Final answer:
A federal district court is a trial court in the U.S. federal judicial system with original jurisdiction over federal law cases, state disputes, and multi-state litigations, established by Congress and detailed in the Constitution and Federal Judiciary Act.
Step-by-step explanation:
A federal district court is the basic organizational unit of the federal judicial system in the United States and serves as the trial court where federal cases are tried, evidence is presented, and witness testimony is heard. These courts were established by Congress and initially had limited jurisdiction, meaning they could only hear cases arising within their specific district. Congress has since expanded their jurisdiction over time to include federal questions, which allows them to hear and review cases involving constitutional issues and federal law.
The U.S. judicial system contains ninety-four federal district courts spread across the states and territories, each court covering a single geographic area without crossing state lines. The judicial authority of federal district courts grants them original jurisdiction over cases concerning federal law, disputes between states, and disputes between residents of different states, among others. The judiciary's jurisdiction is defined in Article III, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution and further detailed in the Federal Judiciary Act of 1789 and subsequent legislation like the Judicial Code of 1911, which designated federal district courts as the primary general-jurisdiction trial courts of the federal system.