Court System Structure

The courts of the United states are organized as hierarchies. Higher courts have the power to review the decisions of lower courts. Basically, the courts of this country are divided into three layers:

trial courts, where cases start;
intermediate (appellate) courts, where most appeals are first heard; and
courts of last resort (usually called supreme courts), which hear further appeals and have final authority in the cases they hear.

This division is generally true of both state courts and federal courts, although eleven states do not have an intermediate appellate court, and some states have more than one level of intermediate appellate review. Two states, Oklahoma and Texas , have separate courts of last resort for civil and criminal cases.