When the Supreme Court declares an act of Congress or of the president unconstitutional, it can be overruled only by a subsequent decision of the Court or an amendment to the Constitution. Of the 26 amendments to the Constitution, seven have invalidated Supreme Court decisions. Below the Supreme Court are 13 federal courts of appeals . The country is divided into 13 federal judicial circuits. Each circuit has a court of appeals that hears cases appealed from the federal district courts in that circuit.
District courts are the federal trial-level courts.
Every state has at least one district court, and highly populated states have more. Texas is located in the Fifth Circuit, along with Louisiana and Mississippi. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit usually sits in New Orleans. Texas has four federal district courts, in the eastern, northern, southern, and western districts. Also part of the federal system are a number of courts of specific jurisdiction.