Imperial Supreme Court of Belhavia

Imperial Supreme Court of Belhavia
Established	1812
Location	Government District, Provisa
Composition method	Presidential nomination with Senate confirmation
Judge term length	Life tenure
Number of positions	9
Chief Justice of the Imperial Supreme Court of Belhavia
Currently	Samson Katz
Since	September 14th, 2003
Associate Justice of the Imperial Supreme Court of Belhavia
Currently	Janet Smith
Since	May 18th, 1979
Associate Justice of the Imperial Supreme Court of Belhavia
Currently	Asher Schiff
Since	June 4th, 1981

The Imperial Supreme Court of Belhavia (also commonly called the Imperial Supreme Court, Supreme Court, or SCOB) is the highest court in the Empire of Belhavia. The court has jurisdiction over all Imperial courts, and provincial and territorial courts in matters of Imperial law and civil procedure.

The court is seated in the Palace of Justice two blocks from the Capitol Building in the Government District. It consists of the Chief Justice and 8 associate justices, who are nominated by the Imperial President and confirmed by the Imperial Senate.

Each justice is appointed by the President, approved by the Emperor, confirmed by the Senate, and when seated serve life for life until they resign, retire, die, or are removed after impeachment.

The Court was created by the 1811 Provisa Convention in the 1812 Constitution. It has judicial review over senatorial legislation and nominally over presidential decrees, though it rarely rules on the latter out of deference for the Court to leave controversies over decrees to the regular political process. It does not have review over the Emperor's decisions, though, in practice the Emperor in the post-Galarian era has refrained from active politicking.

Current justices

Name	Born	Appt. by	Senate conf. vote	Age at appt.	Day of Appointment Length of service	Previous positions	Notes
Samson Katz (Chief Justice)	January 5th, 1955 in Nefesh, Freeport, Belhavia (age 60)	Yehuda Fiedler	45 - 25	45	September 14th, 2000 (15 years)		The second-youngest Chief Justice in Court history. Known for trying to create Court decisions with broad consensus among the justices where possible. Leader of the Court's judicial conservatives.
Janet Smith	August 17th, 1926 in Ashergam, Westland, Belhavia (age 89)	Berel Levine	40 - 30	43	May 18th, 1979 (36 years)		Third-longest serving Justice in history, and the longest-serving justice on the current Court (and the oldest justice). The first non-ethnic Jew on the body, her family is ancestrally Belfrasian and white Emmerian. Leader of the Court's judicial liberals.
Asher Schiff	February 28th, 1930 in Dakos, North Dakos, Belhavia (age 85)	Julian Settas	54 - 16	51	June 4th, 1981 (34 years)		Second-oldest justice at age 85. A staunch judicial conservative. HIs appointment was the first move in the Court's rightward shift.
Esther Lauer	March 10th, 1944 in Tel e Afov, Aviv, Belhavia (age 71)	Julian Settas	47 - 23	39	April 9th, 1983 (32 years)		Second woman on the Court (after Smith) and the first practicing Orthodox Jew (since the 1950s) at the time of her appointment in 1983. Firmly in the Court's conservative wing.
Laurel Rifkin	June 3rd, 1933 in Reisstown, South Adrania, Belhavia (age 82)	Julian Settas	70 - 0	53	July 7th, 1986 (29 years)		Third woman on the Court. Also the first resident from the Far South to serve on the Court. She oscillates between judicial activism and judicial restraint, and is considered the Court's swing conservative vote. An analysis done by the judicial think tank Center for Belhavian Justice found that of all the 5-4 decisions since 1986, her vote was the 5th (and deciding) vote on 58.7% of them.
Ezra Waxman	January 25th, 1946 in Port Solomon, Ross Archipelagos, Belhavia (age 69)	Garret Holleran	36 - 34	47	May 6th, 1993 (22 years)		Outspoken advocate of judicial activism and the Living Constitution theory. A Court liberal.
Omar Al-Fayeed	May 19th, 1941 in Provisa, Provisa, Belhavia (age 74)	Garrett Holleran	37 - 33	55	October 13th, 1996 (19 years)		Second non-ethnic Jew on the Court (and first practicing Quranist Muslim and justice of Nehavene descent). Ancestrally from Emmeria. A reliable judicial liberal; however, he defects on some business-related cases to vote with the Court's conservative wing.
Mordecai Podhoretz	September 18th, 1942 in Ruthen City, East Dakos, Belhavia (age 73)	Jeff Arnoth	38 - 32	63	July 23rd, 2005 (10 years)		The Court's oldest appointed justice in 45 years at the time of his appointment in 2005. The Court's only dedicated judicial centrist.
Efraim Horowitz	November 22nd, 1972 in Port David, New Shelvoy, Belhavia (age 43)	Eli Goldman	43 - 27	38	December 8th, 2010 (5 years)		Second youngest member ever appointed; youngest current justice. Known for his sharp intelligence and extensive knowledge of judicial history and theory. Also, second practicing Orthodox Jew of the Modern variant on the Court. A staunch and outspoken judicial conservative.