Can someone please help me with the following American Government questions regarding the courts? 1. The Constitution directly created: - a. the three-tiered federal court system b. the Supreme Court only c. separate courts for civil and criminal cases or d. a system for electing judges 2.The final authority on the meaning of the Constitution is: - a. the published debates of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 b. the president c. Congress or d. the Supreme Court 3. The lowest level of the federal court system consists of the: - a. courts of appeals b. courts of public opinion c. district courts or d. none of the above 4. The primary function of the U.S. courts of appeals is to - a. conduct trials in federal cases of great importance b. clarify the issues in cases that will be sent up to the Supreme Court c. hear and dispose of the vast majority of cases appealed from the district courts or d. hear appeals from the fifty state supreme courts 5. Supreme Court cases must - a. pass through district courts b. involve a constitutional issue c. raise a federal question or d. by the permission of any four justices

Question 1:  The best answer here is B.  Article III of the Constitution starts by saying that

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.

This clearly does not set up a three-tiered system.  The only court that is actually specifically mentioned is the Supreme Court.  The 6th and 7th Amendments do refer to the idea that there are both civil and criminal cases, but they do not set up separate courts for these.  Judges are not elected at the federal level.  Therefore, B is the best answer.

Question 2: D is the best answer.  The Constitution does not say who gets to decide whether laws are constitutional.  However, the Supreme Court took that power in the 1803 case Marbury v. Madison.  The Court’s power of judicial review has been accepted ever since.

Question 3: The best answer is C.  There are three levels of the federal judicial system.  The lowest level is the district court.  The next level up is the appellate courts (also called circuit courts) and the highest level is, of course, the Supreme Court of the United States.

Question 4:  The best answer is C.  Appellate courts hear appeals from district courts within their regions.  They dispose of the vast majority of the cases because the Supreme Court hears very few cases. 

Question 5: Although it is not (as written) grammatical, Option D is the best answer.  The Supreme Court gets to decide which cases it will hear.  It has a “rule of four” in which a case will be heard if four justices vote to do so.  

Can someone please help me with the following American Government questions? 1. Most traditional criminal offenses (murder, theft, arson) are defined and tried at: - the a. state level b. federal level c. appellate level or d. federal and state levels equally 2. Supreme Court review is granted to a case - a. at the discretion of the chief justice b. only by a unanimous vote of all justices c. at the request of any one justice or d. by the permission of any four justices. 3. The chief justice of the Supreme Court can exercise influence over the Court in all of the following ways EXCEPT by - a. controlling who writes the Court's opinion when he or she has voted with the majority b. strategic use of his or her vote c. formulating the discussion list and managing the development of the Court's docket or d. exercising a veto in all cases involving judicial review 4. The custom of senatorial courtesy - a. encourages polite behavior on the floor of the Senate b. gives senators the power to appoint state court judges c. requires the House of Representatives to vote for all Senate approved judicial nominees or d. gives a senator of the president's party a role in the selection of the district court judges that will serve in that senator's state. 5. In reaching their decisions, state supreme courts can rely on the - a. U.S. Constitution and the constitution of their state b. state constitution only c. legal guidance given by their state legislature or d. U.S. Constitution only

Question 1:  The best answer here is A.  Most crimes are state crimes.  A murder, for example, is not a federal crime unless it meets various criteria.  If you kill someone in a national park it is a federal crime.  If you kill a federal government official, it is a federal crime. There are other criteria that can make a murder a federal crime, but the vast majority of crimes are tried at the state level because they do not meet any of these criteria.

Question 2: The answer to this is D.  This question refers to the “rule of four.”  The Supreme Court gets to choose which cases it hears and its traditional rule is to hear a case if four justices vote to do so.

Question 3: The answer to this is D.  The Chief Justice does not have veto power.  He (or someday she) cannot simply say that the Court will not hear a case, nor can the Chief Justice overrule a decision made by the other justices.  Options A, B, and C are part of the Chief Justice’s powers, but a veto is not.

Question 4: The answer to this one is D as well.  Options B and C are clearly not true as they would both violate the Constitution.  Option A has nothing to do with judicial appointments.  Option D is the correct answer.  There is no law saying that presidents have to respect the tradition of senatorial courtesy, but they typically do.  They notify senators from their own party and ask their approval for judicial appointments when that judge would be on a court in the senator’s state.

Question 5: The best answer to this question is A.  You can see evidence of this in this link, where it says

For most of the life of the U.S. Constitution, there has been no doubt that both the courts at the federal level and those at the state level each have power to interpret what that Constitution means.

This shows that state courts can rely on the US Constitution when making their decisions.  They can, of course, rely on the constitutions of their own state as well.