Supreme Court of Sanctaria

Supreme Court of Sanctaria
Coat of Arms of Sanctaria
Established	19 November 1974
Jurisdiction	Sanctaria
Location	Sanctus
Composition method	Government nomination with Senate confirmation
Authorized by	Constitution of Sanctaria
Judge term length	Life tenure
Number of positions	9
Chief Justice of Sanctaria
Currently	Georgina Reding
Since	01 August 2023

The Supreme Court of the Divine Federation of Sanctaria, more commonly known as the Supreme Court of Sanctaria or SCOSA, is the highest court in the federal judiciary of Sanctaria, established pursuant to the Constitution of Sanctaria in 1974. It has ultimate (and largely discretionary) appellate jurisdiction over all federal and state court cases that involve a point of federal law, and original jurisdiction over a narrow range of cases, for example suits between two or more states. The Court also holds the power of judicial review, the power to strike down laws which are inconsistent with the constitution.

The Court consists of the Chief Justice of Sanctaria and eight associate justices, each with lifetime tenure. When a vacancy occurs, the Government of Sanctaria, with the approval of the Senate, appoints a new justice. Each justice has a single vote. It meets in Sanctus.

Establishment

The Supreme Court, and the Sanctarian court system as a whole, was formally established on 19 November 1974 under the terms of the Constitution of Sanctaria which specified that Sanctaria would become independent on the death of Patriarch of the Church of Sanctaria, Aequitas IV. Prior to independence, the Papal Congregation on Faith was responsible for meting out punishment that broke canon law, which was the law of the Papal States. As such, on independence, all existing lawyers had been trained as canon lawyers, and had to retrain in principles of constitutional, criminal, and other areas of law. The Supreme Court did not hear a case for the first time until 1977, with the initial few years used for organisation and establishing procedures and rules.

Initial judges were academics, not lawyers, and as a result all these initial judges, including those justices on appellate courts such as the Supreme Court, were required by by law to retire by 1980. Legislation passed in 1979 specified all future justices of the Supreme Court would have life tenure. Many traditions now in the Sanctarian court system stem from traditions in the Papal Congregation of Faith because of these initial crossover years, with canonically trained lawyers introducing terms and procedures they were used to in the Congregation of Faith; to date all judges and justices are still referred to as Your Grace in oral arguments, after the term of deference used in the Congregation of Faith to refer to presiding Archbishops.

Membership

The Supreme Court consists of its president called the Chief Justice, and not more than eight ordinary members, called associate justices. The Supreme Court sits en banc, or as a whole, meaning all nine members hear a case. Occasionally a justice may be ill or may recuse themselves, in these instances no replacements are sought from lower courts and the Supreme Court hears the case with a member less. The minimum number of justices that must be available to hear a case is five.

Current justices

Justices of the Supreme Court are appointed by the President of Sanctaria, following nomination by the Government of Sanctaria and approval by the Senate. Members of the Supreme Court are listed below, beginning with the Chief Justice. Associate Justices are listed by length of service on the court.

Justice birth year	Chancellor nominated by	Alma mater	Age at		Start date / length of service
			Start	Present
Georgina Reding b. Oct 1961	Ringrose	Sanctus Academy of Law	61	61	August 1, 2023 (2023-08-01) 2 years, 314 days
Joyce Keenahan b. Aug 1945	Cox	Sanctus Academy of Law	48	77	February 12, 1994 (1994-02-12) 32 years, 119 days
Noreen Collins b. May 1951	Dawson	Sanctus Academy of Law	52	72	November 11, 2003 (2003-11-11) 22 years, 212 days
Jean-Claude Steele b. Sep 1956	Dawson	Nicene University	50	66	December 4, 2006 (2006-12-04) 19 years, 189 days
Richard McWilliams b. Mar 1959	Turner	University College Sanctus	57	64	September 15, 2010 (2010-09-15) 15 years, 269 days
Edmée Simon b. Jan 1966	Hendry	Sanctus Academy of Law	56	57	October 6, 2022 (2022-10-06) 3 years, 248 days
Vacant	Ringrose	—	—	—	—
Vacant	Ringrose	—	—	—	—
Vacant	Ringrose	—	—	—	—