California Courts of Appeal

All California appellate courts are required by the California Constitution to decide criminal cases in writing with reasons stated (meaning that even in criminal appeals where the defendant's own lawyer has tacitly conceded that the appeal has no merit,[6] the appellate decision must summarize the facts and law of the case and review possible issues independently before concluding that the appeal is without merit).

[7][11] The Court became so overloaded that it frequently issued summary dispositions in minor cases, meaning that it was merely saying "affirmed" or "reversed" without saying why.

[7][11] Despite implementing all these measures, the Supreme Court was no longer able to keep up with the state's rapidly growing appellate caseload by the end of the 19th century.

[11] Accordingly, in 1903, the Legislature proposed a constitutional amendment to create what were then called the District Courts of Appeal.

The first nine justices included the five members of the Supreme Court Commission, which had been simultaneously abolished by the same constitutional amendment.

[11] In 1966, the word "District" was dropped from the official names of the Courts of Appeal by another constitutional amendment which extensively revised the sections governing the state judiciary.

A serious flaw in the 1904 constitutional amendment is that it authorized the Legislature to create new appellate districts and to add divisions of three justices to existing appellate districts, but it did not authorize the Legislature to add one or two justices at a time to existing divisions.

[12] Originally, after appointment by the Governor incumbents ran in potentially contested head-to-head elections.

However, after a particularly bitter contest in 1932, the California Constitution was amended to provide for the present retention election system, where the voters are given the choice to retain or reject a candidate.

Next, the Governor officially nominates the candidate, who must then be evaluated by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, which consists of the Chief Justice of California, the Attorney General of California, and a senior presiding justice of the Court of Appeal.

All nominees must have been members of the State Bar of California for at least 10 years preceding their nomination.

In order to protect judicial independence (and because the losing party to a lawsuit will almost always regard the judge who ruled against them to be incompetent or biased), the CJP generally only initiates removal proceedings in cases of severe or extensive judicial misconduct.

The First, Second, and Third Districts each have one big courtroom at their main courthouses which they share with the Supreme Court of California.

Unlike the federal courts of appeals, the state Courts of Appeal have no provision allowing rehearing of cases en banc by all justices of a district (or a division in the case of the Fourth District).

[14] As the title implies, the APJ is responsible for managing the court's personnel, operations, caseload, budget, and facilities.

Its jurisdiction is over the following counties: Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Mono, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Yolo, and Yuba.

Justices: The California Court of Appeal for the Fourth District is unique in that it is divided into three geographical divisions that are administratively separate, which even have different case number systems, and yet remain referred to as a single district.

Originally, appeals from all of Southern California (including the San Joaquin Valley) were heard by the state supreme court sitting in Los Angeles, and then the Second District took over most of that caseload when it was created in 1904.

In 1961, the Fifth District, with headquarters in Fresno, was created to hear appeals from San Joaquin Valley counties.

The Fourth District's remaining territory was still enormous (San Bernardino County is the single largest county in the contiguous United States by area); in 1965, the Fourth District split itself into Division One, sitting permanently in San Diego, and Division Two, sitting permanently in San Bernardino (now Riverside), meaning it would no longer be a circuit-riding court.

Its jurisdiction covers the following counties: Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Stanislaus, Tulare, and Tuolumne.

The California Court of Appeal for the Sixth District is located in the Comerica Bank building in San Jose.