Citizendia

Map of the boundaries of the United States Courts of Appeals and United States District Courts
Map of the boundaries of the United States Courts of Appeals and United States District Courts

The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. A trial court or court of first instance is the Court in which most civil or criminal cases begin The United States federal courts are the system of Courts organized under the Constitution and laws of the Federal government of the United States Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of both law and equity. Civil law, as opposed to Criminal law, refers to that branch of Law dealing with disputes between Individuals and/or Organizations, in which The term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different Jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential Law is a system of rules enforced through a set of Institutions used as an instrument to underpin civil obedience politics economics and society Equity is the name given to the set of legal principles in jurisdictions following the English common law tradition which supplement strict rules of law where There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States district court. United States bankruptcy court are federal courts that have Subject-matter jurisdiction over bankruptcy cases. Each federal judicial district has at least one courthouse, and most districts have more than one. For purposes of the federal judicial system, Congress has divided the United States into judicial districts. For the Arlington Virginia neighborhood see Courthouse Virginia A courthouse (sometimes spelled court house) is a building The formal name of a district court is "the United States District Court for" the name of the district -- for example, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (S

There is at least one judicial district for each state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. A US state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of the United States of America that share Sovereignty with the federal government Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D Puerto Rico (ˌpwertoˈriko officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ("Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico" {{lang-en|"Associated Free State of Puerto Rico"}} District courts in three insular areas - the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands -"exercise the same jurisdiction as U. An insular area is a United States territory that is neither a part of one of the fifty states nor a part of the District of Columbia, the nation's The United States Virgin Islands is a group of Islands in the Caribbean that are an Insular area of the United States. Guam ( Chamorro: cha Guåhån) officially the Territory of Guam, is an island in the western Pacific Ocean and is an organized unincorporated The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI is a commonwealth in Political union with the United S. district courts. " Despite their name, these courts are technically not "District Courts of the United States. " Judges on these territorial courts do not enjoy the protections of Article Three of the Constitution, and serve terms of ten years rather than for life. The United States territorial courts are tribunals established in territories of the United States by the United States Congress, pursuant to its power under Article Three of the United States Constitution establishes the Judicial branch of the federal government.

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Other federal trial courts

There are other federal trial courts that have nationwide jurisdiction over certain types of cases, but the district court also has concurrent jurisdiction over many of those cases, and the district court is the only one with jurisdiction over criminal cases. In Law, jurisdiction (from the Latin ius iuris meaning "law" and dicere meaning "to speak" is the practical Authority Concurrent jurisdiction exists where two or more Courts from different systems simultaneously have Jurisdiction over a specific case The United States Court of International Trade addresses cases involving international trade and customs issues. The United States Court of International Trade is an Article III court, with full powers in law and equity. The United States Court of Federal Claims has exclusive jurisdiction over most claims for money damages against the United States, including disputes over federal contracts, unlawful takings of private property by the federal government, and suits for injury on federal property or by a federal employee. The United States Court of Federal Claims ( COFC) is a United States federal court that hears monetary claims against the U In Civil procedure, exclusive jurisdiction exists where one court has the power to adjudicate a case to the exclusion of all other courts The TakingA taking is an action by a Government depriving a person of private real or personal property without the payment of just compensation The United States Tax Court has jurisdiction over contested pre-assessment determinations of taxes. The United States Tax Court is a federal Trial court of record established by Congress under Article I of the U Taxation in the United States is a complex system which may involve payment to at least four different levels of government and many methods of taxation

United States district judge

A judge of a United States District Court is officially titled a “United States District Judge”. Other federal judges, including circuit judges and Supreme Court justices, can also sit in a district court upon assignment by the chief judge of the circuit or by the Chief Justice of the United States. Circuit Judge redirects here For Circuit Judges in the United Kingdom see Circuit judge (UK. The United States courts of appeals (or circuit courts) are the intermediate appellate courts The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the judicial branch of the government of the United States, and presides over the U The number of judges in each District Court (and the structure of the judicial system generally) is set by Congress in the Judicial Code. The United States Congress is the bicameral Legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses The President appoints all life-tenured federal judges (subject to the approval of the Senate), so the nominees often share at least some of his convictions. The President of the United States is the Head of state and Head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in United States by The United States Senate is the Upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the Lower house being the House of Representatives In states represented by a senator of the president's party, the senator (or the more senior of them if both senators are of the president's party) has substantial input into the nominating process, and through a tradition known as “senatorial courtesy”, can exercise an unofficial veto over a nominee unacceptable to the senator.

