FORTY YEARS AGO last Sunday, five men broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate complex in Washington DC in a botched operation that would spark a chain of events that two years later would see Richard Nixon resign as the 37th president of the United States.
Federal courts hear cases involving violations of federal statues, crimes committed on federal property or disputes between residents of different states. State courts hear cases involving violations of state laws or disputes between two or more residents of that state. The United States District Court for the District of Minnesota is a Federal Court. This Court is completely separate from State Courts.
The District Courts are the trial courts of the Federal judicial system and most Federal court cases originate in a District Court. The middle level of the Federal court system consists of the U.S. Court of Appeals, which is divided into 12 regional, or âCircuitâ courts. When a decision is reached in U.S. District Court, a party may request that the decision be reviewed by a three judge panel from the Court of Appeals.