Of the 50 U.S. states, 40 have an intermediate appellate court (IAC), generally (but not always) called the “Court of Appeals”. Two states have been actively trying to get their own IACs. The first, Nevada, has been trying for decades but has been unable to get voter support for a constitutional amendment to create or allow the legislature to create such a court. A fourth attempt is currently in the works.
The other state is West Virginia. Creation of an IAC (tentatively entitled the “Intermediate Court of Appeals”) has bounced around the legislature since at least 1999 (HB 3008 of 1999; HB 200B of Second Special Session of 2003) but picked up a great deal of attention in 2010 (HB 3269; HB 4619; SB 589; SB 645) and 2011 (HB 3150; HB 3165) with the state’s senate approving one version (SB 307) that has been reintroduced as part of a larger “Civil Justice Reform Act” in 2012 (SB 420). Under this bill, “all appeals shall be reviewed and a written decision on the merits issued by either the Supreme Court or Intermediate Court as a matter of right except for [certain appeals as specified in statute]…”
Meanwhile, in the name of cost savings, the Commonwealth of Virginia is considering abolishing their IAC. Under SB 630 the current Court of Appeals would end effective October 2012. According to the blog of the Virginia Lawyers’ Weekly, the change would keep the current judges in their respective offices until the end of their terms, but with no apparent work to do after October of this year. The prime sponsor told the VLW Blog “when the state is cutting services to children the judiciary ought not be immune from the budget ax” and criticized the court for having in his view few if any judges with experience in criminal, domestic or workers compensation practice prior to selection to the court.
