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COVID-19 and Court Operations Dec. 7, 2020 Best Practices for Security May 15, 2020

Court levels: 3 Trial courts: 58—one in each county Court of Appeal districts: 6 Highest court: California Supreme Court Judicial branch budget is 1.5% of State General Fund The California court system—the largest in the nation, with approximately 1,800 justices and judges and 6 million cases—serves more than 39.5 million people. The state Constitution vests the judicial power of California in the Supreme Court, Courts of Appeal, and superior courts.

California Courts Court levels: 3 Superior, also known as trial courts: 58—one in each county Court of Appeal districts: 6 Highest court: California Supreme Court Judicial branch budget is 1.5% of State General Fund

Fiscal Year 2018-2019: Unified court system serving 39.5 million people 1,754 judges (authorized positions) Approximately 500 court facilities Filings: 5,933,262 in fiscal year 2018-19 Dispositions: 4,185,359 More data points in the Court Statistics Report Historic Facts

Languages and dialects spoken in California—more than 200 Percentage of Californians that speak a non-English language at home: 44% Percentage of Californians with English-language limitations: approximately 19% (more than 7 million) Languages certified for court interpreters: American Sign Language and 15 spoken languages—Arabic, Eastern Armenian, Western Armenian, Cantonese, Farsi, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese Spanish remains the most interpreted language in courtro

Jury pay: $15/day starting with second day of service and 34 cents per mile, one way Number of Californians summoned to jury service in fiscal year 2017–18: approximately 9 million* Number of Californians summoned to jury service who completed service in fiscal year 2017–18: approximately 4 million* Number of Californians sworn in to serve as jurors in fiscal year 2017–18:  approximately 138,000* * Numbers are based on data for fiscal year 2017–18, with 56 of the 58 (97%) superior courts reporting  

Justices: 1 Chief Justice, 6 Associate Justices Filings: 6,917 in fiscal year 2018-19 68 written opinions in fiscal year 2018-19 More data points in the Court Statistics Report Image

Six districts, 19 divisions, 9 court locations Number of authorized justices: 106 Appeals disposed of by written opinion: 8,934 More data points in the Court Statistics Report The California Courts of Appeal are the state's intermediate courts of review. Their primary function is to ensure that the law is interpreted and applied correctly.

Created by constitutional amendment, the council is the policymaking body for California’s state court system The 21 voting members include the Chief Justice, 14 judicial officers, 4 attorneys, and 1 member from each house of the Legislature The council also has advisory members who include judicial officers and court executives or administrators The council carries out much of its work through the hundreds of volunteers on its committees and task forc

Fifty-two of California's 58 counties have resumed jury trials. Source: Court Service and Operations  

For details about services and operations, visit court websites using the Find My Court tool. 

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented crisis that threatens the lives, health and safety of all Californians.