Thread by @ThatShockratees

So I wanna do this thread on structure/jurisdiction of the court system - apologies in advance for those who are already familiar. But it’s a thing many non-lawyers get confused about.

Everywhere in USA, two courts have jurisdiction - the federal courts, and the state courts.

This comes from federalism - the idea that each state is its own sovereign mini-nation. But federalism is tempered by the Supremacy Clause (which makes federal law prevail over contrary state law) and Article III, which establishes a federal court system to enforce federal law.

The federal court system has the Supreme Court of the United States at the top. Below that are 11 federal Courts of Appeal, and the areas where they have jurisdiction to hear appeals are “circuits.” When you hear ppl talk about the Fourth Circuit, the Ninth Circuit, that’s this.

Then at the bottom level where trials are conducted, the federal court system has its workaday “district courts” - two or three per state. Here’s where much confusion arises: when ppl say “district court,” that refers to the FEDERAL court. In that district.

Now I want to draw a firm line right here:

Each state also has, in addition to and separate from what I just described, a state court system that trucks along independently from the federal system. They are really separate worlds - when they have to ask each other questions, they do it in a very formal way. Bc federalism.

Each state has a state Supreme Court, just like each state has its own state constitution. You might think “well, because federal law is supreme over state law, the state courts are very limited to local things.”

NOPE. That’s exactly the opposite of how it works.

Although their physical jurisdiction is local (enforcing orders, subpoenas, etc.), each state court system has jurisdiction to apply BOTH federal law, and the law of its own state.

Each state also has its own prosecution system and its own Attorney General, its own Supreme Court to apply its own constitution and be the ultimate arbiter of its own statutes, and except for WV, its own state courts of appeal.

So in civil cases, which involve a wrong against a private party, not the people as a whole, you can often choose whether to sue in federal or state court. If a federal statute applies, or if you’re suing someone from a different state, you can choose to sue in federal.

Criminal cases are different, bc they’re brought by state officials. Each state’s chief prosecutor for state criminal law is known as the “Attorney General.” Because the prosecutor files those cases, state charges only get filed in state courts. No overlap.

There can be similar federal charges, if there’s a federal statute, and those are brought by federal prosecutors known as “US Attorneys” or “Assistant US Attorneys.” You’ll hear AUSA used a lot - that refers to the federal “line” prosecutor - the one doing the work.

I did this thread bc I see a lot of confusion among non-lawyers, particularly about various Trump entities in New York right now. The Southern District of New York (a federal court) is prosecuting some. The Manhattan District of NY’s STATE court system is prosecuting others.

NY is one of the few states that calls its trial level state courts “district courts.” Most use terms like circuit or county or parish, to distinguish from federal. In NY, though, we have a federal “district” and a state “district” court with the same area under sway.

I hope this was even a little helpful. Imma finish up a complaint this weekend.

(I officially restarted my law practice as a PLLC this month, but I still also have a 9 to 5 M/F job. So law gets practiced on nights and weekends, for now.)

(NO, it’s not called “Shockratees PLLC”)