United States Court of Appeals

The United States courts of appeals (or circuit courts) are the mid-level appellate courts of the United States federal court system. A court of appeals decides appeals from the district courts within its federal judicial circuit, and in some instances from other designated federal courts and administrative agencies.

Related Topics:
Appellate court - United States federal court system - District court - Federal judicial circuit - Administrative agencies

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There currently are 13 United States courts of appeals, although there are other tribunals (such as the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, which hears appeals in court-martial cases) that have "Court of Appeals" in their titles. These include eleven "numbered" circuits and the D.C. Circuit, which hear appeals from district courts located within their geographically-defined circuits, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which has nationwide jurisdiction over certain appeals based on subject matter. All of the courts of appeals also hear appeals from some administrative agency decisions and rulemaking, with by far the largest share of these cases heard by the D.C. Circuit. The Federal Circuit hears appeals from specialized trial courts, primarily the United States Court of International Trade and the United States Court of Federal Claims, as well as appeals from the district courts in patent cases and certain other specialized matters.

Related Topics:
Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces - Court-martial - D.C. Circuit - United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit - United States Court of International Trade - United States Court of Federal Claims - Patent

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The circuit with the least number of appellate judges is the First Circuit, and the one with the most is the Ninth Circuit. The number of judges Congress has authorized for each circuit is set forth in the U.S. Code (U.S.C.) at Title 28, Section 44.

Related Topics:
First Circuit - Ninth Circuit - Congress - U.S. Code (U.S.C.)

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The rules that govern the procedure in the courts of appeals are the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure. Being appellate courts, these courts do not hold trials, which is where witnesses and other evidence are presented to a jury or judge that then decides the facts of what happened and what, if any, punishment (in criminal cases), damages, or other relief should be awarded. Appeals courts decide only the question of whether the trial court reached the right conclusion in the case, based on the evidence presented there, so in an appeal the court considers only the record (that is, the papers the parties filed and the transcripts and any exhibits from any trial) from the trial court and the legal arguments of the parties, made in written form as briefs and sometimes in spoken form as oral argument at a hearing where the parties' lawyers (only) speak to the court.

Related Topics:
Brief - Oral argument

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In a court of appeals, an appeal is almost always heard by a "panel" of three of the court's judges, although there are instances where all of the judges will participate in an en banc hearing. As a rule, there is no right to appeal a decision of the federal circuit court to the Supreme Court of the United States, but a party may apply to that court to review a ruling of the circuit court -- that is called petitioning for a writ of certiorari -- and if the Supreme Court agrees, then the matter is treated like an appeal to the Supreme Court from the circuit court.

Related Topics:
En banc - Supreme Court of the United States - Writ of certiorari

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A court of appeals may also certify questions to the Supreme Court, a rare procedure that was used by the Second Circuit, sitting en banc, in United States v. Penaranda, as a result of the Supreme Court's decision in Blakely v. Washington. 28 U.S.C. 1254(2).

Related Topics:
Supreme Court - Blakely v. Washington - U.S.C.

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Although the courts of appeals are frequently referred to as "circuit courts," they should not be confused with the historical United States circuit courts, which existed from 1789 to 1911 and were primarily trial courts.

Related Topics:
United States circuit court - 1789 - 1911

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