Does judicial review of legislation in the US require a trial? When the state or national legislature passes a law that would seem to violate the constitution, is a plaintiff and a trial required to begin the process of judicial review? Are the steps of the process of judicial review spelled out anywhere?
Are the steps of the process of judicial review spelled out anywhere? Judicial review isn't a separate kind of legal proceeding. It is something that happens in the course of making legal rulings in an ordinary lawsuit, or in a criminal case, commenced in a court where there is trial court jurisdiction over the kind of case presented. Usually, the trial court is a U.S. District Court in the federal system, and the trial court of general jurisdiction in the state system. But, in principle, any judge of any trial court, even traffic court or small claims court has the authority and the obligation to rule on the constitutionality of any statutes challenged in a case before that judge. Also, some appellate courts, while primarily having appellate jurisdiction, have a small class of cases where they act as trial courts. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court has original trial court jurisdiction over lawsuits of one or more U.S. states against one or more other U.S. states and handles a few such cases each year in a typical year. Similarly, many state supreme courts have original trial court jurisdiction over ethical violation cases brought against attorneys in the state. The initial ruling on the constitutionality of a statute almost always takes place in the trial court, rather than in an appellate court, although appellate courts review the trial court's ruling on constitutionality on appeal, if there is an appeal. The only times an appellate court acting as an appellate court raises the issue of the constitutionality of a statute for the first time on appeal are (1) when that issue goes to the subject-matter jurisdiction of the trial court or appellate court over the case, (2) where the failure of the court to raise the issue that a statute was unconstitutional of its own accord amounted to &quot;plain error&quot; or &quot;structural error&quot; by the trial court, or (3) where the trial court ruled in favor of a party for a non-constitutionality related reason which the appellate court finds was incorrect but the appellate court affirms the trial court anyway on the basis of the unconstitutionality of a statute at issue in the case before it. While a legal ruling on the constitutionality of a statute happens in the trial court, however, the ruling is often made prior to an evidentiary trial on the merits of the case, for example, in a ruling on a motion to dismiss a claim (made based upon the allegations of the person brining the claim in court documents alone), in a ruling on a motion for summary judgment (which is similar but is supported by exhibits and affidavits from the parties to develop the factual context), or in a ruling on a pretrial matter (e.g. an evidence suppression hearing before a judge prior to a trial in a criminal case) that is subject to what is called an interlocutory appeal (i.e. an appeal to an appellate court before the entire case is concluded with a trial on the merits). Also, even when there is an evidentiary trial on the merits, the case may be one in which there is a bench trial, rather than a jury trial, since many constitutional questions involve issues that are not subject to the jury trial right. The constitutionality of legislation and also of policies and practices of governments carrying out their duties, is one issue, often one issue of many, that is ruled upon, in the context of litigation between a party that has suffered a particularized injury from the unconstitutional action (as opposed to one shared by all citizens or all taxpayers), against a party that causes or has the power to prevent that injury. So, for the most part, the constitutionality of legislation is decided either in the context of a civil lawsuit, which is governed by the ordinary rules of civil procedure (see, e.g., In re A.C.B., 2022CA3 (Colorado Supreme Court January 6, 2022), holding that an indigent defendant in a civil contempt proceeding potentially resulting in incarceration had a right to counsel and vacating the contempt of court ruling entered when he was pro se as a result), or in the context of a criminal case against a criminal defendant subject to the ordinary rules of criminal procedure (see, e.g., U.S. v. Hansen, Case No. 17-10548 (9th Cir. February 10, 2020) reversing on direct appeal from a criminal conviction the trial court's conclusion that 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv) was constitutional as applied to the fact pattern of Mr. Hansen's case). There is a slight nuance in federal civil and criminal cases where the issue of constitutionality of legislation is raised, and also in most state courts. This is the court rule requirement that the attorney-general (the state attorney-general in the case of state court litigation and in the case of federal court litigation over the constitutionality of a state law, and the federal attorney-general in the case of federal court litigation) be joined as a party to the case in order to present an opportunity for the state or federal government, or both, as the case may be, to chime in on the constitutionality issue that affects far more people than the actual parties to the case. See, e.g., Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.1. But otherwise, there are no special court rules or procedures that apply to cases in which judicial review of legislation is sought. Also, in the event that one party makes a novel challenge to the constitutionality of legislation, and the government doesn't object because the government agrees with the person challenging the constitutionality of the law, it is common practice for the court to recruit an amicus counsel to argue on behalf of the constitutionality of the law, although this practice isn't uniform and is discretionary. This is a function of case law and custom, rather than being a statutory or court rule requirement, however.
