What Is the Judicial Branch?

What Is the Judicial Branch? — page 1 — JUSTICE FOR ALL Lawyers call witnesses to help prove their side of a case in court Many children say the Pledge of Allegiance every morning at school The last line is with liberty and justice for all Liberty means freedom but what does justice mean Justice means making sure that laws are interpreted correctly and that people are treated fairly The judicial branch of the United States government is a system of courts The courts decide if laws are just and if people have broken the law Sometimes people go to court when laws are broken In the 4

What Is the Judicial Branch? — page 2 — The Supreme Court meets in this building in Washington D C The federal government is the national government VOCABULARY court lawyers argue two sides of a story A judge watches over everything In some cases a jury decides if a person is guilty or innocent In other cases courts make decisions about the laws themselves Each state has its own judicial system Above that is the federal court system The federal courts handle legal cases that affect the national government The most powerful court in the country is the Supreme Court 5

What Is the Judicial Branch? — page 3 — THE CONSTITUTION When the United States was being formed its leaders wrote a document to spell out how its government would work This document is called the Constitution The Constitution calls for three equal branches of federal government executive legislative and judicial The leader of the executive branch is the president The House of Representatives and the Senate make up the legislative branch Each branch of the federal government has its own role 6

What Is the Judicial Branch? — page 4 — The judicial branch uses the U S Constitution and other laws of the U S government to settle cases It can also strike down a law passed by Congress if the Supreme Court declares that it goes against the Constitution If the president makes an order that is unconstitutional the Supreme Court can stop that too The other branches have some power over the judicial branch The president nominates or proposes all federal judges The nominees then have to be approved by the Senate President Barack Obama nominated Patricia Ann Millett to be a federal judge in 2013 7

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