Court of Appeals for the circuit in which the applicable district is located. The United States District Courts have subject-matter jurisdiction over bankruptcy matters. However, each such district court may, by order, "refer" bankruptcy matters to the Bankruptcy Court, and most district courts have a standing "reference" order to that effect, so that all bankruptcy cases are handled by the Bankruptcy Court. In unusual circumstances, a district court may "withdraw the reference" (i.e., taking a particular case or proceeding within the case away from the bankruptcy court) and decide the matter itself. Decisions of the bankruptcy court are generally appealable to the district court, and then to the Court of Appeals. However, in a few jurisdictions a separate court called a Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (composed of bankruptcy judges) hears certain appeals from bankruptcy courts. United States Trustee The United States Attorney General appoints a separate United States Trustee for each of twenty-one geographical regions for a five-year term. Each Trustee is removable from office by and works under the general supervision of the Attorney General. The U.S. Trustees maintain regional offices that correspond with federal judicial districts and are administratively overseen by the Executive Office for United States Trustees in Washington, D.C. Each United States Trustee, an officer of the U.S. Department of Justice, is responsible for maintaining and supervising a panel of private trustees for chapter 7 bankruptcy cases. The Trustee has other duties including the administration of most bankruptcy cases and trustees. Under Section 307 of Title 11 of the U.S. Code, a U.S. Trustee "may raise and may appear and be heard on any issue in any case or proceeding" in bankruptcy except for filing a plan of reorganization in a chapter 11 case. The automatic stay Bankruptcy Code § 362 imposes the automatic stay at the moment a bankruptcy petition is filed. The automatic stay generally prohibits the commencement, enforcement or appeal of actions and judgments, judicial or administrative, against a debtor for the collection of a claim that arose prior to the filing of the bankruptcy petition. The automatic stay also prohibits collection actions and proceedings directed toward property of the bankruptcy estate itself. In some courts, violations of the stay are treated as void ab initio as a matter of law, although the court may annul the stay to give effect to otherwise void acts. Other courts treat violations as voidable (not necessarily void