The United States has two types of courts, state and federal. They can be considered to be parallel tracks that may end up in the U.S. Supreme Court. Based on the nature of the dispute or crime, certain ones end up in the federal courts, and some end up in state courts. As per Judge Charles Burns, to file a lawsuit in federal court, one must allege that there is a breach of federal law or the U.S. Constitution.
Judge Charles Burns talks about the types of federal courts in the United States
The federal judiciary does operate separately from the executive and legislative branches, but usually works along with them as the Constitution requires. Federal laws are passed by Congress and signed by the President of the United States. The judicial branch is responsible for deciding the constitutionality of federal laws and resolves other disputes about federal laws.
Diverse types of federal courts in the United States are:
- Supreme Court: The Supreme Court is the highest court in the United States. Article III of the Constitution of the country created the Supreme Court and authorized Congress to pass laws while establishing a system of lower courts. As per the current federal country system, 94 district level trial courts and 13 courts of appeals sit below the Supreme Court.
- The task of such courts is to determine if the law was applied correctly in the trial court or not. Appeals courts are comprised of three judges and do not use a jury.
- District courts: District courts or trial courts of the U.S. These courts include the district judge who tries the case, as well as a jury who decides the case. District judges are assisted by magistrate judges when it comes to preparing cases for trial. They might even conduct trials in misdemeanor cases. There is at least a single district court in each U.S. state, as well as the District of Columbia.
- Bankruptcy courts: Federal courts are known to have exclusive jurisdiction over bankruptcy cases. Such cases might be associated with personal, business, or farm bankruptcy. Through the process of bankruptcy, businesses or individuals who can no longer make payments to their creditors can either seek a court-supervised liquidation of their assets. They can alternatively reorganize their financial affairs and create a plan to pay their debts.
While all the courts discussed above have their own functions and role, they all ultimately aim at deciding what really happened in a certain case and what should be done about it. They determine whether or not a person has committed a crime and what type of punishment they should have. In the opinion of Judge Charles Burns, Federal courts also provide a peaceful way to decide private disputes that people are unable to resolve by themselves.