Alabama Supreme Court

From Judgepedia

The Alabama Supreme Court was founded in 1819, as provided in the state constitution, and as the paramount state court, it has both judicial and administrative responsibilities.

Jurisdiction

The Supreme Court is Alabama's highest court and has the authority to review the decisions reached by the lower courts. The Supreme Court is also authorized to review matters of contention where the dollar amount in question exceeds $50,000 (if no other Alabama court has jurisdiction).

Case load

According to the 2006 Annual Report, there were a total of 1,828 mandatory cases and discretionary petitions filed, for 203 cases for each justice. Of the total, 677 cases were mandatory, and 1,151 cases were discretionary.^[1] In Alabama, the Supreme Court has mandatory jurisdiction in civil (over $50,000), administrative agency, disciplinary, and original proceeding cases, while the Court has discretionary jurisdiction in civil, noncapital criminal, adminstrative agency, juvenile, advisory opinion, original proceeding, and interlocutory decision cases. Nine justices sit in panels of five or en banc, and the Supreme Court of Alabama assigns cases to the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals. ^[2]

The court's justices

Selection of justices

See also: Judicial selection in Alabama

All justices on the Alabama Supreme Court are elected for six year terms in partisan elections. ^[3] The composition of the court consists of eight Associate Justices and one Chief Justice. Vacancies, which can occur when a judge dies, resigns, retires, or is removed from office, are filled by appointments by the governor of Alabama.^[4]

Qualifications

To be considered a candidate of the Supreme Court, the person must:

• Be licensed to practice law in Alabama
• Have lived in Alabama for at least one year.
• Be 70 years of age or younger at the time of candidacy.^[5]

Current justices

Justices on the Alabama Supreme court are elected to six year terms in partisan elections.

Chief justice

Justice Sue Bell Cobb is the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, the first woman elected as a chief justice.

Removal of justices

Justices can be removed in one of two ways:

• They may be impeached.
• The judicial inquiry commission will investigate complaints against judges and produce a filed complaint with the court of the judiciary. This court may censure, suspend, or remove the judge in question. These decisions, however, may be appealled to the Supreme Court.

Notable decisions

• ExxonMobil Corp. v. Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (2007) In an 8-1 ruling, the Supreme Court (Justice Cobb dissenting) voided the punitive damages portion of a $3.6 billion jury award against ExxonMobil. The state of Alabama sued ExxonMobil over disputed royalty revenues; compensatory damages were awarded in excess of $100 million, and punitive damages were awarded in the amount of $3.5 billion. The Supreme Court ruled in November 2007 that for the State to be awarded $3.5 billion in punitive damages relating to a fraud claim regarding the disputed royalty fees, the State had to prove 1) Exxon had a duty to disclose material facts that 2) were concealed or not disclosed, which 3) induced the State to act 4) to the State's injury, resulting 5) in actual damage to the State. On this burden the State failed on multiple grounds, necessitating the reversal of the punitive damages.

History of the court

The first Constitution of Alabama (1819), under which the state was admitted to the Union, provided that "until the General Assembly shall otherwise prescribe, the powers of the Supreme Court shall be vested in, and its duties shall be performed by, the Judges of the several circuit courts within this state." At that time, the state was divided into five judicial circuits, and on the second Monday in May 1820, the first term of the Supreme Court was held at Cahaba, then the state capital. Present were the Honorables C. C. Clay, Reuben Saffold, Henry Y. Webb, and Richard Ellis. Hon. A. S. Lipscomb, the remaining circuit judge, was absent from this session. The circuit judges nominated and appointed as Chief Justice Hon. C. C. Clay. Twenty-three opinions were written during this first term, nine by Chief Justice Clay, twelve per curiam, and one each by Judges Saffold and Lipscomb.^[6] Until 1868, any given prospective judge had to be approved by a joint vote of both the state legislature and the General Assembly, but after the Civil War, part of southern reconstruction measures required judges be put to popular vote.

Impeachments of 1829

In 1829, according to the Alabama Supreme Court's website, "a money lender named Kelly, who lived in Huntsville (then the financial center of the state), brought suit to have them impeached by the Senate." This happened after the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for lenders to charge rates at "50% and 100% per month."

The lenders believed that the court's ruling was not supported by the Alabama Constitution, and therefore attempted the impeachment. The Alabama Senate acquitted all the Justices.^[7]

Supreme Court elections

Main article: Alabama Supreme Court elections

Spending in the 2008 Alabama Supreme Court elections reached $5 million. Candidates Greg Shaw and Deborah Bell Paseur reported spending a total of $3.8 million along with contributions from other sources. The Brennan Center shows that Wisconsin's total ranks second to Alabama with $3.7 million.^[8]

See also

• Alabama Supreme Court elections
• Judicial selection in Alabama
• Alabama judicial news

External links

• Alabama Supreme Court
• Alabama judicial system chart
• Alabama Supreme Court Justice Harold See: His Twelve-Year Legacy -- A Special Issue Report (October 2008)
• Staying the Course: An Update on the Alabama Supreme Court by Marc James Ayers (October 2006)
• Fringe Tactics: Special Interest Groups Target Judicial Races
• The Road Back from "Tort Hell": The Alabama Supreme Court, 1994-2004

References