State courts, explained
The answer
State courts, not federal courts, are where almost every legal dispute in the country actually gets decided. The folk model, built from watching federal trials on the news, treats "the courts" as basically synonymous with federal courts. In reality, state courts handle more than 70 million cases a year, over 95 percent of all cases filed in the United States. Nearly every criminal prosecution, divorce, custody dispute, eviction, traffic ticket, small-claims case, and contract dispute in the country runs through a state court, not a federal one.1
How it actually works
Every state organizes its courts in roughly the same three tiers, though names vary. Trial courts hear the case first, taking evidence and testimony. A case starts here, and this is where the vast majority of matters end, since most cases settle, plead out, or are never appealed. If a losing party appeals, the case goes to an intermediate appellate court, which exists in 41 states, and which reviews the trial record for legal errors rather than re-hearing the facts. From there, a further appeal can reach the state's court of last resort, almost always called the Supreme Court, whose decision on state law is final. Only questions of federal or constitutional law can be appealed further to the U.S. Supreme Court. In states without an intermediate appellate court, cases go directly from trial court to the state supreme court.2
Who holds the power
The state legislature sets the courts' jurisdiction, meaning which case types a given court can hear, what fees it can charge, and how attorneys are regulated. The state constitution sets how judges are chosen and how many sit on each court. Once a case is inside the system, trial judges decide fact-based outcomes largely alone, unless a jury is seated, appellate judges review only legal questions in panels, and the state supreme court has the final word on any question of state law, a decision no other branch of state government can override.
How judges reach the bench varies enormously: some states elect trial and appellate judges directly, partisan or nonpartisan, some use gubernatorial appointment with legislative confirmation, and many use a hybrid "merit selection" or Missouri Plan process with a nominating commission followed by a retention vote. This difference changes how directly a citizen's vote affects who sits on the bench, and it is not uniform even between neighboring states.
Where you come in
- What a district attorney decides. The prosecutor decides what reaches a state trial court in the first place.
- Municipal courts explained. The lowest tier a resident is likely to actually encounter: traffic, small claims, minor misdemeanors.
- How to contact your state legislator. Court jurisdiction and fees are set by statute, which means they can be changed by statute.
Related
- What your state attorney general can do
- Glossary: court of last resort
- Glossary: intermediate appellate court
- Glossary: merit selection