About the U.S. Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals is the highest judicial system. This court takes various cases from all over the country but only particular types of cases. The United States Federal system has 94 district courts that are organized into 12 regions. Each of these 12 regions has a Court of Appeals. It is up to the appellate court’s task to determine whether the trial court has done its job properly and the appeal court does not use a jury and consists of three judges. Each year, the Supreme Court hears about some appeals of the more than thousands of cases and asks to review. The verdict of the appeal court is the last word for the cases.

How Appellate Courts are Different from Trial Courts

The main difference between trial and appellate courts is that the appellate court doesn’t find issues of fact, on the other hand, a trial court finds facts. There is no testimony in an appeal court and the trial court judiciary gives their judgment by testimony and prove. The appeal court only hears the record which is recorded during the trial and see the evidence and questioned the lawyers who were present in the trial court and come to a conclusion on all this and determine whether a trial judge or jury made any legal mistake or not.

Trail courts observe factual and legal disputes but appellate courts only review claims.

Grounds for Making an Appeal

The most common reason for appealing is that either the plaintiff or the defendant may be dissatisfied with the verdict of the case. They can claim that the way the trial court handled the case was wrong or that it violated state law.

The party that wants to appeal is called the petitioner. The petitioner requests the court to handle the case. The other party is called the respondent. The respondent comes to respond and refute the argument against the petitioners.