With the exception of the territorial courts (Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands), federal district judges are Article III judges appointed for life, and can be removed involuntarily only when they violate the standard of “good behavior”. The United States territorial courts are tribunals established in territories of the United States by the United States Congress, pursuant to its power under The District Court of Guam (also known as the United States District Court for the District of Guam) is a United States territorial court with jurisdiction over the The District Court of the United States Virgin Islands is a United States territorial court with jurisdiction over the Territory of the United States Virgin Islands In the United States, a federal tribunal may be either a court or another adjudicative body and can be classified as either an Article I tribunal or an Article III tribunal The sole method of involuntary removal of a judge is through impeachment by the United States House of Representatives followed by a trial in the United States Senate, which requires a two-thirds vote to convict. Impeachment in the United States is an expressed power of the Legislature which allows for formal charges to be brought against a civil officer of government for conduct Otherwise, a judge, even if convicted of a felony criminal offense by a jury, is entitled to hold office until retirement or death. In Common law legal systems a felony is a serious Crime, often contrasted with a Misdemeanor. In the history of the United States, only twelve judges have been impeached by the House, and only seven have been removed following conviction in the Senate. (For a table that includes the twelve impeached judges, see Impeachment in the United States. Impeachment in the United States is an expressed power of the Legislature which allows for formal charges to be brought against a civil officer of government for conduct )

A judge who has reached the age of 65 (or has become disabled) may retire or elect to go on “senior status” and keep working. Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for Judges of United States federal courts After federal judges have reached a certain combination of age and years of federal Such “senior” judges are not counted in the quota of active judges for the district and do only whatever work they are assigned by the chief judge of the district, but they keep their offices (called “chambers”) and staff, and many of them work full-time. A federal judge is addressed in writing as “The Honorable John Doe” or “Hon. John Doe” and in speech as “Judge” or “Judge Doe” or, when presiding in court, “Your Honor”.

District judges usually concentrate on managing their court's overall caseload, supervising trials, and writing opinions in response to important motions like the motion for summary judgment. For the simplification and shortening of a longer text see Summary. Since the 1960s, routine tasks like resolving discovery disputes can, in the district judge's discretion, be referred to magistrate judges. A magistrate is a judicial officer In Common law systems a magistrate usually has limited authority to administer and enforce the Law. Magistrate judges can also be requested to prepare reports and recommendations on contested matters for the district judge's consideration or, with the consent of all parties, to assume complete jurisdiction over a case including conducting the trial.

Federal magistrate judges are not Article III judges with guaranteed lifetime employment. Rather, they are hired and supervised by district judges like any other court employee, and they can be fired at any time for any rational reason (for example, if Congress cuts the judiciary's budget). Occasionally a capable magistrate judge will be nominated by the President to become a district judge, but magistrate judge is just one of the possible “stepping stones” to such an appointment.

In 2006, there were 268 authorized district court judgeships.

Jurisdiction

To file a civil case (that is, “sue someone”) in federal district court, a person must have a reason why a federal court, instead of a state court, should adjudicate the dispute. By law, the bases for federal jurisdiction (the power to hear and decide a case) are:

Thus, not every legal dispute can be litigated in federal court, hence the expression “make a federal case out of it. ”

Federal district courts often decide claims based on state law. Sometimes this is because only state law claims were pleaded and the only basis for federal jurisdiction is diversity of citizenship or alienage. Other times, even though there is a federal question in the case, the plaintiff has also pleaded state law claims as well, which the federal courts have the discretion to hear through supplemental jurisdiction. Supplemental jurisdiction is the authority of United States federal courts to hear additional claims substantially related to the original claim even though the court would lack Either way, the United States Supreme Court has ruled that in such situations, the district courts must resolve state law claims by applying the substantive law of the state in which they sit, although they use federal law for procedure. They cannot make up and apply general federal common law (which was the old rule). Federal common law is a term of United States law used to describe Common law that is developed by the federal courts, instead of by the courts of the various Paradoxically, on issues of state rather than federal law, the opinions of the state courts override those of the federal courts, and a federal court must defer to a state supreme court with regard to an interpretation of state law. This article discusses the state supreme courts in the United States

Although in matters of civil law there are often parallel federal and state laws, providing an aggrieved party with a choice of venue, there are some matters which may only be adjudicated in the federal courts; these include most intellectual property questions and matters related to international relations. Intellectual property ( IP) is a legal field that refers to creations of the mind such as musical literary and artistic works inventions and symbols names In some situations, federal law provides both for the exclusive jurisdiction of federal courts and for the immunity of the defendant from the power of those courts. One example of this is patent-infringement claims against a state government: only the federal courts may hear patent cases, but the states have sovereign immunity from such suits under the Eleventh Amendment. A patent is a set of Exclusive rights granted by a State to an inventor or his assignee for a fixed period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an Sovereign immunity, or crown immunity, is a type of immunity that in Common law Jurisdictions traces its origins from early English law The Eleventh Amendment ( Amendment XI) of the United States Constitution was passed by the U Although a state may choose to waive its immunity in such a case and allow it to proceed to trial, if it does not do so, the plaintiff has no recourse. This doctrine was reaffirmed in a United States Supreme Court case, Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board v. College Savings Bank, 527 U.S. 627 (1999). The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary. Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board v College Savings Bank, 527 U Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past Court cases either in special series of books called reporters

