Supreme Court of the State of New York
From Ballotpedia
New York Supreme Court Judicial Districts
The Supreme Court of the State of New York includes 62 courts—one supreme court for each county. These courts are the highest trial courts in New York State, and are of general jurisdiction.
The New York Supreme Courts are not New York's courts of last resort. The Court of Appeals is the highest court in New York.[1]
Jurisdiction
The statewide Supreme Court "has unlimited original jurisdiction, but generally hears cases that are outside of the jurisdiction of other courts. Its caseload includes the following: civil matters beyond the monetary limits of the lower courts' jurisdiction; divorce, separation, and annulment proceedings; equity suits, such as mortgage foreclosures and injunctions." [2]
Criminal/Civil jurisdiction
Outside New York City, the supreme courts typically handle large civil cases. These may include cases involving large dollar amounts, such as medical malpractice, labor laws, motor vehicle cases, and other cases to provide relief to those who claim to be harmed because of the acts of others.[3]
Supreme courts also have the authority to hear criminal felony cases, but felony cases are usually heard in the county courts. In the five New York City districts, however, each supreme court has a criminal term, or division, which handles large felony cases. The New York City Supreme Courts also have civil terms which handle civil cases. Smaller civil cases and less serious criminal cases are handled in other courts.[4][5][6]
Commercial division
The Commercial Division spans ten jurisdictions including Albany, Kings, Nassau, New York, Onondaga, Queens, Suffolk, and Westchester counties, and the seventh and eighth judicial districts.[7] Counties have individual monetary thresholds for cases to qualify to be heard by the Commercial Division.
The Division's focus is resolution of complicated commercial disputes requiring broad knowledge of commercial law. Cases regarding commercial class actions, dissolution of corporations, and shareholder derivatives action do not have minimum monetary thresholds.[8]
Appeals
Appeals from supreme court decisions go to the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, which is New York's intermediate appellate court, divided into four appellate departments. Notwithstanding the departments, the Appellate Division is one court, and its decisions are binding on all lower courts unless there is a conflict among the appellate departments. New York's highest appellate court is the New York Court of Appeals; appeals are taken from the four departments to the Court of Appeals; decisions from the Court of Appeals are binding throughout the state.[1]
Judicial districts
The counties are grouped into judicial districts from which the justices are elected. Judgeships are then allotted among the counties of the district. There are 13 judicial districts in New York.
Election
New York Supreme Court justices are elected to 14-year terms. Regardless of the term for which they are elected, justices retire at the end of the year in which they reach the age of seventy years. When a justice reaches 70, he may apply for a two-year extension on his service, subject to certification, and may continue to serve in a limited capacity. These extensions can be granted a total of three times, as justices must retire by the end of the calendar year that they turn 76. Regardless of whether an extension was certified for a justice, a replacement is elected to a fresh 14-year term during the general election the November the outgoing justice turns 70.[9]
Because the number of elected supreme court justices is far less than the number of judges needed in many counties, there are provisions for judges of the New York City Civil Court, New York City Criminal Court, New York Family Court, and New York Court of Claims to be designated as acting supreme court justices.[1]
No primary necessary to elect state judges (2008)
- See also: Supreme Court of the United States (NY Board of Elections v. Lopez-Torres, 06-766)
- See also: Supreme Court of the United States (NY Board of Elections v. Lopez-Torres, 06-766)
Since 1921, New York has selected its nominees for state trial court justices by party convention, a process by which political delegates choose judicial candidates, whose names then automatically appear on the general-election ballot. In order to become a state delegate, one must obtain and submit 500 signatures from registered party voters. New York is one of the only states to abide by such an election process for trial court judges.[10]
In 2004, Lopez Torres, a former judge, along with other judicial candidates who were unable to secure party nominations, filed suit against the New York Board of Elections, alleging that New York’s judicial election system served as a burden upon the First Amendment right of association of those who sought to challenge nominees chosen by party leadership. The federal trial court issued an injunction against New York’s election laws in 2006, and the Second Circuit later affirmed the decision the same year, observing that the First Amendment ensured the plaintiffs a "realistic opportunity to particulate in [a political party’s] nominating process, and to do so free from burdens that are both severe and unnecessary."[10]
Following an argument on October 3, 2007, the decision of the Second Circuit was reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court. The majority opinion was written by Justice Antonin Scalia, who was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Samuel Alito. Justice Stevens filed a separate concurrence, and was joined by Justice Souter. Justice Anthony Kennedy filed a separate opinion concurring in the judgment, and was joined by Justice Breyer as to Part II of his opinion only. In the Court’s opinion, Justice Scalia wrote that New York’s political process for nominating and electing state trial court judges did not violate the tenets of the First Amendment, citing the fact that there was no such thing as "an individual’s constitutional right to have a 'fair shot' at winning the party’s nomination."[10]
As noted in Justice Scalia’s conclusion, the Court chose to uphold New York’s unique judicial election system:[10]
| “ | New York State has thrice (in 1846, 1911, and 1921) displayed a willingness to reconsider its method of selecting Supreme Court Justices. If it wishes to return to the primary system that it discarded in 1921, it is free to do so; but the First Amendment does not compel that.[11] | ” |
External links
- New York Unified Court System
- American Judicature Society, "Judicial Selection in the States: New York," archived November 5, 2011
- New York Official Reports for the New York Court System
- New York Court Structure
Footnotes
Portions of this article have been taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Copyright Notice can be found here.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "New York Supreme Court" on Wikipedia
- ↑ "New York State Unified Court System", "Supreme Court," accessed May 29, 2024
- ↑ "New York State Unified Court System", "12th JD - Civil Supreme, Bronx," accessed May 29, 2024
- ↑ 6th Judicial District: Supreme Court jurisdiction
- ↑ Supreme Court 13th Judicial District
- ↑ New York County - Supreme Criminal Term
- ↑ "New York State Unified Court System", "Commercial Division - NY Supreme Court," accessed May 29, 2024
- ↑ "New York State Unified Court System", "Commercial Division - New York County/Manhattan," accessed May 29, 2024
- ↑ Justia, "New York Constitution, Article VI - Judiciary, Section 25 - Judges and justices; compensation; retirement," accessed November 06, 2023
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 SCOTUSblog, "No need for primary to pick judges," January 16, 2008
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
