The Federal circuit courts are the only courts that have appellate jurisdiction. Cases do not originate in these courts as these courts only hear appeals form the lower federal courts. US Supreme Court is the highest court having both appellate and original jurisdiction.
There are 13 appellate court, they are commonly known as US court of appeals. All the 94 federal judicial district are categorised into 12 regional circuits and there is a court of appeals for each one of them. An appellate court is also known as court of second instance, appeal court and court of appeals.
