Courts & rulings
The federal judiciary, mapped from the Supreme Court down to the 94 district trial courts, who sits on each court, what it governs, how cases climb, and how binding precedent flows back down. Every entry links to an official source.
Find the U.S. trial court for your area, the circuit your appeals rise to, and the national apex.
Resolved server-side via the U.S. Census geocoder; your location is never stored.
The hierarchy
Eleven regional circuits plus the D.C. Circuit; the Federal Circuit hears appeals by subject matter, nationwide.
At least one in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the territories. Multi-district states are split by county. Find a district on the map or use the finder above.
Courts-martial → service Courts of Criminal Appeals → CAAF → the Supreme Court (by certiorari).
Every state, territory, and the District of Columbia has its own court of last resort, the final word on its own constitution, which can protect rights beyond the federal floor. Find your state's court with the finder above, or browse all judges & justices.
How the system works
Two courts must usually act first, and then the Court must choose you: of the thousands of petitions filed each term, about one in a hundred is heard. The full climb, stage by stage.
A court is bound by courts above it in its own line. SCOTUS binds all; a circuit binds only its own district courts. When circuits disagree, the law splits by region until SCOTUS steps in.
Article VI makes the Constitution and federal law supreme, state courts must follow SCOTUS on federal questions. A sister circuit's ruling binds no one elsewhere; it is only persuasive.
The U.S. Constitution sets a floor, the minimum rights guaranteed everywhere. A state constitution can grant more protection, never less. Same right, a higher ceiling in some states.
State courts once read their constitutions in lockstep with the federal one. Many now depart, interpreting their own text to protect rights beyond the federal minimum (New Judicial Federalism).