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District of Columbia Courts Explained


By Michael Milov-Cordoba Published: September 22, 2023 Last Updated: May 13, 2024


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What courts make up the DC court system?

In 1970, Congress passed the District of Columbia Court Reform and Criminal Procedure Act, which established a local DC court system. Today, DC has a high appellate court called the DC Court of Appeals, which consists of a chief judge and eight associate judges, and a trial court called the Superior Court of DC, which has several divisions, including civil, criminal, domestic violence, family social services, probate, special operations, and tax.

Under DC’s Home Rule Act, the superior court is a trial court with jurisdiction over any civil action or other matter brought in the district, as well as all criminal cases under laws that apply exclusively to the district. The DC Court of Appeals has jurisdiction over appeals from the superior court; certain decisions made by DC’s agencies, boards, and commissions; and legal questions about DC law certified by federal and state appellate courts.

Although the DC courts share many similarities with state courts, federal law does not uniformly define “state court” to include them. As a result, courts are sometimes required to determine whether an undefined reference to “state courts” includes the DC courts. This ambiguity can lead to inconsistent results. For example, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s recent decision in Eldridge v. Howard created a circuit split as to whether a DC trial court was a “state court” for purposes of federal habeas corpus law, affecting whether certain jurisdictional requirements must be met before a court grants relief.

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