A panel of three judges is usually used in place of a jury. The decisions of these courts are issued in the form of "opinions" and they often set precedents which become guidelines for future cases. As the Supreme Court has developed the custom of hearing fewer and fewer cases, U.S. Courts of Appeal have enjoyed more influence because they are frequently the last stop for cases (Greenberg & Page 434).

             The third and highest level of the federal judiciary is the U.S. Supreme Court. This court is comprised of nine judges who are appointed for life. When a death or retirement causes an opening on the bench, the highly-charged and closely-watched nomination process begins. The president nominates a candidate whom he believes is likely to survive the process. This candidate is, by custom, always a lawyer, but he or she may have no experience as a judge. Senatorial courtesy demands that the president give the senator from the state from which the judge hails the opportunity to express an opinion about the nomination before the nominee moves into the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Senate Judiciary Committee holds hearings and considers the nomination before reporting it out to the Senate floor for a majority vote. In recent years, the liberal v. conservative scale has been employed to judge the candidate and has sparked much debate. If the nominee survives the Senate, he or she joins the other eight justices at the highest court of the land (Greenberg & Page 428-9).

             Because Supreme Court justices are nominated for life and not subject to public opinion or political whims, their decisions should be based on their own views and interpretations of the Constitution. The microscope and television cameras that are applied to the two other branches of government do not reach into the judicial branch, and much of the proceedings of the Supreme Court are relatively quiet and even secretive. The court has original jurisdiction in cases involving ambassadors and disputes between states, but most of its cases are appellate in nature.