Be careful: from the Wikipedia article, it appears that there is a state criminal trial and there will be a federal criminal trial. In addition, there is a federal civil suit which incorporates some stats law claims. The defense in each trial may be different. Have you read the complaint in the civil case? As an example, count 1 alleges, in paragraph 214, that the defendants' actions were &quot;without legal cause.&quot; An obvious defense is to show that the actions were actually justified under the law. The law under which they would have been justified would be state law. It's still possible that the state law justification isn't sufficient, but that is another point to be argued in court. If they can't prevail in showing that state law did authorize their actions then the act was certainly unlawful under both state and federal law. Do defendants have standing to invoke self-defense given the context or did they give this up at some point in time? Standing is a threshold that plaintiffs must meet. But defendants can certainly argue self defense. Whether they can prevail on that argument depends on the facts of the case as determined by the court, in particular by the &quot;finder of fact,&quot; which is the jury in a jury trial and the judge in a bench trial. The facts that I'm aware of in the public record suggest that the defendants would not prevail on such an argument, but that doesn't deprive them of the right to advance it in court. If someone claims that Arbery was grabbing for the shotgun then the defendants have a right to introduce any evidence of that fact that they may have. It is for the finder of fact to judge the credibility of the evidence.
How deterministic is the legal system? It depends. And less than we might wish. It depends on the case. How complex is the fact pattern? How strong is the evidence? How clear is the law? How compelling are the legal precedents? Questions of that nature. The only generalization I might make would be that "lower level" cases seem more deterministic than "higher level" cases. By higher level, I mean those heard by a supreme court making constitutional decisions. Here is a web site that has created a prediction market out of supreme court cases. Many have written on this topic. Read this answer. It is an excellent treatise on the subjectivity of the legal system. Written by a real attorney. Read this answer too. My advice: If you seek a deterministic system, don't look to the legal one.
No Any such law would violate the US First Amendment as an improper restriction of speech and of the press. If done by the court rather thiygh a law, it would also conflict with 17 USC 105 which says that: Copyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government Courts have restricted video and still photography of court proceedings, on the ground that the presence of cameras would disturb court sessions and distract witnesses and jurors. But that would not apply to the proceedings of an appellate court.
In most US states such rules are set by the state's highest court, often but not always known as the State Supreme Court. The legislature could set such rules, but normally does not. It may authorize the court to do so. Mote that the Oregon rules (on a page easy to reach for the one linked above) say: Proposed changes to the Uniform Trial Court Rules (UTCR) and Supplementary Local Rules (SLR) are reviewed annually by the UTCR Committee. The committee makes recommendations to approve, disapprove or modify these proposals. After considering these recommendations, the Chief Justice or the entire Supreme Court, reaches a final decision on whether to approve or disapprove a proposed change. The Georgia rules state: **Rule 1. PREAMBLE **- Pursuant to the inherent powers of the Court and Article VI, Section IX, Paragraph I of the Georgia Constitution of 1983, and in order to provide for the speedy, efficient and inexpensive resolution of disputes and prosecutions, these rules are promulgated. Rule 1.6 The Council of Superior Court Judges shall have a permanent committee to recommend to the Supreme Court such changes and additions to these rules as may from time to time appear necessary or desirable. [Emphasis added] Many other states have somewhat similar procedures. Others including NY and California, set more of the rules by statute. On the Federal level, the various Federal Rules of Procedure (Civil, Criminal, and Supreme Court, perhaps others) are set by the Supreme Court, although they are usually drafted by an ABA committee Court appointed advisory committee and submitted to the Court for approval, I understand. Many (but not all) state rules closely imitate the Federal rules, down to the numbering and wording in many cases.
