Comparison frameworks and methodologies

¶ … U.S. federal court system is made up of three branches -- the Supreme Court, the district courts and the appeals courts. Each of these three branches of the federal court system bears some similarities, since they all work together for a common goal; but there are also significant differences that differentiate them as well.

The most striking similarity between these branches is that they are all elements of the federal court system (Klein, et al., 1977). This system is separate from any court systems that govern state, county or civic laws. These three courts are all governed by the federal government and therefore only handle cases of federal jurisdiction.

Another similarity between the three is that their duty is to enforce and interpret the laws that are written by Congress. No member of the court system is empowered to write law, but they must all find ways to interpret the laws that the legislative branch creates for the country.

The appellate court and Supreme Court are similar in that they are both essentially appeals courts. The Supreme Court merely functions to hear appeals of appellate court cases that are deemed worthy of its interest, and the appellate court hears appeals on district court cases worth of its interest.

This brings us to a similarity between the district courts and the appellate courts -- they are both subordinate courts. Judges within these two courts must obey the rulings and judgments of the Supreme Court. As well, the district court judges are subordinate to the appellate court rulings. In contract, the Supreme Court is not subordinate to any other court.

Another similarity between the district courts and the appellate courts is that both of these courts are regionally-based. District courts serve specific districts in each state, covering issues of federal law for that particular district. Likewise, appellate courts are given jurisdiction over cases in a specific geographical area. The Supreme Court, by contrast, can hear a case from any location in the United States, as its cases are typically national in their importance and scope.

In all three courts, the judges/justices are nominated by the President. They are confirmed in the Senate. As such, the administrative body of the U.S. courts system plays no role in the appointment of judges at any level. This means that the legislative and executive branches can exert strong control over the judicial branch through the appointments they nominate and approve.

Additionally, all judges in each of the three courts are appointed for life. While they have the option to retire, they can remain at their position until they die, if they so desire. Judges at all levels may retire but continue to serve as senior judges, on either a full-time or part-time basis.

With respect to differences, there are some clear-cut differences between these three courts. At a basic level, each of these courts has a different role in the judicial system. The district courts hear cases first, if the case is of federal jurisdiction. If a party decides to appeal a ruling, it goes to an appellate court. The appellate court will not hear a case that has not already passed through the district court. Moreover, when it does hear a case it does not re-try the case on its merits, but merely seeks to see if there was an error in the rule of law in the district court's hearing of and decision on the case. The Supreme Court is also an appellate court, but instead of the case being heard by one judge, the case is heard by all of the Supreme Court justices. They each vote on the issue, with majority rule guiding the decision. This stands in stark contrast to the other courts, which function with one judge

The Supreme Court is also different from the other courts in that it only hears cases of national importance (Fallon et al., 2007). The other courts will hear any case that is of federal jurisdiction. The Supreme Court, however, receives petitions for many more cases than it actually hears. As a result, it picks and chooses cases based on their relevance to the existing body of law and to the nation as a whole.

Some of the other differences have been highlighted above. The Supreme Court only hears national-level cases, whereas the other courts hear cases from a specific geographic region. The Supreme Court has a panel of justices, whereas the other levels have individual judges. An addition difference between these different levels is with respect to the role they play. District court judges render decisions. Appellate court judges test those decisions for errors in the rule of law. The Supreme Court is called upon to render decisions only in situations where either the rule of law is unclear, or if the appellate court judge has also made an error of law.