The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States. The OSC holds court at the Oregon Supreme Court Building in Salem, Oregon, near the capitol building on State Street. The building was finished in 1914 and also houses the state's law library, while the courtroom is also used by the Oregon Court of Appeals.
Tracing its heritage to 1841 when Oregon pioneers selected a Supreme Judge with probate powers, the court has grown from a single judge to its current make up of seven justices. Justices of the court serve six-year terms upon election, however vacancies are filled by appointments of the Governor of Oregon until the next general election when any qualified candidate may run for the position, including the appointee. These seven justices then select one member to serve a six-year term as Chief Justice. The court's Chief Justice is not only responsible for assigning cases to the other justices to write the court's opinions, but is also the chief executive of the Oregon Judicial Department.
Primarily an appeals court, the Oregon Supreme Court is also the court of last resort in Oregon. Although most oral arguments before the court are held in the Oregon Supreme Court Building, the court does travel around the state holding sessions in various schools. All cases are heard en banc by the court. It receives appeals from the Oregon Tax Court, the Oregon Court of Appeals, and some select cases such as death penalty appeals. Decisions of the court are published in the Oregon Reporter published by the Oregon Judicial Department. The Territorial Supreme Court was created in 1848 when the Oregon Territory was formed out of the old Oregon Country region, followed by the creation of the State Supreme Court in 1859 when Oregon was admitted to the Union on February 14.
Selection
The court is composed of seven elected justices, each of whom serves a six-year term after winning a nonpartisan election. Justices, like other Oregon state court judges, must be United States citizens, Oregon residents for at least three years, and lawyers admitted to practice in the state of Oregon. When a state court judge retires, resigns, or dies before completing a term, the Governor may appoint another qualified person to the position. Only former Supreme Court justices, elected Oregon circuit court judges, or elected Oregon Court of Appeals judges can be assigned to temporary service on the Supreme Court. These bound editions are published under the authority of the Oregon Supreme Court as authorized by state law.
Joseph G. Wilson started in 1853 as the clerk for the court and was responsible for the Oregon Reports until 1870, though he also served as a justice of the court from 1862 to 1870. In the case, Justice George Henry Williams wrote the opinion, Justice Thomas Nelson had served as the judge at the trial level due to circuit riding, while future justice Reuben P. Boise served as counsel for the defense, and fellow future justice Aaron E. Waite provided counsel for the plaintiff. With those cases that are denied an appeal to the Supreme Court, the decision of the lower court becomes final and binding. That is, the state courts can hear all cases regardless of whether the dispute is based on state law, federal law, or a combination of both, with a few exceptions.
Although only the United States Supreme Court can overturn the decisions of the Oregon Supreme Court, they cannot overturn decisions exclusively based on the Oregon law, though other mechanisms exist that effectively overturn decisions of the Oregon Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court can only accept cases from the Oregon Supreme Court if the decision involves issues of federal law and interpretation of federal law might change the outcome of the case. Thus later outcomes of the court can be affected by legislation passed by the Oregon Legislative Assembly or through the initiative and referendum process. Also, in most criminal decisions Oregon's Governor or the President of the United States may issue a pardon (some crimes require the Oregon Legislature to concur). In the 1830s additional settlement occurred, agricultural production increased, and missionaries started religious missions in the region. In 1835, the first trial in the region was held with John Kirk Townsend presiding as magistrate over a murder charge. Pioneer settlers continued to immigrate to the region, with larger wagon trains crossing the Oregon Trail in the 1840s bringing more immigrants and a need for courts. In February of that year, settlers met at Champoeg to discuss the creation of a government, including a judiciary to deal with the execution of Young's estate.
In 1843, a later set of meetings at Champoeg created the Provisional Government of Oregon with a judiciary consisting of a Supreme Judge and two justices of the peace for trial level courts. Albert E. Wilson was the first judge chosen as the Supreme Judge under this new government, but never served. Other judges were appointed or elected during this pre-territory period over the next six years.
Oregon State Supreme Court
Beginning with statehood in 1859, the court had just four justices, one for each judicial district in the state. The constitution created by the Oregon Constitutional Convention in 1857 called for these justices to serve as both circuit court judges and supreme court justices. This was set to remain until the population of the state reached 100,000 people. In 1878, the legislature passed an act to separate the circuit and supreme courts after the population reached 100,000. In 1906, the Oregon court upheld a maximum hour law for women in State v. Muller, 48 Or. 252, 85 P. 855 (1906). Due partly to a brief by future U.S. Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Oregon law in Muller v. Oregon, 208 U.S. 412 (1908) despite ruling in 1905 in Lochner v. New York that a maximum hour law for bakers was unconstitutional. Then in 1910, the state legislature expanded the court back to five justices, and lastly, in 1913 the court expanded to the current seven justices.
On the administrative end of the court, the Oregon Court of Appeals was created in 1969 as an intermediate appellate court in Oregon. With this change, the Supreme Court now generally does not hear appeals directly from the trial level courts of the state, with some exceptions such as death penalty cases. Other changes came in 1981 when the Oregon Legislature and justice Arno Denecke reformed the chief justice position from a simple head of the court in title only, to the administrative head of the entire Oregon judicial system. The following year, 1982, the court received its first female member when Governor Vic Atiyeh appointed Betty Roberts as an associate justice. Then from 1991 to 2005 Wallace P. Carson, Jr. served as chief justice of the court for a record 14 years. However, the U.S. Supreme Court disagreed and overturned the Oregon court. Then the Oregon court ruled in February 2006 that Oregon's land use law, Measure 37, was constitutional. Macpherson v. Department of Administrative Services, 340 Or. 117, 130 P.3d 308 (2006) allowed people to make claims against the government forcing the government to either pay compensation when land use regulations reduced the value of a property owners land or waive the regulation.
Location
thumb|Ornamental interior of the courtroom
thumb|Oregon Supreme Court's courtroom.
In the early years of the Supreme Court, business was conducted at a variety of locations in downtown Salem. The first public building to house the court was the Territorial Capitol Building in Salem that was built between 1854 and 1855. In that building the courtroom was in a chamber measuring 20 feet by 27 feet on the first floor. In 1876, the state finished construction on a second capitol building where the court was located on the third floor. This courtroom measured 54 feet by 46 feet, while the state law library was 75 feet by 70 feet.
In addition to holding court in the Supreme Court Building's third floor courtroom, the court also travels around the state to hold sessions.
Current justices
The court has had a total of 106 individuals serve on the court since its creation during the territorial period.