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The Federation Judiciary Council is the 13-member committee of the Council of the United Federation of Planets that has jurisdiction over legal and judicial issues.

In 2286, Federation President Hiram Roth convened the Judiciary Council to decide which, if any, charges should be brought against Admiral James T. Kirk and crew for their actions regarding Project Genesis and the theft and destruction of the USS Enterprise. Eventually, due to the heroic actions of the Enterprise crew in their defense of Earth from the Cetacean Probe, the Council withdrew all charges but one - disobeying orders of a superior officer - and demoted Kirk to the rank of Captain, giving him command of the USS Enterprise-A. (TOS movie, novelization & comic adaptation: The Voyage Home)

In 2380, President Nanietta Bacco nominated to the Judiciary Council Federation Councillor Eleana of Delta IV; while controversial, her nomination was eventually confirmed, and she cast the deciding vote in the controversial case involving the fate of the Soong-type android known as B-4 that year. (ST novel: Articles of the Federation)

In the novel, the Judiciary Council is described as being the highest legal authority in the Federation. This seems to contradict the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Doctor Bashir, I Presume" in which the highest judicial body in the Federation is established to be the Supreme Court of the United Federation of Planets. One might presume that the Supreme Court and the Judiciary Council are the same bodies; that the Judiciary Council was established after that episode; or that the Supreme Court sometimes hands precedent-setting cases to the Judiciary Council. Meanwhile, the FASA RPG module: The Federation states that the Federation Tribunal is the highest court. As that is described as similar to an old Earth Supreme Court, it seems likely the Tribunal was replaced by the Federation Supreme Court.
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