State Supreme Court - Location

Location

Traditionally, state supreme courts are headquartered in the capital cities of their respective states, though they may occasionally hold oral argument elsewhere. The six main exceptions are:

• Louisiana, whose supreme court is headquartered in New Orleans' French Quarter.
• Maine, whose supreme court is headquartered in Portland.
• Pennsylvania, whose supreme court has facilities at three coequal locations (Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh).
• Tennessee, whose state constitution requires its supreme court to sit at three coequal locations (Nashville, Knoxville, and Jackson).
• California, whose supreme court is headquartered in San Francisco and maintains only branch offices in the state capital, Sacramento, and the state's largest city, Los Angeles.
• Alaska, whose supreme court is located in its largest city, Anchorage.

As for the court's actual facilities, a state supreme court may be housed in the state capitol, in a nearby state office building shared with other courts or state executive branch agencies, or in a small courthouse reserved for its exclusive use. State supreme courts normally require a courtroom for oral argument, private chambers for all justices, a conference room, offices for law clerks and other support staff, a law library, and a lobby with a window where the court clerk can accept filings and release new decisions in the form of "slip opinions" (that is, in looseleaf format held together only by a staple).