As a potential law school candidate, it is important to be familiar with the U.S. legal system. A proficient or advanced understanding is required in order to comprehend your role as a lawyer on the macro level. In the next two blog posts, I will present a short description of the U.S. legal system to give you the opportunity to become familiar with its various components. My goal is to inform you of the various components of the U.S. legal system to expand your knowledge of the legal field.
Background
The U.S. Constitution establishes our government and specifies its powers. States retain powers not delegated to the federal government. Each state has its own state constitution that outlines their governmental structure, legal codes, and judiciary.
The U.S. Constitution establishes the judicial branch of the federal government and specifies the authority of federal courts. Exclusive jurisdiction is granted to federal courts for cases involving federal laws, foreign powers, or issues between two or more states. All other cases typically fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of a state court.
Trial by jury is a right given to parties in all criminal and most civil cases. A jury is composed of 12 citizens who objectively listen to evidence presented in cases to reach a verdict. It is common in the United States for cases to be resolved prior to reaching a trial by jury.
Structure of the Federal Court System
The U.S. Constitution establishes the Supreme Court as the highest federal court of the United States. With authority derived from the U.S. Constitution, Congress established two levels of federal courts below the Supreme Court: the U.S. district courts and the U.S. circuit court of appeals.
U.S. district courts are the courts of first instance in the federal system and altogether, there are 94 such district courts throughout the nation. At least one district court is located in each state. In the state of Maryland, there are two divisions of our designated U.S. district court: one office is located in Baltimore and the other office is located in Greenbelt. The three main types of judges in the U.S. district courts are district judges, bankruptcy judges, and magistrate judges. In the state of Maryland, the Honorable Catherine C. Blake is the current Chief Judge for the U.S. District Court and Felicia C. Cannon is the current Clerk of Court. If you would like to learn more about the U.S. district court for the district of Maryland, you can visit their website here.
The next level in the federal system is the U.S. circuit court of appeals. There are 12 regional U.S. circuit court of appeals located in different parts of the country. The state of Maryland falls under the jurisdiction of the U.S. circuit court of appeals for the fourth circuit. It is located in Richmond, Virginia. With the exception of the government in criminal cases, a party has the right to appeal its case to the U.S. circuit court of appeals if they lost in the U.S. district court. All appeals from the district courts go before a panel of three judges. These judges also hear appeals from decisions of federal administrative agencies. If you would like to learn more about the U.S. circuit court of appeals for the fourth circuit, you can visit their website here.
At the top of the federal court system is the Supreme Court. The judicial body of the Supreme Court is composed of nine justices who, at their discretion, hear cases from the federal circuit of appeals and cases from the highest state courts if the appeals involve the U.S. Constitution or federal law. The current Chief Justice of the U.S. is the Honorable John G. Roberts, Jr. If you would like to learn more about the Supreme Court, you can visit their website here.
I hope the information I have presented so far has furthered your knowledge of the U.S. legal system. In my next blog, I will continue this discussion by presenting information about the structure of state court systems, judges, and prosecutors.
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