Criminal Justice 2, [University Name]: The Role of US Court of Appeal

This report delves into the function of the United States Courts of Appeals within the federal judiciary system, also known as Circuit Courts. It examines the structure and jurisdiction of these appellate courts, which sit below the Supreme Court, and highlights their significance in setting legal guidelines. The report discusses the role of the Court of Appeal in reviewing trial court decisions and ensuring adherence to legal principles, as well as its impact on the law of the country. It mentions the Evarts Act of 1891 and the current number of judgeships, along with the appointment process. The report concludes that the Court of Appeal has mandatory jurisdiction, reviewing all cases filed by litigants, making its decisions final in thousands of federal cases. The report also references several scholarly articles and resources to support its analysis.

Running head: CRIMINAL JUSTICE 2
CRIMINAL JUSTICE 2
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1
CRIMINAL JUSTICE 2
The United States courts of appeals are the transitional appellate courts of the United
States federal judiciary system. These appellate courts are also termed as Circuit Courts
(Edwards, 2017). The courts are divided into 13 appellate courts which comes below the U.S.
Supreme Court in the court hierarchy list of the Federal Judicial system (Haire & Moyer
2015). The aim of this study is to discuss the role of the Court of Appeal in the judicial
system of the United States.
The Circuit Court in the United States is recognized as the most commanding and
powerful courts in the United States. The Court of Appeal can set guidelines for most of the
regions in the United States of America. The 94 federal judicial districts in the USA are
unified into 12 regional circuits, which is consist of a separate court of appeal. The appellate
court’s task is to analyse the verdict given by the trial court and to determine whether such
given verdict followed requisite principles of law or not (Howard, 2014). As per Article III of
the US Constitution, every Appellate court in the USA consists of three judges. The jury
system of judiciary is not present in case of a Court of Appeal. The Courts of Appeals have a
strong bureaucratic effect on the law of the country.
The U.S. Courts of Appeals were established to exclusively hear the appeal of those
cases where trial courts were unable to provide a satisfactory decision in favour of a party.
The Evarts Act, 1891 gave the U.S. Courts of Appeal requisite jurisdiction to decide over the
decisions of the U.S. district courts and the U.S. Circuit Courts (Davies, 2016). As per one of
the survey report, the Supreme Court of USA reviews 100 to 150 cases out of 7000 cases
submitted before it in each year. Therefore, the decision of the Circuit Court is final or
arbitrary for almost thousands of federal cases in the USA. At present, there exist 179
judgeships on the U.S. Courts of Appeals which was sanctioned by the Congress under title
28 U.S. Code § 43 of the United States Code, which is envisaged in Article III of the U.S.
Constitution. The appointment procedure for the judges of the Court of Appeal is similar to

2
CRIMINAL JUSTICE 2
other federal judges of the United States (Owens & Wohlfarth, 2017). They are
recommended by the President of the United States, and their appointment is approved by
the United States Senate. Every regional Court of Appeal has the supremacy to review all
concluding decisions and in few cases the interlocutory decisions of the district court, which
comes under the jurisdiction of such appellate court. However, there are some cases, where
the authority to evaluate the verdicts of the district court lies only upon the Supreme Court of
the country. In some cases, the Court of Appeals also has the authority to asses and carry out
the orders for some federal regulatory bodies, such as FTC, SEC and NLRB.
Therefore, it can be concluded that the Court of Appeal possess mandatory
jurisdiction by which it cannot select cases to adjudicate like that of Supreme Court, but it
obeys a mandatory duty to review all cases filed by the litigants.

3
CRIMINAL JUSTICE 2
Reference:
Davies, R. E. (2016). Evarts Act Day: The Birth of the US Circuit Courts of Appeals (map
version). Green Bag Single-Sheet Classic, 4.
Edwards, H. T. (2017). Collegial Decision Making in the US Courts of Appeals. NYU School
of Law, Public Law Research Paper, (17-47).
Haire, S. B., & Moyer, L. P. (2015). Diversity Matters : Judicial Policy Making in the U.S.
Courts of Appeals. University of Virginia Press.
Howard, J. W., Jr. (2014). Courts of Appeals in the Federal Judicial System : A Study of the
Second, Fifth, and District of Columbia Circuits. Princeton University Press.
Owens, R. J., & Wohlfarth, P. C. (2017). Public mood, previous electoral experience, and
responsiveness among federal circuit court judges. American Politics Research, 45(6),
1003-1031.