In Washington, DC, Supreme Court Justices are a pretty big deal. In New York, though, they’re pretty common. That’s the case because in New York the “Supreme Court” is the trial court, whereas the state’s highest court is the “Court of Appeals.” The question is, why?
As best I can tell from a bit of googling, the practice seems to go back, with some modification, to the New York Constitution of 1777. That Constitution set up an appellate system modeled after the House of Lords. Appeals from trial courts of general jurisdiction were heard by a gathering of all of the available state trial judges, the state senate, and the state chancellor in charge of the equity courts. They met in what was called “the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and the Correction of Errors.”
Because that “court” was really a collection of trial judges and state senators, there was no distinct “high court” consisting of members who only served in that court. The trial judges in the courts of general jurisdiction were as “high” up as the New York Court system went, as they both heard proceedings as trial judges and in the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and the Correction of Errors. Given that, it wasn’t too strange to label these judges as Justices of the Supreme Court.
In the 19th Century, the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and the Correction of Errors was abolished and replaced with a more modern appellate court. Instead of renaming everything, the trial courts kept the name “Supreme Court” and the high court was named the “Court of Appeals.”
Anyway, that’s what a bit of googling suggests. I’m sure the VC’s readership includes experts in the history of the New York court system; if I’m getting the history wrong, or there are details or links to add, I hope you will consider pointing it out in the comment thread.