State supreme court facts for kids
In the United States, a state supreme court is the most important court in a state. It's the highest court in that state's court system. Think of it as the final stop for legal cases within a state.
This court usually only hears appeals. This means it reviews decisions made by lower courts. It doesn't hold new trials or decide what actually happened in a case. If a lower court made a big mistake in how it found the facts, the state supreme court might send the case back. Then, the lower court would have to try the case again. This job of fixing mistakes is why these courts have different names in different states. A group of judges, called justices, makes up the court. How these judges are chosen is written in the state's own constitution.
How State Supreme Court Judges Are Chosen
Many states let people vote for their state Supreme Court judges. Sometimes, they vote to keep judges in their jobs. Since the year 2000, a lot more money has been used in these judge elections. Groups with special interests have given money to these campaigns. This has made some people wonder if the judges can be completely fair.
Fairness in Court Decisions
The highest court in the whole United States, the U.S. Supreme Court, made an important decision in 2009. It was about a case called Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co.. The court decided that if a judge on a state supreme court heard a case involving someone who gave a lot of money to their election campaign, it wasn't fair. This was seen as a problem with "due process." Due process means that everyone should be treated fairly by the law.
See also
In Spanish: Corte suprema estatal (Estados Unidos) para niños
