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In the United States, the federal court system has three tiers or layers; most state court systems also have three tiers or layers. As H. R. Turnbull and Turnbull (2000, p. 6) observed, “Why a case may be tried in one court, appealed or reviewed by another, and finally disposed of by yet another is a matter of great complexity.” A brief discussion of the state and federal court systems follows.

State court systems vary in organization and complexity. Cases filed in the lowest court may be appealed to an intermediate-level court, if a state has one. Decisions then may be appealed to the supreme court of the state, the “court of last resort” (Russo, 2018). The U.S. Supreme Court may review cases from a state court if a question of federal law is involved. Within the federal system, at the lowest level are the trial courts, called district courts. Nearly 100 federal district courts exist. At the intermediate level are 11 numbered federal circuits or geographical areas and the District of Columbia. Each court at this level is called a circuit court of appeals. These courts hear appeals from the district courts. They decide issues of law, not fact. The highest court in the federal system is the U.S. Supreme Court. A person who loses a case in a federal court of appeals or the highest state court may submit a written petition requesting the Supreme Court to review the case. The Supreme Court agrees to review a case by granting a writ of certiorari (an order calling up a case from a lower court for review). However, the Supreme Court selects only those cases it considers most important to review, and consequently, only a small percentage of the requests for review are granted.