Federal Court System
The federal judicial system parallels the state judicial system; but the federal courts have limited jurisdiction. Federal courts may exercise authority only in those disputes in which they have been authorized to act under the United States Constitution through a statute enacted by the United States Congress.
The national system of article III courts United States District Courts United States Courts of Appeals The Supreme Court of the United States The national system of article I tribunals Interplay Between the Federal Courts and the State Courts The Federal Courts in Massachusetts United States District Court for the Districtof Massachusetts United States Court of Appeals for the FirstCircuit Supreme Court of the United States Interplay Between the Massachusetts FederalCourts and the State System Bibliography
The national system of article III courts
The basic federal courts, as organized under Article III of the United States Constitution, generally decide two types of cases within their limited jurisdiction. The first type involves federal questions, disputes which turn on resolution of matters arising out of the laws or constitution of the United States, for example, federal criminal offenses; federal civil rights claims; patents, trademark and copyright cases; and antitrust matters. The second type involves diversity litigation: controversies between parties from different states when the amount in controversy may exceed $50,000.In diversity cases, the federal courts function essentially as state courts applying the relevant state law. Article III judges are presidential appointees. Federal judicial office for Article III judges involves lifetime tenure—subject to the possibility of impeachment--once the president's nomination has been confirmed by the Senate. While most federal judges retire from fully active service around the ages of 65 to 70, they remain federal judicial officers. Most continue to serve at least part time--as so-called "senior judges"—even after their retirement. The provision for a lifetime appointment, coupled with the Constitutional prohibition against reducing any Article III judge's salary, was designed by the drafters of the Constitution to insure the independence of federal judges from political pressure. The structure of the Article III federal courts is three tiered.United States District Courts
United States District Courts are at the base of the structure. Congress has divided the entire United States into 94 federal judicial districts. Some states, for example New York, Texas and California, are divided into more than one federal judicial district. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, however, consists of just one federal judicial district. It is in the United States District Courts that cases are tried, witnesses testify, and juries serve. l There are currently 575 United States District Judgeships authorized in the federal judicial system. In addition to the United States District Court, Congress created one other trial court under Article III, the Court of International Trade. That Court, which sits for the most part in New York City, deals with disputes involving the customs and 1 A narrative description of a federal case from trial in the District Court through the appellate process is set forth in Appendix I to this section. international trade laws and regulations of the United States.
United States Courts of Appeals
United States Courts of Appeals are at the intermediate level of the structure. Congress has assigned each of the 94 federal judicial districts to one of 12 regional circuits. Massachusetts has been assigned to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit together with the federal judicial districts for Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Puerto Rico. The Courts of Appeals do not conduct trials; they review cases from the United States District Courts to see if the District Judges applied the law correctly. The Courts of Appeals also review certain decisions of the federal administrative agencies, such as the National Labor Relations Board, he Environmental Protection Agency, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. In addition to the 12 regional Courts of Appeal, there is a United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit located in Washington, D.C., which hears appeals of certain types of cases--principally patent litigation and government claims disputes--from federal courts throughout the country. There are currently 240 authorized United States Circuit judgeships in the federal system.
The Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States in Washington, D.C., is at the top of the federal judicial structure. The Supreme Court has been granted the authority to select those cases it will review, principally from the United States Court of Appeals and--if a federal question is involved—from the state Supreme Courts. The nine justices of the Supreme Court of the United States choose to consider a small percentage of the cases presented to the Supreme Court for review. The Court generally holds full hearings in approximately 170 cases each year.
The national system of article I tribunals
A number of federal adjudicatory bodies whose members do not have the constitutional protections of life tenure and insulation from salary reduction are also considered part of the federal judicial system. These are the courts and administrative agencies organized pursuant to Article I of the United States Constitution which gives Congress the power "to constitute Tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court." The decisions of these Article I tribunals are generally reviewed by the Article III courts. The Article I tribunals include the United States Claims Court, which decides claims involving the federal government; the United States Tax Court, which decides certain disputes over federal taxes; and the local courts of certain federal territories which do not have statehood status such as the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam.2 2 The judicial systems of the various territorial entities of the United States which do not have statehood status are each treated somewhat differently. The Districtof Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico have full Article III UnitedStates District Courts respectively assigned to the United States Courtsof Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the First Circuit todeal with federal matters. However, the local judges of the District ofColumbia are Article I judicial officers appointed by the President fora term of years while the local courts of Puerto Rico are organized by thelocal government of the commonwealth. By contrast, although the United StatesDistrict Courts for the Virgin Islands, for Guam, and for the Northern MarianaIslands are assigned to the Third Circuit (Virgin Islands) and the NinthCircuit (Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands) respectively, the districtjudges in those territories are appointed only for a term of years and thusdo not have the protections of full Article III judicial officers. The districtjudges in those jurisdictions hear both local and federal cases. Also consideredArticle I tribunals are administrative agencies such as the Interstate CommerceCommission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Federal TradeCommission, which render decisions in cases litigated before them.
