California Courts at a Glance ¹

• Population served: Over 36 million--12.5 percent of the United States population
• Total court system filings: 9,493,752 *
• Number of authorized judgeships: 2,085 *
• Court levels: Two-trial and appellate
• Trial courts: 58-one in each county
• Court of Appeal districts: 6 in 9 locations
• Highest court: California Supreme Court
• Total judicial branch budget (08-09): $3.8 billion
• Judicial branch budget as percentage of total State Budget: 2.6

Jury service

• 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 2006: 9,771,427
• Number of Californians summoned to jury service who served in 2006: 2,680,612, or 27 percent.

Court interpreters

• Languages spoken in California: Over 200
• Languages certified for court interpreters: 13 (Arabic, Eastern Armenian, Western Armenian, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and American Sign Language.)
• Total number of court interpreter service days provided in the California Courts: 185,118 **
• Percent of interpreter services provided in Spanish: 86 **
• Pay rate for court interpreters: $282/day

Family and juvenile

• Average number of divorces filed annually in California: 160,000; Estimated number of children affected: 100,000
• Juvenile delinquency filings: 104,188 *
• Juvenile dependency filings: 46,248 *

California Supreme Court

• Justices: 1 Chief Justice, 6 Associate Justices
• Filings: 8,988 *
• Dispositions by written opinion: 113 *

Courts of Appeal

• Justices: 105
• Filings: 24,934 *
• Dispositions by written opinion: 10,029 *

Superior Courts

• 1,872 * judges, 431 commissioners and referees
• Filings: 9,459,827 *
• Dispositions: 7,886,912 *

¹ Updated October 2008
* From 2008 Court Statistics Report (FY 06-07)
** For FY 2004-2005