United States Court System

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United States Court Systems Melissa Graham Kaplan University PA 101 Unit 3 United States Court Systems Federalism in the United States, set forth by the U.S. Constitution, divides powers between the national and state governments. Within this division of power dwells a separate tier system for both federal and state courts, each holding supremacy over their reserved jurisdictions. The Federal Courts The federal courts system consists of a three tier structure of the Trial Courts, Intermediate Courts and the U.S. Supreme Court or Highest Court. Under the umbrella of this structure are the “Article III courts”, as delegated in Article III of U.S. Constitution, known as the Special Federal Courts, U.S. District Courts and the U.S. Courts of Appeals (United States Courts, n.d.). The President of the United States appoints all judges which must be expressly approved by the Senate. Federal judges hold office for life, with the exception of bankruptcy court judges who serve a term of 14 years; and magistrate judges who serve for 8 years. There are several “Article I or legislative courts”, enacted by Congress, which do not hold full judicial power. These are the U.S. Court of Veterans’ Appeals, U.S. Court of Military Appeals and the U.S. Tax Court (United States Courts, n.d.). The Special Federal Courts hold specialized or limited jurisdiction over the U.S. Tax Court which hear cases pertaining to federal tax laws, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims which hears cases brought against the U.S., the U.S. Court of International Trade which hears cases involving international commercial disputes and tariff issues, and finally the U.S. Bankruptcy Court which holds jurisdiction over federal bankruptcy cases. The federal trial courts or U.S. District Courts have general jurisdiction over those cases falling outside the bounds of specialized or limited

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