It's important to be able to recognize what court decided a case because, generally, only published decisions from higher courts in your jurisdiction are mandatory (binding) cases that must be followed by the court. All other cases are only persuasive- you can cite them but the court does not have to follow them.
Here are the basic rules to remember:
- Unpublished decisions are never binding and some courts prohibit citing them even as persuasive. In particular, California courts prohibit the citation of their unpublished decisions. (Cal. Rules of Court Rule 8.1115.) The U.S. Supreme Court requires federal courts of appeal to allow citation of all unpublished decisions issued in or after 2007. (FRAP 32.1.) However, many federal courts of appeals, including the Ninth Circuit, continue to prohibit citation of their unpublished decisions before 2007. (9th Cir. Rule 36-3.)
- Cases from higher courts in the same jurisdiction are always binding. Additionally, when applying another jurisdiction's law, courts will also generally follow decisions of that jurisdiction's supreme court and intermediate appeals court. For example:
- Imagine that a defendant in Los Angeles Superior Court (a California state trial court) seeks to suppress evidence that was found through a search that she argues violated both the U.S. Constitution and the California Constitution.
- When deciding whether the search violated the California Constitution, the court must follow both California Supreme Court decisions and California Court of Appeal decisions.
- When deciding whether the search violated the U.S. Constitution, the court must follow U.S. Supreme Court decisions and will almost always follow federal Court of Appeals decisions.
- Imagine that a plaintiff sues his employer in the Central District of California (a federal trial court) for violations of both federal and California employment law.
- When deciding whether the employer violated federal law, the court must follow both U.S. Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decisions.
- When deciding whether the employer violated California law, the court must follow California Supreme Court decisions and will almost always follow California Court of Appeal decisions.
- Federal Court of Appeals decisions are only binding on lower courts within the same circuit. For example, federal trial courts in California are within the Ninth Circuit, while federal trial courts in New York are within the Second Circuit. Federal trial courts in California must follow decisions of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals but need not follow decisions of the Second Circuit, while federal trial courts in New York must follow decisions of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals but need not follow decisions of the Ninth Circuit.
- Federal Court of Appeals decisions are also binding on equal courts within the same circuit. Each federal Court of Appeals has between 6 and 29 judges and each case is assigned to a random panel of 3 judges. That 3 judge panel's decision binds all future panels within the same circuit. It can only be overturned if an appellant successfully requests special review by a larger panel of judges from the circuit (limited en banc), a panel composed of all of the judges in the circuit (en banc), or the U.S. Supreme Court.
You can view a map of federal circuits here:
Many students get hung up on learning the nitty-gritty details of authority. The reality is that most practicing attorneys do not memorize the nitty-gritty details but instead work from a general sense of what cases are strongest to cite.
In general, the strongest decisions to cite when in federal court (or when applying federal law in state court) are, in order:
- U.S. Supreme Court decisions: 1 U.S. 1 (2020) / 1 S. Ct. 1 (2020)
- Decisions from the Court of Appeals for your circuit: E.g., 1 F.3d 1 (9th Cir. 2020)
- Decisions from federal trial courts in your circuit: E.g., 1 F. Supp. 3d 1 (C.D. Cal. 2020)
- Decisions from federal Courts of Appeals in other circuits: E.g., 1 F.3d 1 (2nd Cir. 2020)
- Decisions from federal trial courts in other circuits: E.g., 1 F. Supp. 3d 1 (S.D.N.Y. 2020)
In general, the strongest decisions to cite when in California state court (or when applying California law in federal court) are, in order:
- California Supreme Court decisions: 1 P.3d 1 (Cal. 2020) / 1 Cal. 5th 1 (2020)
- California Court of Appeal decisions: 1 Cal. Rptr. 3d 1 (Ct. App. 2020) / 1 Cal. App. 5th 1 (2020)
- California trial court decisions: 1 Cal. Rptr. 3d 1 (App. Dep’t Super. Ct. 2020) / 1 Cal. App. 5th Supp. 1 (2020)
It is OK to cite cases from trial courts, cases from other jurisdictions, and (if the court rules allow it) unpublished decisions! However, generally, you should have a specific reason for doing so, such as because it is one of the only cases to have considered a legal issue or because it is especially factually similar to your case.