District or Superior Courts

Since state court systems vary by state, you will not always be able to find a cut-and-dry list of county courthouses. Trial courts are the lowest tier of the U.S. State Court system, and depending on the state, that lowest tier may include county courts, district courts, circuit courts, superior courts, magistrates, etc. Since we aren't collecting courts of appeals (the 2nd tier of the state court system), we're already collecting state supreme courts (the third tier, and court of last resort), and district and superior courts represent the lowest tier of the state court system (similar to county courts), then they can be collected. Keep in mind that we are only collecting the courthouse buildings, not individual courts operating in the courthouses, but knowing which courts occupy a courthouse can help you determine which building to collect.

If you come across a state which only appears to have district or superior courts, try to determine the name of the building(s) which house the district and superior courts. If both the district and superior courts occupy the same courthouse building, only one point should be added to the map to represent that courthouse. For example, the Adams County Courthouse in Washington houses both the Adams County Superior and District Courts. One point was collected and named 'Adams County Courthouse' since this is the name displayed on the front of the building. In the 'Comments' field, you can add a note about the specific courts that occupy the building.

If the district and superior courts occupy different buildings, then two points can be collected, one for each courthouse building. Again, try to determine the name of the building, but if no building name can be found, then an acceptable name could be, for example, 'Adams County District Court - Othello.'