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State and federal court systems consist of
Quizlet texas jurisprudence
The judicial system in texas
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/ Structure Court
Texas is unique in that it has two-one High Court civil case, called the Supreme Court of Texas, and a criminal case, known as the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas. Nine justices who sit on each court, like all judges in Texas, was elected. The election of judges is just one example of popular control over the individual chosen to rule in Texas. *** = The Supreme Court of Appeal Criminal Court -> Appeals court states -> Courts County -> local court. All state elected Judges differ significantly from the federal judge. Subject to voters to "punish": Less freedom to make decisions is not common and the risk of losing office if voters do not agree with their interpretation of the law, and the party's few mixed reviews ideology: All Texas high court judge since 1999. The GOP Texas Supreme Court is the highest civil court in Texas. The nine-judge court. Texas Court of Criminal Appeals highest criminal court in Texas; nine judges and state official has appellate jurisdiction in criminal cases. The two "highest courts" in the state:
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The largest trial court in Texas is the district courts, which often have general jurisdiction over a broad range of civil cases and criminal. Some district court specializing in a certain field, such as juvenile or family law. There is also the county judge, county court (and charter county court at law), probate court as prescribed by law, the justices of peace, and municipal court.
II / legal
Despite the overwhelming critics, Texas remains one of several states that keep supporting the concept of partisan judicial elections, where voters cast a straight-ticket vote. In fact, electing judges by the public leads to a number of ethical problems which necessarily require compromise between judicial integrity and independence. Most of the allegations of wrong-doing have caused a number of professional and citizen groups to become disaffected with the existing system.
pleas may be choose for the punishment likely to be associated with them rather than for their accuracy in describing the criminal offense in which the defendant was involved. For instance, a charge of indecent liberties, for example, in which the defendant is accused of sexual
The people of Texas are diverse and carry their “big can-do attitudes and accents” (Pearson); making Texas a bigger than life state. The political culture of Texas is impacted by two different subgroups of individualistic and traditionalistic characteristics. The combination of traditionalism and individualism has had a huge impact on the state and Texas’ seven different constitutions. The shift in power between 1827 and 1876 has impacted the political diversity Texas has today. Looking at the specifics of these subcultures, the traditionalists believe government should benefit the wealthy and powerful, and that government services must be limited.
The Supreme Court only oversees certain cases that must follow certain guidelines, and their main role is to interpret the Constitution. The Supreme Court of Texas is the final appellate court in the state of Texas, and all of its jurisdictions are final, unless it is in criminal law matters. As expressed earlier, the Federal Constitution is the foundation of our country and the most used document within politics, the Supreme Court allows an interpretation of the constitution within changing times that apply to the entire nation and is often where much change occurs within policies. To have a “final say” in important cases that affect our entire nation based on a foundational document shouldn’t be a power that is left to individual states. To be a Supreme Court Justice, one must be nominated with advice and consent from the senate by the President of the United States. There are no other qualifications and they serve on the court for the rest of their lives or until they retire. While to serve on the Supreme Court of Texas, one must meet specific qualifications, such as: “…being licensed to practice law in the state, a citizen of the United States and of Texas, is at least 35 years old, and has been a practicing lawyer, or a lawyer and judge of a court of record together at least ten years.” Not only must a Supreme Court Justice of Texas meet the specific
Texas went through a great amount of political change from being dominated by the Democratic Party during the 1960s and 70s, from the Republican Party taking over in the 80s. One of the big reasons for this change was due to the political party’s views. Throughout this essay I will discuss the changes of the political stances in Texas as well as the present day factors that affect America.
In the United States, for the last four decades, from Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan through the two Bush Presidencies, the Republican Party won the White House by amassing large margins among white voters (Lizza.) The state of Texas has been reliably Republican since the 1970s and there are various elements to Texas political culture that can be narrowed down to three essential ideological trends: economic liberalism, or faith in the free market economy, social conservatism, or favoring traditional values and moralism, and populism, or promoting the rights and worthiness of ordinary people (Texas Political Culture.) As a result, the dominant political mood in Texas favors low taxes, minimal government services, and policies that are pro-business. This phenomenon is not static, however, since changing demographics in the state are causing changes in the profile of Texas in reference to electoral politics, among other major issues. This paper will explore different perspectives about the changing demographics of Texas, and where they might lead the state politically, and will present a variety of viewpoints regarding this complex subject.
The United States Constitution contains the “Necessary and Proper Clause” which grants Congress the power to enact statutory laws that are “necessary and proper” for carrying out the enumerated powers (US Const. art I, sec. 8, claus. 18). Texas has no equivalent to the “Necessary and Proper Clause” in its constitution. This limits the legislature to powers only specifically written, and thus driving the requirement for frequent constitutional amendments for even minor legislative changes.
