Oregon Supreme Court
Encyclopedia
The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest state court in the U.S. state
of Oregon
. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States
. The OSC holds court at the Oregon Supreme Court Building
in Salem, Oregon
, near the capitol
building on State Street. The building was finished in 1914 and also houses the state's law library, while the courtroom is also used by the Oregon Court of Appeals
.
Tracing its heritage to 1841 when Oregon pioneers selected a supreme judge with probate powers, the court has grown from a single judge to its current make up of seven justices. Justices of the court serve six year terms upon election, however vacancies are filled by appointments of the Governor of Oregon
until the next general election
when any qualified candidate may run for the position, including the appointee. These seven justices then select one member to serve a six-year term as Chief Justice
. The court’s Chief Justice is not only responsible for assigning cases to the other justices to write the court’s opinions, but is also the chief executive of the Oregon Judicial Department
.
Primarily an appeals court, the Oregon Supreme Court is also the court of last resort in Oregon. Although most oral arguments before the court are held in the Oregon Supreme Court Building, the court does travel around the state holding sessions in various schools. All cases are heard en banc
by the court. It receives appeals from the Oregon Tax Court
, the Oregon Court of Appeals, and some select cases such as death penalty appeals. Decisions of the court are published in the Oregon Reporter published by the Oregon Judicial Department. The Territorial Supreme Court was created in 1848 when the Oregon Territory
was formed out of the old Oregon Country
region, followed by the creation of the State Supreme Court in 1859 when Oregon was admitted to the Union on February 14.
, each of whom serves a six-year term after winning a nonpartisan
election. Justices, like other Oregon state court judges, must be United States citizens, Oregon residents for at least three years, and lawyers admitted
to practice in the state of Oregon. The newest justice receives the smallest office (nicknamed “the broom closet”) and is responsible for opening the door when a conference is interrupted. When a state court judge retires, resigns, or dies before completing a term, the Governor may appoint another qualified person to the position. To retain that position, the appointed person must run for election for a full six-year term at the next general election
.
On occasion, a judge will leave office at the end of a term, in which case a general election determines their replacement. If the Supreme Court needs an additional judge on a temporary basis due to illness, an unfilled position, or a justice is disqualified from sitting on a case due to a conflict of interest, the court can appoint a senior judge to serve as a judge pro tempore. Senior judges are all former, qualified judges (a minimum of 12 years on the bench) that have retired from a state court. Only former Supreme Court justices, elected Oregon circuit court judges, or elected Oregon Court of Appeals
judges can be assigned to temporary service on the Supreme Court.
The court can appoint retired judges, lawyers, and other judges to serve temporarily
as judges at any level in Oregon. They can also appoint senior judges to serve on any state court at or below the highest level of court that judge had served on before retirement or resignation. The state supreme court is responsible for admitting new lawyers to practice in Oregon, disciplining attorneys
, and appointing members to the Board of Bar Examiners. This board of a minimum of fourteen members is responsible for administering the bar exam and screening prospective lawyers before admitting applicants to practice law in Oregon. Oversight of state judges is also in the hands of the Supreme Court. The Commission on Judicial Fitness and Disability investigates all reports of abuses and makes recommendations to the Supreme Court on any actions that may need to occur. The Supreme Court can then suspend judges, censure them, remove them from office, or take no action.
, assigns presiding judges for the trial level state courts, makes court rules, and is in charge of the department’s budget. As administrator the chief is also the recipient of many reports from the court system including non-legal employees of the department. The first Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court was William P. Bryant
, while the longest serving chief was Wallace P. Carson, Jr.
who held the position for 15 years.
for the publication of all Supreme Court decisions was the Oregon Reports, abbreviated Or. or Ore. in case citation
s. These bound editions are published under the authority of the Oregon Supreme Court as authorized by state law.
Joseph G. Wilson
started in 1853 as the clerk for the court and was responsible for the Oregon Reports until 1870, though he also served as a justice on the court from 1862 to 1870. Later federal judge Charles B. Bellinger
then took over editing the reports, and served as clerk until 1880. He was followed by T. B. Odeneal, J. A. Stratton, and W. H. Holmes, until 1889 when a law was passed that included a provision that the Chief Justice take over this responsibility. This arrangement only lasted a few years, as in 1891 a new law allowed the court to hire an official reporter, with later Chief Justice George H. Burnett
serving as the first official reporter.
The first reported opinion in the Oregon Reports was Thompson v. Backenstos, involving a case about trespass
ing. In the case, Justice George Henry Williams
wrote the opinion, Justice Thomas Nelson
had served as the judge at the trial level due to circuit riding, while future justice Reuben P. Boise
served as counsel for the defense, and fellow future justice Aaron E. Waite
provided counsel for the plaintiff.
. That is the court is not divided into panels, and instead all justices participate in all the cases, unless a justice recuses themselves due to a conflict of interest or other concern.
The court also reviews death penalty cases, state tax court
appeals, and items regarding legal discipline on direct review. Direct review means that the Supreme Court hears cases directly upon appeal without the case first going to the Court of Appeals. Other direct review items include state agency decisions such as the placement of prisons, placement of energy production facilities, locations of sites for solid waste disposal, and some labor law injunctions. Additionally, the court has original jurisdiction in, writs of mandamus
, writs quo warranto
, writs of habeas corpus
, reapportionment of state legislative districts, and challenges to ballot measures such as their titles, the fiscal impact statement, and the explanatory statement as listed in the Voter’s Pamphlet.
Oregon’s state courts are courts of general jurisdiction, unlike federal courts. That is, the state courts can hear all cases regardless of whether the dispute is based on state law, federal law, or a combination of both, with a few exceptions. Thus the Oregon Supreme Court can hear appeals for cases based on both federal and state law. Although the U.S. Supreme Court is the only court that can overturn decisions of the Oregon court, Oregon Supreme Court decisions as to federal law are only binding on other Oregon state level courts. Federal courts are not required to follow the decisions of the Oregon Supreme Court for decisions based on federal law, regardless as to if the federal court is located within the state. However, federal courts are bound to follow Oregon law and decisions of the Oregon Supreme Court for cases that involve disputes based on Oregon law, even when those federal courts are not based in Oregon, per the Erie Doctrine
developed by the U.S. Supreme Court. For this reason federal courts, and courts from other states, can certify questions about Oregon law to the Oregon Supreme Court in order to clarify what the law in Oregon is in regards to the specific fact pattern that the federal court has before it in their case (see ORS
28.200 to 28.255 and ORAP 12.20).
