Question: How is the government like a tree?
They both have branches! There are three branches of the federal government and three branches of the state government. Each has an executive branch, legislative branch and judicial branch. The president is head of the executive branch of the federal government and the governor is head of the state executive branch. At the federal level, the legislative branch is called the Congress, which includes the House of Representatives and the Senate. The State of Tennessee legislative branch has a House of Representatives and a Senate which, together, are called the General Assembly or Legislature.
The Judicial Branch
Tennessee's judicial branch (the court system) is made up of different kinds of courts. Question: How is the court system like a pyramid ? If the court system were shaped like a pyramid, the state Supreme Court would be at the top. The Supreme Court has five judges - a chief justice and four associate justices. These justices wear black robes like other judges, but do not conduct trials such as those you might see on television or in movies. Instead, they hear appeals of decisions made by lower courts and decide whether the decision (verdict) violated any of the rights we all are guaranteed under the state and federal Constitutions.
The justices do this by studying the transcripts (what everybody said word-for-word during any earlier trials) and also other documents related to the case. Sometimes the court also listens to oral arguments by lawyers for both sides. The lawyers do not argue like you might do with your brother or sister, but rather they take turns trying to convince the court that their side is right and the other side is wrong. The justices also ask the lawyers questions. There are no witnesses and there is no jury . Instead the five members of the Supreme Court decide which side is legally correct. When they make that decision, the justices write an opinion explaining why they ruled the way they did.
The next layer of the Tennessee court pyramid includes two courts - the Court of Appeals and the Court of Criminal Appeals. These courts have 12 judges each. Like the Supreme Court, they handle appeals from lower courts and do not hear from witnesses. Criminal cases are appealed to the Court of Criminal Appeals and other cases are appealed to the Court of Appeals. Also like the Supreme Court, they make their decisions without juries . When either of these courts makes a decision, or ruling, it often winds up being appealed again - this time to the Supreme Court. Unlike the Supreme Court, the members of these courts do not sit all together (known as en banc) to hear cases. Three members meet together to consider appeals in their courts.
Next in our judicial pyramid are the trial courts. These include Chancery, Criminal, Circuit and Probate Courts. Trial court judges must be attorneys, also called lawyers. That is a requirement for most judges in Tennessee. Trial judges usually wear a black robe and sit at a big bench at the front of the courtroom. Sometimes trials in these courtrooms have juries and sometimes the judges hear all of the testimony and decide whether someone is guilty or innocent or which side wins the case. Everyone accused of a crime has the right to have a jury trial, but they also have a right to let the judge decide instead. These judges preside over criminal trials and other kinds of trials, such as lawsuits. If someone hurts you in a car wreck, a trial court may decide how much money you should get to pay your doctor bills and replace or fix your car. That is a civil case (a case that does not involve a crime). Trial courts help people resolve many different kinds of problems and disagreements.
The fourth level of courts in Tennessee - those at the bottom of the pyramid - are the busiest. They are the General Sessions, Juvenile and Municipal Courts. These are local courts, paid for by cities and counties. The law limits what kinds of cases come into these courts. For example, General Sessions judges conduct preliminary hearings in cases involving serious crimes, known as felonies. The only criminal trials in General Sessions Courts are for misdemeanors - or less serious crimes - when the accused person has given up the right to a jury trial in Circuit or Criminal Court.
In some counties, the General Sessions Court judges also serve as Juvenile Court judges. If you have a friend who breaks the law, such as stealing or skipping school, or who is not cared for by his or her parents, a Juvenile Court judge may become involved. Finally, there are the Municipal Courts in which judges hear cases involving violations of city laws, such as letting your dog run loose in a city where that is not allowed.
As you now know, the judicial system is very important to all of us in many different ways. One of the most important things it does is make sure that no one does something to us that is not allowed by our state and federal constitutions. Courts serve as a check on the powers of both the legislative and executive branches. Courts do not write laws (the legislative branch does that), but they can review laws to decide whether they are constitutional. For example, if the Legislature passed a law saying you have to eat nothing but spinach every day (the Legislature wouldn’t do that, of course, even though spinach is good for you), the courts would step in and throw it out (the law, not the spinach) because it is unconstitutional .
The court system has many other responsibilities too. Courts do things every day that affect you or someone you know. Has someone you know adopted a baby, gotten a divorce, gotten a traffic ticket or been involved in a lawsuit? Those are just a few of the things courts do. Courts also punish criminals, sometimes by sending them to jail. But, they also find that some people who have been accused of crimes did not break the law and are innocent.
In our country and in our state, courts help us feel safe. The people who wrote the Tennessee Constitution wisely created a court system that continues to be the foundation for today’s judicial pyramid .
And Now,
Let’s Find Out
What
You’ve Learned
About Tennessee's Court Pyramid
How many levels does the Tennessee court pyramid have?
Hint: It’s somewhere between 3 and 7.
What is an appeal ?
Hint: You ask your older brother to trade rooms with you because his bedroom is bigger. He says “No!” so you go to your parents hoping they will overrule your brother and reverse his decision. Your parents are like the Supreme Court. Their decision is final.
What do most judges wear in court?
Hint: You might wear something over your pajamas that has the same name.
What are oral arguments?
Hint: If your mother says you “like to argue too much,” maybe you should be a lawyer when you grow up.
Find two things judges do:
1. Protect our constitutional rights
2. Preside over trials
3. Write laws
4. Order people to eat spinach every day
The three branches of government are:
1. The bank branch
2. The executive branch
3. The tree branch
4. The judicial branch
5. The legislative branch