Further information: Federal tribunals in the United States

Civil procedure
in the United States
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Doctrines of civil procedure
Jurisdiction Venue
Pleadings Motions
Service of process Complaint Answer Counterclaim Crossclaim
Pre-trial procedure
Discovery Interrogatories Depositions
Request for admissions
Request for production
Resolution without trial
Default judgment Summary judgment Voluntary dismissal Involuntary dismissal Sett
lement
Trial
Parties Jury Burden of proof Judgment
Appeal
Mandamus Certiorari
v t e
The federal courts are composed of three levels of courts. The Supreme Court of
the United States is the court of last resort. It is generally an appellate cour
t that operates under discretionary review, which means that the Court can choos
e which cases to hear, by granting of writs of certiorari. There is generally no
right of appeal to the Supreme Court. In a few situations (like lawsuits betwee
n state governments or some cases between the federal government and a state) it
sits as a court of original jurisdiction.
The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate
s. They operate under a system of mandatory review which
l appeals of right from the lower courts. In some cases,
ppellate jurisdiction to specialized courts, such as the
rveillance Court of Review.

federal appellate court

means they must hear al
Congress has diverted a
Foreign Intelligence Su

The United States district courts (one in each of the 94 federal judicial distri
cts, as well three territorial courts) are general federal trial courts, althoug
h in many cases Congress has diverted original jurisdiction to specialized court
s, such as the Court of International Trade, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillan
ce Court, the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, or to Article I or Article IV tribu
nals. The district courts usually have jurisdiction to hear appeals from such tr
ibunals (unless, for example, appeals are to the Court of Appeals for the Federa
l Circuit.)
Other tribunals[edit]
Besides these federal courts, described as Article III courts, there are other a
djudicative bodies described as Article I or Article IV courts in reference to t
he article of the Constitution from which the court's authority stems.
There are a number of Article I courts with appellate jurisdiction over specific
subject matter including the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and the Court
of Appeals for the Armed Forces, as well as Article I courts with appellate jur
isdiction over specific geographic areas such as the District of Columbia Court
of Appeals. The Article I courts with original jurisdiction over specific subjec
t matter include the bankruptcy courts (for each district court), the immigratio
n courts, the Court of Federal Claims, and the Tax Court.
Article IV courts include the High Court of American Samoa and territorial court
s such as the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, District Court of
Guam, and District Court of the Virgin Islands.

Judges[edit]
Further information: United States federal judge
Federal judges, like Supreme Court Justices, are appointed by the President with
the consent of the Senate to serve until they resign, are impeached and convict
ed, retire, or die.
In April 2013, about 10 percent of federal seats were vacant, with 85 of 856 pos
itions unfilled and 4 vacancies on the prestigious Court of Appeals for the Dist
rict of Columbia Circuit.[1] The high vacancy rate has been attributed to politi
cs, particularly Senate filibustering of potential appointees by Senators.[1] In
many cases there is no nominee for the position; however, the Senate has a tr