District of Columbia Court of Appeals

District of Columbia Court of Appeals
District of Columbia Court of Appeals
	The District of Columbia Court of Appeals is located in the former D.C. City Hall, a National Historic Landmark.
Established	1942
Location	District of Columbia City Hall, Judiciary Square, Washington, DC
Composition method	Presidential nomination with Senate confirmation
Authorized by	Derived from the United States Congress
Appeals to	Supreme Court of the United States (in matters of federal law only)
Appeals from	Superior Court of the District of Columbia
Judge term length	15 years
Number of positions	9
Website	DCCourts.gov
Chief judge
Currently	Anna Blackburne-Rigsby
Since	March 17, 2017

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals is the highest court of the District of Columbia, the capital city of the United States. The court was established in 1942 as the Municipal Court of Appeals, and it has been the court of last resort for matters of D.C. local law since 1970. The court is located in the former District of Columbia City Hall building at Judiciary Square. The D.C. Court of Appeals and the Superior Court of the District of Columbia comprise the District of Columbia's court system.

The D.C. Court of Appeals is the equivalent of a state supreme court. Because the District of Columbia is not a U.S. state, however, the court's authority derives from the U.S. Congress rather than from the inherent sovereignty of the states. The D.C. Court of Appeals is sometimes confused with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which is the federal U.S. court of appeals that covers the District of Columbia.