What is the structure of the state court system?
The highest court in the State Supreme court. Underneath it is the Intermediate Appellate Court which is sometimes absent in some states. After the appellate court is the Trial Courts with general jurisdiction, an example is the Superior Court.
At the bottom are Trial Courts of Limited Jurisdiction, which include Intermediate Trial Court, Magistrate Court, Municipal Court, Family, Probate, and Equity Courts. These attend to specific types of cases or a limit to jurisdictional amounts. Municipal courts attend to bylaws in the State like traffic violations. They are also restricted to municipal boundaries.
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Administrative Courts hear matters relating to State Agencies. These include tribunals for state cases hearing.
What is limited jurisdiction trial courts, and what is a major trial court? What is the difference ?
The authority of a limited jurisdiction court is limited to certain types of cases or of certain subjects. For example, federal courts have limited jurisdiction in that they can only hear cases arising under federal law. Other types of limited jurisdiction courts are the U.S Tax Court and the U.S Bankruptcy Court. On the other hand, are courts of general jurisdiction, meaning that they can hear any case with special exceptions. An example is the Superior Court.
What is the state supreme court, what is their job?
In the State judicial system, the State Supreme Court is the highest. Any judgment passed on matters state law by the State Supreme court is final and binding. However, rulings that involve federal law can be appealed at the U.S Supreme Court. The court hears appeals on legal issues. It is also the last resort in a State Justice system.
What is the intermediate appellate court?
It is the court that is directly below the state Supreme Court. They are strategically placed in the middle of the last resort court in a state and the trial courts. The Intermediate Appellate court helps the State Supreme Court with some of its workloads. They hear appeals from Trial Courts in states that have them.
How are judges selected?
State court judges are selected depending on the State. However, there are four major ways of selecting judges.
Partisan elections: Judges are elected on popular vote and are listed on the ballot paper alongside the affiliated political party.
Non-Partisan elections: Judges are elected by the popular vote and are listed on the ballot paper only without an affiliate political party.
Legislative elections: The state legislature selects the judges.
Gubernatorial appointment: The Governor appoints the judges and sometimes needs approval by the legislature.
Assisted appointment: A list of potential candidates is reviewed by a commission, who then forward a list of names to the Governor for the potential appointment. After serving an initial term, the judge faces a retention election that is a yes-no vote by the people. An assisted appointment is also known as merit selection or the Missouri Plan.
The systems for an appointment may be applied in whole or partially depending on the State. For example, in New York, appellate court judges are chosen through assisted appointment, while the trial court judges are chosen in partisan elections. For the same level of courts, some states may select judges using different methods depending on the opinion of the people of the State or their population. The supreme court of New Jersey selects its judge through Gubernatorial Appointment, the appellate division, and the superior courts similarly.
What is the difference between a popular election and a legislative election?
Popular election involves the people, and everyone has the chance to hold the judge the select accountable. Judges are selected through popular vote and are either partisan or non-partisan.
The legislative election allows the members of the legislature to select a judge by voting.
What is the merit plan? What are the three steps? Which selection plan works best?
The merit plan is a system of selecting judges that have been promoted as fair and free of corruption and partisanship. The system involves citizens and lawyers who, as a team vet and nominate three names from an unlimited pool of public applicants; the Governor then appoints one candidate from the list of final three names. After the first 12 months of serving, the appointed judge faces a retention election by the people.
The merit plan is the best selection plan as it is both transparent and the judge is accountable to the people. The system does not have political party interference or the legislature in case the ruling party politically polarizes it; therefore, judges who come from the system are neither democratic nor republican.
How are judges removed?
In New Jersey, judges are removed in three ways:
A majority vote of impeachment by the members of the general assembly or two-thirds of the senate.
Removal proceeding can be initiated by a majority of one of the houses, through the Governor filing a complaint with the supreme court, or a motion initiated by the supreme court. The advisory committee on judicial misconduct, a committee maintained by the supreme court and private citizens, reviews all allegations of misconduct. The committee then recommends a formal hearing or dismisses the complaints. The hearing determines the fate of the judges, who may be censured, reprimanded, removed from office, or suspended without pay.
A certification by the supreme court to the Governor that a judge is incapacitated and incapable of his/her duties, then a three-person commission is appointed, which then gives a recommendation to the Governor whether to retire the judge.
What are the differences between NJ's tax court, municipal courts, and appellate courts?
The appellate courts listen to appeals from the trial courts' decisions, the Tax Court, and the State administrative agencies. The appellate court's jurisdiction is not limited.
The tax court has limited jurisdiction in that it only handles matters relating to tax. The municipal court is also considered limited jurisdiction as it has the responsibility of minor cases that occur at their municipal boundaries. Serious crimes such as robberies, car theft, or assault start as complaints and are then referred to Superior courts.
Who are the members of NJ's Supreme Court?
The New Jersey Supreme Court is composed of a Chief Justice and six associate judges.
What do they do? What are some of the things they have voted on?
The Chief Justice serves as the administrative head of the court system and oversees the State's courts' management. The Supreme Court reviews cases from the lower courts. After filing a petition for certification with the court, it may agree to hear the appeal on the grounds that it presents legal issues of great importance to the public or the issue is a result of conflicting Appellate Division decisions. If an Appellate judge files a dissenting judgment, a party can appeal to the Supreme Court.
The court interprets the New Jersey and the United States Constitution, New Jersey statutes, administrative regulations of the State's governmental agencies, and the body of common law.
An example of a ruling is Moshe Rozenblit v. Marcia V. Lyles (083434) (Hudson County & Statewide) (A-41/42-19; 083434), whereby the court ruled that the Board's payment of salaries and benefits to the releasees did not exceed its statutory grant of authority.
