7.3. Structure of the Courts: The Dual Court and Federal Court System
7.3. Structure of the Courts: The Dual Court and Federal Court System
Lore Rutz-Burri
Separate Federal and State Court Systems
Each state has two complete parallel court systems: the federal system, and the state’s system. Thus, there are at least 51 legal systems: fifty were created under state laws, and the federal system was created under federal law. Additionally, there are court systems in the U.S. Territories, and the military has a separate court system as well.
The state/federal court structure is sometimes referred to as the dual court system. State crimes, created by state legislatures, are prosecuted in state courts which are concerned primarily with applying state law. Federal crimes, created by Congress, are prosecuted in the federal courts which are concerned primarily with applying federal law. As discussed below, a case can move from the state system to the federal system when a defendant challenges the conviction on direct appeal through a writ of certiorari, or when the defendant challenges the conditions of confinement through a writ of habeas corpus.
Dual Court System Structure
| Highest Appellate Court | U.S. Supreme Court (Justices) (NoteCourt also has original/trial court jurisdiction in rare cases) (Note: Court will also review petitions for writ of certiorari from State Supreme Court cases). | State Supreme Court (Justices) |
| Intermediate Appellate Court | U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (Judges) | State Appellate Court (e.g., Oregon Court of Appeals) (Judges) |
| Trial Court of General Jurisdiction | U.S. District Court (Judges) (Note: this court will review petitions for writs of habeas corpus from federal and state court prisoners) | Circuit Court, Commonwealth Court, District Court, Superior Court (Judges) |
| Trial Court of Limited Jurisdiction | U.S. Magistrate Courts (Magistrate Judges) | District Court, Justice of the Peace, Municipal Courts (Judges, Magistrates, Justices of the Peace) |
The Federal Court System
Article III of the U.S. Constitution established a Supreme Court of the United States and granted Congress discretion as to whether to adopt a lower court system. It states the “judicial Power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.” Fearing that the state courts might be hostile to congressional legislation, Congress immediately created a lower federal court system in 1789. [1] The lower federal court system has been expanded over the years, such as when Congress created the separate appellate courts in 1891.
United States Supreme Court
The United States Supreme Court (Court), located in Washington, D.C., is the highest appellate court in the federal judicial system. Nine justices sitting en banc, as one panel, together with their clerks and administrative staff, make up the Supreme Court. [View the biographies of the current U.S. Supreme Court Justices here: https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/biogra