US Judicial Branch: Federal Court System

In the U.S. judicial system, a defendant found guilty in a trial court can normally appeal to a higher federal court. These federal courts, or appellate courts, review decisions made by trial courts (Neubauer, 2010). Appellate courts can be on the federal and state level, but do not hold trials or hear new evidence. These courts consist of a judge, or a lawyer, or a group of either one, who read the transcript of the trial and whether the previous decision correctly or incorrectly followed the law (Neubauer, 2010). Similar to trial courts, the federal government and most states have made two different types of appellate courts: intermediate, which hear all cases, and supreme courts, which can pick and choose the cases heard (Neubauer, 2010). Even though there are many different types of courts within the judicial system of the United States, the role of the judge stays constant throughout the majority of branches.

The supreme court is the highest, most important court in the United States and the titles of the men and women who serve on the high court are associate justices. There are over nine judges who are on the supreme court, eight are associate justices and one is the chief justice. They are all appointed by the presidet but they are approved by the senate. The term of office for the nine judges who serve for the high court is for life. There are over 91 district courts, which are the lowest courts, and 12 appellate courts. Three courts that are part of the federal judicial system are the Court of Military Appeals, United States Claims Court, and United States Tax Court. The nine type of cases the Supreme court and federal courts have jurisdiction over are the constitution, federal laws, treaties, law governing ships, the United States government itself, ambassadors or public ministers, two or more state governents, citizens od different states and a state or its citizens versus a foreign country or foreign citizen. The process of checking the laws of our land is called the judicial review. When the supreme court declares a law unconstitutional, it means that the law goes against the constitution of the United States. In order for a person to be convicted of treason two witnessess must testify, telling the exact same story and/or the accused must confess in a

The U.S. District Courts, the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal, and the U.S. Supreme Court are governed by Article III of the US Constitution. They also include two special courts: (a) the U.S. Court of Claims and (b) the U.S. Court of International Trade. Often times than not the two

The United States district courts are the trial courts of the federal court system. The district courts have jurisdiction over every category of federal cases ranging from civil cases to criminal cases. There are 94 federal judicial districts, including at least one district in each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The Virgin Islands; Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands are three U.S. territories that have district courts that hear federal cases, including bankruptcy cases.

The three tiers of the American federal court system consists of the Supreme Court, District courts which are also referred to trial courts, Circuit Courts of Appeals, and the Supreme Court.

The criminal justice system holds trials on cases. Most cases are dealt with outside of court. If a case is significant enough and is approved, then it goes to the state court. Most cases do not pass the state court, but if someone objects to the state court’s decision, then the case may go to the federal court. Another way a case is able to be held at the federal court is if the case involves two different states and involves over $70,000. According to crash course, there are four different scenarios in which the federal courts have original jurisdiction (case goes directly to federal court without the interaction of state or local courts). In all of these scenarios the cases must be brought in an original district court. The first scenario is in cases where the law at issue is a federal law. The

Constitution, and “appoints federal judges by advice and consent of the Senate” (SITE, p.). The judicial branch is comprised of the Federal, District, and Appeals Courts, which judge cases concerning federal law, but the Supreme Court decides if the law agrees with the U.S. Constitution. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080521155230AAz04SP

The judicial branch consist of the Supreme Court and the other federal courts.

The Court of Appeals was established by Congress to relieve some of the caseload of the Supreme Court. There are 12 regional circuit courts, and one for the “Federal Circuit,”. The Supreme Court of the United States in Washington, D.C. is the highest court in the nation. The United States political system dictates that both the federal government and each of the 50 states

The federal and state judicial systems are alike and different in numerous of ways. The federal and state judicial system have a difference in some of the laws and court system. There diference are in the jurisdiction and is mostly defined by the kind of cases that take place within the courtroom. State court consists of mainly what we consider as minor criminal activity such as traffic violations, family hearing and disputes, law suits, and robberies most of these are called misdemeanors. Lawsuits verses the United States is not allowed to be heared by the state courts that have certain laws established such as “criminal, antitrust, bankruptcy, patent, copyright, and some maritime cases” (Reuters, 2016). Federal court do not hear as many cases as the state do whereas it has to be listed in the Constitution and provided by Congress. “Federal court can only hear cases that’s within the United States party, conflict of the United States Constitution, citizens cases that so not exceed $75,000, and last but not least bankruptcy, copyright, and patent cases” (Neubauer, 2014). The state and federal courts are established differently whereas the state is established by a state that is within the city or the country and the federal is established under the United States Constitution to better resolve conflict.

There are 94 different federal trial courts call District Courts. The role of these district courts are to hear civil and criminal cases. Those district courts are broken down into 12 different regional circuits, each of the 12 regional circuits have their own court of appeals. These court of appeals deals with appeals within their circuit. Those appeals are then heard and their fate is then decided based on the record that was given before the District Court. All the cases that involve juvenile issues, child custody and Dupree cases, inheritance/probate cases, real estate, as well as most cases that involve criminal prosecution, personal injury cases, disputes and contracts, as well as public health cases. Each state handle local laws, has its own police, and court system. Each court system has its own Supreme Court which is known as the court of last resort. Local crimes in cases go before their local courts and from there it's it is decided whether or not the case goes before the state, supreme, or federal court.

This week’s reading focused on the Judicial Branch of the government. One of the more informative sections from the reading was on the structure of the federal courts. Aside from knowing there was a Supreme Court and district courts, I did not know much on the structure of the United States court system. From the reading, I learned that Article III of the U.S. Constitution made the Supreme Court the highest court level in the US. Article III also gave Congress the authority to pass laws to establish a lower court system under the Supreme Court. This structured our present federal court systems that is comprised of: 94 district level trial courts, 13 courts of appeals, and the Supreme Court.

The judicial branch is almost the same in structure at both levels, but unlike in content. The setup of the courts starts with District Court, then goes to the Court of Appeals, and finishes at the Supreme Court. The are 94 federal district courts, and 10 Minnesota district courts. Equal to the federal district court, the state district courts hear the most cases. However, federal courts hear cases that are national offenses, including violated rights in the Constitution, federal crimes, dispute within the U.S. government, controversies between states or between countries, or a crime committed on the high seas. State courts hear criminal and civil cases that take place in that state. This is the main difference between the state and federal levels. The other courts are set up similarly. The court up from the District Court is the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals hears appealed cases from the lower court for the second time, but does not come to the verdict of guilty or innocent. The Court of Appeals decides if the case was given a fair trial in the District Court. The number of judges is what differs between federal and state appellate courts. The federal Court of Appeals has a three-judge panel, while the

appeals that hears appeals from the trial court. A party in a case generally has one right of

Federal Court judges sit in the Federal Court. As stated earlier, the Chief Justice, the President of the Court of Appeal, and the two Chief Judges of the High Courts are also automatically Federal Court judges. Currently, the law provides for seven other judges of the Federal Court. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong