222 Politics and the judiciary
necessary now, in order fully to understand the processes of decision-taking,
to describe the judicial system as a whole and the nature of the judicial proc-
ess.
The structure of the judicial system
We have concentrated so far upon the role of the Supreme Court of the Unit-
ed States, but that august body stands at the head of a complex judicial sys-
tem in which is reflected the overall characteristics of American government,
and in particular its federal structure. There are in fact more than fifty judi-
cial systems in the United States: there are the federal courts headed by the
US Supreme Court, and a separate judicial hierarchy in each of the states,
each with its own state Supreme Court, as well as the courts in the District
of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The relationship between these judicial struc-
tures, and between the laws that they administer, is complex indeed. As far
as structure is concerned the federal system is relatively simple. There are
three levels of courts: at the bottom are the district courts, ninety-four of
them across the continent including the District of Columbia, each consist-
ing of from one to twenty-seven district judges. Above the district courts are
the courts of appeal, arranged in eleven circuits plus the court of appeal
for the District of Columbia, each with from three to fifteen justices. Above
these the Supreme Court with its nine justices forms the apex of the federal
system. In addition, there are special federal courts to deal with customs and
patents, military cases, and claims against the United States. The Supreme
Court has original jurisdiction only in a few important types of case. For the
most part cases reach it on appeal either from the lower federal courts or
from the Supreme Courts of the states.
The state judicial systems tend to be much more complicated, and vary
very considerably from state to state. The states are responsible for pass-
ing and enforcing the major part of the criminal and civil law in America.
For every prisoner in federal prisons there are ten in state prisons. Basically,
the function of the federal courts is to apply federal laws, and that of state
courts is to apply the laws of that state, but the relationships of the systems
are much more complex than this. They are not completely separate and
distinct. The federal Constitution lays the duty upon all courts, federal and
state alike, of enforcing the Constitution of the United States and the laws
made under it. The Constitution is the supreme law of the land, and when
state laws conflict with it, or with federal laws made under that Constitution,
then the state laws must give way. State courts must, therefore, take account
of federal statutes and decisions of federal courts, in so far as they affect the
cases that come before them. If, however, no ‘federal question’ is involved,
the matter will be dealt with entirely in the state system, and the final court
of appeal will be the Supreme Court of the state. Issues involving federal law
will normally be initiated in the federal district court and appealed up to the
United States Supreme Court. However, particular cases will not fall neatly