Although only the United States Supreme Court can overturn the decisions of the Oregon Supreme Court, they cannot overturn decisions exclusively based on the Oregon law, though other mechanisms exist that effectively overturn decisions of the Oregon Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court can only accept cases from the Oregon Supreme Court if the decision involves issues of federal law and interpretation of federal law might change the outcome of the case. The Oregon Supreme Court is the final authority on Oregon law, and absent extraordinary circumstances the U.S. Supreme Court cannot overrule its interpretation of Oregon law (see adequate and independent state ground
). Although only the U.S. Supreme Court can reverse or overturn decisions of the Oregon Supreme Court, decisions of the court can be effectively overturned by changing the law. Thus later outcomes of the court can be affected by legislation passed by the Oregon Legislative Assembly
or through the initiative and referendum process. Also, in most criminal decisions Oregon’s Governor or the President of the United States
may issue a pardon (some crimes require the Oregon Legislature to concur).
in 1805, the region known as Oregon Country
experienced increased activity and exploration by Europeans and Americans. Beginning with the fur trade
, settlement by Euro-Americans began as early as 1811 with the founding of Fort Astoria
and slowly increased until the 1830s. In the 1830s additional settlement occurred, agricultural production increased, and missionaries started religious missions in the region. In 1835, the first trial in the region was held with John Kirk Townsend
presiding as magistrate over a murder charge. Pioneer settlers continued to immigrate to the region, with larger wagon trains crossing the Oregon Trail
in the 1840s bringing more immigrants and a need for courts.
. In 1841, pioneer Ewing Young
died without an heir or will in the unorganized lands of what are now the states of Idaho
, Washington, and Oregon. In February of that year, settlers met at Champoeg
to discuss the creation of a government, including a judiciary to deal with the execution of Young’s estate. Although the overall government plans fell through, the group of pioneers and mountain men did elect a supreme judge to exercise probate
powers. The first judge was Dr. Ira L. Babcock, serving from February 18, 1841, to May 1, 1843.
In 1843, a later set of meetings at Champoeg created the Provisional Government of Oregon
with a judiciary consisting of a supreme judge and two justices of the peace
for trial level courts. Albert E. Wilson
was the first judge chosen as the supreme judge under this new government, but never severed. Other judges were appointed or elected during this pre-territory period over the next six years. Until 1846 with the settlement of the Oregon boundary dispute
, the region was not under the jurisdiction of any foreign power. With the resolution of the boundary issue, Britain retained the territory north of the 49th degree of latitude, with the United States taking the land south to the border of Mexican control California
.
In 1848, when the Oregon Territory
was created by the United States Congress
, William P. Bryant
was appointed as the first judge of the Oregon Supreme Court. Justices in the territorial period were appointed by the President of the United States
. In those early days of the court, the justices would “ride circuit
” in addition to their appellate court functions. Riding circuit involved acting as appeals court judges around the state in addition to the supreme court functions of ultimate appeal, a common practice in early American courts.
in 1857 called for these justices to serve as both circuit court judges and supreme court justices. This was set to remain until the population of the state reached 100,000 people. Each justice was assigned one district, and then all justices would gather at set intervals to confer on appeals, which would occur at least once per year and were authorized to meet more frequently if needed. On appeals, the justice who presided over the lower court case would not participate in the proceedings.
Then in 1862 the court was expanded to five justices with the addition of a fifth judicial district. Also that year the Court hired its first clerk after the legislature authorized that position. In 1878, the legislature passed an act to separate the circuit and supreme courts after the population reached 100,000. With the creation of a separate Circuit Court and Supreme Court, riding circuit was abandoned and the Supreme Court was reduced to three members, with members of each court elected separately. Governor Thayer
then appointed James K. Kelly
, Reuben P. Boise
, and Paine Page Prim
to the court as temporary justices until elections could be held. During these early years of the court the selection of the Chief Justice was governed by the Oregon Constitution, with the senior justice or the justice with their term was next to expire was designated as the Chief Justice. This meant that a new chief would be selected at least every two years, and in general meant someone elected would serve their first four years on the bench as an associate justice and the last two years as the Chief Justice.
Mary Leonard
became the first woman admitted to the state bar on April 13, 1886, when the court admitted her after a year-long battle that included the state legislature passing a new law to allow women to be admitted. In 1906, the Oregon court upheld a maximum hour law for women in State v. Muller, 48 Or. 252, 85 P. 855 (1906). Due partly to a brief
by future U.S. Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis
, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Oregon law in Muller v. Oregon
, 208 U.S. 412 (1908) despite ruling in 1905 in Lochner v. New York
that a maximum hour law for bakers was unconstitutional. Then in 1910, the state legislature expanded the court back to five justices, and lastly, in 1913 the court expanded to the current seven justices.
The next important case came in 1935 when the state's top court ruled in State v. De Jonge, 152 Or. 315, 51 P.2d 674 (1935) that the 14th Amendment
did not protect Communist Party
organizers from prosecution under Oregon’s criminal syndicate law. However, the U.S. Supreme Court would overturn this decision in DeJonge v. Oregon
, 299 U.S. 353 (1937). Another important case came in 1960 as the Oregon court ruled against the United States government in State Land Board v. United States, 222 Or. 40, 352 P.2d 539 (1960). In that case the court ruled that state estate
laws trumped a federal statute concerning the property of U.S. Veterans who died at Veterans Administration
hospitals without a valid will. The U.S. Supreme Court then overturned the Oregon Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Oregon, 366 U. S. 643 (1961).
On the administrative end of the court, the Oregon Court of Appeals
was created in 1969 as an intermediate appellate court in Oregon. With this change, the Supreme Court now generally does not hear appeals directly from the trial level courts of the state, with some exceptions such as death penalty cases. Other changes came in 1981 when the Oregon Legislature and justice Arno Denecke reformed the chief justice position from a simple head of the court in title only, to the administrative head of the entire Oregon judicial system. The following year, 1982, the court received its first female member when Governor Vic Atiyeh appointed Betty Roberts
as an associate justice. Then from 1991 to 2005 Wallace P. Carson, Jr. served as chief justice of the court for a record 14 years.
The next landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court involving the Oregon Supreme Court was Dolan v. City of Tigard
, 512 U.S. 374 (1994). In that land use
case the Oregon court found the requirements placed on the business owner as conditions to approve an expansion were not a taking under the United States Constitution’s takings clause. However, the U.S. Supreme Court disagreed and overturned the Oregon court. Then the Oregon court ruled in February 2006 that Oregon’s land use law, Measure 37
, was constitutional. Macpherson
v. Department of Administrative Services, 340 Or. 117, 130 P.3d 308 (2006) allowed people to make claims against the government forcing the government to either pay compensation when land use regulations reduced the value of a property owners land or waive the regulation.
in Salem that was built between 1854 and 1855. In that building the courtroom
was in a chamber measuring 20 feet by 27 feet on the first floor. On December 29, 1855, after the building was partially occupied, it burned to the ground. In 1876, the state finished construction on a second capitol building where the court was located on the third floor. This courtroom measured 54 feet by 46 feet, while the state law library was 75 feet by 70 feet. A separate building was built by the state in 1914 to house the Supreme Court, and this is now the oldest building on the Capitol Mall after the second capitol building burned down on April 25, 1935.
In addition to holding court in the Supreme Court Building's third floor courtroom, the court also travels around the state to hold sessions. This includes sessions and colleges, high schools, and the state’s three law schools. These three law schools, Willamette University College of Law
, University of Oregon Law School, and Lewis & Clark Law School
, use the visits as educational tools.
Further information: List of Oregon Supreme Court Justices
The court has had a total of 99 individuals serve on the court since its creation during the territorial period. This has ranged from a membership of three justices to seven justices. Since 1913, the number of positions on the bench has been seven. Of the current membership, five are men and two are women. Overall, the court has had five women compared to ninety-four men serve on the court. Additionally, two current justices are the first two openly gay judges on the court, while the current chief justice is the first individual of Hispanic
heritage to serve on the court and to serve as chief justice.
