Lower Federal Courts

panels of citizens that hear evidence of a possible crime and recommend

whether the evidence is sufficient to file criminal charges

• Jury selection
• Grand juries
• Jury duty
• Trial juries

a legal process by which citizens who cannot pay money they owe others can receive court protection and assistance in settling their financial problems

• Loan forgiveness
• Credit counseling
• Bankruptcy
• Debt consolidation

district-court officials who are appointed for eight years and hear some of the early hearings of criminal trials as well as some misdemeanor and civil cases

• Magistrates
• Prosecutors
• Attorneys
• Judges

a minor criminal case punishable by one year or less of prison time

• felony
• misdemeanor
• capital offense
• high crime

lawyers provided to defendants who cannot afford to hire a lawyer

• court-appointed lawyers
• public defenders
• defense attorneys
• private prosecutors

officials who provide security and police protection at federal courthouses

• FBI agents
• Secret Service
• US Marshals
• Homeland Security officers

a person who files an appeal to have their case reviewed by a court of appeals

• appellant
• defendant
• juror
• plaintiff

written arguments

• injunction

• evidence

• disputes

• briefs

principle that a sovereign nation is immune from being sued unless it agrees to be sued

• Monarch immunity
• Royal immunity
• Governmental immunity
• Sovereign immunity

hearings held by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces to decide cases involving violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice

• Military justice court
• Armed Forces tribunal
• Military tribunal
• Military court-martial