<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> The federal courts are composed of three levels of courts . The Supreme Court of the United States is the court of last resort . It is generally an appellate court that operates under discretionary review, which means that the Court can choose which cases to hear, by granting writs of certiorari . There is therefore generally no basic right of appeal that extends automatically all the way to the Supreme Court . In a few situations (like lawsuits between state governments or some cases between the federal government and a state) it sits as a court of original jurisdiction . </P> <P> The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate federal appellate courts . They operate under a system of mandatory review which means they must hear all appeals of right from the lower courts . In some cases, Congress has diverted appellate jurisdiction to specialized courts, such as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review . </P>

Is the federal court the same as the supreme court