The courts do not supersede your constitutional rights, although you may believe that you have a constitutional right that isn't actually there. This article discusses the position that "due process forbids convicting an individual of a crime unless the government proves the elements of the charged offense beyond a reasonable doubt". This standard is actually not stated anywhere in the US Constitution, but it has been assumed as an implicit meaning of "due process". It sounds like you were charged with a crime, and there is most likely an applicable statute in your state that is analogous to RCW 26.50.110 in Washington. So you have the right to a trial and the prosecution would have the obligation to prove all of the elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. It also appears that you did violate the applicable law and you were willing to plead guilty, as urged by your attorney. You are correct that you don't technically have to prove your innocence, but there is a practical problem that if the prosecution provides some weak evidence that you violated the law, then the jury might decide that your failure to refute the evidence means that there is no reasonable doubt. The problem is that there is a tendency for jurors to think that the defendant has to create a doubt. States differ somewhat in how they explain the burden of proof to jurors, and you might fare better in a state where the instruction is that "you must be firmly convinced". Since the attorney seems to have said that "the constitution doesn't apply to this", this is a puzzle. I would not assume (though it is possible) that the attorney was incompetent. It is possible that he was speaking of a non-criminal matter, and it is possible that you were talking at cross purposes. There is no legal situation where "the constitution doesn't apply to this", but perhaps "that constitutional limitation doesn't apply to this specific situation". Regardless of what the attorney said, your attorney doesn't violate your rights, even if he gives you bad advice. The actual court might, and then you would have a cause for an appeal. Similarly, if the district attorney reasonably believes that you are a danger to society and is prosecuting you, that is not a violation of your constitutional rights. An improper conviction would be a violation of those rights, although it might take an appeal to get the court to recognize that fact.
This probably isn't a ground for an appeal. While a party arguing to reverse a trial court's decision must show that the argument that they are making on appeal was "preserved" by that party at trial by making that argument in the trial court, the converse is not true. Indeed, one of the rules of appellate practice is that a trial court's ruling will be upheld for any reason supported by the evidence even if it wasn't made by any party at trial. Generally speaking, a trial court isn't supposed to try a pro se party's case for them, but once the evidence is in, the court is free to do original legal research and come to a conclusions contrary to the arguments made by either of the parties. A judge is supposed to correctly apply the actual law to the facts notwithstanding the efforts of the parties to lead it astray. This doesn't systemically happen in favor of one party or the other in my experience, but is more common when one or both parties is relatively inexperienced in the relevant legal field. Appellate courts also come to conclusions about the law not advanced by either party on a regular basis. If anything, this is even more common in the area of administrative law, where the judge is likely to be a subject area specialist, than in ordinary civil litigation. It is also more common in administrative law because a judge in that context is more focused on the institutional implications of a bad precedent than trial court judges in ordinary courts. (PS is there a technical term for the rules concerning the "role" of the judge in a court, what they supposed to do, and not supposed to do?) Probably, but there isn't any term that comes readily to mind. If I can think of one, I will update this answer.
In the USA, could a clause (article, proposition) of a State Constitution be held unconstitutional, with respect to the USA Constitution, by the Supreme Court? Yes. The supremacy clause in the US Constitution means that State law is supervened by Federal law. This includes State constitutions. If it could, has it ever happened? Yes. Here is a list of all SCOTUS cases that have overturned state law. For state constitutional provisions see nos 37, 49, 50, 51, 54, 74, 75, 139, 140, 151, 182, 188, 202, 207, 224, etc. (there’s nearly 1,000 in the list, you can go through them yourself). Also, could a decision by a State Supreme Court be reversed by the USA Supreme Court? Most of those cases will have gone through the State Supreme Court first. Except where SCOTUS has original jurisdiction (those involving disputes between the states or disputes arising among ambassadors and other high-ranking ministers) the state courts must have ruled to enliven its appellate jurisdiction.