Legal Question in Constitutional Law in Alabama

By definition, a federal lawsuit is one that is filed in a federal court, or removed to a federal court from a state court. (Removal is relatively uncommon and can only be done in narrow circumstances.) A case you file in state court would necessarily not be a federal lawsuit unless and until it is later removed to a federal court. But it is often possible for a state-court lawsuit to include allegations that the defendant violated one or more federal laws.