29d. Explain how a case reaches
the Supreme Court, including the
appeals process, Writ of
Certiorari, and Supreme Court
Justices
By: John Gruhn
• 8,000 cases are appealed to the
Supreme Court each year. Of
these the court accepts only a few
hundred each year. In most cases,
petitions for review are denied,
usually because most of the
justices agree that the cases have
no significant point of law.
• The court selects cases that it does hear
according to “the rule of four”: at least four of its
nine justices must agree that a case should be
put on the courts docket.
• More than half of the cases decided by the
Supreme Court are disposed of in brief orders.
The appeals process is that process a
case goes through in order to make it into
the Supreme Court.
• Most cases reach the Supreme Court by Writ of
Certiorari (to be made more certain).
• A Writ is an order by the court directing a lower
court to send up the record in a given case for
its review.
• Either party to a particular case can petition the
court for a writ. But cert is granted in particular
conditions typically only when a petition raises
some important constitutional question or a
serious problem in the interpretation of a
statute.
• When Certiorari is denied the decision of
lower court stands in that particular case.