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6.1 %u2022 The Constitution and the Federal Judiciary 1876.1 The Constitution and the Federal JudiciaryThe federal judiciary is one of the three branches of the nation%u2019s government. Its role is to interpret and apply the laws of the nation. In Federalist No. 78, Alexander Hamilton described%u00a0 the federal judiciary as %u201cleast dangerous to the political rights of the Constitution.%u201d27 Sitting atop the federal judiciary is the Supreme Court, which was established in Article III of the Constitution and serves as the highest court in the nation.The delegates to the Constitutional Convention spent much less time debating the structure and powers of the federal judiciary than they did hammering out the design of the legislative and executive branches. The delegates agreed that the judiciary should retain a degree of independence from the other two branches.28 They also agreed that judges should have lifetime tenure, with the condition of %u201cgood behavior.%u201d They made provisions to protect judicial salaries from efforts to reduce them by an unhappy or vengeful Congress.29 Under the Constitution, the president nominates federal judges, and the Senate%u2014through its role of advice and consent%u2014confirms the nominations. Once federal judges are confirmed, Congress and the president have few tools to coerce or intimidate them.30Article III: The Federal Judiciary in the ConstitutionIn the Constitution, the judiciary (Article III) comes in third, behind Congress (Article I) and the executive branch (Article II), both in terms of placement and in amount of coverage. Only the highest level of the federal judiciary%u2014the Supreme Court%u2014is described in the document, leaving the establishment of lower federal courts in the hands of Congress: %u201cThe judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time ordain and establish.%u201d31The Constitution was clear that the federal judiciary, and the Supreme Court in particular, was to be the highest judicial power in the land: %u201cThe judicial power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority.%u201d32 This judicial power, combined with the supremacy clause of the Constitution, which declared the %u201cConstitution, and the Laws of the United States%u201d to be %u201cthe supreme Law of the Land,%u201d establishes the supremacy of the federal judiciary over matters involving the Constitution and federal law.33The Constitution also briefly describes the federal courts%u2019 jurisdiction, or authority to decide specific cases.34 If a court has original jurisdiction in a case, that court has the authority to hear the case first, act as a finder of facts, and decide the case. Courts with original jurisdiction are trial courts. A court with appellate jurisdiction has the authority to review the decision of a lower court in order to overturn or revise that decision. Courts operating under appellate jurisdiction generally focus on the lower courts%u2019 actions and procedures, without finding facts on their own.Ratification: Antifederalist Concerns and the Federalist%u00a0ResponseDuring the ratification debates, opponents of the Constitution raised concerns about potential abuses of power by the proposed federal judiciary. The Antifederalists feared that the growth of the national government through an increasingly powerful judiciary federal judiciarythe branch of the federal government that interprets the laws of the nation.Supreme Courtthe highest level of the federal judiciary, which was established in Article III of the Constitution and serves as the highest court in the nation.original jurisdictionthe authority of a court to hear a case first, which includes the finding of facts in the case.appellate jurisdictionthe authority of a court to hear and review decisions made by lower courts in that system.%u00a9 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. For review purposes only. Do not distribute.