As of 2010, Robert D. Durham
is the most senior of the seven justices, starting service in 1994. The newest member of the court is Jack L. Landau who joined the court in 2011. Four of the seven justices first joined the court as appointees of the Governor of Oregon
to fill mid-term vacancies.
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
. The OSC holds court at the Oregon Supreme Court Building
Oregon Supreme Court Building
The Oregon Supreme Court Building is the home to the Oregon Supreme Court, Oregon Court of Appeals, and the Oregon Judicial Department. Located in the state’s capitol of Salem, it is Oregon’s oldest state government building...
in Salem, Oregon
Salem, Oregon
Salem is the capital of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river forms the boundary between Marion and Polk counties, and the city neighborhood...
, near the capitol
Oregon State Capitol
The Oregon State Capitol is the building housing the state legislature and the offices of the governor, secretary of state, and treasurer of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located in the state capital, Salem. The current building, constructed from 1936 to 1938, and expanded in 1977, is the third...
building on State Street. The building was finished in 1914 and also houses the state's law library, while the courtroom is also used by the Oregon Court of Appeals
Oregon Court of Appeals
The Oregon Court of Appeals is the state intermediate appellate court in the U.S. state of Oregon. Part of the Oregon Judicial Department, it has ten judges and is located in Salem...
.
Tracing its heritage to 1841 when Oregon pioneers selected a supreme judge with probate powers, the court has grown from a single judge to its current make up of seven justices. Justices of the court serve six year terms upon election, however vacancies are filled by appointments of the Governor of Oregon
Governor of Oregon
The Governor of Oregon is the top executive of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon. The title of governor was also applied to the office of Oregon's chief executive during the provisional and U.S. territorial governments....
until the next general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
when any qualified candidate may run for the position, including the appointee. These seven justices then select one member to serve a six-year term as Chief Justice
Chief Justice
The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...
. The court’s Chief Justice is not only responsible for assigning cases to the other justices to write the court’s opinions, but is also the chief executive of the Oregon Judicial Department
Oregon Judicial Department
The Oregon Judicial Department is the judicial branch of government of the state of Oregon in the United States. The chief executive of the branch is the Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. Oregon’s judiciary consists primarily of four different courts: the Oregon Supreme Court, the Oregon...
.
Primarily an appeals court, the Oregon Supreme Court is also the court of last resort in Oregon. Although most oral arguments before the court are held in the Oregon Supreme Court Building, the court does travel around the state holding sessions in various schools. All cases are heard en banc
En banc
En banc, in banc, in banco or in bank is a French term used to refer to the hearing of a legal case where all judges of a court will hear the case , rather than a panel of them. It is often used for unusually complex cases or cases considered to be of greater importance...
by the court. It receives appeals from the Oregon Tax Court
Oregon Tax Court
The Oregon Tax Court is a state court in the U.S. state of Oregon, which has jurisdiction in questions of law that regard state tax laws. Examples of matters that would come before this court include income taxes, corporate excise taxes, property taxes, timber taxes, cigarette taxes, local budget...
, the Oregon Court of Appeals, and some select cases such as death penalty appeals. Decisions of the court are published in the Oregon Reporter published by the Oregon Judicial Department. The Territorial Supreme Court was created in 1848 when the Oregon Territory
Oregon Territory
The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. Originally claimed by several countries , the region was...
was formed out of the old Oregon Country
Oregon Country
The Oregon Country was a predominantly American term referring to a disputed ownership region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s, with its coastal areas north from...
region, followed by the creation of the State Supreme Court in 1859 when Oregon was admitted to the Union on February 14.
Selection
The court is composed of seven elected justicesJudge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
, each of whom serves a six-year term after winning a nonpartisan
Nonpartisan
In political science, nonpartisan denotes an election, event, organization or person in which there is no formally declared association with a political party affiliation....
election. Justices, like other Oregon state court judges, must be United States citizens, Oregon residents for at least three years, and lawyers admitted
Bar (law)
Bar in a legal context has three possible meanings: the division of a courtroom between its working and public areas; the process of qualifying to practice law; and the legal profession.-Courtroom division:...
to practice in the state of Oregon. The newest justice receives the smallest office (nicknamed “the broom closet”) and is responsible for opening the door when a conference is interrupted. When a state court judge retires, resigns, or dies before completing a term, the Governor may appoint another qualified person to the position. To retain that position, the appointed person must run for election for a full six-year term at the next general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
.
On occasion, a judge will leave office at the end of a term, in which case a general election determines their replacement. If the Supreme Court needs an additional judge on a temporary basis due to illness, an unfilled position, or a justice is disqualified from sitting on a case due to a conflict of interest, the court can appoint a senior judge to serve as a judge pro tempore. Senior judges are all former, qualified judges (a minimum of 12 years on the bench) that have retired from a state court. Only former Supreme Court justices, elected Oregon circuit court judges, or elected Oregon Court of Appeals
Oregon Court of Appeals
The Oregon Court of Appeals is the state intermediate appellate court in the U.S. state of Oregon. Part of the Oregon Judicial Department, it has ten judges and is located in Salem...
judges can be assigned to temporary service on the Supreme Court.
Administrative
Pro tempore
Pro tempore , abbreviated pro tem or p.t., is a Latin phrase which best translates to "for the time being" in English. This phrase is often used to describe a person who acts as a locum tenens in the absence of a superior, such as the President pro tempore of the United States Senate.Legislative...
as judges at any level in Oregon. They can also appoint senior judges to serve on any state court at or below the highest level of court that judge had served on before retirement or resignation. The state supreme court is responsible for admitting new lawyers to practice in Oregon, disciplining attorneys
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, and appointing members to the Board of Bar Examiners. This board of a minimum of fourteen members is responsible for administering the bar exam and screening prospective lawyers before admitting applicants to practice law in Oregon. Oversight of state judges is also in the hands of the Supreme Court. The Commission on Judicial Fitness and Disability investigates all reports of abuses and makes recommendations to the Supreme Court on any actions that may need to occur. The Supreme Court can then suspend judges, censure them, remove them from office, or take no action.
Chief Justice
One justice of the court is elected by the court to serve a six-year term as Chief Justice. The Chief Justice is then responsible for all administration of the Supreme Court. Under a law enacted in 1981 the chief is not only the titular head of the Supreme Court, but also is the chief executive officer of the Oregon Judicial Department. In that role the Chief Justice supervises all of the Oregon courts, appoints the Chief Judge of the Oregon Court of AppealsOregon Court of Appeals
The Oregon Court of Appeals is the state intermediate appellate court in the U.S. state of Oregon. Part of the Oregon Judicial Department, it has ten judges and is located in Salem...
, assigns presiding judges for the trial level state courts, makes court rules, and is in charge of the department’s budget. As administrator the chief is also the recipient of many reports from the court system including non-legal employees of the department. The first Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court was William P. Bryant
William P. Bryant
William P. Bryant was an American jurist from Kentucky. He served as the first Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court in the Oregon Territory. United States President James K. Polk appointed Bryant, of Indiana, to the court once the Oregon Territory was established in 1848. In Indiana he served...
, while the longest serving chief was Wallace P. Carson, Jr.
