The United States Court System

The United States Court System

Holly Cord

March 20, 2012

PA101-01

The Judicial Branch of our government could be considered one of the most important when it comes to civil liberties. Thanks to this branch, we have a federal court system that gives our population recourse if there has been wrongdoing. This paper will outline the specific functions, organization, and jurisdiction requirements for the federal courts.

The Judicial Branch of the government was created by Article III of the U.S. Constitution, and thus the federal and state courts were created. The main purpose of the federal courts is to interpret the law, decide whether or not a law is unconstitutional, and hand their decisions down to lower courts. ("The judicial branch")

The federal court system is divided into a three tiers. The lowest tier in this system is the special courts and the U.S. District Courts. The special courts include the U.S. Tax Court, which hears cases concerning tax laws; the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, hearing cases brought against the United States government; the U.S. International Trade Court, which hears cases concerning international commercial disputes and tariffs; and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court hearing cases concerning bankruptcy laws. The U.S. District Court includes the trial courts for general jurisdiction cases. (Goldman & Cheeseman, 2011)

The second tier of the federal courts is the U.S. Courts of Appeals. There are a total of 13 circuits, eleven of which are numbered first through eleventh, and the twelfth circuit serves the Washington D.C. area. The purpose of these courts is to review decisions made from lower courts and determine whether the ruling was within the law and if any errors were made during the course of the trial. The Thirteenth Circuit is called the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. This Circuit hears appeals from the Federal Claims court, Patent and Trademark Office, and the Court of International Trade. (Goldman &...