The U.S. Court System

Hot Topic Today – July 21, 2025

Does a district judge have the authority to infringe, ignore or rule on another court’s decision that lies in another jurisdiction?

First let’s get into the “weeds” of the legal system

In computer usage you may have hear the saying that “There’s an app for that” meaning that there is a piece of software (a gizmo) that will make your computer usage easier or more productive.

In the legal world there is an “App” for that too. When a law has been supposedly broken “There is a judge or specific court for that” meaning that there are judges who specialize in specific legal areas of the law.

The USA has designated 94 separate district courts (Also called trial courts) with their own specific geographical boundaries. They are sometimes further defined into specialties such as traffic court, family court and others.

Juries and judges are part of the process in determining guilt or innocence. While judges can be educated in specific areas of the law, the juries can be composed of anybody with or without a knowledge of the law. Explaining the law to the jury and describing the facts of the case are the responsibilities of the lawyers: A prosecutor who works for the “state” and a defense lawyer who works for the accused.

A jury hears the arguments as presented by a prosecutor and a defense lawyer and then votes on whether the defendant is guilty or innocent. Not all cases are heard by a jury. Sometimes just a judge makes the decision as to the defendant’s guilt or innocence.

The judge keeps everybody on track following the law as written. But who keeps the judge or jury on track and following the law? Hmmmm?

Either side in the debate can complain about the decision and “appeal it” asking for a second opinion from an appellate court (also called a circuit court). That appellate court, however, has to be within the same jurisdiction as the original district court. There are 14 separate appellate courts also with specific geographical boundaries. There is a separate appellate court for Washington D.C.  

Both state and federal courts have the same hierarchy: The states have trial, appellate and state supreme courts while the federal government has district courts, appellate courts and the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Hot Topic in America these days centers on the interplay of jurisdiction and authority. Does a district judge have any authority to infringe or rule on another court’s decision that lies in another jurisdiction? No, unless the question is in regards to the constitutionality of the law. In that case the district court participants make an appeal to the appellate court and then the US Supreme Court gets the final say.

And the appeals stop there especially because the U.S. Supreme Courts gets to pick and choose which cases (about 150) of 7 to 8 thousand appeals it receives annually. The district court judge cannot nullify (rule against) a federal law, especially one that the U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled upon.

The difficulty of getting the precise judgement a lawyer wants often comes down to which district judge is presented with the case. This process can be abused by the practice called Judge Shopping whereby either side can choose a judge with a known bias or sense of fairness to the case at hand.  

Suggestions and corrections are welcome.

                                                ###