thumb|Supreme Court of Nevada, Carson City, Nevada

The Supreme Court of Nevada is the highest state court of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the head of the Nevada Judiciary. The main constitutional function of the Supreme Court is to review appeals made directly from the decisions of the district courts. The Supreme Court does not pursue fact-finding by conducting trials, but rather determines whether legal errors were committed in the rendering of the lower court's decision. While the Court must consider all cases filed,

There are seven Justices on the court, who are elected to six-year terms in officially nonpartisan elections and who are not subject to term limits, which were rejected by voters in 1996. The Governor appoints Justices in the case of a vacancy. The most senior justice becomes Chief Justice for a two-year term. which until the early 2000s was the actual situation in New Hampshire and West Virginia, as well as Virginia until 2023. Nevada, however, has guaranteed its residents a right to appeal since statehood. From the 1980s to the present, Nevada state supreme court justices have been burdened with the highest per-justice caseloads of any state supreme court in the United States.

In January 1999, to bring its soaring backlog under control, the Supreme Court of Nevada adopted for the first time a measure that was frequently used by the Supreme Court of California prior to the creation of the California Courts of Appeal in 1904 (and for a few years afterward). The Court divided itself into two three-justice panels which rotate membership every 12 months. The majority of cases are now heard and decided by the three-justice panels, with one panel in Carson City and one panel in Las Vegas. The Chief Justice is the administrative head of the court system, with authority to divide the work of the Supreme Court among the justices, assign district judges to assist in other judicial districts or to special functions, and assign retired judges or justices to appropriate temporary duty.

The primary advantage of this system is that it is often easier and faster to negotiate a consensus on the key points of a majority opinion among three instead of seven justices. The disadvantages are that the two panels might inadvertently issue conflicting majority opinions; and that an appellant might be ruled against by two justices on a panel of three, who might have been a minority if the case had been heard by a full court of seven justices.

thumb|The court's secondary courthouse in Las Vegas, which it shares with the [[Nevada Court of Appeals|Court of Appeals]]

Meanwhile, the state supreme court continued to lobby the people and the legislature of the state of Nevada to create an intermediate appellate court. The Legislature eventually authorized the latest attempt to appear on the November 2, 2010 ballot. Question 2, however, was narrowly rejected by 53% of the 670,126 votes cast. The same issue appeared again as Question 1 on the November 4, 2014 ballot, which was narrowly approved by Nevada voters by a 54 percent to 46 percent margin. Nevada then immediately established a Nevada Court of Appeals.

Current justices

{|class="wikitable sortable"

!Seat

!Name

!Born

!Start

!Chief term

!Term ends

!Appointer

!Law school

|-

|D

|, Chief Justice

|

|

|2025–present

|2026

|

|W&L

|-

|E

|

|

|

|2022–2023<br>2016–2017<br>2010–2011

|2028

|

|USD

|-

|B

|

|

|

|2020–2021<br>2013

|2026

|

|UC Davis

|-

|G

|

|

|

|2023–2024

|2030

| | (R)

|UC Hastings

|-

|C

|

|

|

|2024–2025

|2030

|

|UVA

|-

|F

|

|

|

|align="center" |

|2030

| | (D)

|GWU

|-

|A

|

|

|

|align="center" |

|2028

|

|USD

|}

References

Further reading

  • Nevada. (2000). Practice before the Supreme Court of Nevada: an overview, Carson City, Nev: Nevada State Supreme Court Clerk's Office.
  • The Nevada State Supreme Court. (1986). Carson City, Nev: Administrative Office of the Courts.
  • Supreme Court of Nevada