COURTWEEK.COM

As you read about the cases we feature on Courtweek, you may wonder about where they originate.  For instance, what in the world is the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit or the Maryland Court of Special Appeals?  We hope the following short tour, Courtweek’s Guide to American Courts, helps.

Countless and Complex Courts

There are many ubiquitous things in American life.  The United States has approximately 11,000 Starbucks, almost 14,000 McDonald’s, and—in what may be an indication of just how much we like to sue each other and throw our fellow citizens in jail—we have over a million lawyers. 

God has blessed America: We have almost 14,000 McDonald's and over a million lawyers.

Just as jockeys need horse tracks, farmers need farms, and armed robbers need liquor stores, all those lawyers need courts. 

The American court system is a complicated maze of different courts with different jurisdictions and purposes.  What’s the difference between a small claims court, a district court, a superior court, and  a supreme court?  The quick answer: it depends where you live.

Basically, our courts are divided into “federal” and “state” courts.  Federal courts decide issues of federal law, such as taxes and immigration, and state courts decide state issues, such as property and criminal matters—unless, of course, it’s a federal property issue, such as a patent, or a federal criminal matter, such as evasion of federal income taxes. 

We told you it was complicated.

Nevertheless, Courtweek’s Guide to American Courts is here to give you a simple explanation of how the courts work.  We’re talking about a lot of cases here.  In the 12-month period ending September 30, 2010, there were 361,323 cases filed in federal courts.  In state courts across the nation, there were approximately 40 million cases in 2008. 

Why Federal and State Courts?

Blame the Founding Fathers…and their wives and girlfriends, the Founding Mothers, who were undoubtedly running everything.  Our system of government—and our system of courts—is basically a compromise.

Although the Founding Fathers predated both Lord Acton and Jeff Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High, they must have been guided by the wisdom of both these great men, such as when Mr. Spicoli quoted the Founding Fathers' constitutional diliberations: "We left this England place because it was bogus. If we don't get some cool rules ourselves--pronto--we'll just be bogus, too."

The founders didn’t want too much power in a central government.  They thought King George III of England was a nasty fellow, and they predicted Lord Acton’s admonition: “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

On the other hand, they realized that, if all power were delegated to individual states, they really would have a bunch of independent little nation-states instead of one glorious country with purple mountain majesties and amber waves of grain.

Thus, we got the “United States” of America with powers divided between the federal government and the states.  If you weren’t doing crossword puzzles during class, you may remember that this is what your high school government teacher called “federalism.”  This system of federalism also gave us two separate court systems that actually work together in many instances. 

State Courts

Each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia has its own court system.  When you hear those terms we mentioned earlier: “small claims court,” “district court,” “superior court,” and “supreme court,” they are state specific. 

For instance, the highest court in most states is called the supreme court—just as the United States Supreme Court is the nation’s highest court.  However, it doesn’t always work that way in every state.

Take Maryland for example.  The Maryland Court of Appeals is the highest court in Maryland, and the Maryland Court of Special Appeals is what is called an “intermediate appellate court.”  A trial court issues a ruling, and if someone is unhappy, she can appeal to the Court of Special Appeals.  If people are still unhappy, they can appeal the decision of the Court of Special Appeals to the Court of Appeals. 

Maryland is not alone in calling its highest court something other than a ”supreme court.”  The District of Columbia also calls its highest court the “Court of Appeals,” and Texas tries to get really fancy with two different “supreme courts.”  The Texas Supreme Court is the state’s highest court for civil matters, and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is the Lone Star State’s highest court for criminal cases.

New York also uses the name “Court of Appeals” for its highest court, and then confuses things even more by naming a lower court the “Supreme Court.”  West Virginia decided they would just use everything and call their highest court the “Supreme Court of Appeals.” 

But, let’s not get caught up in these weird exceptions when getting you up to speed on the structure of state courts.  Let’s focus on a normal state.  How about Florida?  Nothing weird ever happens in Florida.

The Sunshine State has 67 counties, and each has a county court.  These “county courts” are the entry-level courts for small matters, such as criminal misdemeanors and civil disputes up to $15,000. 

Next are Florida’s “circuit courts,” which hear appeals from the county courts, but they serve also has the original trial courts for larger civil and more serious criminal matters.

Then come Florida’s five “district courts of appeal.”  These are the state’s intermediate appellate courts, much like Maryland’s Court of Special Appeals. 

Finally, the Florida Supreme Court is the highest court in the Sunshine State.

The Florida Supreme Court may have been criticized by some in Bush v. Gore, but at least it has a normal name.

As you follow cases on courtweek.com, Florida provides a good example of how the state courts work: a trial court, an intermediate appellate court, and a state supreme court. 

Federal Courts

You may have heard your college professor or some television pontificator refer to “Article III” courts.  They’re just using pompous terminology for the federal courts established by the U.S. Constitution.  They say, “Article III,” because the provision establishing the courts is found in Article III of the Constitution.

The United States Constitution gives us the Supreme Court and a bunch of inferior courts.

Article III provides for a “supreme court” and “inferior courts” as established by Congress.  Not unlike the state courts, these federal “inferior” courts include trial courts (the U.S. district courts) and intermediate appellate courts (the U.S. circuit courts of appeals).

Each state has at least one U.S. district court, and some larger states have multiple districts.  For instance, California has four: the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. 

Cases appealed from U.S. district courts go to the U.S. courts of appeals.  The U.S. Court of Appeals is divided into 13 separate U.S. circuit courts of appeals.  Twelve of these 13 circuits are based on geography, and the 13th, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, hears appeals from across the nation on specific federal legal issues, such as patents, trademarks, and international trade issues.

The map above, created by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, illustrates the geographic breakdown of the federal circuits.  As you can see, the circuits start in the east with the First Circuit serving Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Puerto Rico, and move west, with the Ninth Circuit serving the western-most states.  (The Eleventh Circuit messes up the whole East to West numbering system, but that’s because the Eleventh Circuit was created by splitting the Fifth Circuit.) 

Political Considerations

Some members of Congress (mainly conservative Republicans) want to split the Ninth Circuit.  They argue that the court cannot possibly serve such a large geographic area of the country, especially with the tremendous growth in the West. 

However, it may come as a shock, but members of Congress of both parties often have their own crafty little agendas.  While Congress may have a legitimate concern about long hours worked by their friends in other branches of government, they may also have political considerations.

The Ninth Circuit, based in San Francisco, is arguably the most liberal of the federal circuits.  For more conservative jurisprudence, one can visit the Fourth Circuit (Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia) or the Fifth Circuit (Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas). 

Although it is a long way from Helena, Montana, to San Francisco, what may really be going on is that Farmer Fred in Montana may just feel as though he doesn’t want to be in the same circuit as Jacques LeFleur, the Haight-Ashbury interior decorator.

Going Forward 

As we discuss cases on courtweek.com, we try to paint a full picture for you, giving you all the juicy tidbits that make court cases interesting in the first place.  But, if you’ve got a question about a court you see, refer back to this guide.

Image credits: McDonald's: Ian Britton, Founding Fathers: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Florida Supreme Court: James Gamble Rogers Photo Gallery, U.S. Constitution: National Archives, Federal Court Map: Administrative Office of the United States Courts.