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1 Welcome to the Federal Courts [1] (2013)

handle is hein.congcourts/wefdcort0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Welcome to the Federal Courts W elcome to the U.S. Courthouse. This brochure should help you understand what you see and hear during your visit. You're encouraged to observe trials and other proceedings. If you attend a trial, please behave in a manner befitting the formality of the courtroom. Be quiet during the proceedings, and stand when the judge enters or leaves the courtroom. Exit quietly if the court is still in session when you leave, and comply with the federal court rules that forbid spectators to take pictures or make recordings in the court, and any other rules of the court. Federal and State Courts There are two major court systems in the United States: i. Federal-Federal courts are established by the U.S. government. There are some 2,300 federal court judges, and about 2 million cases are brought each year in federal courts. Nearly 8o% of these cases are bankruptcy filings. 2. State-State courts are established by a state, or by a county or city within the state. There are more than 30,000 state court judges, and there are nearly 50 million state court cases each year, not including traffic and parking violations. The cases individual citizens are most likelyto be involved in-such as traffic violations, broken contracts, and family disputes-usually come before state courts. Types of Federal Courts Article III of the Constitution calls for a Supreme Court and whatever other federal courts Congress considers necessary. Congress has created federal trial and appellate courts under Article III: 1. District courts-Congress has divided the country into 94 federal judicial districts, each with its own U.S. district court. The district courts are the federal courts where cases are tried, witnesses testify, and juries serve. Each district court has a bankruptcy court. 2. Courts of appeals-Congress has grouped the dis- tricts into 12 regions, called circuits, each with a court of appeals. There is also a federal circuit, which reviews certain types of cases and covers the entire country. If a person loses a trial in a district court, that person can appeal the case to the court of appeals, which will review the case to see if the district court judge applied the law correctly. The map on the inside shows the geographical boundaries of the 94 districts and the 12 regional circuits (ii numbered circuits and the District of Columbia Circuit). The courts of appeals also review cases decided by some federal agencies, such as the National Labor Relations Board. 3. The Supreme Court-The Supreme Court of the United States in Washington, D.C., is the best known federal court. Cases from the court of appeals in each circuit and from the state supreme courts can be ap- pealed to the Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court does not have to hear the cases it is asked to review and, in fact, agrees to hear only a very small percentage of them. Federal Court Cases - Jurisdiction-Jurisdiction refers to the kinds of cases a court is authorized to hear. Federal courts don't have the same broad jurisdiction that state courts have. Federal court jurisdiction is limited to the kinds of cases listed in the Constitution (Article III, Section 2). Usually, federal courts only hear cases involving the Constitution, laws passed by Congress, cases in which the United States is a party, cases involving foreign diplomats, and some special kinds of cases, such as incidents at sea and bankruptcy cases. Federal courts also hear cases that are based on state laws but involve parties from different states. - Civil cases-Lawyers use the term party to describe a participant in a civil case. A party can be a person or a corporation, but, in either situation, a civil case involves a claim by one party (the plaintiff) that another party (the defendant) failed to carry out a legal duty, such as the duty not to harm others or the duty to honor the terms of a contract. If a court finds that a defendant failed to carry out a legal duty, it may order the defendant to pay compensation to the plaintiff to make up for the harm. Most federal court cases are civil cases, such as equal employment opportunity claims, claims for benefits under federal programs, and suits against companies that may have violated federal antitrust laws. Appeals to the courts of appeals for review of federal agency decisions are also federal civil cases. - Criminal cases-In a criminal case, a party (the defendant) is accused of committing a crime-an action considered to be harmful to society as a whole, not just to a specific person. Most crimes concern matters that the Constitution leaves to the states, and thus, compared with the number of state criminal laws and cases, there are few federal criminal laws and cases. Federal criminal laws, for example, deal with robbing banks whose deposits are insured by a federal agency, importing drugs illegally into the country, or using the U.S. mails to swindle consumers. Bringing a Case in Federal Court For a court to decide a controversy, a person must bring it to court. Also, the controversy must involve a legal question-courts don't resolve every type of disagreement. - Civil cases-A federal civil case begins when someone, or someone's lawyer, files a paper or elec- tronic document with the clerk of the court that claims another party failed to fulfill a legal duty. In lawyers' language, the plaintiff files a complaint against the defendant. The defendant may then file an answer to the complaint.

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