What is the difference between federal courts and state courts?
They are simply court systems from different governments. The federal court system is a creature of the U.S. constitution. It generally deals with federal issues. The civil cases that are there generally fall into two categories: either they deal with questions of federal law (i.e. laws passed by Congress) or they deal with disputes between citizens of different states (but they have to be large enough to get into federal court). Criminal cases in federal courts are brought by federal prosecutors (a/k/a U.S. Attorneys) against defendants who are alleged to have violated federal criminal laws (like money laundering, federal tax evasion etc) regardless of where the defendant is from. State courts are court systems of each of the 50 states. They generally have broader jurisdiction than federal courts. In other words, a plaintiff can sue a defendant for a violation of federal law in either state or federal court but can only sue for a violation of state law in state court. (There are excep
