Congress has created specialized tribunals to handle technical or high-volume matters, from tax disputes to veterans' benefits. Their judges have expertise in a narrow area, and their decisions affect millions of people. The line between courts and agencies, and between judges with life tenure and judges with fixed terms, raises recurring constitutional questions.
This guide explains each major specialized court, what it hears, who its judges are, and the debates over the system.
Article III courts are staffed by judges nominated by the President, confirmed by the Senate, and protected by life tenure and salary guarantees. Congress has also created legislative courts under Article I, whose judges serve fixed terms, to handle matters such as tax, veterans, and military appeals. The Supreme Court has allowed such courts for public rights disputes involving the government, but has limited them when they decide traditional private disputes, as in Stern v. Marshall in 2011 and SEC v. Jarkesy in 2024, which required a jury for certain civil penalties.
Immigration courts are not part of the judiciary but of the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review, where several hundred immigration judges face a backlog of millions of cases and the Attorney General can overrule their decisions. In 2025 the administration dismissed dozens of immigration judges and expanded the pool of temporary judges. About 2,000 administrative law judges in other agencies, most at the Social Security Administration, decide benefits and enforcement cases. Some reformers propose making immigration courts independent Article I courts, while others say executive control keeps policy accountable to elected officials.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, created in 1978, approves government applications for electronic surveillance and searches for foreign intelligence purposes. Its 11 judges are district judges designated by the Chief Justice for seven-year terms, and it usually hears only from the government, though amici can be appointed in significant cases. A three-judge Court of Review hears appeals. Supporters say secret review is essential to national security, while critics say the court approves nearly all applications and lacks adversarial testing.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, created in 1982, is the only appeals court defined by subject matter rather than geography. It hears all patent appeals, appeals from the Court of Federal Claims, the Court of International Trade, and the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, and appeals in federal personnel cases from the Merit Systems Protection Board. Its 12 active judges have life tenure, and its rulings shape patent law nationwide.
The Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, created in 1988, reviews decisions of the Board of Veterans' Appeals on disability and other benefits. The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, with five civilian judges, reviews courts-martial. Military commissions at Guantanamo Bay try certain detainees under separate rules. Bankruptcy judges, appointed by the courts of appeals for 14-year terms, run bankruptcy courts as units of the district courts, and magistrate judges, appointed by district judges for 8-year terms, handle many pretrial matters.
The U.S. Tax Court, an Article I court with 19 judges serving 15-year terms, lets taxpayers challenge IRS deficiency notices before paying. The Court of Federal Claims, with 16 judges serving 15-year terms, hears suits for money against the United States, including contract disputes, takings claims, and the vaccine injury compensation program. The Court of International Trade in New York, an Article III court with nine judges, hears customs and trade disputes, including the 2025 challenges to emergency tariffs.
See where these courts fit in the federal courts map, learn about agency power in the administrative state explained, or see how judges are appointed in how federal judges are chosen.