The Judicial Branch

1
The Judicial Branch

• So far, we have discussed two of the four players
  in the policy process the legislatures, and the
  executive branch.
• Today, we will discuss the third player in the
  process the judicial branch.

2

• The Judicial branch, or the judiciary as it is
  often called, is an integral part of public
  policy.
• What really is public policy? It is a course of
  action adopted by the government aimed at
  addressing a problem.
• We already know that the government can use a
  variety of means to address a problem.
• One such means is the legal system.

3

• So..what is the law? If someone asked you for a
  definition of the law, what would you say?
• The basic idea is that it is a system of rules
  that govern our lives.
• It is a system of rules that order social life
  (Hart 1961 Nonet and Selznick 1978).

4

• The law is made up of three elements
• Laws that are formulated and structured, such as
  constitutions, statutes, ordinances etc.
• Rules of law determined by courts by deciding
  cases, i.e. precedents.
• The system of legal concepts and techniques that
  forms the basis of judicial action.

5
Public vs. Private Law

• Public law involves a government agency, officer,
  or official.
• This includes constitutional law, administrative
  law, and criminal law.
• Private law, on the other hand, deals with
  private legal relationships between individuals
  or firms.
• It includes the law of contracts, law of tort
  (injuries), and the law of property.

6
Substantive vs. Procedural Law

• Substantive law defines the relationship between
  a person and others, or between people and the
  state.
• It defines the rights and duties of people and
  the state.
• Procedural law, on the other hand, deals with the
  methods and means by which substantive law is
  made and administered.
• It provides a means to enforce the rights and
  duties defined by substantive law.
• Prohibition on harming an endangered species is
  substantive law rules requiring the preparation
  of an environmental impact statement is
  procedural law.

7
Civil vs. Criminal Law

• A civil suit involves litigation between private
  parties, or sometimes between private and public
  parties, that is, individuals, corporations, or
  government agencies.
• Such lawsuits may be sparked by injuries,
  violation of contracts, or actions of government
  agencies that may be perceived as exceeding the
  bounds of their power.
• In the area of natural resources, civil suits are
  quite common, perhaps much more than criminal
  suits.

8
Civil vs. Criminal Law contd.

• Criminal suits involve violation of citizens
  duties.
• The purpose of criminal law is to punish the
  wrongdoers.
• The punishment may involve fine, jail time, or
  both.
• Criminal suits are sparked by a violation of
  constitutional, legislative, or administrative
  law.
• Many major environmental regulations provide
  criminal penalties for violators.
• For example, under the Endangered Species Act,
  harming an endangered species is a criminal act.
• Other examples of criminal actions may be
  improper disposal of toxic waste, trespassing,
  timber theft etc

9

• A great illustration of the impact of the
  judiciary on public policy can be found by
  examining the clearcutting controversy on
  national forests and subsequent court cases and
  legislation.

10
Characteristics of the Judiciary

• We have framed our discussion on the other two
  branches of the government based on their power
  and the limits of those powers.
• We have to recognize that the judicial branch is
  quite different than the other two branches of
  the government.
• For this reason, lets call this discussion the
  characteristics rather than powers of the
  judiciary.

11

• If you remember our discussion on the other two
  branches of the government, an important limit to
  their powers was the fact that their actions are
  subject to judicial review.
• Although not clearly established by the U.S.
  Constitution, it is widely believed that the
  courts have the power to review the
  constitutionality of laws enacted by Congress,
  and the courts have in fact done so on many
  occasions.
• However, it is important to note that the courts
  cannot subject a law to judicial review on their
  own. This can only happen when the law is under
  challenge by another party.

