424). Many types of cases are heard in the district courts, including civil law (crimes against an individual) and criminal law (crimes against the public or state). All cases are presided over by a single judge. An estimated 300,000 cases are filed each year, with about 80 percent of them being civil cases and 20 percent being criminal (Greenberg/Page; p.424). A very small percentage of these cases, where parties believe mistakes in the law were made, move onto the U.S. Court of Appeals. .
The U.S. Court of Appeals decides on cases in which mistakes in the law have been made, questions of facts in a case do not constitute an appeal. Also all cases in which the death penalty has been sentenced are automatically sent to the appeals courts. New trials are not heard, but cases are argued on a specific legal issue which may have been breached. A panel of three or more judges decides on each issue and they have three ruling options. The panel of judges may affirm, or uphold the ruling of the lower court. They may reverse the decision or they may remand the case back to the original court. More then 50,000 cases are filed annually in the federal appeals court with about 5,000 reaching the formal hearing phase (Greenberg/Page; p.424-426). The United States is divided into 11 separate circuits. Each circuit has one court of appeal. The District of Columbia is a circuit of its own and one special court(Federal Circuit) is located there, for a total of 13 Circuit Courts of Appeals. Our state of Michigan is located in th 6th Circuit, along with the states of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Congress has authorized 150 judges to serve in these courts. Like the district court judges, they are nominated by the President and must be confirmed by congress. The Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. and the only court specifically mentioned in the Constitution(Article III). The Supreme Court is a court of original jurisdiction as well as an appellate court.