Wallace P. Carson, Jr.
Wallace P. Carson, Jr. is an American attorney and politician from Oregon. He has spent time in both of Oregon’s legislative branches and served on the Oregon Supreme Court for 24 years. Carson served for 14 years as Chief Justice of the court, which is the longest of any previous Chief Justice on...
who held the position for 15 years.
Oregon Reports
Beginning in 1853, the official court reporterLaw report
Law reports or reporters are series of books that contain judicial opinions from a selection of case law decided by courts. When a particular judicial opinion is referenced, the law report series in which the opinion is printed will determine the case citation format.The term reporter was...
for the publication of all Supreme Court decisions was the Oregon Reports, abbreviated Or. or Ore. in case citation
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
s. These bound editions are published under the authority of the Oregon Supreme Court as authorized by state law.
Joseph G. Wilson
Joseph G. Wilson
Joseph Gardner Wilson was a U.S. Republican politician in the state of Oregon. A native of New Hampshire, he served as a state circuit court judge and as a justice on the Oregon Supreme Court, and was elected to the United States House of Representatives...
started in 1853 as the clerk for the court and was responsible for the Oregon Reports until 1870, though he also served as a justice on the court from 1862 to 1870. Later federal judge Charles B. Bellinger
Charles B. Bellinger
Charles Byron Bellinger was a federal district court judge in Portland, Oregon, United States. A native of Illinois, he also served as a state circuit court judge in Oregon, fought in the Modoc War in 1873, and was a newspaper editor...
then took over editing the reports, and served as clerk until 1880. He was followed by T. B. Odeneal, J. A. Stratton, and W. H. Holmes, until 1889 when a law was passed that included a provision that the Chief Justice take over this responsibility. This arrangement only lasted a few years, as in 1891 a new law allowed the court to hire an official reporter, with later Chief Justice George H. Burnett
George H. Burnett
George Henry Burnett was an American attorney and judge in the state of Oregon. He was the 21st Chief Justice on the Oregon Supreme Court serving twice as chief first in 1921 to 1923, and then in 1927 when he died in office...
serving as the first official reporter.
The first reported opinion in the Oregon Reports was Thompson v. Backenstos, involving a case about trespass
Trespass
Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels and trespass to land.Trespass to the person, historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery, wounding, mayhem, and maiming...
ing. In the case, Justice George Henry Williams
George Henry Williams
George Henry Williams was an American judge and politician. He served as Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, was the 32nd Attorney General of the United States, and served one term in the United States Senate...
wrote the opinion, Justice Thomas Nelson
Thomas Nelson (Oregon judge)
Thomas Nelson was an American attorney and judge. He was appointed as the 2nd Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court serving from 1850 to 1853. A native of the U.S. state of New York, he lived in Oregon only during his term as chief justice....
had served as the judge at the trial level due to circuit riding, while future justice Reuben P. Boise
Reuben P. Boise
Reuben Patrick Boise was an American attorney, judge and politician in the Oregon Territory and the early years of the state of Oregon. A native of Massachusetts, he immigrated to Oregon in 1850, where he would twice serve on the Oregon Supreme Court for a total of 16 years, with three stints as...
served as counsel for the defense, and fellow future justice Aaron E. Waite
Aaron E. Waite
Aaron E. Waite was an American judge and politician. He was the 4th Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court serving from 1859 to 1862. He was the first chief justice after Oregon became a state on February 14, 1859...
provided counsel for the plaintiff.
Powers and jurisdiction
The powers of the OSC derive from the Oregon Constitution’s Article VII. Like other supreme courts in the United States, the Oregon Supreme Court acts primarily as a court of appeals. They choose cases that are of legal significance or to unify lower court decisions. In this aspect the court has discretionary review over many of the cases appealed to the high court. Discretionary review allows the court to choose which cases it will hear on appeal. With those cases that are denied an appeal to the Supreme Court, the decision of the lower court becomes final and binding. As of 1995, the court only accepted one in eight appeals that were discretionary. The justices meet once per week in a formal conference in which only the justices are involved to determine rulings. Once a case is accepted, the court hears the case en bancEn banc
En banc, in banc, in banco or in bank is a French term used to refer to the hearing of a legal case where all judges of a court will hear the case , rather than a panel of them. It is often used for unusually complex cases or cases considered to be of greater importance...
. That is the court is not divided into panels, and instead all justices participate in all the cases, unless a justice recuses themselves due to a conflict of interest or other concern.
The court also reviews death penalty cases, state tax court
Oregon Tax Court
The Oregon Tax Court is a state court in the U.S. state of Oregon, which has jurisdiction in questions of law that regard state tax laws. Examples of matters that would come before this court include income taxes, corporate excise taxes, property taxes, timber taxes, cigarette taxes, local budget...
appeals, and items regarding legal discipline on direct review. Direct review means that the Supreme Court hears cases directly upon appeal without the case first going to the Court of Appeals. Other direct review items include state agency decisions such as the placement of prisons, placement of energy production facilities, locations of sites for solid waste disposal, and some labor law injunctions. Additionally, the court has original jurisdiction in, writs of mandamus
Mandamus
A writ of mandamus or mandamus , or sometimes mandate, is the name of one of the prerogative writs in the common law, and is "issued by a superior court to compel a lower court or a government officer to perform mandatory or purely ministerial duties correctly".Mandamus is a judicial remedy which...
, writs quo warranto
Quo warranto
Quo warranto is a prerogative writ requiring the person to whom it is directed to show what authority they have for exercising some right or power they claim to hold.-History:...
, writs of habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
, reapportionment of state legislative districts, and challenges to ballot measures such as their titles, the fiscal impact statement, and the explanatory statement as listed in the Voter’s Pamphlet.
Oregon’s state courts are courts of general jurisdiction, unlike federal courts. That is, the state courts can hear all cases regardless of whether the dispute is based on state law, federal law, or a combination of both, with a few exceptions. Thus the Oregon Supreme Court can hear appeals for cases based on both federal and state law. Although the U.S. Supreme Court is the only court that can overturn decisions of the Oregon court, Oregon Supreme Court decisions as to federal law are only binding on other Oregon state level courts. Federal courts are not required to follow the decisions of the Oregon Supreme Court for decisions based on federal law, regardless as to if the federal court is located within the state. However, federal courts are bound to follow Oregon law and decisions of the Oregon Supreme Court for cases that involve disputes based on Oregon law, even when those federal courts are not based in Oregon, per the Erie Doctrine
Erie doctrine
In United States law, the Erie doctrine is a fundamental legal doctrine of civil procedure mandating that a federal court in diversity jurisdiction must apply state substantive law....
developed by the U.S. Supreme Court. For this reason federal courts, and courts from other states, can certify questions about Oregon law to the Oregon Supreme Court in order to clarify what the law in Oregon is in regards to the specific fact pattern that the federal court has before it in their case (see ORS
Oregon Revised Statutes
The Oregon Revised Statutes is the codified body of statutory law governing the U.S. state of Oregon, as enacted by the Oregon Legislative Assembly, and occasionally by citizen initiative...
28.200 to 28.255 and ORAP 12.20).