District courts also have limited jurisdiction as an appellate court, reviewing decisions of the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board and of United States bankruptcy courts (except in those circuits that have created a specialized Bankruptcy Appellate Panel to do so). Court of Appeal, Court of Appeals, and Appellate Division redirect here for a list of specific courts using those titles see Court of Appeal The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (or " TTAB " is a body within the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO responsible for hearing and deciding United States bankruptcy court are federal courts that have Subject-matter jurisdiction over bankruptcy cases. A Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (abbreviated BAP) is a group of Judges of the United States bankruptcy courts who are appointed to hear Appeals

Attorneys

In order to represent a party in a case in a district court, a person must be an attorney at law and generally must be admitted to the bar of that particular court. An attorney at law (or attorney-at-law) in the United States is a practitioner in a court of law who is legally qualified to prosecute The United States usually does not have a separate bar examination for federal practice (except with respect to patent practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office). A bar examination is an examination to determine whether a candidate is qualified to practice Law in a given Jurisdiction. The United States Patent and Trademark Office ( PTO or USPTO) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that issues Patents to Admission to the bar of a district court is generally granted as a matter of course to any attorney who is admitted to practice law in the state where the district court sits. In the United States, admission to the bar is permission granted by a particular court system to a lawyer to practice law in that system [1] The attorney submits his application with a fee and takes the oath of admission. Local practice varies as to whether the oath is given in writing or in open court before a judge of the district.

Several district courts require attorneys seeking admission to their bars to take an additional bar examination on federal law, including the following: the Southern District of Ohio,[2] the Northern and Southern Districts of Florida,[3][4] and the District of Puerto Rico. [5]

Appeals

Generally, a final ruling by a district court in either a civil or a criminal case can be appealed to the United States court of appeals in the federal judicial circuit in which the district court is located, except that some district court rulings involving patents and certain other specialized matters must be appealed instead to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and in a very few cases the appeal may be taken directly to the United States Supreme Court. The United States courts of appeals (or circuit courts) are the intermediate appellate courts Congress has divided the United States into a number of judicial circuits, each of which includes several District Courts and a Court The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is a United States court of appeals and was created by Congress with passage of the Federal Courts Improvement The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary.

Busiest district courts

Not surprisingly, the busiest and largest district courts are the ones that serve the three largest cities in the United States: New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The City of New York Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. Respectively, they are the district courts for the Southern District of New York, the Central District of California, and the Northern District of Illinois. The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (S The US District Court for the Central District of California (commonly referred to as the CDCA CACD or C The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois is the Federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties divided into two divisions

The Central District of California is the largest federal district by population, since it encompasses practically all of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, while the City of New York is divided between the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and many New York suburbs are covered by district courts in New Jersey and Connecticut. The Greater Los Angeles Area, or the Southland, (not to be confused with the Los Angeles Metro Area which includes only Los Angeles and New Jersey ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. Connecticut ( is a state located in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America.

The Southern District of New York is the largest federal district by number of judges, with 46. [6]

Extinct district courts

Most extinct district courts have disappeared by being divided into smaller districts. The following courts were subdivided out of existence:

On rare occasions, an extinct district court was extinguished by merging it with other district courts. The United States District Court for the District of Alabama is an extinct federal district court which was subdivided into the U The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Illinois is a former federal district court for the state of Illinois. The United States District Court for the District of Michigan is a former federal district court for the state of Michigan. The United States District Court for the District of Mississippi is an extinct United States District Court that has been subdivided into the United States District Court The United States District Court for the District of Pennsylvania is an extinct federal district court which was subdivided into the United States District Court for the In every case, this has restored a district court which had been subdivided:

There are a few additional extinct district courts which don't fall into either of the above two patterns.

References

  1. ^ Nearly all district courts have a Local Rule 11. 1 or 83. 1 that describes the appropriate state judicial institution which admits attorneys to practice (either the state bar association or an office or committee of the state supreme court).
  2. ^ Local Rule 83. 3, Local Rules of the Southern District of Ohio.
  3. ^ Local Rule 11. 1, Local Rules of the Northern District of Florida,
  4. ^ Local Rules 1 and 2 of The Special Rules Governing the Admission and Practice of Attorneys, Southern District of Florida.
  5. ^ Local Rule 83. 1, Local Rules of the District of Puerto Rico.
  6. ^ Judges of the United States Courts

External links


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