Why Are American Courts so Complex?

The founders of the United States Constitution wanted a strong and fair national government. But the founders also wanted to protect individual freedoms and to prevent the government from abusing their powers. In trying to prevent the federal government of extreme power, they created the three branches of government. The Legislative Branch which creates the laws, the Executive Branch that carries out the laws, and the Judicial Branch that interprets the laws. Logically, if the founders wanted to limit the federal government, then they also wanted state sovereignty. With that, came a dual court system of the federal government and court system for each of the states.

The court systems within the United States have become complex. Not because there is a parallel court system between the states and federal government, but because there are fifty-five separate courts systems in the United States (http://usinfo.state.gov). There is the federal court system, a court system for each of the fifty states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the territories (http://usinfo.state.gov). The federal court system is made up of U.S. District Courts, U.S. Appeal Courts, the U.S. Supreme Court, and several other "special" courts that were established by Congress. Some of the "special" courts include Customs Courts, Court of Claims, and Tax Courts (Abadinsky, 2003). The federal courts have exclusive constitutional responsibility for several matters including bankruptcy, international treaties, disputes between states, and are authorized to hear cases involving federal statutes and violations of the U.S. Constitution, among others (Abadinsky, 2003).