Maine Supreme Judicial Court

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Maine Supreme Judicial Court
Court information
Justices:	7
Founded:	1820
Judicial selection
Method:	Gubernatorial appointment of judges
Term:	7 years
Active justices
Leigh Ingalls Saufley  •  Donald Alexander  •  Jon Levy  •  Warren Silver  •  Andrew Mead  •  Ellen Gorman  •  Joseph Jabar  •
Former justices

Established in 1820, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court is the highest court in Maine's judicial system. Known as the Law Court when sitting as an appellate court, it is composed of seven justices.

Justices

Chief justice

See Chief justices of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court

There have been twenty-six chief justices of the court. Prentiss Mellen was the first, and current Chief Justice Leigh Ingalls Saufley is the 26th. She has served as the court's chief justice since 2001.

Jurisdiction

The court has appellate jurisdiction of all cases. Additionally, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court is one of the few state Supreme Courts that is authorized to issue advisory opinions. These advisory opinions are issued at the request of either the Executive Branch or the Legislative Branch.^[1]

Judicial selection

Justices are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Maine Senate. Justices serve for seven year terms. Seven justices serve on the court, and each serves a seven-year term, with an unlimited number of terms. From the beginning of the court in 1820, 108 different justices have served.

Qualifications

Removal of justices

Maine judges may be removed by either being impeached by the house of representatives and convicted by a two-thirds vote of the senate, or may be removed "upon the address by the governor of both houses of the legislature."^[2]

Caseloads

^[3]

Salaries

The Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court makes $138,294 annually, while associate justices make $119,476, as of January 2010.^[4][5]

Notable decisions

History of the court

Until the signing of the Articles of Agreement for Separation, Maine was part of Massachusetts and therefore included in the Massachusetts court system. In 1820, Article VI, Section 1, of the new Maine Constitution established the judicial branch of government, stating, "The judicial power of the State be vested in a Supreme Judicial Court, and such other courts as the Legislature shall from time to time establish." From the start of Statehood, the Supreme Judicial court was both a trial and an appellate court or "Law Court". The new State of Maine also adopted the same lower court structure as existed in Massachusetts, and the court system remained unchanged until 1852. The Court Reorganization Act of 1852 increased the jurisdiction of the Supreme Judicial Court to encompass virtually every type of case, increased the number of justices and authorized the justices to travel in circuits. The Probate courts were created in 1820 as county-based courts and have remained so.^[6]

The next major change in the system came in 1929, when the Legislature created the statewide Superior Court to relieve the overburdened Supreme Judicial Court. Meanwhile, the lower courts continued to operate much as they always had until 1961 when the municipal courts and the trial justices system was abolished and the new statewide District Court created. This change made Maine's court system one of the most unified in the nation, putting all courts except the Probate system under Statewide administration. In 1978 Administrative Court was created to hear appeals from state agency administrative decisions. On March 15, 2001, the Administrative Court was abolished and its caseload and personnel was blended into the District Court system. In the 1990s, a number of specialized divisions were created within the Maine Court system, including the Family Division of the District Court and the Juvenile Drug Treatment Court Program, and the Adult Drug Court Program. Effective January 1, 2001, the Legislature further "unified" Maine's courts, and reassigned caseload between the various levels of court, making District Court the only court where divorce and family cases may be filed; providing for the direct filing of appeals to Law Court from District Court, reducing the intermediate appellate function of the Superior Court, and eliminating the previous cap of $30,000 in damages for civil suits filed in District Court.^[7]

The number of Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court was increased from seven to eight by the Legislature in 1855. The Court was divided into two divisions of four members each, one constituting the Law Court, to have jurisdiction over questions of law and equity and capital cases, and to hold four terms a year; the other, to hold nisi prius terms only and to have no part in the law work of the Court. The Supreme Judicial Court, as the Law Court, is the court of final appeal in the State. Three members of the Supreme Judicial Court serve as the appellate Division for the Review of sentences. Justices of the court may sit in the Superior Court to hear non-jury civil actions, except divorce or annulments of marriage; and have jurisdiction over post conviction habeas corpus, admissions to the bar and bar disciplinary proceeding. The number, time and places of the terms of the Supreme Judicial Court are determined by the court.^[8] The court's justices originally served "during good behavior" until the age of 70. In 1840, under the Third Amendment to the Maine Constitution, the current seven-year terms were adopted, and the age limit was removed. Under the 132nd amendment in 1976, justices were allowed to serve for six months after the expiration of their terms or until their successor was named.^[9]

Notable firsts

See also

• Courts in Maine
• News: Maine smart meter opponents file appeal with state's high court, January 16, 2012
• News: Maine Supreme Court upholds life sentence in attempted murder case, December 15, 2011

External links

• Maine Supreme Judicial Court, the court's website.
• History of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, from Cleaves Law Library
• The court's opinions

References

v • d • e Maine Supreme Judicial Court
Current	Leigh Ingalls Saufley  •  Donald Alexander  •  Jon Levy  •  Warren Silver  •  Andrew Mead  •  Ellen Gorman  •  Joseph Jabar  •
Former	Robert W. Clifford  •  D. Brock Hornby  •  Prentiss Mellen  •  Chief justices of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court  •  Gene Carter  •  Albion Keith Parris  •  Edward Fox  •  Morton Brody  •  Kermit Lipez  •  Scott Wilson  •