We began our study of the judiciary by examining Art III of the Constitution. As we parsed the provisions , I explained the concepts of original jurisdiction, appellate jurisdiction, federal question jurisdiction ,and diversity jurisdiction. We specifically noted the limited original jurisdiction of the
US Supreme Court and I highlighted that Congress controls the scope of federal court jurisdiction for all of the federal courts except the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. We then studied the structure of the federal court system: the district courts, the courts of appeal, and the Supreme Court. We looked at a jurisdictional map so that Matthew could visualize the court structure and discuss the geographical boundaries of the Courts of Appeal.