The U.S. Court System

U.S. Court System Text Version They’re in every city, most towns, and every single US state. And if your future career includes working in law, you’ll spend a lot of time in one. It’s your local court! As you learn more about our judicial system, it’s important to ask: which court is it anyway? The United States has a dual court system. This means that we have two separate types of judicial systems in place: state and federal. Each one has its’ own jurisdiction, or power to hear certain kinds of cases. So, who does what? Federal courts handle cases where the United States is a party, where citizens from different states are involved, and cases covering specific United States law. But that’s not all! Federal courts also handle cases involving different state governments, cases between foreign nations or ambassadors, and cases dealing with maritime law. State courts manage disputes between citizens in that state and issues concerning their own state law. But even though the list of powers for the state courts seems shorter, they actually handle about 30 times the cases the federal courts do because their jurisdiction is much broader. Sometimes, no matter what type of court it is, a decision needs to be reviewed. That’s when appeals happen. When cases are appealed, there’s also a separate system for each level of court. In Florida, appeals go from the county courts to the circuit courts, then to the district courts, and finally to the Florida Supreme Court. But at the federal level, appeals have a slightly different path. Federal appeals cases move from the district to the circuit courts before finally ending up with the US Supreme Court. Each court system has a role, and each role is equally important.