7. Duties of the states to one another:— a. In respect to public acts and records, and judicial proceedings. b. In respect to the privileges of citizens. c. In respect to fugitives from justice.
8. What is the duty of the United States to every state in respect (1) to form of government, (2) invasion, and (3) insurrection?
9. Amendments to the Constitution:— a. Two methods of proposing amendments. b. Two methods of ratifying amendments, c. The difficulty of making amendments. d. Amendment of the Articles of Confederation.
10. What is meant by the Constitution's declaring itself the supreme law of the land?
Section 5. The Federal Judiciary.
[Sidenote: Need for a federal judiciary.] The creation of a federal judiciary was the second principal feature in the Constitution, which transformed our country from a loose confederation into a federal nation, from a Band-of-States into a Banded-State. We have seen that the American people were already somewhat familiar with the method of testing the constitutionality of a law by getting the matter brought before the courts.[27] In the case of a conflict between state law and federal law, the only practicable peaceful solution is that which is reached through a judicial decision. The federal authority also needs the machinery of courts in order to enforce its own decrees.
[Footnote 27: See above p. 194.]
[Sidenote: Federal courts and judges.] [Sidenote: District attorneys and marshals.] The federal judiciary consists of a supreme court, circuit courts, and district courts.[28] At present the supreme court consists of a chief justice and eight associate justices. It holds annual sessions in the city of Washington, beginning on the second Monday of October. Each of these nine judges is also presiding judge of a circuit court. The area of the United States, not including the territories, is divided into nine circuits, and in each circuit the presiding judge is assisted by special circuit judges. The circuits are divided into districts, fifty-six in all, and in each of these there is a special district judge. The districts never cross state lines. Sometimes a state is one district, but populous states with much business are divided into two or even three districts. "The circuit courts sit in the several districts of each circuit successively, and the law requires that each justice of the supreme court shall sit in each district of his circuit at least once every two years." [29] District judges are not confined to their own districts; they may upon occasion exchange districts as ministers exchange pulpits. A district judge may, if need be, act as a circuit judge, as a major may command a regiment. All federal judges are appointed by the president, with the consent of the Senate, to serve during good behaviour. Each district has its district attorney, whose business is to prosecute offenders against the federal laws and to conduct civil cases in which the national government is either plaintiff or defendant. Each district has also its marshal, who has the same functions under the federal court as the sheriff under the state court. The procedure of the federal court usually follows that of the courts of the state in which it is sitting.
[Footnote 28: See the second note on p.278.]
[Footnote 29: See Wilson, The State, p. 554. I have closely followed, though, with much abridgment, the excellent description of our federal judiciary, pp. 555-561.]