Federal courts

The U.S. courts (distinguished from the courts of theindividual states), including district courts (general courts of originaljurisdiction, which are the federal trial courts), courts of appeals (formerlycircuit courts of appeals, which are principally appellate review courts), andthe Supreme Court (the only court created directly by the Constitution, and thecourt of last resort in the federal system). Other specialized courts in thefederal system are court of claims (hears suits involving allowable claimsagainst the U.S. government), court of customs and patent appeals (reviewscustoms court decisions), and customs court (reviews decisions of the customscollectors).