12

• Another important characteristic of the judiciary
  is that the courts do not have a mechanism at
  their disposal to enforce the rulings.
• Once a court delivers its opinion on a case, it
  must then depend on voluntary compliance of its
  rulings.
• This characteristic puts a limitation on the
  courts power.
• However, on serious law enforcement matters, the
  courts have the law enforcement authorities such
  as the police for help

13

• Another very important characteristic is that the
  judiciary bases its rulings on facts rather than
  values or emotions.
• Legislators, on the other hand, base most of
  their decisions on factors like the values of
  their constituents, and their own ambitions.
• This is why conclusions reached by the courts and
  the legislators will often be different.
• This is of course assuming the perfect operation
  of the judicial system.
• Like everyone else, judges are also humans and
  there are occasions when values, emotions, and
  ambitions do permeate the judicial process.

14
Structure of the Federal Judiciary

• Federal and most state court systems have a
  three-tier structure.
• The lowest level is the district court.
• There are specialized courts such as tax court,
  claims court, and customs court. But most
  lawsuits, regardless of whether or not they
  involve the natural resources, start at the
  district court level.
• When a suit has been filed, the district courts
  gather the facts related to the case, apply the
  relevant law, and arrive at a judgment.

15

• After the district court ruling, if either party
  is dissatisfied with the courts decision, an
  appeal can be filed at the Court of Appeals.
• The federal judicial system currently has 11
  regional appellate courts and one in the District
  of Columbia. These regional courts are called
  circuits.
• At this level of the litigation, there is no more
  fact finding involved.
• The appellate courts concentrate on whether the
  law was correctly applied by the district courts.

16

• After the appellate court rules, any dissatisfied
  party can still go to the Supreme Court which is
  the highest court of the nation.
• The Court consists of 9 justices and examines
  questions of the law and the constitutionality of
  congressional acts.
• When an appeal is made to the Supreme Court, the
  most frequent response from the Court is a
  denial.
• The Supreme Court only accepts cases that raise a
  significant question about a law or government
  action.
• Once an appeal is accepted, the Court may then
  either affirm or reverse the ruling of the lower
  court.
• Supreme Court rulings become binding for any
  court in the nation, and reversals of lower court
  ruling in effect become the law of the land.

17
Standing to Sue

• We also need to understand an important legal
  concept called standing to sue.
• According to the Websters Dictionary of law, the
  term means,
• A The status of being qualified to assert or
  enforce legal rights or duties in a judicial
  forum because one has a sufficient interest in
  the outcome of a controversy and has suffered or
  is threatened with actual injury. Example only
  one who already has standing can argue the public
  interest in support of his claim -- Hawaii's
  Thousand Friends v. Anderson, 768 P.2d 1293
  (1989)
• B A principle requiring that a party has
  standing in order to justify the exercise of the
  court's remedial powers.

18

• In other words, this deals with whether or not
  one can file a lawsuit in court. Only an
  individual or a group who are directly affected
  by the issue in question can bring a lawsuit.
• Often in cases that involve natural resources, a
  partys standing to sue is questioned.
• Many suits involving environmental issues are
  brought by different environmental groups. These
  groups are often not affected directly by the law
  being challenged.
• Therefore, their standing must first be
  established.
• The courts have ruled somewhat inconsistently on
  this issue.

19

• In Sierra Club v. Morton, the Sierra Club opposed
  the development of a proposed ski resort and sued
  the Secretary of the Interior.
• The court considered the issue of standing and
  ruled that Sierra Club did not have standing to
  sue since they were not injured by the
  development.
• Sierra Club appealed to the Supreme Court and it
  upheld the lower courts ruling in a narrow
  decision.
• However, Justice Douglas wrote a vigorous
  dissenting opinion suggesting that since trees
  and animals cannot bring suit, groups should be
  allowed to sue on their behalf.

20

• In Palila v. Hawaii Department of Land and
  Natural Resources, the Audubon Society filed suit
  on behalf of a rare Hawaiian bird species called
  palila, and was granted standing.
• The name of the bird was even symbolically
  entered as the plaintiff.

21

• In recent years, the Supreme Court suggested some
  more restrictive criteria for granting standing.
  As a result of the Courts decision on Lujan v.
  National Wildlife Federation, the criteria for
  standing suggested by the Court were
• Demonstrate a specific injury.
• Demonstrate that the injury is eminent.
• Cite a specific application before attacking a
  regulation.