Although only the United States Supreme Court can overturn the decisions of the Oregon Supreme Court, they cannot overturn decisions exclusively based on the Oregon law, though other mechanisms exist that effectively overturn decisions of the Oregon Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court can only accept cases from the Oregon Supreme Court if the decision involves issues of federal law and interpretation of federal law might change the outcome of the case. The Oregon Supreme Court is the final authority on Oregon law, and absent extraordinary circumstances the U.S. Supreme Court cannot overrule its interpretation of Oregon law (see adequate and independent state ground
Adequate and independent state ground
The adequate and independent state ground doctrine is a doctrine of United States law governing the power of the U.S. Supreme Court to review judgments entered by state courts.- Introduction :...
). Although only the U.S. Supreme Court can reverse or overturn decisions of the Oregon Supreme Court, decisions of the court can be effectively overturned by changing the law. Thus later outcomes of the court can be affected by legislation passed by the Oregon Legislative Assembly
Oregon Legislative Assembly
The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper and lower house: the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms; and the House of Representatives, with 60 members elected to...
or through the initiative and referendum process. Also, in most criminal decisions Oregon’s Governor or the President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
may issue a pardon (some crimes require the Oregon Legislature to concur).
History
Following the journey of the Lewis and Clark ExpeditionLewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, or ″Corps of Discovery Expedition" was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific Coast by the United States. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and led by two Virginia-born veterans of Indian wars in the Ohio Valley, Meriwether Lewis and William...
in 1805, the region known as Oregon Country
Oregon Country
The Oregon Country was a predominantly American term referring to a disputed ownership region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s, with its coastal areas north from...
experienced increased activity and exploration by Europeans and Americans. Beginning with the fur trade
Fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
, settlement by Euro-Americans began as early as 1811 with the founding of Fort Astoria
Fort Astoria
Fort Astoria was the Pacific Fur Company's primary fur trading post in the Northwest, and was the first American-owned settlement on the Pacific coast. After a short two-year term of US ownership, the British owned and operated it for 33 years. It was the first British port on the Pacific coast...
and slowly increased until the 1830s. In the 1830s additional settlement occurred, agricultural production increased, and missionaries started religious missions in the region. In 1835, the first trial in the region was held with John Kirk Townsend
John Kirk Townsend
John Kirk Townsend was an American naturalist, ornithologist and collector.Townsend was born in Philadelphia and trained as a physician and pharmacist. He developed an interest in natural history in general and bird collecting in particular...
presiding as magistrate over a murder charge. Pioneer settlers continued to immigrate to the region, with larger wagon trains crossing the Oregon Trail
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail is a historic east-west wagon route that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon and locations in between.After 1840 steam-powered riverboats and steamboats traversing up and down the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers sped settlement and development in the flat...
in the 1840s bringing more immigrants and a need for courts.
Pre-statehood
The Oregon Supreme Court traces its roots back to the early settlement period of Oregon CountryOregon Country
The Oregon Country was a predominantly American term referring to a disputed ownership region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s, with its coastal areas north from...
. In 1841, pioneer Ewing Young
Ewing Young
Ewing Young was an American fur trapper and trader from Tennessee who traveled Mexican southwestern North America and California before settling in the Oregon Country. As a prominent and wealthy citizen there, his death was the impetus for the early formation of government in what became the state...
died without an heir or will in the unorganized lands of what are now the states of Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
, Washington, and Oregon. In February of that year, settlers met at Champoeg
Champoeg Meetings
The Champoeg Meetings in Oregon Country were the first attempts at governing in the Pacific Northwest by United States European-American pioneers. Prior to this, the closest entity to a government was the Hudson's Bay Company, mainly through Dr...
to discuss the creation of a government, including a judiciary to deal with the execution of Young’s estate. Although the overall government plans fell through, the group of pioneers and mountain men did elect a supreme judge to exercise probate
Probate
Probate is the legal process of administering the estate of a deceased person by resolving all claims and distributing the deceased person's property under the valid will. A probate court decides the validity of a testator's will...
powers. The first judge was Dr. Ira L. Babcock, serving from February 18, 1841, to May 1, 1843.
In 1843, a later set of meetings at Champoeg created the Provisional Government of Oregon
Provisional Government of Oregon
The Provisional Government of Oregon was a popularly elected government created in the Oregon Country, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. It existed from May 2, 1843 until March 3, 1849. Created at a time when no country had sovereignty over the region, this independent government...
with a judiciary consisting of a supreme judge and two justices of the peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
for trial level courts. Albert E. Wilson
Albert E. Wilson
Albert E. Wilson was an American pioneer and merchant in Oregon Country. Raised in the United States, he moved to what would become the U.S. state of Oregon where he operated stores, was involved in politics, and was elected as the first judge of the Provisional Government of Oregon.-Early...
was the first judge chosen as the supreme judge under this new government, but never severed. Other judges were appointed or elected during this pre-territory period over the next six years. Until 1846 with the settlement of the Oregon boundary dispute
Oregon boundary dispute
The Oregon boundary dispute, or the Oregon Question, arose as a result of competing British and American claims to the Pacific Northwest of North America in the first half of the 19th century. Both the United Kingdom and the United States had territorial and commercial aspirations in the region...
, the region was not under the jurisdiction of any foreign power. With the resolution of the boundary issue, Britain retained the territory north of the 49th degree of latitude, with the United States taking the land south to the border of Mexican control California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
In 1848, when the Oregon Territory
Oregon Territory
The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. Originally claimed by several countries , the region was...
was created by the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
, William P. Bryant
William P. Bryant
William P. Bryant was an American jurist from Kentucky. He served as the first Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court in the Oregon Territory. United States President James K. Polk appointed Bryant, of Indiana, to the court once the Oregon Territory was established in 1848. In Indiana he served...
was appointed as the first judge of the Oregon Supreme Court. Justices in the territorial period were appointed by the President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
. In those early days of the court, the justices would “ride circuit
Circuit rider (U.S. Court system)
Circuit rider is a term in the United States for a professional who travels a regular circuit of locations to provide services. The term first came into widespread application for judges, particularly in the sparsely populated American West, who would hold court in each town in their circuit on a...
” in addition to their appellate court functions. Riding circuit involved acting as appeals court judges around the state in addition to the supreme court functions of ultimate appeal, a common practice in early American courts.
Oregon State Supreme Court
Beginning with statehood in 1859, the court had just four justices, one for each judicial district in the state. The constitution created by the Oregon Constitutional ConventionOregon Constitutional Convention
The Oregon Constitutional Convention in 1857 drafted the Oregon Constitution in preparation for the Oregon Territory to become a U.S. state. Held from mid-August through September, 60 men met in Salem, Oregon, and created the foundation for Oregon's law. The proposal passed with a vote of 35 for...
in 1857 called for these justices to serve as both circuit court judges and supreme court justices. This was set to remain until the population of the state reached 100,000 people. Each justice was assigned one district, and then all justices would gather at set intervals to confer on appeals, which would occur at least once per year and were authorized to meet more frequently if needed. On appeals, the justice who presided over the lower court case would not participate in the proceedings.
