Technically, the United States district courts have subject matter jurisdiction over bankruptcy matters (see 28 U.S.C.§ 1334(a)). However, each such district court may, by order, "refer" bankruptcy matters to the bankruptcy court (see 28 U.S.C.§ 157(a)). As a practical matter, most district courts have a standing "reference" order to that effect, so that all bankruptcy cases in that district are handled, at least initially, by the bankruptcy court. In unusual circumstances, a district court may in a particular case "withdraw the reference" (i.e., take the case or a particular proceeding within the case away from the bankruptcy court and decide the matter itself) under 28 U.S.C.§ 157(d).
The overwhelming majority of all proceedings in bankruptcy are held before a United States bankruptcy judge, whose decisions are subject to appeals to the district court. In some judicial circuits, appeals may be taken to a Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (BAP). The bankruptcy judges in each judicial district in regular active service constitute a "unit" of the applicable United States district court (see 28 U.S.C.§ 151). The bankruptcy judge is appointed for a renewable term of 14 years by the United States Court of Appeals for the circuit in which the applicable district is located (see 28 U.S.C.§ 152).
Decisions of the bankruptcy courts are not collected and published in an official reporter produced by the government. Instead, the de facto official source for opinions of the bankruptcy courts is West's Bankruptcy Reporter, published privately by Thomson West.
Bankruptcy courts appoint a trustee to represent the interests of the creditors and administer the cases. The U.S. Trustee[3] appoints Chapter 7 trustees for a renewable period of 1 year, Chapter 13 trustees are "standing trustees" who administer cases in a specific geographic region.
^The U.S. bankruptcy courts were created in 1978, but were effective on April 1, 1984, under 28 USC section 151, as enacted by section 201(a) of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978, Pub. L. No. 95-598, 92 Stat. 2549, 2657 (November 6, 1978), and section 402 (92 Stat. 2549, 2682) of the Act, as amended, inter alia, by section 104(a) of the Bankruptcy Amendments and Federal Judgeship Act of 1984, Pub. L. No. 98-353, 98 Stat. 336 (July 10, 1984). The reason for the delay was that the United States Supreme Court held, in Northern Pipeline Construction Co. v. Marathon Pipeline Co., that the 1978 Act's grant of jurisdiction to the bankruptcy court violated the United States Constitution, and corrective federal legislation was required.
