Federal courts

The Supreme Court of the United States, thirteen courts of appeals, ninety-four district courts, and the bankruptcy courts attached to those districts. Congress has also created specialized forums such as the Court of Federal Claims and the Court of International Trade.

Almost all of its docket is discretionary. Parties petition for a writ of certiorari, and the Court accepts only a small fraction of those requests each term, usually cases that present a conflict among the circuits or a question of national importance.

They review decisions of the district courts and certain federal agencies for legal error. Twelve of them cover geographic circuits; the thirteenth, the Federal Circuit, hears appeals nationwide in specific subject areas such as patents and claims against the federal government.

The trial court of the federal system. It is where federal cases start, where evidence is heard, and where judgment is first entered. Every state has at least one district; larger states are divided into as many as four.

A unit of the district court that handles cases under the Bankruptcy Code. District courts refer bankruptcy filings to it by standing order, its judges are appointed by the court of appeals for the circuit, and its decisions can be reviewed by the district court or a bankruptcy appellate panel.

Usually by losing below and petitioning for certiorari. A case moves from a district court to the court of appeals for its circuit, and from there a party may ask the Supreme Court to review. State cases can also reach the Court when they turn on a question of federal law.

Its jurisdiction is defined by subject rather than geography. It takes patent appeals from every district court in the country, along with appeals from the Court of Federal Claims, the Court of International Trade, and several agencies, which makes its docket unlike any regional circuit's.

On the court's own website. Every federal court page in this directory links to the official site, and filings themselves move through the judiciary's electronic case filing system. Local rules differ from court to court, so always check the specific forum.

No. Family law and probate belong to the state courts even when the people involved live in different states. Federal courts decline these matters under long-standing doctrine, so a divorce or estate case belongs on your state's court page, not here.

Through named, editor-reviewed checks backed by evidence the firm submits, including bar standing and admission to practice. Each check is displayed with a description, a status, and the date it was last reviewed, and firms with docket-verified federal practice carry that mark only after an editor confirms the underlying records.