Texas politics is an interesting ecosystem of power, rules and regulations. Of course, in typical Texas fashion, most of the politics we engage in we do our own way. From governors who stay in office for a decade to our extremely diverse demographics, Texas is extremely unique. This uniqueness of course comes with its critics, benefits, and downsides. This is particularly true with the Texas Court system compared to both the federal courts and many other states.
Courthouses are a major part of a counties government system. The first thing that comes to mind when we think of a courthouse is normally a judge and jury that is sentencing someone, but there are many things that we actually use a courthouse for. Out of all the courthouses that are still standing in Texas I chose to research about the largest courthouse in Texas.
The government of the state of Texas is a difficult and complicated institution that is composed of many different levels. The question comes in to everyone's mind at one time or another whether or not to trust the government. It could be that people believe that the officials will take advantage of their power, or simply people don't like the idea of being controlled by someone who is not a family member or friend. To avoid this centralized power, the government is divided into stages and this is a reasonable ground for trusting the government. Government runs this state and it does deserve to be trusted.
Before the adoption of the United States Constitution, the U.S. was governed by the Articles of Confederation. These articles stated that almost every function of the government was chartered by the legislature known as Congress. There was no distinction between legislative or executive powers. This was a major shortcoming in how the United States was governed as many leaders became dissatisfied with how the government was structured by the Articles of Confederation. They felt that the government was too weak to effectively deal with the upcoming challenges. In 1787, an agreement was made by delegates at the Constitutional Convention that a national judiciary needed to be established. This agreement became known as The Constitution of the United States, which explicitly granted certain powers to each of the three branches of the federal government, while reserving other powers exclusively to the states or to the people as individuals. It is, in its own words, “the supreme Law of the Land” (Shmoop Editorial Team).
In simple terms, a state attorney general is essentially the state’s lawyer, but he/she has many more responsibilities than that. It should come as no surprise that a state as large as Texas requires a lot of its government officials. A person in this position is the chief legal officer and is charged with protecting the interests of the state. This is typically done through giving legal advice or court proceedings. As the state’s lawyer, they can advise other Texas government agencies on how to make sure they are operating legally. More commonly, lawyers usually operate in court, and the attorney general is no different. If the state of Texas is ever directly involved in a case, the attorney general represents their state in both local and federal courtrooms such as taxes owed to the state or against those that violate any environmental-protection laws ("Attorney General," 2010). Being in the executive branch, the Texas attorney general reports to the governor: “The attorney general shall report to the governor on the first Monday of December of each even-numbered year. The report must include the following information for the preceding two years: (1) a summary of the cases in which the state was a party that was acted on by the supreme court and court of criminal appeals; and (2) a summary of civil cases in which the state was a party that were prosecuted or defended by the attorney general
In 1822, Stephen F. Austin established one of the first courts in Texas and appointed a provisional justice of peace. Since Texas was a part of Mexico at the time, the Mexican governor replaced the justice of peace with three elected officials. (Utexas) Soon after Independence, the republic of Texas under the 1836 Constitution, established a supreme court and allowed Congress to create inferior courts. Judges in such courts were to be elected by Congress. Counties, at the time, had County and Justice of Peace courts, whose judges were popularly elected. With the entrance of Texas into the Union and the adoption of numerous constitutions during the period, Texas retained a similar judicial structure. The current 1876 Constitution created a Supreme Court with appellate civil jurisdiction, the court of appeals, a large number of district, county and justice of peace courts and authorized the legislature to create further courts as necessary. Overtime, the legislature added a number of layers to the judicial system creating a vast and complex judicial system with numerous overlapping jurisdictions between courts. Due to the complicated nature of the current judicial system in Texas, this paper will start by giving a brief explanation of the structure of the current judicial system in Texas and will move on by identifying some strengths and weaknesses in the current system and the need for reforms, present numerous proposed reforms and analyzes why the proposed reforms failed.
Party competition- Elections is important to voters. The problem for Texas and other Sothern states is that general elections between the two parties are not competitive, and this has been true for a long time even when the party in power
The US court system consists of a trial court, an appellate court, and a supreme or high court. The trial court is the first to hear the facts of a case and has original jurisdiction. The appellate court hears cases whose resolution is disputed by the losing party in the trial court. The supreme or high court hears cases whose outcome is disputed by the losing party in the appellate court. The supreme or high court chooses which cases warrant a hearing. The federal and the state court system have the same basic structure. Each consists of a trial court, an appellate court, and a supreme or high court. The Federal Court of Appeals has thirteen (13) circuits which cover most states except the District of Columbia. The federal system also has specialty courts such as the Court of Federal Claims and the United States Tax Court.