs or arguments.
have the power nor the desire to retry the facts of the case. It
the identification of the parties and lawyers, if any, and the However, problems with these remedies involve: the
can only jurisdiction to consider issues alleging errors in the
disposition of the case. These courts usually neither make nor proliferation of utterances at authoritative appellate tribunals execution of the law in the trial court and not issues alleging
maintain a detailed record of the proceedings beyond that divesting intermediate courts of significant authority; possible errors in the evidence and testimony in the case. The
already described above. Thus, people don’t consider these unconstitutionality, regarding equal protection under the law, in appellate court has only the transcript and the record of appeal
lowest of court as “courts of record.”
the powers of discretionary review; and summary dispositions before it.
Parties usually don’t appeal decisions from these courts in the without sufficient discussion may seriously lower the quality of Appellant attorneys. The appellant’s trial attorney may
regular sense of an appeal. Without any record of the
appellate justice.
identify issues upon which the appellant can raise an appeal.
proceedings for proof of error, no record exists for assembly ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– However, appellant attorneys, who specialize in appeals, can
and transmittal it to the next higher court for appellate review.
usually find other issues as well. Although the appellant
Instead, an “appeal” from these courts typically amounts to a
attorney didn’t attend the trial and has only the transcript and
completely new trial (a “de novo” trial) in the higher court.
record to work from, the appellate court works with the same
materials. More importantly, the appellate attorney often finds
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