23. Three levels of courts
The Federal court system consists of three levels of courts of general jurisdiction and a small group of minor courts which have very limited jurisdiction in particular areas. The trial level courts are known as "District" courts, the intermediate appellate level courts are known as the Courts of Appeal or "Circuit" courts, and the highest court is the Supreme Court. Each circuit court encompasses a number of district courts and acts as an appellate court and supervisory court for that area. Besides the courts of general jurisdiction, there are specialized courts for such matters as bankruptcy, military appeals, international trade, and claims against the federal government. The Supreme Court is the court of final appeal for the entire federal court system. One way to stay abreast of the current activities of the courts are the "blogs" that have developed both for the Supreme Court and for the appellate courts in general.
24. State courts have the same structure
The state courts also tend to follow the three level court system. The names of courts may vary, but the highest court in each state is usually the Supreme Court. The most confusing variation is in New York, where the main trial court is known as the Supreme Court, and the highest court is known as the Court of Appeal. Another variation, found in California, is that the trial court is known as Superior Court. Some states also have specialized courts covering areas such as juvenile and family law, estates, and claims against the state. As part of a study on court statistics, in 1998 the National Center for State Courts produced a report showing an idealized state court structure and charts showing the actual judicial organization for each of the fifty states. It is no longer on their website. This is an example of the extraordinary and growing problem facing all web users and libraries -- the preservation of useful information in face of the urge of webminders to feel responsible only for the most up-to-date information. The addresses for the two parts that had been on the web are: Alabama through Michigan "http://www.ncsc.dni.us/divisions/research/csp/Court_Statistics/1998%20SCCS/Structure%20Charts%20AL-MI.pdf" and Minnesota through Wyoming "http://www.ncsc.dni.us/divisions/research/csp/Court_Statistics/1998%20SCCS/structure%20Charts%20MN-WY.pdf". As of June 7th, 2004, they were not findable through the Way Back Machine, the main tool for trying to find old web information.
Decisions of the state's highest court are final in regard to state law matters, but can be appealed to the US Supreme Court if a federal law or US constitutional issue is involved.
