Inside the Federal Courts

Inside the Federal Courts Webpage

“Inside the Federal Courts,” is a new web site developed by the Federal Judicial Center to answer such questions as “What do the federal courts do?” The answers to this and many other questions are available at (http://www.fjc.gov/federal/courts.nsf).

The Center created the web site in response to requests from judges and court managers for an easily accessible source of information about the federal courts. The site is divided into various categories, such as “What the Federal Courts Do,” “How the Federal Courts are Organized,” and “The Federal Courts and the Other Branches of Government.”

For example, in “How Cases Move Through the Federal Courts,” visitors learn about the civil, criminal, bankruptcy, and appellate processes. Then they can test how much they have learned by taking one of ten quizzes, which offer questions about the various categories.

The site also contains a glossary of definitions and summarizes the Code of Conduct for Judicial Employees.

Smith Heads Courts Subcommittee

Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) is the new chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property. He succeeds Representative Howard Coble (R-NC), who under House Rules served his last term as subcommittee chair in the 107th Congress.

Smith previously chaired the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, which has jurisdiction over the Federal Criminal Code, drug enforcement, sentencing, parole and pardons, Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, prisons, law enforcement assistance to state and local governments, and the Department of Justice. He has urged increased funding to counties near the Southwest border to assist with the costs of prosecuting and detaining drug-related suspects.

Smith was elected to Congress in 1986. Among other committee postings, he served for six years on the Budget Committee and six years as the chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims.

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