The district courts, the courts of appeals, and the Supreme Court are called constitutional courts because Article m of the Constitution either established them or authorired Congress to establish them. Judges presiding over these courts are not elected to office. Instead, they are appointed to office by the president of the United States with the advice and consent of the Senate. Once appointed, they hold office for life，unless they resign or are impeached for Mtreason, bribery, or other misdemeanors **. Special courts, also known as legislative courts, are set up by Congress generally for special purposes, such as the U.S. Territorial Courts and the U.S. Court of International Trade. The judges presiding over these federal courts also are appointed by the president subject to Senate confirmation but serve fixed, limited terms.

The federal judiciary is a hierarchical system of courts. A case is filed and heard first before a district court. The losing party of a case heard and decided in a district court can further appeal the decision to the Court of Appeals. When still not solved, the case may be brought to the Supreme Court as the last resort.

District Courts
District courts are the original jurisdiction trial courts of the federal system, where the bulk of the judicial work in the federal system takes place. On average, district courts may hear as many as 300,000 cases a year, including 75,000 criminal ones. Each stale, as well as the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, has at least one district court, and larger states have more (e.g. California,Texas, and New York each have four). There are ninety-four district courts and about eight hundred federal district judges. Each court has at least one district judge. The judg? (s) in each district is/are that district’s chief law officer (s). The size of the staff, which may include a clerk, a U.S. Attorney, a U.S. Marshal, one or more U.S. magistrates, bankruptcy judges, probation officers，and other staff, depend on the amount of litigation in each district.

Cases are heard in the district courts when they involve the federal government, civil suits under federal law, civil suits between ddzens of difFerent states if the amount is more than $75,000, bankruptcy, and other matters assigned by Congress. Cases involving other kinds of issues generally must be heard in state courts.

Courts of Appeals
Courts of Appeals, also known as circuit courts of appeals, are the intermediate appellate courts in the federal judicial system. They hear appeals from the U.S. district courts and some direct appeals firom administrative agencies (for example, the National Labor Relations Board and the Securities and Exchange Commission). At present, there are eleven numbered circuit courts, plus the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (a semi -specialized court that handles all appeals in patent cases as well as appeals firom dvil service personnel, veterans, and those with financial claims against the federal government). Each federal appellate court has jurisdiction over a certain geographic area (at least three states, except for the District of Columbia Circuit), and may hear appeals only from federal district courts within its jurisdiction.

As appellate courts, the Courts of Appeals have no original jurisdiction; they do not hear the first trial of a dvil or criminal case. They only review the decisions of lower courts. In ocher words, they do not hold trials or accept new evidence but consider only the records of the trial courts and oral and written arguments submitted by attorneys. All these appellate courts are composed of circuit judges. There are almost 180 judgeships divided among these courts. The number of judges within each circuit varies一 depending on the workload and the complexity of the cases. In hearing appeals and dcdding cases, all the judges are normally divided into rotating three-judge panels.

More than 90 percent of the cases decided by the Court of Appeals end at this level. And once a decision is made by a federal court of appeals, a litigant no longier has an automatic right to a further appeal. The losing party may submit a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case, but the Cotm chooses to hear very few cases each year.

The Supreme Court
The Supreme Court was created by the Constitutional Convention of 1787 as the head of a federal court system, though it was not formally established until Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1789. The Court’s jurisdiction is mostly apellate and mainly deals with appeals involving constitutional issues, questions of federal law and disputes between states. The Court may act also as a trial court in a limited number of cases: “Cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a state shall be party”.

As the highest court in the federal court system and the appellate court of last resort, the Supreme Court reviews eases from two sources — the Courts of Appeals and state supreme courts 一 and acts as the final interpreter of the U.S. Consdtudon. Although not specifically provided for by the Constitution, the Supreme Court has long enjoyed the special power of judicial review 一 it can review any legislation or executive action made at any level of the government (if challenged in a legal case) and declare it unconsdtudonal if it were found in conflict with the U.S. Constitution and federal law. Today, judicial review becomes an indispensable part of the United States1 system of checks and balances on government.

The Supreme Court exercises such power to review acts of the le^slative and executive branches to ensure they don’t become too powerful or abrogate the Constitutional ri^its of the country's citizens. It greatly strengthened the power of the judicial branch, which had thus far been weaker than the other two.

The size of the Supreme Court is not prescribed by the Consdtudon; it is set by statute. Currently, the membership of the Supreme Court is nine: the Chief Justice and ei^it associate justices. Compared with the president or even members of Congress, the Supreme Court operates with few supporting staff. Along with the three or four clcrks each justice employs, there arc about 425 staff members at the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court sets its own agenda. It has the freedom to decide whether or not it will accept an appeal and consider a case, rejecting cases that the justices do not wish to hear，thus reducing its growing caseload. Of the more than 8,000 requests for appeal each year, the Court normally rules on only 150 cases. It may do so when there is a “substantial federal questionH presented in a case or when there are Mspecial and important reasons,” or it may reject a case 一 with or without explaining why. The Court not only decides many major cases with tremendous policy significance each year, but it also ensures uniformity in the interpretation of national laws and the Constitution, and maintains the supremacy of national law in the federal system.

