The U.S legal system is a dual system. There is a federal system, and each state has it own legal system. Generally speaking, the legal system consists of two components: the judicial system and the body of laws.
The federal judicial system is composed primarily of three levels of courts: district courts, circuit courts of appeal and the U.S. Supreme Court. In addition, there are several specialized courts, such as courts that handle bankruptcy cases.
There are 94 judicial districts in the U.S. divided into 12 judicial circuits, with each circuit court having jurisdiction over several districts. For example, the 11th Circuit has jurisdiction over the district courts located in Alabama, Georgia and Florida. The U.S Supreme Court is the highest level appellate court .
District courts are trial courts where lawsuits are initiated and tried. After the case tried in a district court, the losing party can, as a matter of right, appeal the case to the circuit court that has jurisdiction over such district court. Circuit courts of appeal do not try cases that are being appealed from the district courts. Instead, they review the records of the case submitted by the district court and make a decision on whether or not the lower court has made an error in its procedure or decision. For the vast majority of cases, the decision of the circuit court of appeal is the final decision of the case. There is no automatic right to appeal a case to the U.S Supreme Court. Instead, the U.S Supreme Court chooses cases it wants to review.
The court system in each state is very similar to the federal court system,with a trial court, an appellate court and a state supreme court. But the names of these courts can be different from state to state and from the federal courts.
Federal courts and state courts have different jurisdictions, meaning the authority to hear certain types of cases and to resolve certain types of disputes. Generally speaking, the federal courts have jurisdiction over two types of cases: (1) cases that involve parties from different states and a monetay controvery that exceeds a specified amount, and (2) cases that involve a question of federal law. State courts have jurisdiction over cases that involve state law.