The US court system is made up of three levels of Court that include the district, circuit and Supreme Court. The District Court is the trial court where cases are heard for the first time. The circuit courts are the first level of appellate courts that hear appeals from district courts. The Supreme Court of the US is the second and final level appellate court where cases from the circuit courts are listened to (Cole, Smith & DeJong, 2018) . Therefore, the system can be divided into simple trial courts and appeals courts. There are three significant differences between a trial court and an Appellate court in the US legal system.
First, while there are witnesses and exhibits in a trial court, they are absent in the appeal court. It is in the trial court that cases start. In the starting of the case, the evidence is presented before judges by witnesses who are led through questions. Also, evidence comes in the form of exhibits that include all items such as pictures, weapons, clothes and papers among others that are connected to the given case (Boyd, 2015) . These are used as the bases for the determination of facts. Depending on the type of evidence provided in the court, the decision may be unanimous or varied. On the other hand, in the Appeal Courts, there are no witnesses or exhibits. Instead, the lawyers argue policy and legal issues before one judge or a panel of judges. A court of appeal listens and decides on cases from designated district courts under its jurisdiction. Consequently, unlike the trial courts, the appellate courts do not determine punishment and remedies in criminal and civil cases. They only consider records given to them by the district courts and the legal arguments, known as briefs, presented by the parties involved. Lawyers may be permitted to add to the written submissions with oral arguments before appeal judges. In the hearing, only the lawyers of the parties involved are lowed to speak.
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The second difference between a trial court and an appellate court is the role of the jury. In a trial court, there is often a jury or a group of citizens chosen from within the community to listen to facts and make a decision on a given case. A jury is composed of people who have sworn to be impartial in setting judgment (Boyd, 2015) . In a trial court, the jury is used to decide on a case especially in a criminal trial where they choose whether or not an individual is guilty. In a civil trial that involves legal responsibility, a jury helps decide whether the accused is liable or not. The lawyer hence presents their argument to persuade the jury. To make it be called as a jury in the US, one must meet specific criteria. These include being a resident of the district within which the court is, adequacy in English proficiency, not to have been convicted for a felony or currently on felony charges, be mentally well and a US Citizen of at least 18 years (Boyd, 2015) . On the other hand, there is no jury in an appellate court as the final judgment lies entirely with the judges. Each judge in the bench presents their verdict and the total tally of verdicts determined by popular vote.
The third difference between an appellate and a trial court is the number of judges that are in the courtroom. In a trial court, one judge can precede a case in the courtroom and has the responsibility of deciding whether evidence can be used to make decisions on the outcomes of the situation. However, in some cases, there is a need for more than one judge in the trial court. This mainly depends on the type of case presented and the expected legal guidance. However, in the appeal courts, there more judges. This includes five groups of three judges as in the Court of Appeal and one group of five judges in the Supreme Court (Boyd, 2015) . The judgment is here based on popular opinion among the judges. Due to a large number of judges in the second circuit court, most of the decisions made here are final and do not proceed to the Supreme Court. However, the court can also send the case back to the district court for additional preceding instead of making a decision. Also, the court can ask the Supreme Court’s to review (Cole et al., 2018) . It harder cases can be evaluated by a larger group of judges to ensure the credibility of the decision. On very few occasions has the Supreme Court been required by law to hear an appeal.
References
Boyd, C. L. (2015). The hierarchical influence of courts of appeals on district courts. The Journal of Legal Studies , 44 (1), 113-141.
Cole, G. F., Smith, C. E., & DeJong, C. (2018). The American system of criminal justice . Cengage Learning.
