District Courts hear every type of federal case, whether it is a civil or criminal case. Each district can have more judges, and it covers either the whole state or a part of it. There are two groups of district court judges, "regular service" and "senior status." They have the same power and their jobs are secured for their entire lives (as stipulated under Article III Section I of the U.S. Constitution). The only difference is that senior judges, because they were on the bench for at least ten years they can take lighter caseloads and may choose what types of cases they hear. District Court judges are often assisted by Magistrate Judges. Magistrates are not judges that have their place secured. But, they are auxiliary officers (appointed under Article I of the Constitution) who handle certain kinds of tasks sent by District Judges. Magistrates can take pleas of "not guilty" in felony criminal charges; they also frequently handle discovery disputes, misdemeanor trials, settlement negotiations, and hearings to calculate damages. Their orders can be appealed to the District Judge who initially had the …show more content…
Instead, parties have to wait for the case to be closed in the District Court, and afterwards raise all the appeals at a single time. Circuit Court Judges sit in random panels of three judges for each case, unlike District Court Judges, who sit alone for their cases. "Sitting by designation" is the process when, on occasion, the Chief Judge of a Circuit invites a District Court Judge or a judge from another circuit, to temporarily sit on a panel of 3 judges to hear one or more appeals. When sitting by designation, a District Court Judge may not review his own decisions that he made earlier. The decisions of the Circuit Court are connected to the district courts within that circuit. This develops the uniformity of law in each circuit, even though the circuits might disagree strongly on points of