I gotta be honest, Nick, we've been doing this show for years now, and I still don't

entirely grasp the court system.

Can I say that on this show?

You can say that.

Yeah, because we've got district courts, right?

Circuit courts, courts of appeals.

The Supreme Court, the Supreme Court, I pretty much have, but like everything else, it's

a tangled web.

Well, I hope we can untangle that web today, Hannah.

And actually, I think it might be more appropriate to think of it as a ladder instead of a web,

because though television and movies make it seem like cases end with the judge announcing

a verdict, for many cases, that is just the first step on the ladder.

You're listening to Civics 101, I'm Nick Capitice.

I'm Hannah McCarty.

And today we're talking about the federal judiciary system, and how a case can go from that first

trial all the way up to the Supreme Court.

Okay, Nick, I just want to make sure I understand the difference between the federal

judiciary system and the state judiciary system, because most people, if they're going to

be dealing with the legal system, say a divorce or a contract dispute or even like a traffic

violation, that is all happening in state court.

Yes, and to complicate it, every state has completely different laws.

Federal laws are for the country as a whole.

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