The US Federal Courts
The three branches of the federal government—legislative, executive, and judicial—operate
within a constitutional system of “checks and balances.” This means that although each
branch is formally separate from the other two, the Constitution often requires cooperation
among the branches. Federal laws, for example, are passed by Congress and signed by the
President. The judicial branch, in turn, has the authority to decide the constitutionality of
federal laws and resolve other disputes over federal laws, but judges depend upon the
executive branch to enforce court decisions.
Structure of the US Federal Court
The Supreme Court is the highest court in the United States. Article III of the U.S.
Constitution created the Supreme Court and authorized Congress to pass laws establishing a
system of lower courts. In the federal court system’s present form, 94 district-level trial
courts and 13 courts of appeals sit below the Supreme Court.
1. The District Courts (Trial Courts): The U.S. district courts are the primary trial courts
of the federal court system. Within limits set by Congress and the Constitution, the
district courts have jurisdiction to hear nearly all categories of federal cases,
including both civil and criminal matters. There are 94 federal judicial districts,
including at least one district in each state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
Each district includes a U.S. bankruptcy court as a unit of the district court.
2. Appellate Courts: The 94 judicial districts are organized into 12 regional circuits, each
of which has a United States court of appeals. A court of appeals hears challenges to
district court decisions from courts located within its circuit, as well as appeals from
decisions of federal administrative agencies. In addition, the Court of Appeals for the
Federal Circuit has nationwide jurisdiction to hear appeals in specialized cases, such
as those involving patent laws and cases decided by the Court of International Trade
and the Court of Federal Claims.
3. United States Supreme Court: The U.S. Supreme Court consists of the Chief Justice of
the United States, nine judges and eight associate justices. They are appointed for life
by the President of the United States, but the U.S. Senate must approve each appointment
with a majority vote.
The U.S. Supreme Court is the chief authority of the judicial branch of government. It hears decisions
from the lower federal courts and state supreme courts, and it resolves issues of constitutional and
federal law. It is the ultimate authority in constitutional interpretation, and its decisions can only be
changed by a constitutional amendment. All federal courts must abide by the Supreme Court’s
decisions, but the Supreme Court cannot interpret state law or issues arising under state
constitutions. It cannot supervise state court operations.
Before a federal court can hear a case, or “exercise its jurisdiction,” certain conditions must
be met. 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
cannot 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 cannot 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.
Although the details of the complex web of federal jurisdiction that Congress has given the
federal courts is beyond the scope of this brief guide, it is important to understand that
there are two main sources of the cases coming before the federal courts: “federal question”
jurisdiction and “diversity” jurisdiction.
In general, federal question jurisdiction arises in cases that involve the U.S. government, the
U.S. Constitution or federal laws, or controversies between states or between the United
States and foreign governments. A case that raises such a “federal question” may be filed in
federal court. Examples of such cases might include a claim by an individual for entitlement
to money under a federal government program such as Social Security, a criminal
prosecution by the government that alleges someone violated a federal law, or a challenge
to actions taken by a federal agency. A case also may be filed in federal court based on the
“diversity of citizenship” of the litigants, such as between citizens of different states, or
between U.S. citizens and those of another country.
Federal courts also have jurisdiction over all bankruptcy matters, which Congress has
determined should be addressed in federal courts rather than the state courts. Through the
bankruptcy process, individuals or businesses that can no longer pay their creditors may
either seek a court-supervised liquidation of their assets, or they may reorganize their
financial affairs and work out a plan to pay their debts.
Although federal courts are located in every state, they are not the only forum available to
potential litigants. In fact, the great majority of legal disputes in American courts, civil or
criminal, are addressed in the separate state court systems. State courts have jurisdiction
over virtually all divorce and child custody matters, probate and inheritance issues, real
estate questions, and juvenile matters, and they handle most criminal cases, contract
disputes, traffic violations, and personal injury cases. In addition, certain categories of legal
disputes may be resolved in special courts or entities that are part of the federal executive or
legislative branches or state and federal administrative agencies.
