The Judicial branch of the US government is split into District Courts, Appeals Courts, and the all mighty Supreme Court.
Appeals Courts are the next step up in the US court system. When the District Courts make a decision, the convicted party can call for an appeal, meaning that they believe that their constitutional rights have been violated. The Appeals Court will overview the trial and deem whether or not the rights were violated. There are 12 Appeals Courts in the US
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Finally, there is the 9 member lifelong term Supreme Court. The Supreme Court can pick and chose it's cases it will hear which is usually around 1% of all cases submitted. If an Appeals Court deems that yes constitutional rights have been violated than the case is submitted to the Supreme Court. If the cases is ignored or rejected by the Supreme Court, then the original jurisdiction (the final ruling of the District Court) stands.
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