In the United States, federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction over bankruptcy cases. Bankruptcy cases cannot be filed in state court. Each of the 94 federal judicial districts handles bankruptcy matters. ... Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay their creditors. ...
The overwhelming majority of all proceedings in bankruptcy are held before a United States bankruptcy judge, whose decision in all matters is final unless a party to the case promptly appeals to the district judge for review of the decision. This article is about the legal term. ... The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. ...
Bankruptcy judges are not appointed for life by the President or subject to Senate confirmation as are US district judges: instead, the judicial conference for the federal judicial circuit in which the court is located appoints a bankruptcy judge to a fourteen-year term. Seal of the President of the United States The President of the United States is the head of state of the United States. ... Seal of the Senate The United States Senate is one of the two houses of the Congress of the United States, the other being the House of Representatives. ... Congress has divided the United States into a number of judicial circuits, each of which includes several District Courts and a Court of Appeals to decide appeals from cases decided in the district courts within the circuit. ...
The Court's ability to award sanctions under this provision hinges upon whether it is a "court of the United States." As admitted by debtor's counsel during argument, this Court is clearly a court authorized by Congress which sits "in" the United States.
Bankruptcy matters are then referred to the bankruptcycourts from the district courts.
The district courts are clearly "courts of the United States," and bankruptcycourts operate as units or divisions of that court.
The question of whether the BankruptcyCourt possesses jurisdiction to impose sanctions under §1927 hinges on whether that court is a "court of the United States" as employed in the statute....
Accordingly, the BankruptcyCourt is not a "court of the United States" and, as such, does not have the authority to impose sanctions for vexatious and multiple filings under §1927.
Courts affirming the bankruptcycourt's authority reason that because bankruptcycourts are units of the district courts, they are by analogy "court[s] of the United States" for purposes of §1927.
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