Interplay Between the Federal Courtsand the State Courts
The overlapping jurisdictions of the federal and state courts can lead to stress points between the two judicial systems. The Supreme Court of the United States is, of course, the final word on questions of federal law. But, below the Supreme Court, the state courts are frequently called upon to interpret federal law and the lower federal courts frequently interpret state law to determine specifically whether state law is consistent with the federal constitution. These various points of decision making can lead to conflict between federal and state courts. Federal judges have the power to order state officials to take actions the federal courts deem mandated by the federal constitution, for example requiring school desegregation, ordering modifications in apportionment of state legislatures or supervising state mental health institutions. A lower federal court judge may also order a state prisoner released even after the prisoner's conviction has been upheld by the state's highest court. The federal courts, however, have developed elaborate legal doctrines designed to minimize conflicts with the state courts.
The Federal Courts in Massachusetts
United States District Court for the Districtof Massachusetts
The federal district court in Massachusetts has 12 authorized judgeships. Eleven of the judges have their chambers and courtrooms in the John W. McCormack United States Post Office and Courthouse Building in Boston. In addition, as of January 1, 1990, three senior district judges serving in semiretirement maintained chambers in Boston. One Massachusetts district judge maintains chambers and courtroom in the Springfield Federal Building. The Boston based judges also sit from time to time in the Harold Donahue Post Office and Courthouse building in Worcester. Cases are assigned to the Boston-based district judges by blind draw designed to insure that each judge is assigned a roughly equivalent number of cases within the various categories of litigation filed in the federal court. Criminal cases are initiated by the United States attorney for the district. Most federal criminal cases are begun when a grand jury (consisting of 16 to 23 persons), meeting in a nonpublic session without a judge present, determines that the United States attorney has presented enough evidence to justify charging that a crime has been committed. The charge, made in a document called an indictment, is then decided by either a trial jury (consisting of 12 persons), or a district judge who determines whether the charge has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The United States attorney, like the federal judges, is a presidential appointee. The incumbent United States attorney, however, serves for a term of four years at the pleasure of the President and, as a matter of practice, the incumbent resigns when a presidential new administration is elected from a different political party irrespective of whether the four-year term is concluded. The United States attorney's office in the Massachusetts district has been particularly active in prosecuting political corruption by both state and federal officials, drug trafficking, and organized crime offenses. The United States attorney's office as of January 1, 1990, employed approximately70 lawyers. The principal office of the United States attorney is in the federal courthouse in Boston. A small satellite office is maintained in Springfield, where four assistant U. S. attorneys are assigned. There is presently no satellite United States attorney's office in Worcester, where the courthouse does not have the facilities to conduct criminal The District Court is served by the District Court Clerk's Office which is located on the seventh floor of the J. W. McCormack Post Office & Courthouse Building in Boston. Smaller satellite offices for District Court clerks are maintained in the courthouses in Springfield and in Worcester. The members of the clerk's office who work most closely with the individual judges are the courtroom deputy clerks assigned to each judge's session. These are the people who are familiar with the judges' schedules and the status of their cases. They are generally prepared to respond to public inquiries to the degree that the limits of judicial propriety permit. Each of the District Court judges has equal power and responsibility. For administrative purposes, a chief judge of the Court is designated on the basis of seniority. The term of the chief judge is no greater than seven years and the incumbent is that judge with the longest period of service on the court who is under the age of 65 at the time of appointment and has not previously served as chief judge. The United States district judges are assisted by United States magistrates, who are judicial officers appointed by the District Court judges for terms of eight years. In the District of Massachusetts there are four full-time magistrates sitting in the John W. McCormack Post Office and Courthouse building in Boston and one full-time magistrate sitting in Springfield. The magistrates assist in the pre-trial phases of both civil and criminal litigation, handling for example, the setting of bail. In addition, there are two part-time United States magistrates in Massachusetts, one on Cape Cod, principally handling matters related to the Cape Cod National Seashore; and the other with an office in Worcester, principally handling matters related to the Hanscom Field and Fort Devens military bases. Also acting as judicial officers for the United States District Court, but in a specialized area, are the United States bankruptcy judges who administer the bankruptcy laws. These full-time judicial officers are appointed for 14 year terms by the judges of the United States Court of Appeals. Appeals from their decisions are heard initially in the District Court. The main Bankruptcy Court clerk's office and the chambers and courtrooms of three of the bankruptcy judges are located in the O'Neil Federal Office Building near North Station in Boston. The fourth bankruptcy judge maintains his chambers and courtroom in Worcester but travels on a regular basis to hear cases in Springfield.
