Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports

When the SEC seeks civil penalties against a defendant for securities fraud, the Seventh Amendment entitles the defendant to a jury trial. 
SEC v. XXXX, XXXX XXXX ___ ( 2024 ) First, under the Constitution, federal courts exercise only judicial powers. This means that federal judges may interpret the law only through the resolution of actual legal disputes, referred to in Article III of the Constitution as Cases or Controversies. A court can not attempt to correct a problem on its own initiative, or to answer a hypothetical legal question. Second, in an actual case or controversy, the plaintiff in a federal lawsuit also must have legal standing to ask the court for a decision. That means the plaintiff must have been aggrieved, or legally harmed in some way, by the defendant. Third, the case must present a category of dispute that the law in question was designed to address, and it must be a complaint that the court has the power to remedy. In other words, the court must be authorized, under the Constitution or a federal law, to hear the case and grant appropriate relief to the plaintiff. Finally, the case can not be moot, that is, it must present an ongoing problem for the court to resolve. The federal courts, thus, are courts of limited jurisdiction because they may only decide certain types of cases as provided by Congress or as identified in the Constitution.

Article III of the United States Constitution establishes the judicial branch as one of the three separate and distinct branches of the federal government. The other two are the legislative and executive branches. The federal courts often are called the guardians of the Constitution because their rulings protect rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution. Through fair and impartial judgments, the federal courts interpret and apply the law to resolve disputes. The courts do not enact the laws ; that is the responsibility of Congress. Nor do the courts have the power to enforce the laws ; that is the role of the President and the many executive branch departments and agencies. The founders of the nation considered an independent federal judiciary essential to ensure fairness and equal justice for all citizens of the United States. The Constitution they drafted promotes judicial independence in two major ways. First, Article III federal judges are appointed for life, and they can be removed from office only through impeachment and conviction by Congress of Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors. Second, the Constitution provides that the compensation of Article III federal judges shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office, which means that neither the President nor Congress can reduce the salary of a federal judge. These two protections help an independent judiciary to decide cases free from popular passion and political influence.

Federal Courts Clause 2. In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be a Party, the Supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all other Cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make. 

separation of powers Overview Separation of powers is a doctrine of constitutional law under which the three branches of government ( executive, legislative, and judicial ) are kept separate. This is also known as the system of checks and balances, because each branch is given certain powers so as to check and balance the other branches.

Each branch has separate powers, and generally each branch is not allowed to exercise the powers of the other branches.

The Legislative Branch exercises congressional power, the Executive Branch exercises executive power, and the Judicial Branch exercises judicial review.

The general blueprint for the U.S. judiciary is laid out in Article III of the U.S. Constitution, and many details of federal judicial power are spelled out in the Judiciary Act of 1789. State judicial systems are created similarly by state constitutional and statutory provisions.