The membership of the Texas Supreme Court includes
A) a chief justice and eight other justices. B) twelve justices. C) a chief judge and nine other judges. D) nine justices appointed by the governor. E) a chief justice appointed by the governor and eight other justices elected statewide in partisan elections.
Q. 2What is the court of last resort for criminal cases in Texas?
A) Texas Supreme Court B) Texas Supreme Criminal Court C) Texas Court of Criminal Appeals D) Texas Probate Court E) Texas Court of Appeals
Q. 3Cases in the intermediate courts of appeals are usually heard by how many justices?
A) One B) Two C) Three D) Nine E) Thirteen
Q. 4Assume that you are a justice on the Texas Supreme Court and are in the process of determining whether to hear an appeal. How many of your colleagues must you convince to vote with you in order to agree to hear the appeal?
A) One (making a total of two votes needed to hear the case on appeal)
B) Two (making a total of three votes needed to hear the case on appeal)
C) Three (making a total of four votes needed to hear the case on appeal)
D) Four (making a total of five votes needed to hear the case on appeal)
E) Eight (making a unanimous vote of the court needed to hear the case on appeal)
Q. 5How many courts of appeals (state intermediate appellate courts) are there in Texas?
A) Two B) 14 C) 55 D) 132 E) 254
Q. 6The Texas courts of appeals are the
A) courts of the intermediate appellate level for the state.
B) courts of last resort in Texas.
C) appellate courts which hear death penalty convictions automatically appealed from the district court to the court of appeals in which that district court sits.
D) principal trial courts.
E) only appellate courts that sit juries to review new evidence presented by the losing side in the original trial.
Q. 7Assume you have been convicted of felony auto theft in state district court in Houston.
You have appealed to the 1st District Court of Appeals in Houston and lost in that court also. You now plan to appeal to one of Texas' highest appellate courts. Where are you going to file your appeal?
A) Texas Supreme Court
B) Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
C) Either the Texas Supreme Court or Court of Criminal Appeals, whichever has room on its docket
D) You can appeal your case no further since you lost in the intermediate appellate court level
E) The nearest federal district court
Q. 8Most criminal and civil cases before the district courts of Texas
A) go to trial.
B) are settled before trial by plea bargains and negotiated settlements, respectively.
C) are brought to the district courts as trials de novo from lower trial courts.
D) result in hung juries.
E) deal mainly with capital offenses.
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