Judicial Branch
The judicial system of California is the largest in the United States that is fully staffed by professional law-trained judges; a person must be admitted to practice law before they can become a judge in California. As of 2012, the state judiciary has more than 2,000 judicial officers that hear over 10 million cases each year (with the assistance of 21,000 staff members.
In comparison, the federal judicial system has only about 840 judges. Although New York and Texas each technically have more judicial officers than California, a large number of them are not attorneys and have no formal legal training. California formerly had "justice of the peace" courts staffed by lay judges, but gradually phased them out after a landmark 1974 decision in which the Supreme Court of California unanimously held that it was a violation of due process to allow a non-lawyer to preside over a criminal trial which could result in incarceration of the defendant.
Today, California's system is divided into three levels, with the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal serving as appellate courts reviewing the decisions of the Superior Courts. Judicial selection and retention is conducted under a modified version of the Missouri Plan.
Read more about this topic: Government Of California
Famous quotes containing the words judicial and/or branch:
“Scarcely any political question arises in the United States that is not resolved, sooner or later, into a judicial question.”
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)
“That man’s the true Conservative
Who lops the mouldered branch away.”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)