this video will introduce you to federal and state court systems in the United States we'll discuss federalism then the federal court system and state court systems so what is federalism Federalism is about government power federalism means that power is divided between a national government and state or provincial governments in the United States power is divided between the national government in Washington DC and state governments such as the state government in New York we call the national government in Washington DC the federal government in addition to the national government in Washington DC there are governments in each state so 50 state governments because of federal federalism there are some powers that belong to the federal government and some powers that belong to the state governments for example the federal government can regulate trade between the states another power of the federal government is to declare war states have power too states have their own laws and their own police States generally run their own schools some powers are shared both federal and state governments have the power to tax and because of federalism there are both federal and state legal systems in the United States let's take a look at the federal court system trial level federal courts are called United States district courts inter immediate appellant courts are called circuit courts of appeal and the highest court is the Supreme Court of the United States there are United States district courts located in each state the courts are organized by geography in circuits for example the second circuit includes district courts located in Connecticut New York and Vermont so an appeal from a United States district court in New York will be directed to the second circuit court of appeals but United States district courts in California are located in the 9th circuit so an appeal from the United States district court in California will be directed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and appeals from all circuit courts courts are directed to the Supreme Court of the United States now we'll introduce state court systems remember because of federalism we have both federal and state courts although different states have different names for their courts every state has a trial level Court Most states have an intermediate appell court and every state has its highest level State Court the highest level state court is usually called the state supreme court the intermediate court is usually called the court of appeals or the appell at Division and State Trial level courts are usually called Superior Courts to summarize federalism divides power between federal and state governments as a result there are both federal and state court systems federal courts are grouped geographically in circuits circuit courts of appeal hear Appeals from The Trial level district courts each state also has a court system with trial and appell at level courts [Music]