The US legal system, and the rights it actually gives you

Federal courts handle federal law, constitutional questions, bankruptcy, immigration, patents, and disputes between citizens of different states above a value threshold. There are 94 district courts, 13 circuit courts of appeals, and the Supreme Court above them.

State courts handle everything else, and 'everything else' is the vast majority. Landlord-tenant, most criminal prosecutions, family law, personal injury, contract disputes, probate, traffic — all state. Each state has its own trial courts, appellate courts and supreme court, with its own names and procedure.

The systems are genuinely parallel rather than hierarchical. A state supreme court is the final word on that state's own law; the US Supreme Court can review a state case only where a federal or constitutional question is involved.

Louisiana is the exception to the common law tradition, using a civil law system inherited from French and Spanish rule. Its terminology and property law differ substantially from the other 49.

For practical purposes: if you have a legal problem, it is almost certainly a state matter, and the relevant rules are your state's.

The Bill of Rights — the first ten amendments, ratified in 1791 — plus later amendments set out constitutional protections: free speech and religion, freedom from unreasonable search, due process, jury trial, protection against self-incrimination, equal protection.

The critical limitation is that these restrain government action. The First Amendment stops the government from punishing your speech; it does not stop a private employer from firing you for it, or a platform from removing your post. This is the single most common misunderstanding in American public discourse, and it applies to almost every constitutional right.

The Fourteenth Amendment extended most constitutional protections against state governments as well as the federal one, through a doctrine called incorporation. Before it, the Bill of Rights bound only the federal government.

Rights against private parties come from statutes instead. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act on employment discrimination, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Housing Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act — these are what actually govern most disputes with employers, landlords and companies.

States layer more on top. Many state constitutions and statutes provide broader protection than the federal floor, particularly on privacy, employment and consumer matters.

In most countries the losing side pays the winner's legal costs. In the United States, each side pays its own unless a specific statute or contract provides otherwise. This is the American Rule, and its consequences run through everything.

It means a valid claim worth $8,000 can be economically irrational to pursue if a lawyer costs more than that. It means large companies can impose real cost on individuals simply by litigating. And it means the contingency fee — where a lawyer takes a percentage of the recovery and nothing if you lose — became the standard mechanism for personal injury and employment claims, because it is the only way most people can afford representation.

Statutes that shift fees to the losing defendant are therefore extremely important. Civil rights, employment discrimination, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act and several consumer statutes include fee-shifting provisions precisely so that small claims remain viable. If your issue falls under one of those, a lawyer may take it even where the damages are modest.

Small claims court is the other answer. Every state has one, limits typically run from $2,500 to $25,000, filing fees are low, and lawyers are often not permitted. It is the most under-used remedy in American consumer life.

Mandatory arbitration clauses now appear in most consumer and employment contracts, requiring disputes to go to a private arbitrator rather than court and frequently barring class actions. The Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld them.

Civil legal aid exists in every state but is means-tested and severely oversubscribed — funded organizations turn away a large share of eligible people for lack of capacity. LawHelp.org and the Legal Services Corporation locate the program serving your area.

In criminal cases the right to counsel is constitutional. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one must be provided — the rule from Gideon v. Wainwright in 1963. Public defender offices are chronically underfunded but the right is real and absolute.

There is no equivalent right in civil cases. Eviction, debt collection, custody and immigration proceedings routinely happen with one side represented and the other not, which is why several cities have begun funding right-to-counsel programs in eviction cases.

Free and low-cost alternatives: law school clinics, bar association referral services offering a reduced-rate initial consultation, state attorney general consumer mediation, and federal agency complaint processes such as the CFPB and EEOC that cost nothing and require no lawyer.

For consumer disputes with a company, filing with the CFPB or your state attorney general is usually faster and more effective than litigation, and costs nothing.