How it works: in theory
The Court System
How it works: in practice
Same-Sex
Marriage through
the Court System
Same-sex marriage has been
addressed in dozens of state and
federal court cases in the past decade.
A landmark case decided in June 2015
illustrates how cases make their way
through the court system and how
the Supreme Court resolves conflicts
between the lower courts.Yeah, but...
Eleven federal district
court decisions were
appealed by states
attempting to uphold
their bans.Courts of Appeals
94 courts in 41 states
939 judges; about
257,000 cases per yearU.S. Courts of Appeals
12 regional courts and the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the
Federal Circuit
50,506 filings in the 2016–2017 termIntermediate
Appeals Courts
Sources: Data on federal courts are from the U.S. Supreme Court, “2017 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary,” http://www.supremecourt.gov/publicinfo/year-end/
2017year-endreport.pdf (accessed 6/25/18). Data on state courts are from National Center for State Courts, http://www.ncsc.org (accessed 6/25/18); Ballotpedia.org,
“Intermediate Appellate Courts,” https://ballotpedia.org/Intermediate_appellate_courts (accessed 6/25/18) and Ron Malega and Thomas H. Cohen, “State Court
Organization, 2011,” U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/sco11.pdf (accessed 6/25/18).State and Local Courts Federal Courts
Trial Courts of Limited
and Special Jurisdiction16,920 judges
About 55 million cases
per year
Examples: juvenile court,
traffic court, small claims
court, justice of the
peace, family courtTrial Courts of
General and Original
Jurisdiction
94 district courts
267,769 civil cases and
77,018 criminal cases
filed in the 2016–2017 termTrial Courts of General
and Original Jurisdiction10,650 judges
About 30 million cases
per year
Examples: district
courts, county courts,
municipal courtsTrial Courts of
Limited and Special
Jurisdiction
Examples: federal
claims court, tax court,
Court of International
Trade, Court of
Veterans AppealsIf federal questionU.S. Supreme Court
Received 6,305 filings in
the 2016–2017 term; 71 cases
were argued; 68 were disposed
of in 61 signed opinions.
State Supreme Courts
or Courts of Last Resort
52 courts (Texas and
Oklahoma each have two
courts of last resort)
346 judges; about 75,000
cases per yearTrial Courts
It’s
constitutional.Federal Court
of Appeals:
Appeals court rulings
from the Fourth,
Seventh, Ninth, and
Tenth Circuits, repre-
senting 23 states,
struck down state-level
bans on same-sex
marriage as
unconstitutional.The conflict between
the circuit courts
meant that same-sex
marriage was legal in
some states, but not
in others. At the end
of June 2015, same-sex
couples could marry in
29 states and the District
of Columbia, but not in
21 states.It’s
unconstitutional.Federal Court
of Appeals:
Six federal district court
cases from Michigan, Ohio,
Kentucky, and Tennessee
were appealed to the
Sixth Circuit Court, which
upheld the bans on
same-sex marriage in
these four states.Okay, let’s
resolve this.Supreme Court:
The Supreme Court resolved
this conflict in a landmark
5–4 decision, Obergefell v.
Hodges (2015), holding that the
fundamental right to marry
is guaranteed to same-sex
couples by both the due process
clause and the equal protection
clause of the Fourteenth Amend-
ment to the U.S. Constitution.Rights
awarded!State and Federal
Trial Courts:
Following the Supreme
Court’s landmark ruling
in 2013 striking down the
Defense of Marriage Act,
more than two dozen
state courts and federal
district courts struck
down bans on same-sex
marriage.- What are the advantages and
disadvantages of having such a
complex court system? - When does a case that goes
through the state courts end
up in the U.S. Supreme Court?
Can you think of an issue other
than same-sex marriage where
this is likely to occur?
Critical Thinking
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