Every state has a court of last resort, but not every state calls it the Supreme Court. Most do. A handful use other names, and two states split the job between two separate high courts. Across all 50 states, there are 52 courts of last resort staffed by a combined 346 justices.
States That Use a Different Name
The majority of states label their highest court the Supreme Court, but the name is not universal. New York is the most confusing example. Its highest court is the Court of Appeals, while the name “Supreme Court” belongs to a trial-level court that handles everyday civil and criminal cases.1New York State Unified Court System. Court Structure A New York lawyer filing a Supreme Court case is starting a trial, not making a final appeal.
Massachusetts and Maine both call their highest court the Supreme Judicial Court. West Virginia uses the name Supreme Court of Appeals. Maryland used to stand alongside New York as a state whose highest court was called the Court of Appeals, but a voter-approved constitutional amendment changed the name to the Supreme Court of Maryland in December 2022.2Maryland Courts. Voter-Approved Constitutional Change Renames Maryland Courts The function of all these courts is identical regardless of what the state calls them.
Two States That Split the Job
Texas and Oklahoma are the only states that divide their court of last resort into two separate bodies. Each state has a Supreme Court that handles civil appeals and a Court of Criminal Appeals that serves as the final authority on criminal matters.3American Bar Association. Bifurcated Appellate Review: The Texas Story of Two High Courts In Oklahoma, the Court of Criminal Appeals is explicitly the highest court in the state for criminal cases. This bifurcated setup means these two states account for four of the nation’s 52 courts of last resort.
The split exists largely because of caseload. Both states adopted the structure over a century ago, when a single high court couldn’t keep pace with the volume of appeals. In practice, the division creates two entirely separate tracks. A civil case that goes all the way up ends at the Supreme Court. A criminal conviction appealed to its limit lands at the Court of Criminal Appeals. There is no crossover between them.
What a State’s Highest Court Actually Does
Whatever the name, a state high court is the final authority on the meaning of that state’s constitution and statutes. When it interprets a state law, that interpretation binds every lower court in the state. No federal court, including the U.S. Supreme Court, can overrule a state high court on a pure question of state law.
Most of these courts operate on discretionary review, meaning they pick which cases to hear rather than accepting everything that comes through the door. That lets them focus on cases raising unresolved legal questions or carrying broad public significance, rather than relitigating routine disputes. In a typical year, a state high court accepts a small fraction of the petitions filed with it.
Some types of cases bypass that gatekeeping. Death penalty appeals go directly to the state’s highest court in many states as a matter of right. State high courts also sometimes have original jurisdiction over extraordinary requests like writs of habeas corpus, which challenge the legality of someone’s detention, or writs of mandamus, which order a government official to perform a required duty. Beyond deciding cases, these courts usually oversee the administration of the entire state court system, setting rules for procedure, attorney licensing, and the day-to-day operations of lower courts.
How Many Justices Sit on the Bench
State high court benches range from five to nine justices.4Ballotpedia. State Supreme Courts The most common number is seven, though five-member and nine-member courts are not unusual. Every state uses an odd number to avoid tie votes. By comparison, the U.S. Supreme Court has nine justices, so even the largest state benches match but never exceed the federal model.
How Justices Reach the Bench
No state mirrors the federal model of lifetime presidential appointments confirmed by the Senate. Instead, states use a patchwork of methods that generally fall into four categories:
- Partisan elections, where candidates appear on the ballot with a political party label.
- Nonpartisan elections, where candidates run without any party affiliation listed on the ballot.
- Gubernatorial appointment, sometimes subject to confirmation by the state legislature or an executive council.
- Merit selection, also called the Missouri Plan, in which a nonpartisan commission screens candidates and sends a short list to the governor, who makes the appointment. After an initial term, the justice faces a retention election where voters decide whether to keep them on the bench.5Missouri Courts. Nonpartisan Court Plan
Many states blend these approaches. A state might use merit selection for the initial appointment but require a contested election when the term expires. Judicial selection is far more politicized at the state level than most people realize, with campaign spending on state supreme court races reaching into the millions in competitive states.
Terms of Office and Retirement
Unlike federal judges, who serve for life under Article III of the Constitution, nearly all state high court justices serve fixed terms. Forty-six states and the District of Columbia set defined terms for their supreme court justices. The most common term length is six years, used in 15 states. Terms of eight and ten years are the next most common, each used in 12 states. The District of Columbia has the longest fixed term at 15 years.6Ballotpedia. Length of Terms of State Supreme Court Justices
Three states skip fixed terms entirely. Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New Jersey allow justices to serve until a mandatory retirement age of 70. Rhode Island is the only state where supreme court justices serve life terms with no mandatory retirement age at all, closely mirroring the federal model.7Brennan Center for Justice. Life Tenure Is a Rarity on State Supreme Courts
Beyond those three states, roughly 31 states impose a mandatory retirement age on their high court justices, with 70 being the most common cutoff.7Brennan Center for Justice. Life Tenure Is a Rarity on State Supreme Courts In states with both a fixed term and a retirement age, a justice who wins reelection or retention can still be forced off the bench upon hitting the age limit. Short terms and age caps together mean state high court benches turn over far more frequently than the U.S. Supreme Court, where a single justice might serve for three or four decades.