ABA Family Legal Guide

How the Legal System Works

The Structure of the Court System

State and Federal Courts

What types of federal courts are there?

There are several specialized federal courts--Tax Court, the Court of Federal Claims, the Court of Veterans Appeals, courts of criminal appeals for each branch of the armed forces, and the Court of International Trade. Each U.S. district court also has a U.S. bankruptcy court unit, as well as one or more magistrates.

In addition, Congress has created other courts under its Article I powers to serve the people in the U.S. territories of Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands . These are called legislative courts because they are authorized by Congress to serve U. S. territories, in contrast to courts authorized under Article III of the Constitution to serve in this country. They operate much like the Article III courts, but the presiding officers of these courts do not have the constitutional protections accorded to Article III judges, such as life tenure and the prohibition against reducing judicial salaries.

A party to a federal lawsuit will have an opportunity to proceed through two levels of decision: the U.S. district court or other specialized trial court and a court of appeals. In rare cases, a party may receive a third level of decision from the U.S. Supreme Court if, for example, the Court believes that the case presents an important question of constitutional law.