Associate justice

An associate justice or associate judge (or simply associate) is a judicial panel member who is not the chief justice in some jurisdictions. The title "Associate Justice" is used for members of the Supreme Court of the United States and some state supreme courts, and for some other courts in Commonwealth of Nations countries, as well as for members of the Supreme Court of the Federated States of Micronesia, a former United States Trust Territory.^[1] In other common law jurisdictions, the equivalent position is called "Puisne Justice".

Commonwealth

The function of associate justices vary depending on the Court they preside in. In the Australian state of New South Wales, associate justices of the New South Wales Supreme Court hear civil trials and appeals from lower courts amongst other matters.^[2] Associate justices can sit either as a single judge or may sit on the New South Wales Court of Appeal.^[3] In New Zealand, associate judges of the High Court of New Zealand supervise preliminary processes in most civil proceedings. associate judges have jurisdiction to deal with such matters as: summary judgment applications, company liquidations, bankruptcy proceedings, and some other types of civil proceedings.^[4] In the New Zealand legal system, associate judges were formerly known as masters.

Micronesia

Under the Constitution of Micronesia, the Supreme Court "consists of the Chief Justice and not more than 5 associate justices".^[5] However, as of October 2020 there are only two associate justices in office: Beauleen Carl-Worswick and Larry Wentworth.^[6]

United States

In the United States, judicial panels are non-hierarchical, so an associate judge has the same responsibilities with respect to cases as the chief judge but usually has fewer or different administrative responsibilities than the chief.

Supreme Court

Under the Judiciary Act of 1869, there are eight Associate Justices on the Supreme Court.^[7] The most junior associate justice (currently Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson) has additional responsibilities to the other associate justices: taking notes of decisions and answering the door in private conference and serving on the Supreme Court's cafeteria committee.^[8]

References

^ "The Federated States of Micronesia Mourns the loss of one of its Founding Fathers: Chief Justice Andon Amaraich" Archived 2010-10-01 at the Wayback Machine, Government of the F.S. Micronesia, January 28, 2010
^ Supreme Court Act 1970 (NSW) s 118.
^ Supreme Court Act 1970 (NSW) s 117A
^ "New Zealand High Court". Archived from the original on 2006-10-03. Retrieved 2006-09-01.
^ "FSM Constitution - Article 11". Legal Information System of the Federated States of Micronesia. 1978. Retrieved October 29, 2020. The Supreme Court is a court of record and the highest court in the nation. It consists of the Chief Justice and not more than 5 associate justices.
^ "Justices". The Supreme Court of the Federated States of Micronesia. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
^ Hall, Kermit L. (2005). "Judiciary Act of 1869". In Hall, Kermit L.; Ely, James W.; Grossman, Joel B. (eds.). The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States. Oxford University Press. p. 548. ISBN 978-0-19-517661-2.
^ Barnes, Robert (April 9, 2017). "What does the junior Supreme Court justice do? Kagan tells Gorsuch it starts in the kitchen". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 29, 2020.