The Federal Court System in Its Entirety - Essay Example

The Federal Court system comprises the trial courts, the Appellate Courts and the High Court. Each level follows a hierarchy of jurisdiction beginning from the most basic of trial courts that is the federal district courts until the court of last resort that is the Supreme Court. The hierarchy of courts includes the U.S. Tax Court and a lesser tribunal, the U.S. Court of Veterans Appeal.

The federal district court is a court of original jurisdiction; this is where “cases and controversies” are filed for the first time (Van Dervort 2000). From the trial courts, cases are brought for appeal in the U.S.  court of appeals. The U.S. court of appeals is the intermediate appeals court in the federal system. It has two types the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The first has limited jurisdiction and only hears and decides cases regarding questions of law and not of fact from the district courts and is also the appellate court for the U.S. Tax Court. The second has jurisdiction to hear appeals from district courts based on specialized matters such as cases arising from patent laws and damages against the federal government, and possess jurisdiction over appeals from several administrative bodies and from the decisions of the U.S. Claims Court and the Court of International Trade. The Supreme Court being the highest court has jurisdiction in all cases involving federal law arising from both state and federal courts.