thumb|Appellate mandate issued by the United States Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit affirming an order of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in Steven Donziger's criminal contempt case. Generally speaking the appellate court examines the record of evidence presented in the trial court and the law that the lower court applied and decides whether that decision was legally sound or not. The appellate court will typically be deferential to the lower court's findings of fact (such as whether a defendant committed a particular act), unless clearly erroneous, and so will focus on the court's application of the law to those facts (such as whether the act found by the court to have occurred fits a legal definition at issue).
thumb|Appell:ate mandate issued by the United States Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit affirming an order of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in Steven Donziger's criminal contempt case. Generally speaking the appellate court examines the record of evidence presented in the trial court and the law that the lower court applied and decides whether that decision was legally sound or not. The appellate court will typically be deferential to the lower court's findings of fact (such as whether a defendant committed a particular act), unless clearly erroneous, and so will focus on the court's application of the law to those facts (such as whether the act found by the court to have occurred fits a legal definition at issue).