The United States Court Systems - CJA/500 Survey of Justice and Security In the United States you will find two major court systems. They are the “State Court System” and the “Federal Court System.” The Federal Court System acts as an older brother to the state court system as federal law trumps state law. However, generally speaking it’s pretty easy to establish which system a case will proceed through. If the charges are bases on state laws, then the case proceeds through the State Court System. If the charges are based on federal laws, then the case proceeds through the Federal Court System. Even using this common sense interpretation, debate still occurs on jurisdiction. The systems parallel in many ways, but individually still maintain unique roles in America.