Also known as: supreme courts · SCOTUS · U.S. Supreme Court
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
The highest court in the federal judicial system. Article III vests the judicial power of the United States in one supreme Court whose judges hold office during good behavior and receive compensation that may not be diminished. The Court exercises original jurisdiction in cases affecting ambassadors and those in which a state is a party and appellate jurisdiction in all other cases within the judicial power with such exceptions and regulations as Congress may prescribe.
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Congress enacts a tax on imported goods that applies only in coastal states. Importers in inland states challenge the statute. The Supreme Court reviews whether the tax violates the uniformity requirement across the United States and determines the proper scope of congressional taxing power.
A federal prosecutor seeks to compel a spouse to disclose private letters exchanged during marriage. The defendant asserts the marital communications privilege. The Supreme Court resolves whether the government must overcome a presumption of confidentiality to obtain the letters.
A party offers documents in a federal trial that have some tendency to prove a consequential fact. The opposing side objects on relevance grounds. The Supreme Court clarifies the standard that governs whether the evidence may be admitted absent a specific exclusionary rule.
A district court refuses to dissolve an injunction that bars a company from selling certain products. The company seeks immediate review in the court of appeals. The Supreme Court addresses whether the refusal qualifies as an immediately appealable interlocutory order.
A witness located abroad seeks to testify by video link in a civil trial because travel is impossible. The opposing party objects that testimony must occur in open court. The Supreme Court determines whether good cause and appropriate safeguards permit contemporaneous transmission.
The President issues a pardon to an individual convicted of a federal offense. The recipient later faces state charges arising from the same conduct. The Supreme Court examines the scope of the presidential pardon power and its effect on related proceedings.
Article III Section 1 vests the judicial power of the United States in one supreme Court and in such inferior courts as Congress may ordain and establish. The judges of the supreme and inferior courts hold office during good behavior and receive compensation that shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.
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Article III Section 2 grants the Supreme Court original jurisdiction in all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a state shall be party. In all other cases the Court exercises appellate jurisdiction subject to congressional regulation.
Marbury v. Madison <!-- acedexams opinion md v1 -- Case information - Court: Supreme Court of the United States - Decided: February 24, 1803 - Judges: Chief Justice Marshall Syllabus The Supreme Court of the United States has not power to issue a mandamus to a…
Roe v. Wade <!-- acedexams opinion md v1 -- Case information - Court: Supreme Court of the United States - Citation: 410
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka <!-- acedexams opinion md v1 -- Case information - Court: Supreme Court
…75 N. Y. S. 2d 397. A final decree accepting the accounts has been entered, affirmed by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court
United States v. Nixon <!-- acedexams opinion md v1 -- Case information - Court
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Federal Rule of Evidence 402 and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 43(a) expressly recognize that rules prescribed by the Supreme Court may limit the admissibility of evidence or permit testimony by contemporaneous transmission. The Court therefore possesses authority to adopt procedural and evidentiary rules that bind lower federal courts.
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Congress may not confer original jurisdiction on the Supreme Court in cases outside those described in Article III. Any attempt to do so is unconstitutional because the constitutional enumeration of original jurisdiction is exclusive.
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