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...

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.
Lastly, the appellate court and Supreme Court have a different process for taking cases that does the district court. The district court must take cases that are of federal jurisdiction, whereas the other courts can only take a case if it has passed through subordinate levels of the federal justice system.

All three levels of the federal justice system have similarities, usually derived from the common goal that all share are parties within the federal court system. They also have differences, however, which reflect the different role that each court is intended to play within that system, to achieve that common goal. When we understand these similarities and differences, we can gain a better sense of how the federal court system functions.

Works Cited:

Klein, F.; Bander, E.; Richert, J. (1977). Federal and State Court Systems. Institute of Judicial Administration, 1977.

Fallon, R.; Fallon, J.R.; Meltzer, D. & Shapiro, D. (2007). Hart and Wechsler's the Federal Courts and the Federal System, 2007.