"If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge---whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults---take them to the place the Lord your God will choose." (Deuteronomy 17:8) Sending a legal case to the house of God is sending it to the highest court in the land. We can compare this to our practice in the United States of sending cases to the Supreme Court.
Up until now the most difficult cases in Israel were brought to Moses. We were told in Exodus that Moses took the advice of his father-in-law who saw that he was overworked and on the verge of collapse. His father-in-law told him to choose capable men to hear and judge cases so that Moses wasn't spending most of his time listening to legal disputes all day long. After choosing the men to do this job, we were told, "They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided for themselves." (Exodus 18:26) Moses won't be going into the promised land with Israel. Even if he were going, he isn't going to live forever and a type of Supreme Court needs to be established for all the future generations.
When a very difficult case comes before the local judges, they must take the case to the house of God in this manner: "Go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict." (Deuteronomy 17:9)
The priests and the chief magistrate are to render the verdict. They are in the best position to know all the laws of the Lord and to thoughtfully and prayerfully consider His precepts while studying the case and rendering a verdict. "You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the Lord will choose. Be careful to do everything they instruct you to do. Act according to whatever they teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left." (Deuteronomy 17:10-11)
The ruling is final and is to be obeyed. If the judges of the lower courts refuse to accept the verdict and carry out the proper penalty, they are in contempt of court. Contempt for the court, under these circumstances, is contempt for the Lord Himself. This is His court. The verdict was given by Him to the highest magistrate and the priests. To disobey the ruling is a capital offense. "Anyone who shows contempt for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering there to the Lord your God is to be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel. All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not be contemptuous again." (Deuteronomy 17:12-13)
If people aren't going to abide by the decisions of the highest court in the land, there's no point in having a high court. But without such a high court, law and order will break down in the nation. Very soon the people would lose respect for their officials, for the law, and for the Lord Himself if the verdicts of Israel's Supreme Court aren't accepted and obeyed. Why would anyone obey the rulings of lower courts if nobody is accepting the rulings of the highest court? If verdicts given by the Lord aren't respected, the entire congregation is in danger of forsaking the Lord entirely. The citizens must respect and abide by the decisions of the court because these decisions are made with the Lord's guidance. Having contempt for this court is having contempt for the Lord at whose house the hearings are held and under whose direction verdicts are rendered. The nation that has contempt for the Lord is under a curse but "blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord". (Psalm 33:12a)
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