Local and Federal Courts System (Structure and Jurisdiction) in the Essay

Local and Federal Courts System (Structure and Jurisdiction) in the State of Texas and the Impact of its Structure on the Justice System - Essay Example Immediately before these two courts are the 14 intermediate courts and these handle appeals from trial courts. The Texas constitution has also established the District courts that come below the Intermediate courts of appeal. The district courts are followed below by the county level courts and these include the Constitutional County Courts and two other courts, statutory county courts and the statutory probate courts. These two are established by the legislature. The Texas constitution has a provision for the local courts and these include the justice of peace courts and the Municipal courts (Anderson, 2005). The Supreme Court is a court of last resort for civil and juvenile cases, and original jurisdiction to issue writs in the State of Texas. It is composed of the Chief Justice and eight justices each elected to serve for a period of six years (Anderson, 2005). The court is responsible for the efficient functioning of the Texas judicial system; it has powers to enforce rules of civil trial practice and procedure, evidence and appellate procedure. It is also responsible for the promulgation of rules of administration of justice in Texas. The court also has final authority over involuntary retirement or removal of state judges and has also the authority to transfer cases between the 14 appellate courts under it (Walsh, Kemerer, & Maniotis, 2010). The Court of Criminal Appeal is an appellate court with statewide jurisdiction. It has a final appellate jurisdiction in criminal cases. It hears all death penalty appeals. It also may- but does not have to- review cases which have been decided by the courts of appeals to clear up confusion in the law when it feels the case will affect a number of other cases. The court has the authority to change the decision of the court of appeals if it feels the decision was wrong. The only appeal from this court’s decision is to the United States Supreme court but this is