Texas Judiciary Organizational Chart - Multiple Levels of Appellate Courts and Two Courts of Last Resort at the Top

THE MULTI-TIER STRUCTURE OF THE TEXAS JUDICIAL SYSTEM 

Texas Judicial System: Multiple levels of trial courts and appellate courts -

 Two high courts at the peak (click to enlarge the chart)

BIFURCATED HIGH COURTS AT THE PINNACLE: CRIMINAL VS CIVIL

While most states, like the United States (federal judiciary), have only one highest court, Texas has two. The Texas Supreme Court has the last word in civil and juvenile cases, while the Court of Criminal Appeals hears appeals in criminal cases, including death penalty cases. Sometimes the division of labor is not entirely clear, and jurisdictional squabbles occur.

Cases may go to the U.S. Supreme Court after decision by either high court (or neither, if they decline review), but such appeals to the highest federal court, which are initiated by petition for certiorari ("cert"), are restricted to matters of federal law, most notably federal constitutional law. Most cases arrive at the Texas Supreme Court either by Petition for review (PFR) or by Petition for Writ of Mandamus. There are a few other types of cases in addition to these. 

THE SUPREME COURT AS A RULE-MAKING AND LAW-MAKING COURT

You may have learned in high school, and probably even earlier, that the court interprets the law, and that is certainly not incorrect. But it is not an exhaustive description of what the court does either. The Supreme court also makes law, though this is done differently from what happens in the Legislature. The terminology used also differs. 

The lawmaking by the Texas Supreme Court -- or policymaking, to use the language of political science -- takes two principal forms: rule making and issuance of opinions in cases appealed to the court and decided by it. Additionally, the Texas Supreme Court supervises the State Bar of Texas, which is to say the practice of law, because membership and good standing (license) are mandatory for attorneys to practice in this state. As such, the Supreme Court also functions as the highest authority in attorney disciplinary matters.

Texas Court Rules - Available from Texas Supreme Court Website 

Rules are not referred to as law, but they have the force of law and govern the litigation process at all levels of the Texas judicial system. The law made through opinions takes the form of “holdings” on legal issues that arise in litigation, and the opinions that announce those holdings become binding precedents for all of the lower courts, including the courts of appeals. The body of the holdings and opinions in which they are articulated is called case law. Dissenting opinions, however, are not binding law.

THE APPELLATE SYSTEM IN TEXAS: HOW MANY LEVELS? 

Texas has a multi-layered judicial system that includes two levels of appellate courts, the fourteen intermediate courts of appeals and the two courts of last resort, the Texas Supreme Court and the Court of Criminal Appeals.

There is arguably a third level because the county courts hear appeals from justice courts in addition to hearing cases that are originally filed in county court. Both types of courts are trial courts, but the county courts act as appellate courts in a limited fashion. 

These appeals, however, differ from appeals taken from the county and district courts to the court of appeals because the county court is a trial court, and does not review the actions of the justice court, but instead retries the case. It would be hard to do so because the justice courts are not “courts of record”. That does not mean that no records are kept at all. In fact, the case file must be forwarded to the county court for the appeal. It means that there is no court reporter’s record that would allow the second court to review what happened in the court below. 

The courts of appeals, by contrast, rely exclusively on the record of the trial courts below, which consists of the clerk’s record (the pleadings and other papers filed in the case, the judgment or other court order relevant to the appeal) and the reporter’s record from the trial or hearing, if there was one. Courts of appeals do not re-try case, and they do not consider evidence outside the record, although there are some limited exceptions for matters that affect jurisdiction, such as mootness. 

An appeal of a case first filed and decided in the justice court does not involve a review of the actions of the lower court for error, but results in the case being decided “de novo” (anew) in the county court. The filing of an appeal from a judgment rendered by the justice court, which requires the posting of bond or an affidavit of indigence, has the effect of vacating that judgment, wiping the slate clean so the parties get to start over in county court. 

The filing of an appeal from a county court judgment or a district court judgment, by contrast, does not result in the judgment being vacated. If the judgment is not superseded, it will be enforceable even though an appeal is pending and even though the court of appeals has yet to determine whether the judgment involved any error, and whether it must be reversed in whole or in part. 

In addition to appeals from final judgments and other trial court orders that finally dispose of a case for good (such as an order of dismissal for want of prosecution, final summary judgment, or dismissal for jurisdictional reasons), the courts of appeals also hears appeals from orders of trial courts that are not final. There are two basic categories of such appeals: interlocutory appeals and mandamus proceedings. These types of appeals allow a party to seek the attention of the higher court without having to wait until the case is finally decided in the trial court in which the case is pending.

APPELLATE CASE LOAD STATISTICS 

FOR THE INTERMEDIATE COURTS OF APPEAL

Court of Appeals Activity Statistics for FY 2014 from Annual Report
(Click to enlarge image) 

TEXAS SUPREME COURT ACTIVITY (FY 2014)

PETITION GRANT RATE BY COURT OF APPEAL

PFR Grant Rate by Originating Court of Appeals