The Federal District Court is the lowest level of the Federal Court system. Each district has at least one District Court that handles all federal cases within its jurisdiction through jury trials. Judges are appointed for life by the President and interpret the law to determine guilt, innocence, and punishments. The Federal Appeals Court is the next level that only has appellate jurisdiction and reviews cases for unfairness or errors through written briefs and oral arguments before panels of judges, who can uphold, overturn, or remand lower court decisions.

1. Federal District Court
District Court
-lowest level of Federal Courts
-all federal cases must begin at this
level
-Each court rules over a district. At
least one court per state
-District Courts complete about 90%
of the Federal case load

2. Federal District Court
Court’s Purpose
-District Courts handle cases that
fall under Federal jurisdiction
-District Courts use a jury trial to
decide guilt or innocence
-Judges are to interpret the law and
determine punishments

3. Federal District Court
Court Officials
-Judges are appointed by the
President w/ Senate approval
Judges serve a life-time term
-U.S. Attorneys represent the
government in all cases
-U.S. Marshals
-Magistrates
-Court Clerks

4. Federal Appeals Court
Appeals Court
-Appeals Courts serve as the second
level in the system
-They have only appellate
jurisdiction
-there are 12 Courts of Appeal in
the U.S. which supervise a district
-Cases are appealed to the Court
because of unfairness or error

5. Federal Appeals Court
Court Procedures
-No juries are used in Appeals Courts
-No determination is made on guilt or
innocence
-Only decision is whether a fair trial
was given
-Written Briefs of the unfair ruling or
trial error are prepared and oral
arguments are presented before the
court
-Panels of 3 or more judges hear the
cases and make decisions

6. Federal Appeals Court
Court Rulings
-Appeals Courts can make three
decisions in a case
-Uphold
confirm the previous court’s
decision
-Overturn
-reverse the previous court’s
decision
-Remand
-send the case back down to a
lower court for retrial