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Hi, I'm Craig and this is Crash Course Government and Politics.
嗨，我是克雷格，这是《政府和政治速成课》。
As fans of our series know, here at Crash Course we believe in hierarchy.
正如我们系列的粉丝所知道的，在速成班我们相信等级制度。
First at the top you got me, then there's John Green, then Stan, then Brandon, then Zulaiha, then a bunch of independent contractors - wait I'm an independent contractor.
排在第一的是我，然后是约翰·格林，然后是斯坦，然后是布兰登，然后是祖莱，然后是一群独立承包人，等等，我是独立承包人。
But I'm still at the top!
但我仍然排在第一！
Anyway then the rest of it's turtles all the way down.
不管怎样，他们都是海龟。
'Cept at the bottom.
除了最底层的。
There's an eagle.
有一只鹰。
Anyway, it's the strict adherence to hierarchy that makes CC HQ run like a well-oiled machine.
无论如何，严格遵守等级制度使CC总部像一台运转良好的机器一样运行。
The same can be said for the U.S. court system.
同样的道理也适用于美国的法院系统。
As you probably remember, because you're a smart rememberer of things, the American court system is hierarchical which means any discussion of it cries out for a visual representation.
你可能记得，因为你是一个聪明的记忆者，美国的法院系统是分级的，这意味着任何对它的讨论都需要一个直观的表现。
Thought Bubble!
思想泡泡！
Like Drake, we'll start from the bottom.
像德雷克一样，我们将从底层做起。
The trial courts have original jurisdiction.
初审法院有原管辖权。
When you realize there are 50 states, each with its own court system, it shouldn't be a surprise that the vast majority of cases start out in state courts.
当你意识到美国有50个州，每个州都有自己的法院系统时，绝大多数案件都是从州法院开始的就不足为奇了。
Of course most cases never get to court at all.
当然，大多数案件根本没有上过法庭。
The vast majority of disputes, criminal and civil, are settled outside of court.
绝大多数的刑事和民事纠纷都是庭外解决的。
How's that for efficiency.
如何提高效率。
On the federal side, the trial courts are the U.S.district courts.
在联邦方面，审判法庭是美国地区法院。
There are 94 of them with 663 judges, more or less.
其中94人，法官约663人。
Sometimes in civil cases, a plaintiff, the person bringing the case, will have a choice of whether to bring that case in state or federal court.
有时在民事案件中，原告，即提起诉讼的人，可以选择是向州法院还是联邦法院提起诉讼。
But you can only start in the district courts if your case meets certain important criteria.
但是，只有在你的案件符合某些重要标准时，你才能在地区法院提起诉讼。
Almost all criminal cases start in state courts.
几乎所有的刑事案件都是从州法院开始的。
So if you don't like the result in a trial court, and you have a reasonable claim that there was something procedurally wrong with the case or the way the law was applied, you can bring an appeal.
所以如果你不喜欢初审法庭的结果，你有合理的理由认为这个案子在程序上有问题或者法律的适用方式有问题，你可以提起上诉。
Notice that if you start in state courts, you usually have more chances for appeal because most states have two levels of appellate courts, and the federal system has one.
请注意，如果你从州法院开始，你通常有更多的上诉机会，因为大多数州有两级上诉法院，而联邦法院只有一级。
Appeals courts can refuse to hear appeals, and if they do, you're done.
上诉法院可以拒绝受理上诉，如果他们受理了，你就完了。
One thing to remember: the loser can always try to appeal, even if that loser was of the state that failed in its prosecution.
有一件事要记住：败诉的一方可以随时上诉，即使败诉的一方是起诉失败的那个州。
Federal appeals courts are called circuit courts, and there are 12 of them distributed regionally throughout the U.S.
联邦上诉法院被称为巡回法院，其中12个法院分布在美国各地
You might guess if the region where your case is heard matters, and you'd be right!
你可能会猜测，是否案件所在地区重要，确实是这样!
Judges in the 9th circuit, which includes California and Oregon, tend to be more liberal than judges in the 5th circuit.
包括加州和俄勒冈州在内的第九巡回法院的法官往往比第五巡回法院的法官更倾向于自由派。
Federal appeals are usually heard by panels of three judges while trials in the district court are before a single judge.
联邦上诉通常由三名法官组成的小组审理，而地区法院的审判则由一名法官审理。
There are four scenarios where the federal courts have original jurisdiction, and in all cases they must be brought in a district court.
在四种情况下，联邦法院具有原始管辖权，在所有情况下，它们必须由地区法院受理。
They are: Cases where the law at issue is a federal law like a claim against Obamacare.
这四种情况是：有争议的法律是联邦法律，比如反对奥巴马医改。
Cases involving treaties which are by definition federal laws.
涉及条约的案件，根据定义属于联邦法律。
These are pretty rare and rarely interesting.
