U.S. Legal System 101: introductory notes. Federal and State powers

U.S. Legal System 101: introductory notes. Federal and State powers

Chicago's Richard J. Daley Center is one of the seven main courthouses in Cook judicial circuit (first appellate district) and one of the American largest courthouse systems; however, to those not familiar with the U.S. court system, this statement may seem a little bit void and an end to itself: is it a federal or a state court? What is the difference between the two? How is the entire system organized?

This post will help you (hopefully)to clear any doubt about the division between federal and state powers.

Starting with basics, let's review the structure of the U.S. legal system.

As most of you may know, the U.S.A. is a federal republic consisting of fifty states and one district. Having a double-level structure means having also an integral court system divided into two components: one set of courts exists at the federal level and the other set of courts is set up in every and each of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia. While each court system is responsible for hearing certain type of cases, neither is completely independent of the other, and the systems often interact.

Federalism means sharing powers between two different entities, federation and states, and the judicial power makes no exception. The general principle is that the federal government is relevant with regard to those powers expressly or implicitly delegated to it, while the states remain supreme in matters reserved to them. Hence, the federal court system deals with issues of law relating to those powers granted to it by the Constitution, whereas the state court system deals with issues of law relating to those matters that the constitution did not give to the federal government or expressly denies to the states.

Federal Court System

Federal courts are created by the Congress under the power described by Article III of the Constitution (Art. III), which expressly requires the establishment of a Supreme Court and permits the Congress to create other federal courts. Therefore, federal courts are divided into three tiers and include:

1. Supreme court of the U.S. - court of last resort, mainly with appellate jurisdiction but also has original jurisdiction over a very narrow range of cases;
2. Appellate Courts
   i) appellate courts with geographic-based jurisdiction:
   - eleven U.S. Courts of appeals;
   - U.S. court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit;

ii) courts with appellate jurisdiction over specific subject matter:

• U.S. Court of Appeals for veteran claims;
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the armed forces;
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the federal circuit;
• U.S. foreign intelligence surveillance court of review

3. Original Jurisdiction
   i) general trial courts:
   - U.S. District Courts (one in each of the 94 federal judicial districts);
   ii) courts over specific subject matter:

- U.S. alien terrorist removal court;
- U.S. bankruptcy court;
- U.S. court of federal claims;
- U.S. court of international trade;
- U.S. court of private land claims (1891-1904);
- U.S. foreign intelligence surveillance court;
- U.S. tax court.

Although the system may seem complicated, it is pretty much easy to understand: viewed as pyramid, it has as its top the Supreme Court, on the next level there are 13 appellate courts plus some specialized appellate court, and at the lowest level there are 94 district courts, plus other specialized ones.

The independence of the judicial branch at the federal level is granted by the Constitution itself that, at Article III, establishes that judges are appointed for life (by the President with the consent of the Senate) and their compensation “shall not be diminished during the continuance of office” .

The jurisdiction of federal court is established by the same Article III, section 2, of the Constitution, and covers A) diversity of citizenship and B)federal question. 

The first field includes all those cases of a civil nature in which parties are residents of different states and the amount in question exceeds $75,000; the second field includes all those cases that arise under the U.S. Constitution, laws, and treaties under the authority of the U.S.: a) suits between states; b) cases involving ambassadors or other high - ranking public figures (original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court); c) bankruptcy; d) patent, copyright and trademark cases; e) admiralty; f) antitrust; g) security and banking regulation; h) federal crimes; i) cases specified by federal statute.

State Court System

No two state court systems are exactly alike; nevertheless, there are enough similarities to provide an example of what a typical state court system looks like.

Most state court systems are made up of:

1. Trial Courts, either of general jurisdiction (i.e. state criminal offenses, torts, contract law, real estate, election issues) or limited jurisdiction ( i.e. probate court, family court, traffic court, juvenile court, small claims court, municipal court, criminal);
2. Intermediate Appellate Court.
   Many, but not all states have intermediate appellate courts (like the U.S. version of the Italian Corte d'Appello). Any party, except a case where a defendant is found not guilty in a criminal trial, who is not satisfied with the judgement of a state trial court may appeal the matter to an appropriate appellate court. Such appeals are usually matter of right and these courts will usually neither review the facts nor accept additional evidence;
3. Highest State Courts.

The jurisdiction of the state courts extends to basically any type of case that does not fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal courts. This means that the vast majority of the trials and cases in the U.S. are matter of state jurisdiction.

To make it a little bit clearer, this chart may help you:

STRUCTURE
The Federal Court System	The State Court System
Article III of the Constitution invests the judicial power of the United States in the federal court system. Article III, Section 1 specifically creates the U.S. Supreme Court and gives Congress the authority to create the lower federal courts.	The Constitution and laws of each state establish the state courts. A court of last resort, often known as a supreme court, is usually the highest court in a state. Some states also have an intermediate court of appeals. Below these appeals courts are the state trial courts. Some are referred to as circuit or district courts.
Congress has used this power to establish the 13 U.S. courts of appeals, the 94 U.S. district courts, the U.S. Court of Claims, and the U.S. Court of International Trade. U.S. bankruptcy courts handle bankruptcy cases. Magistrate judges handle some district court matters.	States also usually have courts that handle specific legal matters, e.g., probate court (wills and estates); juvenile court; family court; etc.
Parties dissatisfied with a decision of a U.S. district court, the U.S. Court of Claims, and/or the U.S. Court of International Trade may appeal to a U.S. court of appeals.	Parties dissatisfied with the decision of the trial court may take their cases to the intermediate court of appeals.
A party may ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals, but the Supreme Court usually is under no obligation to do so. The U.S. Supreme Court is the final arbiter of federal constitutional questions.	Parties have the option to ask the highest state court to hear the case.
	Only certain state court cases are eligible for review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

SELECTION OF JUDGES
The Federal Court System	The State Court System
(Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution) Federal judges are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. They hold office during good behavior, typically, for life. Through congressional impeachment proceedings, federal judges may be removed from office for misbehavior.	State court judges are selected in a variety of ways, including election, appointment for a given number of years, appointment for life, and combinations of these methods, e.g., appointment followed by election.

TYPES OF CASES HEARD
The Federal Court System	The State Court System
Cases that deal with the constitutionality of a law; Cases involving the laws and treaties of the U.S.; Cases involving ambassadors and public ministers; Disputes between two or more states; Admiralty law; Bankruptcy; and Habeas corpus issues.	Most criminal cases Probate (involving wills and estates) Most contract cases Tort cases (personal injuries) Family law (marriages, divorces, adoptions), etc State courts are the final deciders of state laws and constitutions. Their interpretations of federal law or the U.S. Constitution may be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court may choose to hear or not to hear such cases.

ARTICLE I COURTS
Congress has created several Article I or legislative courts that do not have full judicial power. Judicial power is the authority to be the final decider in all questions of Constitutional law, all questions of federal law and to hear claims at the core of habeas corpus issues. Article I courts are U.S. Court of Veterans' Appeals, theU.S. Court of Military Appeals, and the U.S. Tax Court.

Approaching the end of this post, we can make a couple of considerations.

The first one is about comparative law: although having some similarities (i.e the three layer judicial system), the two systems -Italian and American – cannot be compared (at least not in a three pages post), mainly because of the totally different institutional and political structure of the two nations, one being a federal republic and the other one being a unitary parliamentary republic.

The second consideration is about the answer to the question at the beginning of this post. But I think that after this U.S. legal system mini-lesson, you should be able to answer it by yourselves.