New York State Chief Judge Janet DiFiore has proposed a major reorganization of the state court system that would replace a complex system of 11 separate trial courts with a simplified three-level structure. DiFiore said in a news release that ...

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All state county and city courts in Chautauqua, Genesee and Wyoming Counties closed at 2 o’clock Wednesday afternoon due to the severe winter weather. State, local and city courts in Erie and Niagara counties were already closed Wednesday. Erie County ...

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All state, county, and city courts in Erie County will be closed on Wednesday due to the expected extremely cold and snowy weather. The closure includes Buffalo City Court, Lackawanna City Court and Tonawanda City Court. The National Weather Service ...

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The Constitution established one court and one court only and called it Supreme. The framers authorized Congress to establish “inferior courts,” which it did starting in 1789, in the form of U.S. district courts and circuit courts. In theory, Congress ...

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A $42,000 antique desk. A $32,000 blue suede sectional sofa. A $7,500 inlaid wooden floor map of West Virginia’s 55 counties. A scandal involving lavish office renovations and other financial abuses by the highest court in ...

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The Raise the Age legislation adopted as part of the new state budget could cost Monroe County more than $20 million to get off the ground and $13 million annually after it’s implemented next year. The startup cost includes $7.5 ...

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Years ago, when I was a trial court judge in Sacramento, the husband of one of my court staffers murdered their two children in front of her, beat her and then killed himself. All of us were unaware of her ...

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As President Donald Trump escalates his confrontation with the judiciary branch in tweets and speeches, lawmakers in some half a dozen states are testing their state courts’ independence with actual legislation. Bills have been proposed in Florida, Washington state and ...

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New York has approximately 2,150 town and village court judges. Of those, 1,450 or nearly 70% are nonlawyers. That is the greatest number and highest percentage in the country. For years the media, good government groups, and even the Office ...

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The Senate Judiciary Committee has created a new subcommittee focused on federal courts and the bankruptcy litigation system. The new Subcommittee on Bankruptcy and the Courts is one of the new subgroups created by splitting up the former Administrative Oversight ...

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A 41 percent pay increase for the state’s judges is being recommended by Chief Administrative Judge Ann Pfau. Her recommendation, on behalf of the judiciary, would restore the purchasing power of judges to the level their salaries had in 1999, the last time they received a pay hike.

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Rochester attorney Amy Bach wants to make the judicial system more just. She has started a new foundation, Measures for Justice Institute, to rank the performance of local trial courts throughout the nation, providing a yardstick for those within the system to gauge how they measure up.

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