Federal Court Structure vs State of Georgia Court Structure
The Constitution of the United States of America is the highest legal authority in the country. Due to federalism in practice, both federal and state governments have a court system of their own. The structure of federal and state courts is different as states have the power to decide the type of structure they want to implement. The structure of federal courts consists of three levels; these are District courts or Trial courts, Circuit Courts and Supreme Court. The Circuit courts work as the primary level of appeal and the Supreme Court is the final level. In total, there are 94 trial courts, 13 district courts and single Supreme Court in the country (Department of Justice, n.d.).
In case of the Georgia’s court system, there are five different classes of level of trial courts. These are the magistrate, juvenile, probate, superior, and state courts. Additionally, there are around 350 municipal courts that operate locally. Apart from them there are appellate-level courts: the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. States are allowed to have different types of structures and Georgia’s court structure is significantly different (Judicial Council of Georgia, 2016).
Judicial Review
Judicial review is a concept, fundamental to the type of government in the United States of America. It means that actions taken by the legislative and executive government branches will be subject to review, making invalidation of possible. Invalidation is made by the judicial branch of the government. The concept of judicial review permits the US Supreme Court to participate actively in ensuring that other government branches abide by the US Constitution. The concept of judicial review was established after Marbury v. Madison case (Cornell University, n.d.).
On a daily basis, decisions taken by court from all over the country are struck down by federal and state courts after being classified as unconstitutional. Some topics that lately have come under judicial review include voter identification laws, same sex marriage bans, government surveillance programs, restrictions on abortion, and gun restrictions. In the US, judicial review is treated as an important check on decisions taken by other branches of the government.
Judicial review is court’s power to decide that decisions of the other government branches are unconstitutional, and therefore unenforceable. For instance, if Congress passes a law on banning newspapers to print information concerning political matters, courts possess their authority by clarifying that it’s a violation of the First Amendment. State courts possess the power of striking down state’s laws on the basis of the federal or state constitutions (Haas, n.d.).
Laws or Regulations affecting Aviation
There are several employment regulations and laws that affect employment in the aviation industry. Any form of discrimination at the workplace can be countered with EEOC regulations. According to the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), there are many ways employment laws can protect individual rights in the United States of America. EEOC protects employment rights of people who have suffered discrimination on the basis of their age, equal pay for equal work, genetic information, disability, harassment, sex, national origin, race/colour, religion, pregnancy, retaliation, religion, and sexual harassment (EEOC, n.d.). Employees in the aviation sector can file lawsuit against their employer, if they have faced discrimination from the employer on the basis of above mentioned factors.
There are regulations that protect employers from employees that are involved in unethical workplace behaviour such as drug use, alcoholism, etc. (Rothstein, 1987). Several aspects of the aviation law come under the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration). Although, regulations for air traffic laws, policies and administrative agencies are created by both state and federal government, with restrictions that prevent states from regulating services, routes, or the fares of air carriers. Also, state and federal government provide air transportation between states under the Federal Aviation Act. States can also alter or enact state laws and existing remedies that are consistent with the federal mandate. In addition, the Federal Law doesn’t pre-empt state liability law, and in defective product cases, manufacturers of aviation products can be held liable.
ADRs
ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) refers to different means used for settling disputes out of court. Typically, ADR comprises of early neutral evaluation, conciliation, negotiation, mediation, and finally arbitration. With rising costs of litigation, long queues, and time delays plaguing litigants; states have started experimenting by using ADR programs. Few programs are implemented voluntarily; several others are mandatory. Alternative Dispute Resolution is a term that is used for describing the methods implemented for dispute resolution without facing the hassle of entering the courtroom. The increases litigation costs are forcing lawsuits to become impractical for several businesses and individuals (Cornell University, n.d.).
One of the most commonly used methods of alternate dispute resolution is negotiation. It works out as a pre-eminent method for resolving disputes. Negotiation permits the parties to have a sit down for settling a dispute. Conciliation is another method that helps parties to reach a common ground that both the parties agree on and resolve the conflict. Another commonly used method is mediation that involves individuals to work as mediators or negotiators and bring opposing parties to an agreement or settlement that both parties either approve or disapprove. Finally, arbitration simplifies a trial by involving simplified rules of evidence and limited discovery. An arbitration panel is chosen for settling the dispute (Mnookin, 1998).
References
Cornell University. (n.d.). Alternative Dispute Resolution. Retrieved 11 June 2016 from, https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/alternative_dispute_resolution
Cornell University. (n.d.). Judicial review. Retrieved 11 June 2016 from, https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/judicial_review
EEOC. (n.d.). Discrimination by Type. Retrieved 11 June 2016 from, https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/
Haas., S. (n.d.). Judicial Review. Retrieved 11 June 2016 from, http://nationalparalegal.edu/JudicialReview.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
Judicial Council of Georgia. (2016). Georgia’s Court Structure. Retrieved 11 June 2016 from, http://municipal.georgiacourts.gov/content/georgia%E2%80%99s-court-structure
Mnookin., R. (1998, 7 March). Alternative Dispute Resolution. Retrieved 11 June 2016 from, http://lsr.nellco.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1020&context=harvard_olin
Rothstein., M.A. (1987, October). Drug Testing in the Workplace: The Challenge to Employment Relations and Employment Law - The Kenneth M. Piper Lecture. Retrieved 11 June 2016 from, http://scholarship.kentlaw.iit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2651&context=cklawreview
