Court of last resort - Ballotpedia

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A court of last resort is the highest judicial body within a jurisdiction's court system. It is a court with the highest appellate authority, meaning that its rulings are not subject to further review by another court. A court of last resort is often, but not always, referred to as a supreme court.^[1]

The rulings of courts of last resort are intended to provide clarity to lower courts. These courts also have administrative power over their jurisdiction's judicial system, overseeing lower courts and the rules of the court system.^[2] They also often oversee the ethics and conduct of the state's attorneys.

The United States Supreme Court is the court of last resort in the federal court system. Each of the states and the District of Columbia has at least one supreme court, or court of last resort. Oklahoma and Texas both have two courts of last resort, one for civil appeals and one for criminal appeals.

State courts of last resort

State appellate court structures

This map from the Court Statistics Project shows the type of appellate structure in each state.^[3]

2012 appellate 2.jpg

See also

Additional reading

Footnotes

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