Also,
make a big deal of. Give undue importance to an issue, as in
I'll pay you back next week-you needn't make a federal case of it, or
Jack is making a big deal of filling out his passport application. The first hyperbolic expression, almost always used in a negative context, alludes to taking a legal action before a high (federal) court. The second alludes to an important business transaction (see
big deal, def. 1).