Court System of the United States

Courts play an integral in enforcing and interpreting the laws of a nation. While the legislatures are tasked with devising laws and the executive branch with carrying them out, it is the courts' job to determine the laws' meanings and applications. In the United States, this process involves an intricate and often complex set of differing levels and jurisdictions. These include district, circuit, and appeals branches. This judiciary break-down applies to both state and federal courts. Having one's case decided at one level is often not the end of the penal odyssey, as the possibility remains to appeal to the next highest court. Such a scenario is open all the way through the Supreme Court, but advancing that far is not a standard occurrence. Regardless, the courts are an important piece of the American way of life, holding the power to keep criminals from society and uphold the laws regulating daily life. In order to be a well-informed citizen and participant in US society, one needs to have some knowledge of the court system. This book meets that requirement by presenting a thorough and carefully selected list of literature pertaining to the American court system. The citations deal with the district, circuit, and appeals courts. These divisions of the court system are often the least understood as they do not garner the national headlines of the Supreme Court, so this book makes for a critical tool in researching the US courts. Further access to this important information comes via author, title, and subject indexes.