Davidson County General Sessions Court, Tennessee

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search
BP-Initials-UPDATED.png
 		This officeholder information was last updated on September 1, 2022. Please contact us with any updates.
BP-Initials-UPDATED.png

Court

Ballotpedia:Trial Courts
Justice A.A. Birch Building

The Davidson County General Sessions Court is one of 95 General Session Courts in Tennessee. This is a court of limited jurisdiction that hears civil and criminal cases.[1]

Judges

 padding-left: 10px !important;
 padding-right: 10px !important;

} } .partytd.Democratic { background-color: #003388; color: white; text-align: center; } .partytd.Republican { background-color: #db0000; color: white; text-align: center; } .partytd.Libertarian { background-color: #fdd007; text-align: center; } .partytd.Green { background-color: #6db24f; color: white; text-align: center; } .partytd.Gray { text-align: center; } .bptable.gray th { background:#4c4c4c;color:#fff; }


See also

External links


Tennessee courts

Federal courts:

Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Tennessee, Middle District of Tennessee, Western District of Tennessee • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Tennessee, Middle District of Tennessee, Western District of Tennessee

State courts:

Tennessee Supreme Court • Tennessee Court of Appeals • Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals • Tennessee Circuit Court • Tennessee Chancery Courts • Tennessee Criminal Court • Tennessee Probate Court • Tennessee General Sessions Court • Tennessee Juvenile Court • Tennessee Municipal Court

State resources:

Courts in Tennessee • Tennessee judicial elections • Judicial selection in Tennessee

Elections

See also: Tennessee judicial elections

Tennessee is one of 43 states that hold elections for judicial positions. To learn more about judicial selection in Tennessee, click here.

Selection method

See also: Nonpartisan election of judges

Judges of the general sessions court are elected in nonpartisan elections to eight-year terms. Individual towns or cities may establish varying ordinances for the election of their municipal judges—e.g., ordinances that allow for some positions to be elected by popular vote and some to be selected by other methods.[2][3][4][5]

Qualifications
To serve on the court, a judge must be:[6]

  • authorized to practice law in state;
  • a district resident for at least one year;
  • a state resident five years; and
  • at least 30 years old.

Election rules

Primary election

Primary elections may be held for trial court judges. The political parties in each county determine whether or not there will be a primary election in their respective counties.

County primary elections

Counties that are having a primary election will have them on a Tuesday in May. The candidate who wins the county primary election in May will then move on to the county general election in August and run against other party candidates that won their respective primaries.[7]

Primary elections in Tennessee serve to designate a party's nomination and narrow the field down to one candidate from that party for a specific office. A candidate who wins their primary nomination will move on to the general election.[7] It is not uncommon for a candidate to run unopposed in their party primary and then go on to run unopposed in the general election as well. Similarly, candidates may win their primary and go on to run unopposed in the general election.

Voters do not need to declare their party affiliation when they register to vote. However, primary voters must declare whether or not they will be voting in the Democratic or Republican primary.[7]


Footnotes

  1. ↑ Tennessee State Courts, "About General Sessions Courts," accessed June 16, 2014
  2. ↑ American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Tennessee; Limited Jurisdiction Courts," archived September 11, 2014
  3. ↑ Justia - Tennessee Code, "37-1-207 - Special juvenile courts Judges," accessed July 22, 2015
  4. ↑ Justia - Tennessee Code, "16-18-203 - Term of office," accessed July 22, 2015
  5. ↑ Justia - Tennessee Code, "16-15-202 - Election Term," accessed November 20, 2014
  6. ↑ American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Tennessee," archived September 11, 2014
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Hamilton County, Tennessee Election Commission: Differences Between Primary Elections & General Elections, accessed May 4, 2014
Retrieved from "https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=Davidson_County_General_Sessions_Court,_Tennessee&oldid=8892718"