Judiciary of California

The Judiciary of California is defined under the California Constitution, law, and regulations as part of the Government of California. The judiciary has a hierarchical structure with the Supreme Court at the apex, California courts of appeal as the primary appellate courts, and the California superior courts as the primary trial courts. Its administration is effected by the Judicial Council and its staff, as well as the relatively autonomous courts. California uses a modified Missouri Plan (merit plan) method of appointing judges, whereby judges are nominally elected at the superior court level (but in practice are first appointed by the Governor) and appointed at higher levels, and are subject to retention elections.

The judicial system of California is the largest in the United States that is fully staffed by professional law-trained judges. 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.

The judiciary has a hierarchical structure with the Supreme Court at the apex, courts of appeal as the primary appellate courts, and the superior courts as the primary trial courts.

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