COURT SYSTEMS: LOWER COURTS

THE LOWER COURTS

US SUPREME COURT

US Claims Court———————-US Courts of Appeal———Court of International Trade

(13 courts)

US Tax Court   ——————————- US District Courts (94 Courts)

*The naming conventions tend to be interchangeable

FEDERAL DISTRICT COURTS

• The bottom-level courts of the justice system
• This is where the cases are first heard
  • ‘Original jurisdiction’ (They get to make the first decision which will be analyzed later on by other courts)
• They use juries
  • A Grand Jury decides if there should be a trial
  • A Trial Jury decides the outcome of the trial, whether one is guilty of not guilty
• There are some cases that are only heard by judges (Ex. Tax Court – where use of judges seem necessary because of specialized subject matter)
• But if you feel that something went wrong or some evidence was not taken into account, you can appeal it to a higher court and have the higher court take a look at it

US COURTS OF APPEALS

• They only hear appeals from the lower courts; they do not have an original jurisdiction; they do not make the first decision but they review the first decision made by the lower court
• They are divided into geographic areas also called as Circuit Courts (They wanted to divide the country into geographic areas to easily deal with the appeal process; judges would ‘ride the circuit’ where they would ride around from town to town and hold appeals courts wherever they are needed)
• They do not work the way traditional courts work
  • No new evidence is presented
  • No jury
  • Instead, a lawyer will submit arguments called BRIEF that details the outlines of the case and why the judges should rule in your favour (the justices review and research this)
    • A Panel of Judges hear each lawyer and cross-examine them (Your lawyer acts as a witness where they explain your arguments)
    • Then the judges study the facts and give a ruling
      • They also usually publish an opinion explaining why they ruled a specific way (this eventually becomes public record)

Picture: Location of US Circuit Courts

District of Columbia Circuit, for Washington, D.C.;

First Circuit, for Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Puerto Rico;

Second Circuit, for Vermont, Connecticut, and New York;

Third Circuit, for New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the Virgin Islands;

Fourth Circuit, for Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina;

Fifth Circuit, for Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas;

Sixth Circuit, for Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, and Tennessee;

Seventh Circuit, for Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin;

Eighth Circuit, for Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota;

Ninth Circuit, for California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, Hawaii, and certain Pacific islands;

Tenth Circuit, for Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas and; 

Eleventh Circuit, for Georgia, Florida, and Alabama.

• They are ADMINISTRATIVE and not REPRESENTATIVE
• FEDERAL CIRCUIT: You go here if you want to challenge something regarding the Constitution or a constitutional issue

US COURTS OF APPEALS

• Precedents
  • They serve to guide future judges (When a judge makes a ruling and publishes an opinion, that opinion becomes precedent; if a similar case arises in the future, the future lawyer will go to find the opinion and understand the precedent; they make the same decision based on what happened in the past)
    • Also called Stare Decisis
  • The rulings of the appellate courts are only valid for the geographic areas that they are in.