United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit is headquartered in the John W. McCormack Post Office in Boston where the main Clerk's Office is located. Most of the Court's hearings are held in Boston. The court also sits in the federal courthouse in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, several times a year. The judges of the Court of Appeals maintain permanent chambers in their home jurisdictions; as of January 1990, resident chambers of first circuit judges were located in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Puerto Rico. The Court of Appeals reviews district court decisions from each of those jurisdictions and generally sits in panels of three judges for appellate hearings, which are customarily scheduled during the first week of each month. The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit is the smallest of the United States Courts of Appeals with only six judgeships assigned to it. By contrast, the largest of the circuit courts is the Ninth Circuit, covering the far western section of the country and containing28 judgeships. The chief judge of the first circuit is appointed in the same manner as the chief judge of the District Court, for a period of seven years by seniority of term of service. The chief judge and the circuit council of the first circuit, consisting of all members of the circuit court together with designated district court judges, act on administrative matters involving the courts within the circuit. The overall administration of the courts is coordinated by the circuit executive of the first circuit whose office is in Boston. The circuit executive is generally prepared to respond to inquiries concerning matters of judicial administration within the courts of the first circuit.
Supreme Court of the United States
While the Supreme Court of the United States, sitting with all nine members, holds its hearings in Washington, D.C., the individual justices of the Supreme Court are also assigned responsibility to deal with emergency requests for Supreme Court action arising from both the state and federal courts within the geographic areas encompassed by the twelve regional judicial circuits. For the past 20 years, Justice William J. Brennan, as the Circuit Justice for the First Circuit, has acted in this capacity for Massachusetts. The public information office of the Supreme Court can answer questions about specific issues relating to that Court.
Interplay Between the Massachusetts Federal Courts and the State System
The federal courts in Massachusetts have been active in administering various state and local institutions whose practices have been challenged in federal litigation. In recent years Massachusetts federal district judges have overseen school desegregation in Boston, hiring practices of police and fire departments, the conditions in county jails, the quality of state institutions for the mentally handicapped and the cleanup of Boston Harbor. Each of these cases has involved resolving conflicts between federal constitutional and statutory law and the work of state institutions. In some instances the cases have embroiled the federal courts in bitter local controversies. The role of the federal courts in applying Massachusetts state law has been made less stressful by the existence of a rule of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court which permits the federal courts to ask the highest state court to answer questions of state law. This questioning procedure, called certification, avoids the danger that the federal courts will improperly apply state law.
Bibliography
There is a large body of literature on the federal courts and their work. A few publications may be especially helpful in introducing the lay person to the wide range of issues confronting the federal courts in Massachusetts. A good--and still current--discussion of the modern work of the trial judge in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts was provided in a Harvard Law Review article by the late Judge Charles E. Wyzanski, who served on the court from 1941 to 1986. Wyzanski, A Trial Judqe's Freedom and Responsibility, 65 Harv. L. Rev. 1281 (1952). The work of a United States Court of Appeals Judge with responsibility for Massachusetts is fully and elegantly explained in a short book by Frank M. Coffin, former Chief Judge of the First Circuit, who has served on that court since 1965. F. Coffin, The Wavs of a Judge: Reflections from the Federal Appellate Bench (Houghton Mifflin 1980). The history and workings of the Supreme Court of the United States are set forth concisely in a recent book by William H. Rehnquist, the current Chief Justice of the United States. W. Rehnquist, The Supreme Court: How It Was. How It Is. (Wm. Morrow 1987). A historical overview of the work of the federal courts in Massachusetts during the past two hundred years is provided in the collection of articles--including Justice Brennan's reminiscences about his assignment as circuit justice for Massachusetts and a discussion of the role of the federal courts in Massachusetts in litigation involving public institutions--gathered for the Special Bicentennial Issue of the Massachusetts Law Review marking the 200th Anniversary of the Massachusetts federal courts. Vol. 74 Mass. L. Rev. No. 4 (December 1989). The role of the Federal courts in general is exhaustively developed in a masterful law school casebook which contains concise narratives on various topics relating to federal court practice and procedure. P. Bator, D. Meltzer, P. Mishkin& D. Shapiro, Hart & Wechsler's The Federal Courts and the Federal System (3d. ed. Foundation Press 1988). The Federal Judicial Center has a number of interesting pamphlets and brochures on the federal court system. Contact the Federal Judicial Center, 1520 H. Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20005.