How is the U.S. court system structured?
I. What is the importance of the federal court system? • Federal courts hear only about one percent of all cases. • Article III of the Constitution gives the Supreme Court appellate jurisdiction in all cases and original jurisdiction in cases involving foreign ambassadors in which a state is a party. • In recent years, the Supreme Court has given full review to fewer than 100 of the over 9000 cases appealed to it. • Most of the cases of original federal jurisdiction are handled by the federal district courts. • Congress has also established several specialized courts, including the U.S. Court of International Trade and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. • Twelve U.S. Courts of Appeal review the record of the trial courts in their “circuit” and decide questions of law; a thirteenth appellate court hears all cases dealing with patents, copyrights and international trade. • The Supreme Court is the final arbiter of the Constitution, even though the power of judicial review is not specifica
