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All United States district courts are named in the format "United States District Court for the XXXX District of XXXX," with the exception of the United States District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands.
There are other federal trial courts that have nationwide jurisdiction over certain types of cases, but the district court also has jurisdiction over most of those types of cases, and the district court is the only one with jurisdiction over criminal cases and the only one where a trial can be to a jury instead of just a judge. The Court of International Trade addresses cases involving international trade and customs issues. The United States Court of Federal Claims has jurisdiction over most claims for money damages against the United States, including disputes over federal contracts, unlawful takings of private property by the federal government, and suits for injury on federal property or by a federal employee. The United States Tax Court has jurisdiction over contested assessments of taxes.
The number of judges in each district court (and the structure of the judicial system generally) is set by Congress, and the Senate has to approve each appointment of someone to be a judge; the President appoints all judges, so the nominees often belong to the same political party as the President, or share at least some of his convictions. Judges are appointed for life, but a judge who has reached the age of 65 (or has become disabled) may retire or elect to go on "senior status" and keep working. Such "senior" judges are not counted in the quota of active judges for the district and do only whatever work they are assigned by the chief judge of the district, but they keep their offices (called "chambers") and staff, and many of them work full-time. A federal judge is addressed in writing as "The Honorable Jane Doe" or "Hon. Jane Doe" and in speech as "Judge" or "Judge Doe" or, in a courtroom, "Your Honor."
To file a civil case (that is, "sue someone") in federal district court, a person must have a reason why a federal court, instead of a state court, should adjudicate the dispute. By law, the bases for federal jurisdiction (the power to hear and decide a case) are:
Thus, not every legal dispute can be litigated in federal court, hence the expression "make a federal case out of it."
Although in matters of civil law there are often parallel federal and state laws, providing an aggrieved party with a choice of venue, there are some matters which may only be adjudicated in the Federal courts; these include most intellectual propertyIn law, intellectual property is a form of legal entitlement which allows its holder to control the use of certain intangible ideas and expressions. The term intellectual property reflects the fact that once established, such entitlements are generally tr questions and matters related to international relationsInternational relations IR is an academic and public policy field, a branch of political science, dealing with the foreign policy of states within the international system including the roles of international organizations, non-governmental organizations. In some situations, Federal law provides both for the exclusive jurisdiction of Federal courts and for the immunity of the defendant from the power of those courts. One example of this is patentA patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a government to an inventor or applicant for a limited amount of time (normally 20 years from the filing date). The term "patent" originates from the term patere which means to lay open (to public inspectio-infringement claims against a state government: only the Federal courts may hear patent cases, but the states have sovereign immunitySovereign immunity or crown immunity is a type of immunity that, in common law jurisdictions traces its orgins from early English law. Generally speaking it is the doctrine that the sovereign or government cannot commit a legal wrong and is immune from ci from such suits. Although a state may choose to waive its immunity in such a case and allow it to proceed to trial, if it does not do so, the plaintiff has no recourse. (This doctrine was reaffirmed in a pair of Supreme CourtThe Supreme Court of the United States located in Washington, D. is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States to interpret and decide questions of federal law. It is he cases titled Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board v. College Savings Bank .)
District courts also have limited jurisdiction as an appellate courtAn appellate court is a court that hears cases in which a lower court either a trial court or a lower-level appellate court has already made some decision, which at least one party to the action wants to challenge based upon some legal grounds that are al, reviewing decisions of the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board and of United States bankruptcy courts.
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