How Cases Reach the Court

Congress sets very complex rules for appealing a case to the Supreme Court. A few cases start at the Court because they fall under its original jurisdiction. The vast majority of cases reach the Court only as appeals from lower court decisions. These cases come to the Supreme Court in one of two ways—on appeal or by writ of certiorari.

On Appeal Certain types of cases are said to go to the Court on appeal. Most are cases in which a lower federal court or the highest state court has ruled a law unconstitutional. Some are cases in which the highest court of a state upholds a state law against the claim that it violates federal law or the Constitution. The Court is required to at least consider all cases involving the constitutionality of a law.

Only about 10 percent of the Court's cases arrive on appeal, and most are dismissed because they do not raise an important constitutional issue. When a case is dismissed, the decision of the lower court becomes final. Dismissal also has other legal consequences. Lower court judges are supposed to note that the Court believes similar types of cases do not involve a basic conflict with federal laws or the Constitution.

Writ of Certiorari The main route to the Supreme Court is by a writ of certiorari (suhr●shee●uh●RAR●ee) — an order from the Court to a lower court to send up the records on a case for review. Either side in a case may petition the Court for certiorari, or "cert," as lawyers call it. Such petitions must argue that the lower court made a legal error in handling the case, or they must raise some serious constitutional issue.

Because these appeals do not involve the constitutionality of a law, the Court is free to choose which cases it will consider. More than 90 percent of the requests for certiorari are rejected. Denial of certiorari does not necessarily mean that the justices agree with a lower court's decision. They may see the case as not involving a significant public issue. It may involve a question the Court does not want to address, or it may not be the best case for ruling on a specific issue. Regardless of the reason, when the Court denies certiorari, the lower court's decision stands.

Selecting Cases Justice William O. Douglas once railed the selection of cases "in many respects the most important and interesting of all our functions." When petitions for certiorari come to the Court, the justices' clerks identify cases worthy of serious consideration and the Chief Justice puts them on a "discuss list" for the justices to consider. All other cases are automatically denied a writ unless a justice asks that a specific case be added to the list.

Almost two-thirds of all petitions for certiorari never make the discuss list. At the Court conferences, the Chief Justice reviews the cases on the discuss list. Then the justices—armed with memos from their clerks, other information on the case, and various law books — give their views. In deciding to accept a case, the Court operates by the rule of four. If four of the nine justices approve, the Court will accept the case for decision.

When the justices accept a case, they also decide either to ask for more information and oral arguments from the opposing lawyers or to rule quickly on the basis of written materials already available. Cases decided without further information are announced with a per curiam (puhr KYTJR●ee●ahm) opinion — a brief unsigned statement of the Court's decision. Slightly less than half the cases the Court accepts are handled this way. The remaining cases go on for full consideration by the Court.