Reading Police Academy Module 1 Practice Test

The final court of appeal in the United States is the US Supreme Court. It sits at the top of the federal judiciary and has the ultimate authority to decide questions of federal law and the Constitution. Most cases reach it through a certiorari process, where the Court selects a small number of cases from the Courts of Appeals and sometimes from state courts that involve federal issues. The intermediate Courts of Appeals handle the bulk of appeals from district courts, but their decisions aren’t final because the Supreme Court can review and override them. State Supreme Courts decide issues of state law, and their decisions are final for state matters unless a federal question is involved that can be reviewed by the Supreme Court. This structure makes the Supreme Court the ultimate authority on federal law and constitutional questions in the country.