Then in 1862 the court was expanded to five justices with the addition of a fifth judicial district. Also that year the Court hired its first clerk after the legislature authorized that position. In 1878, the legislature passed an act to separate the circuit and supreme courts after the population reached 100,000. With the creation of a separate Circuit Court and Supreme Court, riding circuit was abandoned and the Supreme Court was reduced to three members, with members of each court elected separately. Governor Thayer
W. W. Thayer
William Wallace Thayer , was a Democratic politician active in U.S. states of Idaho and Oregon. Most notably, he served as the sixth Governor of Oregon from 1878 to 1882 and Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court from 1888 to 1889.-Background:Thayer was born on a farm near Lima, New York, on...
then appointed James K. Kelly
James K. Kelly
James Kerr Kelly was an American politician born in Pennsylvania. He was a United States Senator for Oregon from 1871 to 1877, and later Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court...
, Reuben P. Boise
Reuben P. Boise
Reuben Patrick Boise was an American attorney, judge and politician in the Oregon Territory and the early years of the state of Oregon. A native of Massachusetts, he immigrated to Oregon in 1850, where he would twice serve on the Oregon Supreme Court for a total of 16 years, with three stints as...
, and Paine Page Prim
Paine Page Prim
Paine Page Prim was an American attorney and judge in the state of Oregon. He was the 6th Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court serving in that role from three times between 1864 and 1878. Prim served on Oregon’s highest court for 21 years...
to the court as temporary justices until elections could be held. During these early years of the court the selection of the Chief Justice was governed by the Oregon Constitution, with the senior justice or the justice with their term was next to expire was designated as the Chief Justice. This meant that a new chief would be selected at least every two years, and in general meant someone elected would serve their first four years on the bench as an associate justice and the last two years as the Chief Justice.
Mary Leonard
Mary Leonard
Mary Leonard was an American attorney and accused murderer in the state of Oregon. A native of France, she was acquitted for the murder of her husband that many believed she had committed...
became the first woman admitted to the state bar on April 13, 1886, when the court admitted her after a year-long battle that included the state legislature passing a new law to allow women to be admitted. In 1906, the Oregon court upheld a maximum hour law for women in State v. Muller, 48 Or. 252, 85 P. 855 (1906). Due partly to a brief
Brandeis Brief
The Brandeis Brief was a pioneering legal brief that was the first in United States legal history to rely not on pure legal theory, but also on analysis of factual data. It is named after litigator Louis Brandeis, who presented it in his argument for the 1908 US Supreme Court case Muller v. Oregon...
by future U.S. Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis
Louis Brandeis
Louis Dembitz Brandeis ; November 13, 1856 – October 5, 1941) was an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1916 to 1939.He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, to Jewish immigrant parents who raised him in a secular mode...
, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Oregon law in Muller v. Oregon
Muller v. Oregon
Muller v. Oregon, , was a landmark decision in United States Supreme Court history, as it justifies both sex discrimination and usage of labor laws during the time period...
, 208 U.S. 412 (1908) despite ruling in 1905 in Lochner v. New York
Lochner v. New York
Lochner vs. New York, , was a landmark United States Supreme Court case that held a "liberty of contract" was implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The case involved a New York law that limited the number of hours that a baker could work each day to ten, and limited the...
that a maximum hour law for bakers was unconstitutional. Then in 1910, the state legislature expanded the court back to five justices, and lastly, in 1913 the court expanded to the current seven justices.
The next important case came in 1935 when the state's top court ruled in State v. De Jonge, 152 Or. 315, 51 P.2d 674 (1935) that the 14th Amendment
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...
did not protect Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
organizers from prosecution under Oregon’s criminal syndicate law. However, the U.S. Supreme Court would overturn this decision in DeJonge v. Oregon
DeJonge v. Oregon
De Jonge v. Oregon, 299 U.S. 353 , was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause applies to freedom of assembly. The Court found that Dirk De Jonge had the right to organize a Communist Party and to speak at its meetings, even...
, 299 U.S. 353 (1937). Another important case came in 1960 as the Oregon court ruled against the United States government in State Land Board v. United States, 222 Or. 40, 352 P.2d 539 (1960). In that case the court ruled that state estate
Estate (law)
An estate is the net worth of a person at any point in time. It is the sum of a person's assets - legal rights, interests and entitlements to property of any kind - less all liabilities at that time. The issue is of special legal significance on a question of bankruptcy and death of the person...
laws trumped a federal statute concerning the property of U.S. Veterans who died at Veterans Administration
United States Department of Veterans Affairs
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is a government-run military veteran benefit system with Cabinet-level status. It is the United States government’s second largest department, after the United States Department of Defense...
hospitals without a valid will. The U.S. Supreme Court then overturned the Oregon Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Oregon, 366 U. S. 643 (1961).
On the administrative end of the court, the Oregon Court of Appeals
Oregon Court of Appeals
The Oregon Court of Appeals is the state intermediate appellate court in the U.S. state of Oregon. Part of the Oregon Judicial Department, it has ten judges and is located in Salem...
was created in 1969 as an intermediate appellate court in Oregon. With this change, the Supreme Court now generally does not hear appeals directly from the trial level courts of the state, with some exceptions such as death penalty cases. Other changes came in 1981 when the Oregon Legislature and justice Arno Denecke reformed the chief justice position from a simple head of the court in title only, to the administrative head of the entire Oregon judicial system. The following year, 1982, the court received its first female member when Governor Vic Atiyeh appointed Betty Roberts
Betty Roberts
Betty Cantrell Roberts was a politician and judge in the U.S. state of Oregon. She was the 83rd Associate Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, the highest state court in Oregon. She was the first woman on the Oregon Supreme Court, and had also been the first woman on the Oregon Court of Appeals...
as an associate justice. Then from 1991 to 2005 Wallace P. Carson, Jr. served as chief justice of the court for a record 14 years.
The next landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court involving the Oregon Supreme Court was Dolan v. City of Tigard
Dolan v. City of Tigard
Dolan v. City of Tigard, , more commonly Dolan v. Tigard, was a United States Supreme Court case argued before the Court in 1994. It was a landmark case regarding the practice of zoning and property rights, and served to establish limits on the ability of cities and other government agencies, to...
, 512 U.S. 374 (1994). In that land use
Land use
Land use is the human use of land. Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as fields, pastures, and settlements. It has also been defined as "the arrangements, activities and inputs people undertake in a certain land cover...
case the Oregon court found the requirements placed on the business owner as conditions to approve an expansion were not a taking under the United States Constitution’s takings clause. However, the U.S. Supreme Court disagreed and overturned the Oregon court. Then the Oregon court ruled in February 2006 that Oregon’s land use law, Measure 37
Oregon Ballot Measure 37 (2004)
Oregon Ballot Measure 37 is a controversial land-use ballot initiative that passed in the U.S. state of Oregon in 2004 and is now codified as Oregon Revised Statutes 195.305. Measure 37 has figured prominently in debates about the rights of property owners versus the public's right to enforce...
, was constitutional. Macpherson
Greg Macpherson
Gregory Hector "Greg" Macpherson is a Democratic politician in the US state of Oregon. From 2003 to 2009, he served as the state representative from District 38, which includes most of Lake Oswego and portions of southwestern Portland.-Early life:Macpherson grew up in rural Linn County...
v. Department of Administrative Services, 340 Or. 117, 130 P.3d 308 (2006) allowed people to make claims against the government forcing the government to either pay compensation when land use regulations reduced the value of a property owners land or waive the regulation.
