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388 Edyta Sokalskafederal courts in 1789, it merely created one for each state, or thirteenfederal districts courts 26 . As the nation grew, some states needed more thanone federal court. Congress created new ones while maintaining the traditionthat district courts should not cross state lines. States that have morethan one federal district court use geographical designations to distinguishamong them. Districts vary in size. In the most populous states there arethree or four districts. In the less populous states, the entire state is onedistrict. For example, New York has southern, northern, eastern and westerndistricts while the state of Montana is one district 27 .It should be underlined that districts courts are the main trial courts inthe United States. They entertain both: criminal and civil jurisdiction. Whenthe constitution came into existence, the states already had fully functioningstate court systems, and opponents of the Constitution were afraid of thecreated federal courts and they thought that it would supplant state courts.The judicial of the federal courts was limited to alleviate this fear so thatmost legal controversies would continue to be settled by state courts.Functioning of districts courts in the United States is the same like trialcourts in other countries. Federal courts have their own unique rules ofevidence, but evidence is submitted and a verdict is reached in the samemanner as in state trial courts. A single judge presides and a jury hears theevidence. The number of federal judges assigned to each federal district isdifferent. For example, Southern District of New York has twenty eightjudgeships assigned to it, while the U.S. District Court for Eastern Oklahomahas 133 judgeships authorized. It is common for each big city within thefederal district to have at least one judge assigned to it. Each district hasa number of retired judges, called senior judges, who hear cases on a part-timebasis. Senior judges often handle about fifteen percent of the federal courtcases. The Congress has authorized 646 permanent federal district courtjudges in the United States; although in 1990-ties there was an unusuallylarge number of vacancies in federal courts 28 .Federal courts are not better or worse than state courts. They are justdifferent because of the different jurisdiction, organization and procedures.Nor are state courts necessarily inferior to federal courts. Unless a caseraises a federal question or otherwise falls within the jurisdiction of thefederal courts, the decisions of the state courts are not reviewable by federalcourts. Federal judges are required to respect the interpretations of statelaws by state courts if there is not a federal question raised. Although26 For more information on the history of district courts see “The U.S. District Courts andthe Federal Judiciary”, [online] , date of access11.01.2010.27 J.V. Calvi, S. Coleman, op. cit., p. 44.28 Ibidem, p. 45.