View source for U.S. Courts of Appeals

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{{Image|US Court of Appeals and District Court map.svg|right|450px|Map of the districts for the U.S. Courts of Appeals.}}

The '''United States Courts of Appeals''' are the 13 intermediate appellate courts in the three-tiered [[United States of America|U.S.]] federal judiciary. These courts are between the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] and the [[United States District Courts.]] They serve as the first courts of review in the [[federal judiciary]].  The courts are created by the provision of Article III, section 1, of the [[United States Constitution,]] which addresses the [[judicial power]] of the United States and places it in the United States Supreme Court and "such inferior courts" as the [[Congress]] may create through legislation.

The United States Courts of Appeals consist of fourteen individual courts: thirteen defined by geography and one by jurisdiction. These courts are the regional courts numbered the First through Twelfth Circuits and the [[District of Columbia Circuit]]. The [[Federal Circuit]] is defined by its jurisdiction created in 1982 out of the then existing [[Court of Claims]] and the [[Court of Customs and Patent Appeals.]]

The Courts of Appeals were created by the [[Circuit Courts of Appeals Act]] in 1891. These courts were created in reaction to the lack of institutional capacity in the existing federal judiciary which had not been significantly changed since the enactment of the [[Judiciary Act]] of 1789.

== The Courts of Appeals ==
{{rpl|United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit}}
{{rpl|United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit}}
{{rpl|United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit}}
{{rpl|United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit}}
{{rpl|United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit}}
{{rpl|United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit}}
{{rpl|United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit}}
{{rpl|United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit}}
{{rpl|United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit}}
{{rpl|United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit}}
{{rpl|United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit}}
{{rpl|United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit}}
{{rpl|United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit}}

==References==
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