Want to learn more about the historical photos used in our commemorative banner? The Kentucky Judicial Branch – also known as the Kentucky Court of Justice – is a four-tiered system consisting of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Circuit Court and District Court. The two trial courts, Circuit Court and District Court, first hear the facts of a case and issue judgments on those facts. The two ap
pellate courts, the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, may be asked to review the judgment of a lower court to see if a mistake was made. The Supreme Court is the state court of last resort and the final interpreter of Kentucky law. Nearly 1.2 million court cases flow through Kentucky courtrooms each year, affecting millions of citizens. Almost every person will interact with the courts at some point, whether to obtain a driver’s license, pursue a small claims case, seek protection from domestic violence, settle an estate, legalize an adoption, finalize a divorce, file a civil case, seek justice in a criminal matter or acquire assistance on other matters. Justices and judges run for election on a nonpartisan basis. Supreme Court justices, Court of Appeals judges and circuit judges serve eight-year terms. District judges serve for a term of four years. Judicial vacancies that occur during an unexpired term are filled by a Judicial Nominating Commission headed by the chief justice. The Supreme Court and Court of Appeals have clerks of court who are appointed to their positions and are responsible for the custody, control and storage of all appellate records. At the trial court level, circuit court clerks are responsible for the custody, control and safe storage of Circuit Court and District Court records. Circuit court clerks run for office on a partisan basis and one is elected in each of Kentucky’s 120 counties for a six-year term. The Administrative Office of the Courts is the operations arm for the state court system. The AOC provides administrative support to nearly 3,400 employees, including 404 elected justices, judges and circuit court clerks, and executes the Judicial Branch budget. The Judicial Article to the Kentucky Constitution took effect in 1976 and established Kentucky’s court system of today. The article created the Judicial Branch as an independent branch of government, separate from the Executive and Legislative branches and from county and city governments. It also created the Supreme Court of Kentucky and combined the four levels of the courts to create a unified court system. The article made the chief justice the administrative head of the court system.
