ABSTRACT
T hough Article VI of the U.S. Constitution declares that the federalconstitution, laws, and treaties are “the supreme law of the land,”most legal activity occurs in state courts. The federal courts have a comparatively narrow jurisdiction, while state courts are responsible for resolving many of the disputes of daily life. The state courts are organized and empowered to resolve disputes that range from disagreements between homeowners and traffic violations to burglary and murder. The Texas courts alone process five times as many cases each year as do the federal courts.
