Describe the process of granting a writ of cert by the Supreme Court.
Why does this process exist?

Parties who are not satisfied with the decision of a lower court (federal court of appeals) must appeal to the U.S.
Supreme Court to hear their case.
This is not because a person was unhappy with the verdict . It has to involve one of two subject matter jurisdictions:
• Federal question cases —cases concerning
Constitution, federal laws, or treaties
• Diversity cases —cases involving citizens of different states

• The primary means to petition the court for review is to ask it to grant a writ of certiorari.
• This is a request that the Supreme Court order a lower court to send up the record of the case for review.
• Court usually is not under any obligation to hear these cases; usually those they hear:
– could have national significance
– might harmonize conflicting decisions in the federal
Circuit courts
– could have precedent ial value

• Each Justice cannot read each petition for certiorari , so they have an informal "cert pool"
– Petitions for cert come in weekly
– divided among the Justices (and their law clerks)
• Justice has 3-4 law clerks per Court term.
– graduated from the best law schools
– do legal research
– help prepare questions that the Justice may ask during oral arguments
– assist with the drafting of Court opinions
• Clerks read the petitions, write a brief memo about the case, and recommend whether to accept the case
– Memos and recommendations then go to the “Justices'
Conference”

• Court accepts between 100-150 cases a year from the cert pool
• The Court has its own set of rules for making final choices:
– four of the nine Justices must vote to accept a case, called the RULE OF FOUR
– Established by Judiciary Act of 1891

• By granting a writ of cert , the case is placed on the docket (official list of cases)
• The petitioner (the person/lawyer who wants the case heard) must write 40-50 page brief , a written statement that summarizes the case and laws/rulings that support it
– The other party, known as the respondent , can also write a brief
• Petitioner and respondent can file briefs of a shorter length that respond to the other party's position.
– U.S. Government (Solicitor General), can file a brief
– With permission, groups can file an amicus curiae brief with arguments and recommendations for how the case should be decided