Rule 50 Calendars

Judges have some flexibility in how they organize and schedule criminal cases on their court calendars. Each circuit court can set up its own system for this.

However, criminal cases should generally be handled before other types of cases whenever possible. This means if a judge has both criminal and civil matters to schedule, the criminal cases should usually get priority and move forward first.

The idea behind this rule is that criminal cases often involve people's freedom and constitutional rights, like the right to a speedy trial. Because of this, courts try to move these cases along faster rather than letting them sit on the calendar behind other business.