Judicial Process in the Federal Essay

The district appeals court does not hear a case in its entritiy, rather the justices review the case file and lawyer's arguments and hear a short in-person argument to ask questions and make a decision. This appeal is an appeal by right according to the Constitution, and anyone who appeals to their district's court of appeals will have their case reviewed. Here, the appeals courts in all five cases, still held in favor of the state's right to segregate.

The final step that a case can take after losing at the appeals level is the Supreme Court. In order to be heard by the Supreme Court, the NAACP filed a writ of certiorari, combining the five appealed cases from different districts and requesting that the Supreme Court review them as one large class action. The Supreme Court granted the review and the lawyers argued their case before the Supreme court.Similar to the court of appeals, there is no new evidence entered into the record and no witnesses called at a Supreme Court hearing, rather each side presents their argument and are asked questions by the Justices. The questions will probe into the existing law and fact patterns and offer evidence as to each side's position. Once the argument is finished, the justices will convene in their quarters and make a decision. In the case of Brown v. Board of Education, the decision was made that segregation would no longer be acceptable and schools must be integrated. Any state's still segregating were in violation of the Federal Constitution.

This decision not only ended segregation, but also struck down Plessy v. Ferguson, making it bad law. When this happens, the struck down Supreme Court decision can no longer be argued as valid law by….....