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In South Africa we have the constitution court which dedicates itself to constitutional matters. The US has a constitution like South Africa has but as far as I know no court dedicated to a addressing constitutional issues specifically ? How exactly is a decision about a constitutional matters made at a national level so all states are willing to accept it? Or is it just as simple as the supreme court in the USA is the con-court by another name?

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    Also worth noting that a constitutional court in South Africa is not actually an "apex court" in the same way that the U.S. Supreme Court is. It is a court of limited jurisdiction that can only handle constitutional issues, not the final court of appeal and supervisory court as to all matters.
    – ohwilleke
    Commented Dec 8, 2022 at 22:14
  • If America's Supreme Court justices were held to account, then it would literally be the con-court.
    – Amazon Dies In Darkness
    Commented Jan 24 at 6:36

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The Supreme Court of the United States is our apex court. Its decisions on constitutional questions are binding throughout the country.

It is not, however, limited to considering constitutional issues, as it may also consider appeals addressing questions of statutory interpretation and rules of procedure. In very limited cases, it may also sit as a trial court in cases where it has original jurisdiction.

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  • That is interesting the South African con court specifically refrains from trails.
    – Neil Meyer
    Commented Jun 6, 2021 at 14:51
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    The US Supreme Court doesn't really hold trials. It sometimes hears a small number of original jurisdiction cases, usually disputes between states about land or water rights, but even in those cases, it usually appoints a special master to hear any evidence and make a ruling rather than holding a trial itself, and then the Court will review that ruling.
    – Zach Lipton
    Commented Jun 6, 2021 at 23:24
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    Another distinction is that Constitutional Courts typically have the authority to issue advisory opinions (e.g. on the constitutionality of legislation pre-enactment or post-enactment but pre-violation) in the first instance at the request of one of various officials. The U.S. Supreme Court does not have the authority to issue advisory opinions and with narrow original jurisdiction exceptions can consider constitutional issues only in an appellate capacity after lower courts have previously ruled on those issues. Some state supreme courts can also issue advisory opinions.
    – ohwilleke
    Commented Jun 7, 2021 at 21:52
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    Both. Generally speaking, state supreme courts settle disputes over state law, while the U.S. Supreme Court settles questions of federal law.
    – bdb484
    Commented Jun 8, 2021 at 12:30
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    @Neil Meyer However, claims that state or local laws violate or conflict with federal laws or the federal constitution can be and often are heard in state courts, and appealed to a state supreme court. Such decisions may, in some cases, (mostly if the claim of conflict is denied) be appealed to federal courts and ultimately to the US supreme court.
    – David Siegel
    Commented Dec 9, 2022 at 17:00
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There is not just one apex court in the United States.

As bdb484 says in their answer, the United States Supreme Court is an apex court, but that is only true for cases within the jurisdiction of the federal courts or when appealing from a state supreme court on federal grounds.

When the question is wholly within state court jurisdiction, and raising no federal question of law, the state supreme court is the apex court (in some states, this court is named the state "Court of Appeals" or a variant).

There are effectively 51 distinct judicial systems in the United States (one for each state, and one for the federal judiciary), each with their own apex court.

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  • It's 57 systems, by my count: 50 states + DC + 5 incorporated territories + Federal. Also, two states, Texas and Oklahoma, have 2 separate apex courts, one for criminal and one for civil.
    – user71659
    Commented Dec 10, 2022 at 3:08
  • @user71659, are DC/the incorporated territories really independent of the federal system?
    – Mark
    Commented Dec 10, 2022 at 4:28
  • @Mark They have their own equivalent of state laws, e.g. District of Columbia Official Code, which was passed by their legislatures (Council of the District of Columbia). PR's territorial statutes are unique that they are written in Spanish (Leyes de Puerto Rico) and territorial court proceedings are conducted in Spanish. They have their own courts of first instance, appeals, and supreme courts, e.g. Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
    – user71659
    Commented Dec 10, 2022 at 5:43

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