The Judicial Branch
Article III creates the Supreme CourtThe only court the Constitution itself creates. Nine Justices, life tenure, and near-total control over which cases they hear.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) and lets Congress build the lower federal courts. Federal judges serve during "good Behaviour", effectively for life, with salaries that cannot be cut, insulating them from political retaliation. The article defines which cases federal courts may hear, guarantees jury trials for federal crimes, and defines treason so narrowly that the charge cannot become a political weapon. judicial reviewCourts' power to strike down laws and executive acts that violate the Constitution, established by Marbury v. Madison (1803).Read the full definition (opens a new tab), courts striking down unconstitutional laws, is not stated here; the Supreme Court claimed it in Marbury v. Madison (1803).
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. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.
The Constitution requires exactly one court, the Supreme Court, and leaves the rest to Congress, which created the district and circuitOne of the thirteen regions of the federal appellate system. Saying a case is in the Ninth Circuit names both the court and the states it covers.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) courts you can explore on judiciaryThe branch of government made up of the courts and judges. The federal judiciary is the Supreme Court plus the courts Congress created beneath it.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) pages. Even the Supreme Court's size is set by statuteA law passed by a legislature and signed into effect. Distinct from a regulation, which an agency writes, and from a court decision, which interprets both.Read the full definition (opens a new tab), not the Constitution. Judges serve for life unless impeached, and their pay can never be cut, so neither Congress nor the President can punish a court for its rulings.
The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;—to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;—to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;—to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;—to Controversies between two or more States;— between a State and Citizens of another State,—between Citizens of different States,—between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.
In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.
The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.
Federal courts hear "cases and controversies", real disputes, not abstract questions, arising under the Constitution, federal law, and treaties, plus disputes between states, between citizens of different states, and cases involving the United States itself. The Supreme Court starts as the trial court only in a sliver of cases (states suing states, ambassadorThe President's personal representative to a foreign government or international organization, nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) cases); everything else reaches it on appeal, under rules Congress sets. Every federal criminal trial is by jury, held in the state where the crime occurred. The Eleventh AmendmentThe 1795 amendment barring federal suits against a state by citizens of another state, the textual anchor of modern state sovereign immunity.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) later narrowed federal courts' power to hear suits against a state by citizens of another state.
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.
The only crime the Constitution defines, and it defines it narrowly on purpose: only making war on the United States or aiding its enemies counts, and conviction requires two witnesses to the same overt act or a confession in open court. In England, "treason" had been stretched to punish political dissenting opinionAn opinion by a judge who would decide the case the other way. It does not bind anyone, but it preserves the argument and sometimes wins later.Read the full definition (opens a new tab); the framers made that impossible here. Punishment cannot extend to the traitor's family ("corruption of blood").