The Supreme Court is in session each year from October throu^i June. Most cases reach the Supreme Court when a party in a case appeals to the Court to issue a writ of certiorari, a decision by the Court to require a lower federal or state court to turn over its records on a case. To “grant certiorari"— that is, to decide to hear arguments in a case and render a decision — the Supreme Court relies on its rule of four: four justices out of nine must agree to do so. Once the Supreme Court places a case on its decision calendar, attorneys for both parties submit written briefs on the issues. Next come oral arguments before the Supreme Court. Oral arguments are the most public phase of Supreme Court decision making， but no one really knows whether these arguments ever change the justices1 minds. Then, the decisions are made in private conferences among the justices. Five justices constitute a quorum to hear a case, and a majority is needed to decide which party wins or loses. In the event of a de, the previous judgment made in a lower court is affirmed. Now, it is time for the Court to render opinions. The written opinion determines the actual outcome of the case.

Although the Supreme Court has no power to make or execute laws，it is the Supreme Court together with federal courts generally, rather than the president or Congress, that has taken the lead in deciding many of the most heated issues of American politics. Among many, it has undertaken to eliminate racial segregation and decide about affirmative action; ensure separation of church and state and decide about prayer in public schools; and determine the personal liberties of women and decide about abortion. Those decisions often have profound legislative or policy-making implications in American society.

Jhe State Court System
Separate from, but not entirely independent of, the federal court system are the individual court systems of each state. The federal courts are the final interpreters of the Constitution and all federal laws， and the Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S., but in certain aspects, the state courts arc closer and more important to average Americans. For it is the state courts that handle most of the cases in Americans' daily life, while the federal courts only account for some 2-4 percent of ail legal cases tried annually; and the state courts have a wider jurisdiction than the federal courts — the areas of authority outside the federal judicial system are all reserved to the state courts.

Each state court system deals with its own laws and has its own court rules and procedures. No two state court systems arc exactly the same. They may differ from each other in either structure or jurisdiction. However, all state court systems operate within a hierarchy of four basic levels. Most states have two levels of trial courts and two levels of appellate courts, hearing dvil and criminal cases in which state laws are violated.

Trial Courts of Limited Jurisdiction
At the bottom of the hierarchy arc the trial courts of limited jurisdiction. There are almost 14,000 such courts, forming 90% of all courts. And these lower trial courts, created by the local governments, deal with the bulk of litigation in the U.S. each year.

Trial courts of limited jurisdiction are authorized only to hear minor claims and trying minor offenses. In dvil matters, for example, they hear only suits involving juveniles, domestic relations cases, suits with a low amount in controversy, and estate cases. In criminal matters, these courts are limited to infractions and misdemeanors.

Cases tried in trial courts of limited jurisdiction may not have a jury. Judges of such courts are commonly known as justices of the peace or magistrates, who are not required to have any formal legal training.

Trial Courts of General Jurisdiction
At the second level are the trial courts of general jurisdiction. Each U.S. state has a trial court of general jurisdiction. These higher trial courts arc authorized to hear more serious dvil or criminal cases that are not committed exclusively to trial courts of limited jurisdiction. Trial courts of general jurisdiction may hear claims without an upper limit on the amount in controversy, and may try almost all crimes. In Virginia, for example, the lowest level of court is the Virginia General District Court, which can hear claims of up to $15,000, and can try misdemeanors. Above that court is a second level of trial courts, the Circuit Court, which may hear claims in excess of $4,500 and may try felony cases.

Trial courts of general jurisdiction may also have some power of appellate review over the lower trial courts. For instance, the Virginia General District Court does not have jury trials at all, but appeals may be taken from the Virginia General District Court to the Virginia Circuit Court, and the appellant may rccci new trial with a jury. The judges at this level are required to have law degrees.

at is also worth mention is chat because different U.S. states apply different names to their courts, it is often not evident whether a court has general or limited jurisdiction. For instance, the Maine District Court is a court of limited jurisdiction, but the Nevada District Court is a court of general jurisdiction.

Intermediate apellate Courts
Over three-quarters of the U.S. states have intermediate apellate courts to which appeals are initiated. In most states，these courts are called the courts of appeals. In some states»they are known as the appellate division of trial courts of general jurisdiction. The major task of the intermediate appellate courts is to relieve much of the burden from a state supreme court and leave it free to consider only those cases it is required to hear.

The number of judges in intermediate appellate courts vary widely, depending on the caseload of a court. Alaska has only three judges，whereas there are ei^hc in Texas. And these courts use rotating three-judge panels in hearing and deciding cases. A decision made by the state’s intermediate appellate court is often the final one for most cases.

State Supreme Courts
The state supreme court is the hi^iest state court in the state court system. It is the final authority on the interpretation of that state’s laws and consdtudon. In most situations, the state supreme court has discretion in determining what cases to hear’ most of which are of broad judicial significance. Generally, the state supreme court is exclusively for hearing appeals of legal issues. It does not make any finding of facts, and thus holds no trials. In the rare cases where the trial court made an egregious error in its finding of facts, the state supreme court will remand to the trial court for a new trial. And a case may be appealed from a state supreme court to the U.S. Supreme Court if there is a federal question (an issue arising under the U.S. Constitution, laws or treaties of the United States). The state supreme court consists of a panel of judges selected by methods outlined in the state constitution. The number of judges ranges from three to nine.