Federal Courts

"The U.S. Courts were created under Article III of the Constitution to administer justice fairly and impartially, within the jurisdiction established by the Constitution and Congress. . . . Federal courts have jurisdiction over cases involving: the United States government, the Constitution or federal laws, or controversies between states or between the U.S. government and foreign governments. For instance, a claim by an individual to receive money under a federal government program such as Social Security, a claim by the government that someone has violated federal laws, or a challenge to actions taken by a federal agency might all be heard in federal court. In contrast, most family law matters are addressed in state court, since federal court jurisdiction granted by the U.S. Constitution does not include this area of law. Few cases wind up in federal trial court, also called U.S. District Court. Judges encourage parties involved in a dispute to reach an agreement and avoid the expense and delay of a trial." (From the United States Courts.)

See also Understanding the Federal Courts, a publication developed by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the judicial branch’s central support agency.

Online access: The GW Law Library provides access to the Aspen Learning Library, which includes the Examples & Explanations series and CrunchTime study guides; and the LexisNexis Digital Library, which includes the Understanding and Q&A series. When prompted to login, use your GW Law email address and password.

Print study aids may be borrowed from the Reserve Collection at the Law Library's Circulation/Reserve Desk for up to 2 hours. Older editions may be found in the Law Library stacks. For more study aids in the Law Library's collection, please consult our Study Aids guide.

Hornbooks are concise one-volume legal treatises, written primarily for law students on subjects typically covered by law school courses.

CALI lessons are interactive tutorials written by law professors at CALI member schools. They can be used for studying topics in federal courts and civil procedure, including jurisdiction and venue.

Ask a Reference Librarian for the GW Law CALI code.