The Judicial Branch of the U.S.
Government is made up of the federal court
system. The United States Supreme Court is
the nation's highest court, followed by the
U.S. Court of Appeals, and the U.S. District
Courts. These courts decide the meanings of
laws, how they are applied, and whether they
were broken. Lower federal courts include the
U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the U.S. Tax Court,
United States Court of International Trade,
United States Court of Federal Claims, United
States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims,
United States Court of Appeals for the Armed
Forces, United States Court of Appeals for
the Federal Circuit and the United States Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court.
Supreme
Court | U.S.
Court of Appeals | U.S. District Courts
SUPREME
COURT
The United States Supreme Court is the highest
court in America. The court is made up of one
chief justice and eight associate judges. There
have been 17 chief justices in the court's history
including John Jay, John Marshall, and William
H. Taft. All Supreme Court Justices are nominated
by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
Justices of the Supreme Court generally serve
life tenures. Thousands of cases are sent to
the Supreme Court each year, but only 80-100
are heard. Selected cases are those that challenge
the meanings of parts of the U.S. Constitution.
The United States Supreme Court usually serves
as an appellate court, which means it hears appeals
from lower courts. It has heard many landmark
cases including Brown v. Board of Education of
Topeka, Kansas (1954), which made segregation
in America's schools illegal. In rare instances,
cases originate in the Supreme Court such as
when two states have a dispute with each other,
or when the United States government has a dispute
with a state.
The
United States Court of Appeals decides cases
appealed from the District Courts. There are
thirteen such courts in America, each serving
a geographic region as illustrated in the map
above. Court twelve is known as the DC circuit
and the thirteenth is the United States Court
of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. It hears
appeals from specialized trial courts such
as those focusing on international trade and
Federal claims.
The United States District Courts are the trial
courts of the U.S. Federal Court system. Both
criminal and civil trials are filed in District
Courts. The juries of District Courts (the group
of
unbiased individuals assigned to decide on the
case) are made up of regular citizens called
for jury duty on a case-by-case basis. At some
point in their lives, most adult U.S. citizens
will be called for jury duty. There are 94 District
Courts in America. District Courts are usually
named for their geographic location such as "U.S.
District Court - Western District of Pennsylvania."
|
