Nevada Court of Appeals
The Nevada Court of Appeals (in
History
"Historically, the Supreme Court has had the highest number of filings of all states without an appellate court. In 2014, each Supreme Court Justice handled a caseload of roughly 354 cases per year. This means nearly one case every day had to be heard and decided by each Justice."[1]
For years, the
This court will hear roughly one-third of all cases submitted to the Nevada Supreme Court in a deflective model, where the Supreme Court will assign cases to a three-judge Court of Appeals. This is similar to systems used in other states, including Iowa, Idaho, and Mississippi.
All appeals are still filed with the Supreme Court of Nevada, but are then screened to determine whether they involve truly novel issues of law or important issues of public policy, as opposed to contentions that the trial court erred by failing to apply existing precedent. Based on historical data, about one third of future Nevada appeals are expected to fall into the latter category and will be reassigned to the Court of Appeals, thereby enabling the state Supreme Court to focus on deciding hard questions in the remaining cases. In turn, appeals from the decisions of the Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court will be at the discretion of the Supreme Court.
Judges
At its inception, the Court of Appeals consisted of three judges appointed by governor Brian Sandoval.
Seat | Judge[4] | Born | Joined | Term ends | Appointed by | Law school |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3 | Bonnie A. Bulla, Chief Judge | July 22, 1962 | March 4, 2019 | 2028 | Steve Sisolak (D) | Arizona State |
2 | Michael P. Gibbons | February 22, 1956 | January 5, 2015 | 2028 | Brian Sandoval (R) | Idaho |
1 | Deborah L. Westbrook | August 7, 1976 | January 2, 2023 | 2028 | —[a] | Washington |
- ^ Took office after being elected in a nonpartisan election.
References
- ^ "Court of Appeals". December 14, 2022.
- ^ "State Ballot Questions". Nevada Secretary of State. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
- ^ a b Ritter, Ken (November 11, 2014). "Officials setting up new Nevada Court of Appeals". Reno Gazette-Journal. Gannett. Retrieved January 26, 2015.
- ^ "Court of Appeals". Nevada Judiciary. December 14, 2022. Retrieved May 28, 2023.
External links