这些非常罕见也很有趣。
Cases involving the U.S.Constitution.
涉及美国宪法的案件。
For example a case concerning freedom of religion.
例如，关于宗教自由的案件。
And cases where the U.S. government is a party to the litigation.
以及美国政府参与诉讼的案件。
The other type of case that can go in a federal court is one involving more than one state where there's more than 70,000 dollars at issue.
另一种可以在联邦法院审理的案件涉及多个州，涉及金额超过7万美元。
This make sense because if the parties in dispute are in different states, they might not even agree where to have the trial, and federal judges are supposed to be more impartial than state judges.
这是有道理的，因为如果有争议的双方在不同的州，他们甚至可能不同意在哪里进行审判，而且联邦法官应该比州法官更公正。
Thanks Thought Bubble.
谢谢思想泡泡。
So thoughtful.
考虑这么周到。
So bubbly.
有这么多泡泡。
If you read the news and pay attention to legal cases, most of what you see are lower court decisions.
如果你阅读新闻并关注法律案件，你看到的大多是下级法院的判决。
At least until the spring when the supreme court starts handing down decisions.
至少要到春天最高法院开始作出裁决时为止。
These are the ones that tend to make it into the history books and that you may have even heard of.
这些都有可能被载入史册，你甚至可能听说过。
But how does a case get to the supreme court, Craig?
但是，克雷格，一个案子怎么上最高法院呢?
Well, I will answer that for you.
好，我来给你作答。
That's my job.
那是我的工作。
Most of the time, the supreme court has appellate jurisdiction.
大多数时候，最高法院有上诉管辖权。
In fact, it's the final court of appeals.
事实上，这是终审上诉法院。
If you lose there, you really really lost.
如果你输了，你就真的真的输了。
When the court hears a case it's called judicial review.
法院审理案件称为司法审查。
There are however circumstances when the supreme court has original jurisdiction and can act like a trial court.
但是，在某些情况下，最高法院具有原始管辖权，可以扮演审判法院的角色。
So it's a good thing that most of the justices are in fact lawyers.
所以大多数法官实际上是律师，这是件好事。
Although there's no constitutional requirement that they need to be.
虽然宪法没有要求他们必须这样做。
The court has original jurisdiction in cases between the U.S. and a state, cases between two or more states, cases involving foreign ministers or ambassadors,
法院对美国和一个州之间的案件、两个或两个以上州之间的案件、涉及外交部长或大使的案件有原管辖权，
and cases brought by citizens of one state against citizens of another state or against a foreign country.
一州公民对另一州公民或者外国公民提起的诉讼。
What do these cases have in common?
这些案例有什么共同点?
The main thing is that you can't imagine there being a single state where they could happen.
最重要的是，它们会在单一的状态下发生。
This is especially true in cases involving foreign officials.
在涉及外国官员的案件中尤其如此。
And then there are my favorite supreme court cases - crimes committed on the high seas.
然后是我最喜欢的最高法院案件——在公海上犯下的罪行。
That's right -- the supreme court can exercise original jurisdiction over pirates!
是的，最高法院可以对海盗行使原管辖权!
This is not as weird as it sounds because crimes on the high seas by definition have not happened in any state, so where are you gonna have the trial?
这并不像听起来那么奇怪，因为公海上的犯罪在任何一个州都没有发生过，那么你打算在哪里受审呢?
But most of the time, cases that make it to the supreme court are there on appeal.
但大多数时候，上诉到最高法院的案件都是上诉。
In order for the court to exercise its appellate jurisdiction, the case must raise a federal question.
为了让法院行使其上诉管辖权，这个案件必须提出一个联邦问题。
For example one involving due process or equal protection, or an important federal statute.
例如，一个涉及正当程序或平等保护，或一个重要的联邦法规。
Statute!
法规！
If you don't know what those terms mean, don't worry.
如果你不知道这些术语是什么意思，不要担心。
We'll get to them.
我们会讲到的。
Here's the thing though: the supreme court doesn't hear a lot of cases, it doesn't want to.
但事情是这样的:最高法院不受理很多案件，也不想受理。
And I don't want to either!
我也不想!
I understand!
我了解！
They also can't.
他们也不能。
And it's not just because most of the justices are kind of old,
这不仅仅是因为大多数法官年纪大了，
it's because there are only nine of them, and they get requests to review about 8,000 cases a year.
这是因为他们只有9人，他们每年会接到审查8000个案件的请求。
Out of these they actually hand down about 80 decisions.
其中，他们实际上有80个决定。
So they have decision rules to weed out the cases that they don't want to hear.
所以他们有决策规则来剔除他们不想听的案件。
The first one is there has to be a case or controversy, which means that you can't request the court to review whether or not a law is unconstitutional before it has gone into effect.
第一个是必须有一个案例或争议，这意味着你不能要求法院在法律生效之前审查它是否违宪。
There has to be an actual injury first.
