District Court - United States

United States

In the United States federal courts, the United States district courts are the general trial courts. The federal district courts have jurisdiction over federal questions (trials and cases interpreting federal law, or which involve federal statutes or crimes) and diversity (cases otherwise subject to jurisdiction in a state trial court but which are between litigants of different states and/or countries). There are 89 federal districts in the 50 states. United States district courts also exist in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the District of Columbia, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. So, in total, there are 94 U.S. district courts. Decisions from these courts are subject to review by one of the 13 United States court of appeals, which are, in turn, subject to review by the Supreme Court of the United States.

Some states maintain state courts called "district courts." In Florida, the Florida District Courts of Appeal are intermediate appellate courts. In Texas, the Texas District Courts are trial courts of general jurisdiction, hearing all felony and divorce cases, election controversies, and many civil matters. The Hawaii State District Courts, and those in Alaska, New York, and Kentucky, to name a few, are courts of limited jurisdiction.

Read more about this topic:  District Court

Famous quotes related to united states:

    I am a freeman, an American, a United States Senator, and a Democrat, in that order.
    Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)

    The United States is unusual among the industrial democracies in the rigidity of the system of ideological control—’indoctrination’ we might say—exercised through the mass media.
    Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)

    Europe and the U.K. are yesterday’s world. Tomorrow is in the United States.
    R.W. ‘Tiny’ Rowland (b. 1917)

    On the whole, yes, I would rather be the Chief Justice of the United States, and a quieter life than that which becomes at the White House is more in keeping with the temperament, but when taken into consideration that I go into history as President, and my children and my children’s children are the better placed on account of that fact, I am inclined to think that to be President well compensates one for all the trials and criticisms he has to bear and undergo.
    William Howard Taft (1857–1930)

    The popular colleges of the United States are turning out more educated people with less originality and fewer geniuses than any other country.
    Caroline Nichols Churchill (1833–?)