U.S. Supreme Court in Focus

Running head : U .S . Supreme court in focus

Name

Course

Tutor

9th July 2010

Introduction

The Supreme Court in the United States of America is the highest federal court . It was established by article 3 of the constitution and formally recognized after the Judiciary act of 1789 was passed . It 's the largest in both size and jurisdiction . This means that it 's the last resort court . The court has a jurisdiction to listen to appellate cases and supervise the lower courts . The decision of the Supreme Court is

final meaning that it cannot be appealed against by any party or court

Discussion

The US Supreme Court is the highest court and has two major functions in relation to the lower courts . The court performs the function of judicial review . This means that the court reviews the decision of a lower court to determine whether an error was made . It determines whether decisions made by the lower courts were fair . This means that this court has the ability to nullify a decision made by the lower courts if they were not up to the constitutional standards . It also have the powers to a retrial if the first trial was not fairly done (Rehnquist , 2002

It resolves the conflicts of opinion on federal question that have arisen in the lower courts . It fulfils this function by answering certified questions sent to it from a federal court of appeal or from the US claims court . It either gives instructions that the...