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The United State Court System, an Eye for Research by: Matthew Abts A Cup of Tea, Coffee, or Something Else www.quiettable.com Whenever investigating an individual or business, one of the most basic checks is for lawsuits, criminal charges, and bankruptcy filings. But how do you research the court system? Is there one simple site to go to where you pop in a name and are rewarded with a listing of all court filings across the country pertaining to that individual? No such luck ... yet, anyway! To understand court research, you first need to understand a bit about the USA's court system. There are two major separate court entities in the USA, the State court system and the Federal court system. The Federal court system is divided into three branches, the federal criminal, civil, bankruptcy, and appeals courts. These courts are not 'single entities' -- there are a number of federal courts scattered across the United States, each covering a certain geographic district within a 'circuit'. For a map of the circuits, see www.uscourts.gov/images/CircuitMap.pdf. For example, there is a Northern Mississippi district court, as well as a Southern. Cases are prosecuted by US Attorneys, who are elected, or Assistant US Attorneys, who are government employees. Regarding federal law, federal statutes are divided into sections called Titles. Title '11
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