New York Supreme Court
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The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the basic New York State trial court of general jurisdiction. There is a supreme court in each of New York State's 62 counties, although some of the smaller counties share judges with neighboring counties. All but the most populous counties are grouped into judicial districts from which the justices are elected, with unwritten agreements allotting the judgeships among the counties of the district.
In most states and in the U.S. federal courts, "supreme court" is the name of the highest court in the state. However, the New York Supreme Court is primarily a trial court, roughly equivalent to the "district courts", "superior courts," or "circuit courts" of other states. The highest court in New York State is called the "Court of Appeals."
[edit] The Supreme Court Today
The supreme court in New York County is located in several buildings in Manhattan. The civil branch is in several buildings near Foley Square: the main New York County Courthouse building at 60 Centre Street (see photo), and three others at 80 Centre Street (across Worth Street), 111 Centre Street, and 71 Thomas Street. The criminal branch is at 100 Centre Street, shared with the Manhattan Criminal Court, the Office of the District Attorney and other agencies, and at 111 Centre Street, shared with the New York County Civil Court. This is also true of the Supreme Court in Kings County and in Richmond County. In Richmond County several "Parts" of the Supreme Court are located in the former U.S. Navy Home Port (each Part is usually where one Supreme Court judge sits).
The State Supreme Court handles large civil cases, and also handles felony criminal cases within the five counties that make up New York City. Outside New York City, the County Courts handle felony criminal cases. Smaller civil cases and less serious criminal cases are handled in other courts: the Civil Court and Criminal Court in New York City; County and District Courts in Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island; and County, City, Town and Village Courts in the rest of the state. Certain specialized matters are handled by other courts; for example, probate matters are heard in Surrogate's Court, juvenile delinquency and child custody matters in Family Court, and tort and contract claims against the state for monetary damages in the Court of Claims. Although the New York Supreme Court in theory has unlimited general original jurisdiction over civil litigation, in practice it does not normally hear cases with lower monetary claims that are within the powers of a New York state trial court of limited jurisdiction such as County Court or N.Y.C. Civil Court. By statute, the Supreme Court has exclusive jurisdiction over three areas: matrimonial actions (such as for divorce or annulment), declaratory judgments, and so-called Article 78 actions, but effectively has exclusive jurisdiction over other areas sounding in equity such as specific performance and rescission of contract, which have been defined by applicable caselaw as unsuitable for adjudication by the lower courts.
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 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.
New York Supreme Court justices are elected to 14-year terms. In practice, most of the power of selecting judges belongs to local political party organizations. 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, though subject to annual review justices may serve till the age of 76, a replacement being chosen to a fresh 14-year term that November with effect from the start of the following year.
Recently, a federal district court in Brooklyn declared the method of nominating Supreme Court justices to be unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Judge John Gleeson stated: "A state may decide whether or not voters will be the best choosers of judges. But it may not say one thing – “The justices of the supreme court shall be chosen by the electors,” N.Y. Const. art. VI § 6(c) – and do quite another, as they have here by effectively transferring the power to choose major party leaders. Put simply . . . the state may not pass off the will of the party leaders as the will of the people. Because that is exactly what the New York judicial convention system does, it violates the First Amendment." In late August 2006, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit unanimously affirmed Gleeson’s ruling, which mandates open primaries until the state legislature builds a new system. The old system remains in place under a stay for the 2006 judicial election process. On February 20, 2007, Supreme Court of the United States granted petition for certiorari in this case. It is likely that the case will be argued in the fall of 2007 with the decision expected by June 2008.
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.
[edit] Trivia
- The inscription on the front of the New York County courthouse taken from a letter of George Washington to the Attorney General in 1789: "The true administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good government."
