Courts Unit 2 responses

The United States is controlled by two individual and distinct legal systems. Each individual state had their own legislature, court system, and governor. The federal government is mae up of the U.S. Congress, the President, and the federal court system. With that being pointed out, state and federal courts have specific types of cases that they will be participating in, which is referred to as jurisdiction. Their procedures and specific laws is what differenciated the outcomes between the two types of courts. To keep it in basic terms – state courts are involved with state law, while federal courts are involved with federal law. State courts handle cases like: family law, estates, personal injury, criminal cases within state laws, contract disputes, and real estate disputed – as a few examples. Federal courts were created by the United States Constitution, and is referred to as “limited jurisdiction”, as federal courts can only hear and be involved in cases that they are specifically authorized to hear (Columbus Criminal Attorney 2021). While federal courts can hear criminal cases like state courts do, they have to involve federal law. These cases can include issues if – the U.S. is a party in the case, the case involved the Constitution or federal law, the case involved parties from different states, bankruptcy, patent, copyright, maritime law. 

2. According the textbook, “Courts and Criminal Justice in America,” the authors stated that federal courts are ran by the federal government and state courts run through the state governments (Siegel, Schmalleger, Worrall, 2018). One of the main differences between federal courts and state courts would be the jurisdiction. State courts’ jurisdicitions are way more elaborated than federal courts. Federal courts deal with fewer cases and matters related to the national interest. Whereas, state courts deals with a larger number of cases. Futhermore, federal courts deals with federal concerns such as drug trafficking, firearms trafficking, robbery of federally insured banks, federal tax offenses, etc. On the other hand, state courts deal with wills and estates cases, personal injuries cases, and family cases. Also, criminal cases are mostly heard on state courts but crimes can be filed in the federal courts but will not usually get adjudicated there. The structure of state courts vary as compared to federal courts in various ways. There are three tiers of federal courts which are the following:U.S District Courts: this is the entry point into the federal judicial system. The U.S District Courts deal with resolving disputes by determing the facts and applying legal principles to decide who is right (Siegel, Schmalleger, Worrall, 2018).Courts of Appeals: If a defendant disagrees with the judge’s decision on his/her conviction, he/she can appeal through this type of court. They also deal with managing screen cases for Supreme Court review (Siegel, Schmalleger, Worrall, 2018).U.S Supreme Courts: The Supreme Court has discretion over what cases they will be hear. Cases are typically assigned to a panel of three judges (Siegel, Schmalleger, Worrall, 2018). This type of court has the power to decide constitutional questions.The laws of each state establishes the state courts. There are some states that usually handle specific legal matters such as juvenile court, family court, drug use court, etc. The state court judges are selected by election, appointment for a given number of years, for life and combinations of these methods whereas the judges in federal courts are just selected by the President and confirmed by the Senate. 

3. State courts and federal courts differ because state courts take up state cases or crimes or laws broken within that state. Federal Courts take up cases that break the laws of federal crimes. The only exception would be if the supreme court has original jurisdiction a certain case arising from the state level. We hear the term jurisdiction and that means the power of a court to resolve a dispute or the territory it has or the subject matter it entails. Compared to federal courts state courts have jurisdiction as well that is more straightforward they either have original or appellate jurisdictions and do not have the authority to decide matters involving federal questions or diversity issues. Federal questions are cases that touch upon constitutional matters most of the time that is the supreme court to hear those cases but in some instances federal courts do hear these cases as well. 

Talking about the structure of state and federal courts the state courts have broad jurisdiction and can take on individual cases for their state citizens including robberies  family disputes assualts, DWI sex crimes, theft, violent assualt, real estate fraud etc. Federal courts have limited jurisdiction and only the cases listed in the constitution can be specifically heard in federal court. State courts can try almost any case except the ones that congress stated should be litigated out in federal court. Examples of federal crimes are fraud, drug trafficking, money laundering, counterfeit, bank robberies, tax evasion, human trafficking etc. 

4. The two key differences between federal and state courts would be their level of power and the cases they include. State courts are obviously less powerful then the federal court, the federal court judges are nominated by the president and then confirmed by senate. The Federal court established laws and allows the congress to therefore have courts. While there is a federal court of appeals, they are the highest level of court. In state courts, who manages specific legal matters, parties have the option to request their case be seen by a higher level court. There is an obvious high archy amongst the courts and a distinctive level of interaction and power. The type of cases that are held in these courts are quite different as well. Federal courts hold trials for things such as constitutional rights or other involvement of federal law, when the United States is a party in the case, or cases between states. The state courts handles, injurues, crime, family matters and juvenille matters, various personal lawsuits and contract disputes. State courts generally handle cases involving individulas or groups rather than representing states or countries like the Federal court does. Only some of the cases on a state level will and can be considered in the US sepreme court. The structure of State courts seems to have a chain of command, courts such as family, juvenille, drug or criminal court, then can go to a intermediate court and finally to the state court, using almost a pyramid scale. The federal court however has courts for various things such as trade, bankruptsy and claims, appeals go to appeal court but the Supreme Court is the highlest level.State courts have a broader jurisdiction then Federal courts, Federal courts only take cases in reguards to the constitution. However, State courts can take on a long list of cases, pretty much anything that a citizen brings to court or breaks the local or state law. 

5. There is a significant difference between federal courts and state courts and it begins with the type of cases that are heard.  Federal courts deal with cases that oversee the constitutionality of a law, laws involving treaties within the U.S., cases involving ambassadors and public administrators, and most importantly: habeus corpus issues.  The state court system is split between civil cases and criminal cases, where civil cases deal with contracts, torts (also known as personal injury), and family matters; and criminal cases, which are laws that pose a danger to society (murder, manslaughter, arson, and rape).

To oversee court proceedings and guarantee that the law is being upheld, there are judges.  In federal courts, judges are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.  They hold that appointment typically for life, unless they take part in misconduct that will result in their impeachment.  State court judges are admitted by election and by appointment for a number of years.  

When conducting a criminal trial, a defendant can be found guilty or not guilty by a jury.  If a defendant is found guilty, there are options for that defendant if they and their representation is dissatisfied with the ruling.  “Parties dissatisfied with a decision of a U.S. district court… may appeal to a U.S. Court of Appeals” (uscourts.gov). 

The structure of federal and state courts vary largely. Federally, Article III, Section 1 creates the U.S. Supreme Court and gives Congress the authority to create the lower federal courts. What varies with state courts are that independent states in addition to the Constitution establishes laws within state courts.  States also have specific courts for independent legal matters, such as family court, probate court; etc.  Separately, there are 94 U.S. District Courts, the U.S. Court of Claims, and the U.S. Court of International Trade.  Connecting federal courts to state courts, magistrate judges handle some District Court matters.  Where federal and state courts are similar is that parties unhappy with decisions rendered by either court system are permitted to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals.