Posted by Paul Andrew Mitchell, B.A., M.S. on September 29, 1998 at 15:39:19:
"Encyclopedia of the American Constitution,"
New York, MacMillan Publishing Company (1986),
Volume 1, page 367, discussion of topic
CONSTITUTIONAL COURT
[begin quote]
Article III vests the federal judicial power in the Su-
preme Court and in any lower courts that Congress
may create. The judiciary so constituted was intended
by the Framers to be an independent branch of the
government. The judges of courts established under
Article III were thus guaranteed life tenure "during
GOOD BEHAVIOR" and protected against the redution
of their salaries while they held office. The federal
courts so constituted are called "constitutional
courts." They are to be distinguished from LEGISLA-
TIVE COURTS, whose judges do not have comparable
constitutional guarantees of independence.
Constitutional courts, sometimes called "Article III
courts," are limited in the business they can be as-
signed. They may be given JURISDICTION only over
CASES AND CONTROVERSIES falling within the JUDI-
CIAL POWER OF THE UNITED STATES. For example,
Congress could not constitutionally confer jurisdiction
on a constitutional court to give ADVISORY OPINIONS,
or to decide a case that fell outside Article III's list
of cases and controversies included within the judicial
power. That list divides into two categories of cases:
those in which jurisdiction depends on the issues at
stake (for example, FEDERAL QUESTION JURISDICTION)
and those in which jurisiction depends on the parties
to the case (for example, DIVERSITY JURISDITION).
Congress can, of course, create bodies other than
constitutional courts and assign them the function of
deciding cases -- even cases falling within the judicial
power, within limits that remain unclear even after
NORTHERN PIPELINE CONSTRUCTION CO. V. MARA-
THON PIPE LINE CO. (1982). Such a legislative court
is not confined by Article III's specification of the lim-
its of the federal judicial power, any more than an
administrative agency would be so confined. How-
ever, a legislative court's decisions on matters outside
the limits of Article III cannot constitutionally be re-
viewed by the Supreme Court or any other constitu-
tional court.
Kenneth L. Karst
Bibliography
Wright, Charles Alan 1983 "The Law of Federal
Courts," 4th ed. Pages 39-52. St. Paul, Minn.:
West Publishing Co.
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Sincerely yours,
/s/ Paul Andrew Mitchell, B.A., M.S.
Counselor at Law, Federal Witness
and Private Attorney General