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Primary
This Nation

This Nation: The Judiciary Continued in Relation to Trial by Jury

For Students 9th - 10th
Federalist No. 83, written by Alexander Hamilton, discusses the jurisdiction of the federal courts, in particular to civil cases and juries.
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Activity
Scholastic

Scholastic: John Doe in a u.s. Court

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This site from Scholastic provides a well-written essay describes the federal court system and its jurisdiction including the '7 steps in justice.'
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Activity
Cornell University

Cornell University: Law School: Jurisdiction Explained

For Students 9th - 10th
Site provides an overview of jurisdiction with links to recent case law and constitutional references.
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Lesson Plan
US National Archives

National Archives: u.s. V. Amistad: A Case of Jurisdiction

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Students will review the Amistad case and use passages from the case explore the concept of jurisdiction and how a case travels through the federal court system. Also, included are links to the background of the Amistad case, a...
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Article
Varsity Tutors

Varsity Tutors: Archiving Early America: Original Intent and the Free Exercise of Religion

For Students 9th - 10th
This is a well-written and supported essay on the Constitution. It describes natural law as the basis for understanding the Constitution and argues that all constitutional interpretation should be based on the framers' intent.
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Activity
Thomson Reuters

Find Law: Article Iii: Federal State Courts Relations

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource shows the relationship between the Federal and State Courts as stated in Article III of the U.S. Constitution. This annotated text details issues like problems raised by concurrency, autonomy of state courts, and rules of...
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Activity
Thomson Reuters

Find Law: Jurisdiction of Federal Courts

For Students 9th - 10th
This site describes the jurisdiction of the Federal Court system. The site breaks the court's jurisdiction into three main areas of institutional conflict: Federal Restraint of State Courts by Injunctions, Habeas Corpus: Scope of the...
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Activity
Other

Understanding the Federal Courts

For Students 9th - 10th
A ten part publication which describes the federal court system, its structure and organization, what types of cases they hear and much more. You can also download a PDF version of the document.
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Activity
Thomson Reuters

Find Law: u.s. Constitution: Article Iii: Annotations

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource discusses both the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and the appellate jurisdiction of the lower federal courts. There are hypertext links to related materials.