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it acts as the final authority on the constitutionally of state and Federal Laws
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RafaIt gives them the power to check the actions of the president and congress, if necessary.
In the U.S., each U.S. State has a State Supreme Court, and for the United States as a whole, the highest Court is the Supreme Court of the United States. The Supreme Court of the United States can, by the U.S. Constitution, review any case or controversy, typically as to Constitutional issues, to settle uncertainties as to the law and further define the legal meaning of the U.S. Constitution.
However, the Court does usually defer to State Supreme Court decisions having adequate and independent State grounds. A State Supreme Court has to explicitly specify in a ruling it hands down that the ruling is based on adequate and independent State grounds, according to what in law constitutes adequate and independent State grounds. For instance, a State Constitutional ruling interpreting eminent domain law can be broader than the support set forth in Amendment V of the U.S. Constitution, but not narrower.
The State Supreme Courts don't just get to say "our decision is final and cannot be appealed for writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States because we say so." That is, adequate and independent State grounds do not exist where inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution and the Court's interpretation of it. Where State Constitutions mirror the U.S. Constitution, the State Constitution provisions cannot be interpreted more narrowly than how the U.S. Constitution provisions are interpreted, and then "justified" as having been done on "adequate and independent State grounds". Other State Constitutional provisions that are unconstitutional by the U.S. Constitution also will be struck down when brought to the Court as a constitutional "case or controversy". This derives from the theory of dual sovereigns in American federalism.
The Court's authority for this derives from U.S. Const., Art VI, Cl. 2:
"This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding."
The U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land in the United States. It creates a federal system of government in which power is shared between the federal government and the state governments. Due to federalism, both the federal government and each of the state governments have their own court systems. Discover the differences in structure, judicial selection, and cases heard in both systems.
What part of the government interprets the laws?
The Judicial Branch, or the federal court system, interprets the law. The US Supreme Court, head of the Judicial Branch, is the ultimate authority on the interpretation of federal law and the constitutionality of any law.
Does the supreme court represent the state judicial branch or the federal judicial branch of government?
The Supreme court is one of the 3 branches of the UNITED STATES ,so It is obviously a federal branch of the government.
Highest court in the United States?
The US Supreme court is the highest Federal court in the United States.
Is the US Supreme Court the same as the Judicial Branch?
The term "supreme court" is used in both the state and federal judicial systems. Every state has a state supreme court, or a differently named equivalent, which is the highest appellate court within the state system. State supreme courts are typically located in the state capital. In at least one state, New York, "supreme court" refers not to the highest court of appeals, but to the trial court in which cases are initially heard.Every state is also a part of the national federal court system and its federal regulations, starting from district, appellate, and finally, the U.S. Supreme Court. The US Supreme Court is the highest appellate court in both federal and state systems for preserved questions of federal and constitutional law. The US Supreme Court has no jurisdiction over individual state laws or state constitutional issues.Generally, when people refer to "The Supreme Court," they mean the Supreme Court of the United States, or (colloquially) SCOTUS or US Supreme Court. When referring to a state supreme court, a person usually identifies the state first, as in Ohio Supreme Court, Alabama Supreme Court, etc.
Highest court in the judicial branch?
The simple answer is "the Supreme Court," but that isn't entirely accurate.If the case involves federal law, then the United States Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority.If the case involves state law then the state's highest court is on "top." Usually this court is called the state supreme court, such as the California Supreme Court, but it might be called something else. Massachusetts calls its top court the Supreme Judicial Court, and New York calls its highest court the Court of Appeals. Interestingly, a supreme court in New York is an ordinary trial court.On a question purely of state law, not even the United States Supreme Court can go against the highest court of the state.
