The Federal Court System
Welcome! This is your guide supplement.
This way you will see a US Marshal and a US Attorney!
You will often see that a Marshal is very tired as he has probably just completed his basic training to become an official US Marshal. And okay, maybe you won't see one our out attorneys after all. Unfortunately, our US Attorney is busy most of the time and is not seen our tours as she takes complex cases and is often gathering her evidence.
As you step inside the court house, you will notice our Judges.
The preliminary trials are usually held over here, and our magistrate judge takes care of these cases and decides whether or not the trail shall proceed and if the accused shall make bail. We also have our regular federal court judges who were sentenced to a life term! Just kidding. They serve with a life term, meaning they are allowed to serve as long as they'd like.
(Just an FYI)
District Courts, where the trails are held and lawsuits begin, have original jurisdiction, meaning they have the authority to hear the case for the first time. Appeals Courts, however, review the decisions from the lower courts and have appellate jurisdiction, or the power to hear a case already appealed. The 12 US Court of Appeals covers a specific geographic area called a circuit.
Another FYI?
Appeals Courts don't hold trials, so a panel of judges review the case and one option for them is to remand the case. This would mean that they send it back to a lower court to be tried again. Appellate judges write an opinion that explains their legal thinking behind their decision and it in turn sets a precedent for other judges to follow in the future on similar cases.