Supreme Court of the Arab Union

The Supreme Court of the Arab Union (Arabic: المحكمة العليا للاتحاد العربي al-maḥkamah al-‘ulyā lil-ittiḥād al-‘arabī) is the highest judicial authority in the Union of Arab Republics (UAR, informally known as the Arab Union). It is the senior of only two federal courts in the Arab Union, its junior counterpart being the Court of Appeals of the Arab Union, with all lower courts existing at the republican level, that is, the judiciaries of each of the Arab Union's 20 republics, which have their own appellate courts and supreme courts which oversee the numerous subordinate district trial courts and civil claims courts, with nearly all cases heard by such courts, which may be appealed to the respective republican Court of Appeals, and then the republican Supreme Court; only then may the federal Court of Appeals of the Arab Union hear appeals of verdicts of republican supreme courts. The Supreme Court of the Arab Union hears only cases which affect at least two republics or the union as a whole, as well as appeals of verdicts of the Court of Appeals of the Arab Union.

The Supreme Court of the Arab Union is led by the President of the Supreme Court (almost always referred to by the informal title of Chief Justice of the Arab Union), who, according to the constitution, is appointed by the President of the Arab Union on advice of the Presidium of the Arab Congress. The President of the Supreme Court appoints ten puisne justices to serve as the Supreme Court's ten judges who answer to the Chief Justice, who are traditionally drawn from the ranks of justices of the Arab Union Court of Appeals or republican supreme courts; puisne justices are constitutionally referred to as (First) Deputy Chief Justice, Second Deputy Chief Justice, Third Deputy Chief Justice, etc., and preside over most cases before the Supreme Court, the President of the Supreme Court/Chief Justice typically presiding over only the most important/public federal cases. The First Deputy Chief Justice, constitutionally known as the Vice President of the Supreme Court, takes on the role of Acting Chief Justice/Acting President of the Supreme Court in the event of the death or incapacitation of the sitting Chief Justice, until a new permanent Chief Justice is officially appointed.