Location
In the early years of the Supreme Court, business was conducted at a variety of locations in downtown Salem. The first public building to house the court was the Territorial Capitol BuildingOregon State Capitol
The Oregon State Capitol is the building housing the state legislature and the offices of the governor, secretary of state, and treasurer of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located in the state capital, Salem. The current building, constructed from 1936 to 1938, and expanded in 1977, is the third...
in Salem that was built between 1854 and 1855. In that building the courtroom
Courtroom
A courtroom is the actual enclosed space in which a judge regularly holds court.The schedule of official court proceedings is called a docket; the term is also synonymous with a court's caseload as a whole.-Courtroom design:-United States:...
was in a chamber measuring 20 feet by 27 feet on the first floor. On December 29, 1855, after the building was partially occupied, it burned to the ground. In 1876, the state finished construction on a second capitol building where the court was located on the third floor. This courtroom measured 54 feet by 46 feet, while the state law library was 75 feet by 70 feet. A separate building was built by the state in 1914 to house the Supreme Court, and this is now the oldest building on the Capitol Mall after the second capitol building burned down on April 25, 1935.
In addition to holding court in the Supreme Court Building's third floor courtroom, the court also travels around the state to hold sessions. This includes sessions and colleges, high schools, and the state’s three law schools. These three law schools, Willamette University College of Law
Willamette University College of Law
Willamette University College of Law is a private law school located in Salem, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1842, Willamette University is the oldest university in the Western United States...
, University of Oregon Law School, and Lewis & Clark Law School
Lewis & Clark Law School
Lewis and Clark Law School is a private American law school located in Portland, Oregon. In the last ten years, L&C's Environmental Law program has been the highest-rated in the United States eight times....
, use the visits as educational tools.
Current justices
The court has had a total of 99 individuals serve on the court since its creation during the territorial period. This has ranged from a membership of three justices to seven justices. Since 1913, the number of positions on the bench has been seven. Of the current membership, five are men and two are women. Overall, the court has had five women compared to ninety-four men serve on the court. Additionally, two current justices are the first two openly gay judges on the court, while the current chief justice is the first individual of Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
heritage to serve on the court and to serve as chief justice.
As of 2010, Robert D. Durham
Robert D. Durham
Robert D. Durham is a current Associate Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. Previously Durham was a judge for the Oregon Court of Appeals and a lawyer in private practice.-Education:...
is the most senior of the seven justices, starting service in 1994. The newest member of the court is Jack L. Landau who joined the court in 2011. Four of the seven justices first joined the court as appointees of the Governor of Oregon
Governor of Oregon
The Governor of Oregon is the top executive of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon. The title of governor was also applied to the office of Oregon's chief executive during the provisional and U.S. territorial governments....
to fill mid-term vacancies.
| Title | Name | Joined the Court | Current Term Ends | Law School Graduated From |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chief Justice | Paul De Muniz Paul De Muniz Paul J. De Muniz is an American judge in the state of Oregon. He is the first Hispanic Chief Justice in the history of the Oregon Supreme Court. He was elected to the court in 2000, and elected as Chief Justice in 2006. He won re-election in May 2006 for another six-year term on the state's... |
2001 | 2013 | Willamette University College of Law Willamette University College of Law Willamette University College of Law is a private law school located in Salem, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1842, Willamette University is the oldest university in the Western United States... |
| Associate Justice | Robert D. Durham Robert D. Durham Robert D. Durham is a current Associate Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. Previously Durham was a judge for the Oregon Court of Appeals and a lawyer in private practice.-Education:... |
1994 | 2013 | University of Santa Clara School of Law |
| Associate Justice | Thomas A. Balmer Thomas A. Balmer Thomas "Tom" A. Balmer is an American jurist in Oregon, United States. A native of Washington, he has served as an Associate Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court since 2001... |
2001 | 2015 | University of Chicago Law School University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School was founded in 1902 as the graduate school of law at the University of Chicago and is among the most prestigious and selective law schools in the world. The U.S. News & World Report currently ranks it fifth among U.S... |
| Associate Justice | Rives Kistler Rives Kistler Rives Kistler is an American attorney and judge in the state of Oregon. After college and law school on the East Coast, he moved to Oregon where he worked in private practice before joining the Oregon Department of Justice... |
2003 | 2017 | Georgetown University Law Center Georgetown University Law Center Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C.. Established in 1870, the Law Center offers J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. degrees in law... |
| Associate Justice | Martha Lee Walters Martha Lee Walters Martha Lee Walters is an American labor attorney and judge in the state of Oregon. As of 2008, she is the 98th Associate Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. She became the first female justice on the state's highest court in three years when she was appointed in 2006... |
2006 | 2015 | University of Oregon School of Law University of Oregon School of Law The University of Oregon School of Law is a public law school in the U.S. state of Oregon. Housed in the Knight Law Center, it is Oregon's only state funded law school. The school, founded in 1884, is located on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, on the corner of 15th and Agate streets,... |
| Associate Justice | Virginia Linder Virginia Linder Virginia Lynn Linder is an American judge from Oregon who has served, since January 2007, as the 99th justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. She had previously served since 1997 on the Oregon Court of Appeals... |
2007 | 2013 | Willamette University College of Law Willamette University College of Law Willamette University College of Law is a private law school located in Salem, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1842, Willamette University is the oldest university in the Western United States... |
| Associate Justice | Jack L. Landau | 2011 | 2017 | Lewis & Clark Law School Lewis & Clark Law School Lewis and Clark Law School is a private American law school located in Portland, Oregon. In the last ten years, L&C's Environmental Law program has been the highest-rated in the United States eight times.... |
Notable Supreme Court cases
Over the course of its history the Oregon Supreme Court has made a number decisions as the highest court in Oregon. These cases cover a wide-range of topics from the constitutionality of various ballot measures to contract law to torts and even to the location of the capital when Oregon was still a territory. Although small in comparison to the total number of cases the court has decided, some cases have been appealed to the United States Supreme Court. Below are some of the cases that have had scholarly discussion, some of which were later decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.| Name | Year | Citations | Legal issue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amos M. Short v. Francis Ermatinger | 1851 | N/A | location of the capital of Oregon Territory Oregon Territory The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. Originally claimed by several countries , the region was... , constitutional construction |
| McLaughlin John McLoughlin Dr. John McLoughlin, baptized Jean-Baptiste McLoughlin, was the Chief Factor of the Columbia Fur District of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver. He was later known as the "Father of Oregon" for his role in assisting the American cause in the Oregon Country in the Pacific Northwest... v. Hoover |
