The Vermont Supreme Court is the highest
judicial authority of the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sov ...
of
Vermont. Unlike most other states, the Vermont Supreme Court hears appeals directly from the trial courts, as Vermont has no intermediate appeals court.
The Court consists of a
chief justice and four
associate justices; the Court mostly hears
appeals
In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...
of cases that have been decided by other courts. The Supreme Court justices are appointed by the
Governor of Vermont with confirmation by the
Vermont Senate. When a judicial vacancy occurs, the
judicial nominating board submits to the governor the names of as many persons as it deems qualified for appointment. All Supreme Court justices come up for
retention at the same time every six years. The next retention date is March 31, 2023. The Joint Committee on Judicial Retention reviews a justice's performance during the previous term and recommends to the
Vermont General Assembly whether the justice should be retained. The committee consists of four
House members appointed by the
Speaker
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** In ...
of the House and four Senate members appointed by the Committee on Committees. After open debate and discussion, the General Assembly votes by secret ballot, with a majority having to vote against reappointment for a justice to be denied another term.
In addition to the retention process, any Vermont judge may be removed at any time in one of two ways: (1) Judges may be impeached by a two-thirds vote of the General Assembly and convicted by a two-thirds vote of the Senate, and (2) a Judicial Conduct Board investigates complaints of judicial misconduct or disability and recommends any necessary action to the Supreme Court. Members of the
Judiciary of Vermont must retire at the age of 90.
The current chief justice is
Paul L. Reiber. Reiber was appointed Associate Justice in October 2003 by Gov.
Jim Douglas
James Holley Douglas (born June 21, 1951) is an American politician from the state of Vermont. A Republican, he served the 80th governor of Vermont from 2003 to 2011. On August 27, 2009, Douglas announced that he would not seek re-election fo ...
and then sworn in as the Chief Justice of the Court on December 17, 2004.
The Vermont Supreme Court has overall administrative control of the court system and makes administrative and procedural rules for all courts.
Building
The Vermont Supreme Court meets in a granite
Beaux Arts-style building in
Montpelier, just east of the
Vermont State House
The Vermont State House, located in Montpelier, is the state capitol of the U.S. state of Vermont. It is the seat of the Vermont General Assembly. The current Greek Revival structure is the third building on the same site to be used as the Sta ...
and immediately west of
The Pavilion Office Building.
The building site was the original site of the first Vermont State Building, a three-story wooden colonial
Georgian structure, built in 1808 by Sylvanus Baldwin.
Composition
History
The original constitution called for a "
Council of Censors
A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...
" which provided oversight for the court and its membership. The Council was abolished in 1870.
Prominent individuals who have served as Chief Justice include
Governor and
United States Senator Moses Robinson
Moses Robinson (March 22, 1741 – May 26, 1813) was a prominent Vermont political figure. When Vermont was an independent republic, he was its first chief justice and served a one-year term as governor. As governor he superintended the negoti ...
; Senator
Nathaniel Chipman
Nathaniel Chipman (November 15, 1752February 13, 1843) was an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Vermont and Chief Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court. A Yale College graduate and Continental Army veteran of the ...
; Governor and Senator
Isaac Tichenor
Isaac Tichenor (February 8, 1754December 11, 1838) was an American lawyer and politician. He served as the third and fifth governor of Vermont and United States Senator from Vermont.
Biography
Tichenor was born in Newark in the Province of ...
; Governor and Senator
Jonathan Robinson; playwright
Royall Tyler
Royall Tyler (June 18, 1757 – August 26, 1826) was an American jurist and playwright. He was born in Boston, graduated from Harvard University in 1776, and then served in the Massachusetts militia during the American Revolution. He was a ...
; Governor
Richard Skinner; Senator
Dudley Chase
Dudley Chase (December 30, 1771February 23, 1846) was a U.S. Senator from Vermont who served from 1813 to 1817 and again from 1825 to 1831. He was born in Cornish, New Hampshire.
Career
After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1791, he st ...
; Governor
Cornelius P. Van Ness
Cornelius Peter Van Ness (January 26, 1782 – December 15, 1852) was an American politician and diplomat who served as the tenth governor of Vermont from 1823 to 1826 and Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Spain ...
; Senator
Samuel Prentiss; Governor
Charles K. Williams; Governor
Stephen Royce
Stephen Royce (August 12, 1787November 11, 1868) was an American lawyer, judge and politician. Originally a Democratic-Republican, and later a Whig Party, he became a Republican when the party was formed in the mid-1850s. Royce served as an as ...
;
Congressman
A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...
Luke P. Poland
Luke Potter Poland (November 1, 1815 – July 2, 1887) was a United States senator and Representative from Vermont.
Biography
Poland was born in Westford son of Luther and Nancy Potter Poland. He attended the common schools and Jericho Academy ...
; Congressman
Homer Royce; Senator
Jonathan Ross; and
U.S. District Court Judge Franklin S. Billings Jr.
Olin M. Jeffords, the father of Senator
James M. Jeffords, served as Chief Justice from 1955 to 1958.
References
External links
Vermont Judiciary Home PageGovernment of Vermont portal
{{Authority control
State supreme courts of the United States
Supreme Court
Vermont state courts
Vermont law
1782 establishments in Vermont
Courts and tribunals established in 1782