Advocacy (24 LITG 501): Federal Law Research

The principle of stare decisis asserts that courts "must follow earlier judicial decisions when the same points arise again in litigation." Stare Decisis, Black's Law Dictionary (10th ed. 2014). Generally, the lower courts (trial courts) bind the parties involved but no other trial courts and no higher courts.  Appellate courts follow their own precedence (through the principle of horizontal stare decisis) and lower courts within their jurisdiction but do not bind other appellate courts at the same or a higher level. 

Many, but not all, jurisdictions call their court of last resort the Supreme Court. It is always a good idea to research your jurisdiction's court system in order to see the hierarchy.

In the hierarchy of case law authority, state and federal courts are parallel systems. Usually the state hierarchy includes a State Supreme Court as the court of law resort. It is parallel to the U.S. Supreme Court. Below the State Supreme Court is the Court of Appeals which is parallel to the United States Courts of Appeal in the federal system. Finally, the lowest level of court would be the trial courts which parallel the United States District Courts in the federal system.

The federal court system consists of the United States Supreme Court at the top of the court hiearchy. Below the U.S. Supreme Court are the United States Courts of Appeals. There are 12 regional Circuit Courts of Appeals and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Below the U.S. Courts of Appeals you have the U.S. District Courts. These are the trial courts. There are 94 judicial districts. At this level there are also the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts, the U.S. Court of International Trade, and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Congress also created several Article I, or legislative courts. These include the military courts, Court of Veterans Appeals, and the U.S. Tax Court, Not included in the judicial branch but having quasi-judicial functions are agencies and boards.