Other Jurisdictions

In addition to the 50 states, the United States is composed of a variety of non-state entities, including 14 territories, 574 federally recognized tribal governments, and the District of Columbia. Each of these has a local court system and a constitutional or quasi-constitutional governing document that share some similarities with state courts and state constitutions.

U.S. Territories

The United States possesses 14 insular areas colloquially known as the territories. These are non-sovereign entities that exercise self-government against the backdrop of Congress’s broad power to regulate the territories under Article IV of the Constitution. Only five of these territories are inhabited: American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Each inhabited territory has a local court system with trial and appellate courts and is governed by either a “territorial constitution” or an “organic act” that operates in some ways like a state constitution.

Washington, DC

Washington, DC, is neither a state nor a territory of the United States. Instead, it is a federal district with its own local court system comprised of an appellate court called the DC Court of Appeals and a trial court called the Superior Court of DC. Judges are appointed by the president of the United States with the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate from a list recommended by a judicial nominating commission. DC has no constitution, but its Home Rule Act functions as a de facto state constitution.

Tribal Nations

Tribal nations are sovereign entities located within the geographic borders of the United States. Under federal law, they are “domestic dependent nations,” meaning they are both self-governing, with the authority to determine their own governing structures including laws and court systems, and subject to Congress’s broad regulatory power under Article I, Section VIII of the Constitution. The governing structures of tribal nations vary considerably, but many of them have tribal courts and tribal constitutions that are in some ways similar to state courts and state constitutions.