The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (in case citations, D.D.C.) is a federal district court in the District of Columbia. It also occasionally handles (jointly with the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii and the High Court of American Samoa) federal issues that arise in the territory of American Samoa, which has no local federal court or territorial court. Appeals from the District are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (except for patent claims, and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the Federal Circuit).