562 PART SIX APPOINTED OFFICIALS TYPES OF SUPREME COURT OPINIONS Majority opinion:a written opinion of the majority of the justices who support the majority position but disagree Court's justices stating the reasoning underlying their with the majority's reasoning on a case.This opinion decision on a case. expresses the reasoning of the concurring justices. Plurality opinion:a written opinion that in the absence of Dissenting opinion:a written opinion of one or more a majority opinion presents the reasoning of most of the justices who disagree with the majority's decision and justices who side with the winning party. opinion.This opinion provides the reasoning underlying Concurring opinion:a written opinion of one or more the dissent. Bork's earlier views were so questionable,Humphrey asked,why had they not been probed in the earlier hearings?Bork's opponents on the Senate Judiciary Committee ignored Humphrey's complaint,probably because they believed 九++&。 that the answer was obvious:a nominee to the Supreme Court needs much closer scrutiny than a lower-court nominee.After all,there are more than 100 tat-wikcoo 人 federal courts but there is only one Supreme Court,and its position at the top of the country's judicial system gives Supreme Court appointments unparalleled dite importance. It is a mistake,however,to conclude that the Supreme Court is the only court of consequence.Justice Jerome Frank once wrote of the"upper-court myth"that appellate courts and in particular the Supreme Court are the only truly significant judicial arena and that lower courts just dutifully follow the rulings handed down by the appellate level.The reality is very different,as the following discussion will explain. FEDERAL DISTRICT COURTS The lowest federal courts are the district courts(see Figure 24-1).There are more than ninety federal district courts altogetherat least one in every state and as many as four in some states.District-court judges,who number about 500 in all, are appointed by the president with the consent of the Senate. Federal cases usually originate in district courts,which are trial courts,where the parties present their evidence and argue their sides and a decision is rendered in favor of one party or the other.District courts are the only courts in the federal system in which juries hear testimony in some cases,and most cases at this level are presented before a single judge.Some district-court cases involve issues of "private law"(relationships between individuals and between businesses),such as divorce and contract disputes.Other cases involve issues of "public law"(relationships of individuals to government and the rights and obligations of each),such as crimes,political rights,and the government's obligations under the Constitution and under statutes and administrative regulations. From a letter to the author by Frank Schwartz of Beaver College,1986.This section reflects substantially Professor Schwartz's recommendations to the author,as does the later section that addresses the "federal-court myth