Library Services
Federal Court Cases
To find copies of federal court documents or judges decisions, researchers should understand the structure of the federal court system. Within the federal court system, there are three types of courts: District Courts, also known as federal trial courts; Appellate Courts and the U.S. Supreme Court.
In the U.S. federal court system, the nation is divided into thirteen regions, or circuits. Within each of these circuits, the following courts exist:
District Courts:
These are the trial courts of the federal system. Each state has its own federal District Court(s). Some states have only one District Court, and some have several. Also, each state has a federal bankruptcy court. For example, in California, there are four federal District Courts: Eastern District (contains Sacramento area, and much of the Central Valley), Northern District (Bay Area), Central District (LA and other parts of Southern California) and Southern District (San Diego and environs). Each one of these district courts has a bankruptcy court. In contrast, Nevada has only one federal district court and therefore only one federal bankruptcy court.
You can find case decisions from these courts in*: Wests Federal Supplement (available at the Sacramento County Public Law Library and the California State Law Library)
Appellate Courts:
These are courts which handle appeals from the federal district courts. California is in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Cases that are on appeal from the Eastern District of California go to this court.
You can find case decisions from these courts in*: West's Federal Reporter (available at the Sacramento County Public Law Library and the California State Law Library)
U.S. Supreme Court:
This is the highest court in the land --- the court of last resort. When cases are appealed from the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, they go to this court.
You can find case decisions from these courts in*:
West's Supreme Court Reporter (available at the Sacramento County Public Law Library and the California State Law Library)
* Some courts will publish their decisions on their website. To access all the courts mentioned above on the Internet, see the Federal Judiciary (http://www.uscourts.gov/allinks.html) web site.
To learn more about the federal court system, see:
Guide to the Federal
Courts: An Introduction to the Federal courts and Their Operation,
347.735 G946
WANT Publishing Co.
347.732 C294
by Robert A. Carp
The California State Law Library and the Sacramento County Public Law Library have large collections for legal research. For more in depth research and reference assistance you should visit these libraries:
California State Law Library (http://www.library.ca.gov/)914 Capitol Mall
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 654-0158
Sacramento
County Public Law Library (http://www.saclaw.lib.ca.us/)
813 Sixth Street, First Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 874-6011