Article 3

What is Article 3 of the Constitution?

Article 3 of the United States Constitution is the section that creates the judicial branch in the United States. The Judicial branch is the system of courts that look at the law and applies it to different cases. In the United States, the judicial branch of the federal government includes the United States Supreme Court and all the lower courts that are created by Congress

How is Article 3 Broken Down?

Article 3 of the United States Constitution is broken down into just three sections. Each of these sections look at different parts of the court system in the United States.

Section 1 of Article 3 of the Constitution

Section 1 of Article 3 of the Constitution creates the federal courts in the United States. In this part of Article 3, it says that the federal court system must have one Supreme Court. In this Supreme Court, there must be a Chief Justice who presides over the court. While Section 1 of Article 3 does not say how many justices there must be, the current law says that there must be nine justices, one of them being the Chief Justice. Article 3 does not say there has to be any lower courts. Instead, Congress is given the power to create and remove lower courts. Section 1 of Article 3 also says that judges can hold their offices for the rest of their lives or until they are convicted or impeached by Congress. The last part of Section 1 of Article 3 says that a judge's pay cannot be decreased while they are in office, but it can be increased.

Section 2 of Article 3 of the Constitution

Section 2 of Article 3 of the Constitution talks about the powers of the judicial branch and explains who gets each power. This describes which cases a court can preside over and what topics those cases can be about. Section 2 of Article 3 states that the Supreme Court has the right to hear any case for the first time, meaning that the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction. This section also says that crimes have to be tried by a jury unless the defendant does not want one.

Section 3 of Article 3 of the Constitution

Section 3 of Article 3 of the Constitution only talks about treason. This part of Article 3 says that treason is when someone tries to attack or wage war against the United States or if he or she tries to help enemies do so in some way. In order to prove that someone committed treason, there must be at least two different witnesses to the act, or the person must confess to treason.

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