首先要有真正的伤害。
Another way of saying this is that the supreme court will not issue advisory opinions, speculating in whether or not a law might violate the constitution.
另一种说法是，最高法院不会发表咨询意见，猜测法律是否违反宪法。
The second hurdle a potential supreme court litigant has to get over is called standing.
潜在的最高法院诉讼人必须克服的第二个障碍是诉讼资格。
That sounds terrible.
听起来很糟糕。
I wouldn't want to be standing.
我不想站着。
No, this means that in order to bring a case, the parties must have a substantial stake in the outcome, which usually means an actual injury.
不，这意味着为了提起诉讼，当事人必须在结果中有很大的利害关系，这通常意味着实际的损害。
Lack of standing is one reason that the court has refused cases about same sex marriage brought by opposite sex married people.
缺乏法律依据是法院拒绝受理同性婚姻案件的原因之一。
The court will also refuse to hear cases that is moot.
法院还将拒绝审理有争议的案件。
Mootness, which is a real word I promise, I'm reading it on a teleprompter, means that the case no longer requires a resolution.
Mootness，这是一个真实的词，我保证，我用提词器读它，意味着这个案子不再需要解决。
Say because one of the parties is dead.
比如说，因为其中一个政党死了。
The flipside of mootness is ripeness.
情绪的另一面是成熟。
If a potential injury has yet to occur, the case is not ripe.
如果潜在的伤害尚未发生，情况还不成熟。
It's like a hard avocado.
就像一个硬鳄梨。
Your guacamole...just not going to be very good.
你的鳄梨酱……只是不会很好。
It's best not to be too anxious about bringing your case.
最好不要太急于提起你的案子。
Most of the time you can wait, except in cases like Bush v Gore, where we kind of needed a new outcome so a new president could move into the White House.
大多数时候你可以等待，除非是像布什对戈尔那样的案例，我们需要一个新的结果，这样新总统才能入主白宫。
There's also a vague decision rule called the political question doctrine.
还有一个模糊的决策规则叫做政治问题原则。
In some cases the court would rather let the executive or legislative branch handle the issue and not get involved.
在某些情况下，法院宁愿让行政或立法部门处理问题，而不愿介入。
There are certain cases that the court would almost always take, even though all things being equal, they'd rather not.
有些案件法院几乎总是会受理，即使所有事情都是平等的，他们宁愿不受理。
When the circuit courts have reached different or conflicting conclusions on the same issue, what's known as a circuit split, the court will usually hear the case to resolve the confusion.
当巡回法院在同一问题上得出不同或相互矛盾的结论时，即所谓的巡回法院分立，法院通常会审理案件以解决纠纷。
The court will also almost always hear a case where the federal government itself initiated the appeal.
法院几乎总是审理联邦政府自己提出上诉的案件。
Finally the supreme court will usually take a case that has a clear constitutional question
最后，最高法院通常会受理有明确宪法问题的案件，
like one involving freedom of speech or religion, although there are sometimes constitutional issues that they feel are settled, or they just don't want to deal with.
比如涉及言论或宗教自由的案件，尽管有时他们觉得宪法问题已经解决了，或者他们只是不想处理。
For a long time, for example, the court didn't hear gun control cases, and nowadays they don't usually take obscenity cases.
例如，在很长一段时间内，法院不受理枪支管制案件，现在他们通常不受理淫秽案件。
Okay so that's the structure of the court system and how a case does, or usually doesn't, make it to the supreme court.
好了，这就是法院系统的结构以及一个案件如何，或者通常如何，进入最高法院。
But what we haven't really discussed is what happens when a case does make it to the supreme court.
但我们还没有真正讨论的是，当一个案件提交给最高法院时，会发生什么。
We'll show you that next time when we take a shortcut to the supreme court by suing the ambassador to Switzerland for making such delicious chocolate.
下次当我们走捷径到最高法院起诉驻瑞士大使制作如此美味的巧克力时，我们会告诉你这一点。
It's making me unhealthy.
这让我不健康。
Thanks for watching, see ya next time.
谢谢收看，下次节目再见。
We're not actually going to sue Switzerland.
我们不会起诉瑞士。
Crash Course Government and Politics is produced in association with PBS Digital Studios.
《政府与政治速成班》是与PBS数字工作室联合制作的。
Support for Crash Course Government comes from Voqal.
对速成班政府的支持来自Voqal。
Voqal supports non-profits that use technology and media to advance social equity.
Voqal支持使用技术和媒体促进社会公平的非营利组织。
Learn more about their mission and initiatives at voqal.org.
更多关于他们的使命和倡议，请访问voqal.org。
Crash Course was made with the help of all of these supreme court justices.
速成班是在所有这些最高法院法官的帮助下完成的。
Thanks for watching.
感谢收看。
