Snyder’s civil suit was first heard by a U.S. District Court, overturned by a federal appeals court, now heading to SCOTUS.
When will a federal court hear civil cases, and when must they instead be filed with state or local courts?
Is it common for a civil case to end up in the Supreme Court? (Yes, I’ve heard of Roe vs. Wade.)
Bonus round: In a civil case, it looks like either party can appeal–the defendant got an overturn on appeal, now the plaintiff is appealing. Is that true? Can civil appeals ping pong back and forth until they reach the Supreme Court (or until a court refuses to hear the appeal)? In a criminal case, only the convicted defendant may appeal; the prosecution, despite discovery of additional evidence, cannot appeal because of double jeopardy (please don’t go off on a tangent about criminal double jeopoardy; been done already on this board).
Federal courts hear civil cases when it’s a federal question…usually when the federal government is a party to the suit.
And the vast majority of Supreme Court cases come from civil cases. Here are the cases scheduled for this term:
Out of the 52 cases, only 14 listed started as a criminal case. Of course, it’s not common for a civil case to end up in the Supreme Court, because it isn’t common for any case to end up in the Supreme Court, but if a case ends up in the Supreme Court, it’s usually a civil case.
Federal courts can also hear cases in which there are both 1) diverse parties (i.e., from different states) and 2) an amount in controversy greater than $75,000.
Snyder v. Phelps does involve a question of how to interpret the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which does make it appropriate for the Supreme Court to hear it.\
IANAL, but, in a criminal case, it is possible for the prosecution (i.e., the state in most cases) to appeal. Reasons might be on the grounds that the judge at first instance misdirected the jury on a point of law, or that evidence was wrongly included or excluded. If they succeed, the initial verdict would be set aside and a new trial held. That would not be double jeopardy: it’s still the first prosecution for the crime.
If the original verdict is “not guilty,” the prosecution may not appeal, even though they believe the verdict came about because the judge improperly admitted defense evidence.
But suppose that, during the trial, the judge makes a very pro-defense ruling. The prosecution believes that if this ruling is allowed to stand, the verdict will be “not guilty;” they also believe the ruling is wrong as a matter of law.
They may make an “interlocutory appeal.” This is an appeal that takes place during the trial, asking a higher court to correct an error before the trial even ends. (Such appeals are not, for obvious reasons, often seen at the Supreme Court level).
So if we remove the sentence you crafted about the original criminal veridct being set aside by a prosecution appeal, and substitute the concept of an interlocutory appeal, then yes, the prosecution may appeal adverse rulings during a criminal trial.
The prosecution may also appeal adverse rulings that occur before jeopardy attaches. In a criminal trial, jeopardy attaches when the judge begins hearing evidence at a bench trial, or when the jury is sworn in at a jury trial. A charge dismissed by the judge before that occurs is fair game for a prosecution appeal.
Finally, we might imagine a guilty verdict appealed by the defense, and reversed by the federal circuit court. The prosecution might appeal that ruling to the US Supreme Court.
Adding to what Bricker said, there are oddball circumstances where the prosecution may appeal. One such appeal occurred in the infamous U.S. v. Miller, the most prominent Second Amendment case before the recent Heller case. In Miller, the lower court basically dismissed Miller’s indictment for the offense carrying a sawed-off shotgun, stating as the reason for the dismissal that one section of the National Firearms Act was unconstitutional. Because the government has an interest in defending its statutes, the case went to the Supreme Court by direct appeal.
And I have personally filed a “petition for discretionary review” as a prosecuting attorney; in Texas, when you lose at the level of your local Court of Appeals, you file a PDR asking the highest court in the state (for criminal cases, that’s the Court of Criminal Appeals) to review the case. They denied the PDR, so we still lost. (The case was about a traffic stop and the community caretaking function of the police, if you were interested. The Court of Appeals decided our stop was no good.)
I thank ** Bricker** for correcting me. However, I think his statement that, “If the original verdict is “not guilty,” the prosecution may not appeal, even though they believe the verdict came about because the judge improperly admitted defense evidence,” is not true in all jurisdictions outside the U.S. I don’t think it’s true in England or New South Wales, for example, and I found a New Zealand case, R. v Gwaze, where the Crown appealed to the Supreme Court of New Zealand against Gwaze’s initial acquittal.
Excellent point. Since the thread was about US federal courts, I restricted my answer to the United States… other jurisdictions may well have other rules.
Note that for diversity jurisdiction to apply, all defendants must be from different states from the plaintiff(s). If I sue Bill and Bob, and Bob lives next door, it’s a state case, even if Bill lives in a different state.
Right. In Miller, the criminal charge was dismissed by way of a pre-trial motion (a “demurrer,” a common law motion that not too many state retain today, although mine does). Jeopardy was not yet attached to the Miller case, so there was no double jeopardy bar to appeal.
It’s true, though, that the “direct appeal,” is a different route than most cases use to get to the Supreme Court. Most cases these days arrive at SCOTUS by writ of certiorari, a term referring to a desire to review. The Supreme Court, in other words, chooses what cases it will take.
This was not always so. Before 1891, cases were heard by the Supreme Court as a matter of right to the appellants – that is, the Court had to hear an appeal and issue a decision. As their workload became impossible, Congress acted to create the intermediate appellate jurisdiction of the federal circuits, leaving only a few types of cases that could be directly appealed. (The Constitution also provides for original jurisdiction for the Supreme Court on certain matters).
Federal question jurisdiction and jurisdiction in cases in which the federal government is a party are two separate bases for establishing federal jurisdiction.
In addition to questions of federal law, diversity of citizenship and cases where the federal government, there are several other categories of federal court civil jurisdiction.
Under Article III, section 2 of the Constitution:
The 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;–to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls;–to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction;–to controversies to which the United States shall be a party;–to controversies between two or more states;–between a state and citizens of another state;–between citizens of different states;–between citizens of the same state claiming lands under grants of different states, and between a state, or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens or subjects.
This Constitutional provision defines the broadest scope of the jurisdiction of the US Supreme Court and the lower federal courts (subject to the 11th Amendment’s limitation of suits against states by citizens of another state or a foreign country). If the US Supreme Court hears a civil suit (even one taken up from a state court), the case must fall within Article III, section 2.
The civil jurisdiction of district courts is somewhat more limited than that, with the specifics set forth in 28 USC sections 1330 to 1369. In addition to the categories discussed above, major ares of federal court jurisdiction include admiralty cases and bankruptcy cases.