The Judicial Branch

The Judicial Branch is made up of the SUPREME COURT and the lower courts. The Judicial Branch interprets the law. The Supreme Court is made up of 9 Justices (a.k.a. Judges) including a Chief Justice. There are federal courts and state courts. Here is a diagram of the courts:

I'm not going to talk about the state courts since they're not part of the federal government. Let's say that I went to the federal court. First I'd go tho the district court which would be the Northern California District Court. Let's say that the court ruled in favor of me but it was appealed, so then we'd go to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Circuit Courts of Appeals were made to reduce the workload of the Supreme Court. If it was appealed again it would go to the United States Supreme Court. What ever the Supreme Court says goes. Here are some of the powers of the Supreme Court:

1. The Supreme Court interprets the law, ex: when a case is presented the Supreme Court can rule whatever they think is right and what they think goes with the Constitution
2. The Supreme Court can determine if something is unconstitutional (goes against the constitution)

The Judicial Branch is very powerful because they can say anything is unconstitutional and none of the other branches can stop them.