1853 | 1 Or. 31 | assumpsit Assumpsit Assumpsit is a form of action at common law for the recovery of damages caused by the breach or non-performance of a simple contract, either express or implied, and whether made orally or in writing.... , statute of limitations Statute of limitations A statute of limitations is an enactment in a common law legal system that sets the maximum time after an event that legal proceedings based on that event may be initiated... , repugnancy |
| Danielson v. Roberts | 1904 | 44 Or. 108, 74 P. 913 | property law Property law Property law is the area of law that governs the various forms of ownership in real property and in personal property, within the common law legal system. In the civil law system, there is a division between movable and immovable property... |
| Oregon v. Pacific States Telephone & Telegraph Co. | 1909 | 53 Or. 162, 99 P. 427 | constitutionality of the initiative process |
| State v. Bunting Bunting v. Oregon Bunting v. Oregon, 243 U.S. 426 , is a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a ten-hour work day. The trials of Bunting v. Oregon resulted in acceptance of a ten-hour workday for both men and women, but the state minimum-wage laws weren't changed until twenty years later... |
1914 | 71 Or. 259, 139 P. 731 | labor law |
| Jackson v. Steinberg | 1948 | 186 Or. 129, 200 P.2d 376 | property law |
| McCallum v. Asbury | 1964 | 238 Or. 257, 393 P.2d 774 | partnership Partnership A partnership is an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests.Since humans are social beings, partnerships between individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments, and varied combinations thereof, have always been and remain commonplace... |
| Goodman v. Ladd Estate Co. | 1967 | 246 Or. 621, 427 P.2d 102 | corporation Corporation A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter... , Ultra vires Ultra vires Ultra vires is a Latin phrase meaning literally "beyond the powers", although its standard legal translation and substitute is "beyond power". If an act requires legal authority and it is done with such authority, it is... |
| Lowe v. City of Eugene Eugene, Oregon Eugene is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the seat of Lane County. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast.As of the 2010 U.S... |
1969 | 254 Or. 518, 463 P.2d 360 | 1st Amendment First Amendment to the United States Constitution The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering... , Skinner Butte Skinner Butte Skinner Butte is a prominent hill on the north edge of downtown Eugene, Oregon, United States, near the Willamette River. Skinner Butte is a local landmark and the location of Skinner Butte Park, a municipal park. It is named for Eugene Skinner, the founder of Eugene... |
| Petersen v. Thompson | 1973 | 264 Or. 516, 506 P.2d 697 | contract Contract A contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific... law |
| State v. Haas | 1973 | 267 Or. 489, 517 P.2d 671 | interrogation evidence |
| Ruble Forest Products, Inc. v. Lancer Mobile Homes of Oregon | 1974 | 269 Or. 315, 524 P.2d 1204 | contract law |
| Phillips v. Kimwood Machine Company | 1974 | 269 Or. 485, 525 P.2d 1033 | torts, product liability |
| Gustafson v. Payless Gustafson v. Payless Gustafson v. Payless Drug Stores was a 1974 decision of the Oregon Supreme Court regarding an alleged case of shoplifting. The case deals mainly with the issues of malice and probable cause from a legal standpoint.-Facts:... |
1974 | 269 Or. 354, 525 P.2d 118 | torts, Malice Malice (legal term) Malice is a legal term referring to a party's intention to do injury to another party. Malice is either expressed or implied. Malice is expressed when there is manifested a deliberate intention unlawfully to take away the life of a human being... |
| State v. Lakeside | 1977 | 277 Ore. 569, 561 P.2d 612 | jury instructions, right against self incrimination Taking the Fifth The Self-Incrimination Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that "no person . . . shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself."... when defendant does not testify |
| Southworth v. Oliver | 1978 | 284 Or. 361, 587 P.2d 994 | contract law |
| State v. Henry State v. Henry State v. Henry was a 1987 decision of the Oregon Supreme Court which held that the Oregon state law that criminalized obscenity was unconstitutional because it violated the free speech provision of the Oregon Constitution... |
1987 | 302 Or. 510, 732 P2d 9 | obscenity Obscenity An obscenity is any statement or act which strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time, is a profanity, or is otherwise taboo, indecent, abhorrent, or disgusting, or is especially inauspicious... |
| Fazzolari v. Portland School District No. 1J | 1988 | 303 Or. 1, 734 P.2d 1326 | torts: negligence |
| Smith v. Employment Div. Employment Division v. Smith Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 , is a United States Supreme Court case that determined that the state could deny unemployment benefits to a person fired for violating a state prohibition on the use of peyote, even though the use of the drug was... |
1988 | 307 Or. 68, 763 P.2d 146 | employment law, constitutional law Constitutional law Constitutional law is the body of law which defines the relationship of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.... |
| State v. Carlson | 1991 | 311 Or. 201, 808 P.2d 1002 | evidence, adoptive admission by silence |
| Portland General Elec. Co. Portland General Electric Portland General Electric is an electrical utility based in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. It distributes electricity to customers in parts of Multnomah, Clackamas, Marion, Yamhill, Washington, and Polk counties - half of the inhabitants of Oregon... v. Bureau of Labor and Industries Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries is an agency in the executive branch of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is headed by the Commissioner of Labor and Industries, a nonpartisan, statewide elective office. The term of office is four years... |
1993 | 317 Or. 606, 859 P.2d 1143 | state family leave law |
| Conway v. Pacific University | 1996 | 324 Or. 231, 924 P.2d 818 | negligent misrepresentations |
| Stovall v. State By and Through Oregon Dept. of Transp. Oregon Department of Transportation The Oregon Department of Transportation is a department of the state government of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for systems of transportation. It was first established in 1969. It had been preceded by the Oregon State Highway Department which, along with the Oregon State Highway... |
1996 | 324 Or. 92, 922 P.2d 646 | taxation of PERS Oregon Public Employees Retirement System The Public Employees Retirement System is the retirement and disability fund for public employees in the U.S. state of Oregon established in 1946. Employees of the state, school districts, and local governments are eligible for coverage. A health insurance plan for covered retirees was added to... retirement benefits |
| Oregon v. Guzek Oregon v. Guzek Oregon v. Guzek, 546 U.S. 517 , was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, which ruled that the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution does not grant criminal defendants facing the death penalty the right to introduce new evidence of their innocence during sentencing that... |
2004 | 336 Or. 424, 86 P.3d 1106 | death penalty |
| Macpherson Greg Macpherson Gregory Hector "Greg" Macpherson is a Democratic politician in the US state of Oregon. From 2003 to 2009, he served as the state representative from District 38, which includes most of Lake Oswego and portions of southwestern Portland.-Early life:Macpherson grew up in rural Linn County... v. Department of Administrative Services |
2004 | 340 Or. 117, 130 P.3d 308 | land use, measure 37 Oregon Ballot Measure 37 (2004) Oregon Ballot Measure 37 is a controversial land-use ballot initiative that passed in the U.S. state of Oregon in 2004 and is now codified as Oregon Revised Statutes 195.305. Measure 37 has figured prominently in debates about the rights of property owners versus the public's right to enforce... |
| Williams v. Philip Morris, Inc. Philip Morris USA v. Williams Philip Morris USA v. Williams, 549 U.S. 346 , was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, which held that the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment bars punitive damages for harm caused to individuals not involved in the litigation.Mayola Williams, the widow of Jesse D... |
2006 | 340 Or. 35, 127 P.3d 1165 | punitive damages Punitive damages Punitive damages or exemplary damages are damages intended to reform or deter the defendant and others from engaging in conduct similar to that which formed the basis of the lawsuit... , smoking Tobacco smoking Tobacco smoking is the practice where tobacco is burned and the resulting smoke is inhaled. The practice may have begun as early as 5000–3000 BCE. Tobacco was introduced to Eurasia in the late 16th century where it followed common trade routes... |