1.What is the function and purpose of courts in American society?What is, and why do we have a dual court system in the United States?

2.What is the purpose or job description of an appeals court?Identify, discuss, and describe the various outcomes that can happen to a case that is appealed?Discuss the meaning of habeas corpus, en banc, reversal, remand, affirmation and other key terms that are related to appeals.

3.What does jurisdiction mean with regards to the American court system?What is the difference between subject matter jurisdiction and geographical jurisdiction?How do governmental officials determine what case goes to what court (federal vs. state, county vs. district, a court in Montgomery County vs. a court in Walker County, etc.)

4.Choose one current Justice from the United States Supreme Court and provide a short, but complete, biographical sketch of the Justice.Tell me who they are, how they ended up on the Supreme Court, their educational background, and summarize their stance in recent or past court rulings (are they liberal, conservative, or moderate).

5.How did the federal courts develop historically? Include a discussion of the influence of the US Constitution and important federal legislation in your answer.Tell me when and why the US Circuit Court of Appeals were created in your answer as well.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

For question 6-10 be sure to properly identify and discuss ONLY federal courts in the questions related to federal courts, and ONLY Texas state courts in the questions related to state courts.

If you include state courts in your answer to the federal question or federal courts in your answer to the state question, the entire answer will be counted wrong.Consult the textbook and/or power points if you have questions about the difference between the two court types. Knowing basic information about the structure of the American judicial system is the main purpose of this class, therefore your answer must be accurate. It may be helpful to consult internet sources about individual federal, state, and local courts that exist.

6.Describe the structure of the U.S. Federal Court system in general. Your answer should identify the official name of and include a summary of the function of the various federal trial courts, intermediate appellate courts, and the highest appellate court. How many federal trial courts exist in the US? How many intermediate federal appeals courts exist in the US? Information about the role, obligations, and responsibilities of federal judges, prosecutors, what constitutes a federal case, etc. should also be included in your answer.

7.Correctly identify the number of and the official names of the federal trial courts that exist in Texas.Which one of these courts has jurisdiction where you live?(Keep in mind, I am looking for the official name of the court, not the courthouse that it happens to exist in.)

8.First, correctly identify the federal intermediate appeals court that has jurisdiction over Texas. Second, correctly identify the state intermediate appeals court that has jurisdiction over your county in Texas. How are these two courts similar? How are they different?

9.Describe the structure of the Texas state court system.Your answer should identify and include a summary of the various types/kinds of state level trial courts, the statewide number of and role of intermediate appellate courts, and information about the two highest appellate courts in Texas.Information about the role, obligations, and responsibilities of Texas state judges, prosecutors, court clerks, etc. should also be included.

10.What Texas state trial court type(s) has jurisdiction over Class C misdemeanor cases?Class A and B misdemeanor cases?Felony cases? Tell me what county you live in and how many of each type of these trial courts exist in your county?