Dual Court System

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The court structure in the United States is comprised of a dual court system. The dual court system consists of “one system of state and local courts and another system of federal courts” (Bohm & Haley, 2011, p. 274). Although the system has a separate court system for state and federal court, they do connect in the United States Supreme Court. Each court has various levels of jurisdiction to hear and make decisions over cases (Bohm & Haley, 2011). The four components for the state court system are Trial Courts of Limited Jurisdiction, Trial Courts of General Jurisdiction, Intermediate Courts of Appeals, and Appellate Court of Last Resorts. The Trial Courts of Limited Jurisdiction are the courts at the lowest level such as General Sessions Court. These courts …show more content…

The District Courts have original jurisdiction and is where most of the violations of federal law as well as civil law are decided. There are 94 district courts divided into 13 circuits in the federal court system to include territorial courts in Guam, Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico. The Circuit Courts of Appeals was created by Congress to lessen the load of the Supreme Court just like the intermediate courts of appeals does for the state supreme court. With only appellate jurisdiction, it only reviews cases for errors in the law. The third component of the federal court system and the highest court in America is the United States Supreme Court. In any case that includes the Constitution, acts of Congress, and treaties with nations, the U.S. Supreme Court has the final ruling (Bohm & Haley, 2011). The Supreme Court can hear cases from state supreme courts where federal law as well as the Constitution play a part in them. The Supreme Court will only make a ruling on the federal laws, not the applicable state laws in the