ELI5: What is the difference between a federal court and the Supreme Court?

The Supreme Court is the highest, final boss of all courts in the country, while federal courts are the larger team of lower-level courts that handle cases first.

To understand how they work together in everyday life, imagine your school:

• Lower Federal Courts are like your classroom teachers and the principal. If you and another student have a big disagreement about school rules—like who owns a cool toy you brought from home—you go to your teacher first. If the problem is bigger or involves national rules, you go to the principal. In real life, most national legal problems start and finish in these regular federal courts.
• The Supreme Court is like the head superintendent of the entire school district. You cannot just run to the superintendent for every little argument. You only go to them if the principal made a decision that might be unfair, or if different schools have totally different rules and need one final, ultimate decision.

• Level of Power: Regular federal courts make decisions for a specific city or state area. The Supreme Court makes the final rules for the entire nation.
• Who Gets In: Lower federal courts must listen to thousands of everyday cases, from copyright fights over music to major crimes across state borders. The Supreme Court gets to choose its cases and only picks about eighty super-important ones each year.
• The Final Say: If you lose a case in a lower federal court, you can ask a higher court to review it. But once the Supreme Court makes a decision, it is final—no other court can change it.