Title: Judicial Branch - HISTORY
Headings: Judicial Branch
Judicial Branch
Contents
What Does the Judicial Branch Do?
Judiciary Act of 1789
Judicial Review
Selection of Federal Judges
Supreme Court Cases
Sources
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Updated: Aug 21, 2018
Original: Nov 17, 2017
Judicial Branch
Author: History.com Editors
Contents
What Does the Judicial Branch Do? Judiciary Act of 1789
Judicial Review
Selection of Federal Judges
Supreme Court Cases
Sources
The judicial branch of the U.S. government is the system of federal courts and judges that interprets laws made by the legislative branch and enforced by the executive branch. At the top of the judicial branch are the nine justices of the Supreme Court, the highest court in the United States. What Does the Judicial Branch Do? From the beginning, it seemed that the judicial branch was destined to take somewhat of a backseat to the other two branches of government. The Articles of Confederation, the forerunner of the U.S. Constitution that set up the first national government after the Revolutionary War, failed even to mention judicial power or a federal court system. In Philadelphia in 1787, the members of the Constitutional Convention drafted Article III of the Constitution, which stated that: “ [