Federal Justice and Federal Judges

The competences of Federal Courts and Federal Judges are defined by articles 106 to 110 of the Federal Constitution.
Basically, the Federal Justice handles any cases in which the Union is directly interested, or cases which span a foreigner party or more than one Brazilian State.
Cases of ordinary civil (including financial, moral and material damage; family cases, like adoptions and divorces) and penal nature are usually presented to the Justice of the States.
The Federal Administration is by far the most frequent defendant in Brazilian courts; it is estimated that around 80% of lawsuits involve the Brazilian government.

There are five Federal Courts in Brazil; the Federal Courts examine appeals against sentences issued by Federal Judges. Each Court has an specific geographic jurisdiction.
The Federal Courts are usually referred to as TRF (Tribunal Regional Federal). Below, links to the five Federal Courts, with the respective States of jurisdiction:
Federal Court - 1st Region: Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Bahia, Distrito Federal, Goiás, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais, Pará, Piauí, Rondônia, Roraima and Tocantins.
Federal Court - 2nd Region: Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo.
Federal Court - 3rd Region: São Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul.
Federal Court - 4th Region: Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná and Santa Catarina.
Federal Court - 5th Region: Alagoas, Ceará, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Rio Grande do Norte e Sergipe.



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