Federal and state courts: California case examples

¶ … Federal Courts

There are three branches of the federal government: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The federal courts were established by Congress, which is given the power to establish them in the Constitution. The Constitution also empowers the Congress to establish the jurisdiction of the federal courts, determine the number of judges needed in the federal court system, to confirm Executive appointments of judges, and to manage the judiciary's budget. Congress impacts the establishment of the courts in several other ways as well. The various state-level governments have the same three basic branches, and their divisions of power and responsibility are likewise determined by their Constitutions or other founding documents.

The structure of the federal court system can be viewed as a top-down pyramid. At the top of the pyramid is the U.S. Supreme Court, which is the court of final resort for the entire United States. At the intermediate level are the United States Courts of Appeals. These appeals include the 13 regular U.S. Courts of Appeals and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. Underneath that level are the trial-level courts. These trial-level courts include the 94 U.S. District Courts, specialized courts including Tax Court, the Court of International Trade, and the Court of Federal Claims, and the Court of Veterans Appeals.

When a lawsuit is filed at the federal level, it is generally filed in one of the District Courts. The District Court functions as the trial level court. Parties may then appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals, which must hear appeals. After that level, a dissatisfied party may appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court's appellate review is discretionary; it only hears a very tiny percentage of the cases appealed from the U.S. Courts of Appeals. Generally, the Supreme Court will get involved when the U.S. Courts of Appeals have given conflicting interpretations to constitutional issues. The Supreme Court has nine judges, but not all judges have to preside over a case and there is no minimum number of judges who must be in agreement for the Supreme Court to issue a decision.

While each of the state court systems has some variation, they are largely structured in ways that are similar to the federal court system. This paper will focus specifically on the state court system in California, though there will be some differences between California's state court system and the state court system in place in other states. Regardless of the state of initial jurisdiction, a party who has exhausted remedies in the state court system may seek review in the U.S. Supreme Court, but the likelihood that the Supreme Court will hear the dispute is very small.

The California state court system is immense. California has 400 trial courts, with 1,499 judges and 437 commissioners and referees. At the trial level, the trial courts are merged into a single superior court for each county, which has jurisdiction over all criminal and civil cases filed in the state. In addition, these trial level courts, which are referred to as superior courts, have appellate jurisdiction over in misdemeanor criminal cases and civil cases where $25,000 or less is at issue.

The next level of the California state court system is the appellate level. There are 6 appellate districts, with 19 divisions, and 105 justices. These Courts of Appeals consist of panels of three justices, and hear all appeals except for death penalty appeals. The appellate level hears appeals from the various California trial-level courts. It is important to keep in mind that the California Courts of Appeals are not fact-finding courts; instead, they are looking to see if they can find legal errors in the trial court's decisions.

The final level of the California state court system is the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is the court of highest jurisdiction in California. It hears direct death penalty appeals, and appeals of disciplinary cases for judges and attorneys, directly from the trial level as well as appeals from the appellate courts. There are seven justices on the California Supreme Court. Four judges must agree on a decision for the Supreme Court to render a decision.

Determining which court system, federal or state, has jurisdiction over a dispute at the trial level involves an examination of subject matter, location of the parties, and the amount in controversy. Generally, state courts will handle: family law cases including divorces, child custody, and adoption; probate issues; real estate issues; real estate issues; most tort cases; and most criminal cases. Federal courts generally handle: cases where there is a federal constitutional question, cases involving the laws and treaties of the United States, disputes between the states, bankruptcy cases, admiralty cases, criminal cases involving members of the U.S. military, and criminal cases that either occurred on federal property, violates federal laws, or crosses state lines.