How the Supreme Court Works: From ABC CLIO American
Government
The Highest Court in the Land
The U.S. Supreme Court is the highest court in the land. It is the court of last resort. All of its decisions are final and
cannot be appealed to another court. As the poet Robert Frost once noted, anything the Supreme Court says is right.
The Supreme Court is mandated by the U.S. Constitution as one of the three branches of government. It was created by
the Judiciary Act of 1789, which designed a three-tiered system of national courts. The Supreme Court safeguards justice
by upholding the laws written in the U.S. Constitution and by protecting the rights of the people and the states.
Three Tiers of Courts
In some ways, the federal court system resembles a ladder, with each rung representing a tier. The lowest rung on the
ladder, or the lowest federal court, is a U.S. District Court. If a party does not feel that justice was carried out in the
District Court, the case may be appealed to the next highest federal court, a U.S. Court of Appeals. If the party still feels it
did not receive a fair trial, it may appeal the case to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court does not have to take the
case, but if it does, its ruling is final. The Supreme Court is the top of the ladder in the federal court system.
An Independent Judiciary
As soon as the new federal court system opened in the early 1790s, citizens across the nation looked to federal judges to
protect their rights and enforce the Constitution. If they felt a state legislature or state court violated their rights, they
appealed to federal judges who were independent from the states. That tradition continues today.
Appellate and Original Jurisdiction
The Supreme Court has two types of jurisdiction: appellate and original. Most of the cases considered by the Supreme
Court come to it on appeal from either federal or state courts via petitions for a writ of certiorari. Writs of certiorari are
requests for the Supreme Court to hear a case that was previously decided by a lower court. This is the traditional way to
bring a case before the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court also has the authority to decide cases in which a state is a party and cases involving foreign
diplomats. The Court's jurisdiction here is not only original, it's exclusive, meaning that no other court has the authority
to hear such cases.
Judicial Review
The Supreme Court reviews cases involving federal and state laws as well as presidential acts to determine if they are
constitutional. If they are not constitutional, the Supreme Court has the authority to declare them null and void, or no
longer part of U.S. law. Over the years, the Supreme Court has declared more than 1,000 laws null and void.
An Annual Term
The Supreme Court holds a continuous annual term starting on the first Monday in October and ending on the day before
the first Monday in October of the following year. Its sessions usually end in June. At the end of the term, all the cases on
the court docket are continued to the next term.
Justices Serve For Life
The Supreme Court consists of a chief justice and eight associates. The nine members of the Court serve for life, assuming
they do not break the law and their personal conduct is good. A justice may be removed from the bench only by
impeachment. Each member is appointed by a U.S. president and approved by the U.S. Senate at public hearings that
generate enormous attention.
Members are appointed for life rather than for a specified term so they may be more independent. It's not uncommon to
have a justice still serving on the bench well into his or her eighties.
Chief Justice
The president appoints the chief justice of the Supreme Court. The chief justice does administrative work for the entire
federal court system as well as the Supreme Court. If the chief justice is not able to perform his or her duties or the office
is vacant, those powers and duties go to the associate justice who has served the longest on the Court.
Opinions of the Court
Justices write opinions on all the cases they hear. They write opinions in favor of a decision and dissenting opinions. Both
types of opinions help to clarify the ideals written in the Constitution. Lawyers and law students study Supreme Court
opinions closely.
Many of the decisions the justices arrive at are based on what they call the "original intent" of the law, or what the writers
of the law had intended it to mean. The Court has ruled on nearly every controversial subject the country has faced, from
slavery to child labor. Its decisions are rarely unanimous.
Supreme Court at Work
Briefs
Lawyers on both sides submit briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court at the first stage of taking a case to the Court. A brief is a
legal document that sets out a summary of the case, a statement of why the Supreme Court has jurisdiction, a statement of
the issues of law raised, and arguments in support of the issues of law.
In an appeals case, neither the Supreme Court nor other appellate courts will re-hear testimony about facts. The trial court
makes the decision on facts because the trial court hears the witnesses and considers the evidence. So the statement of
facts must be simple and clear, not argumentative or one-sided. Appellate courts hear and decide only issues of law.
For example, a trial court will decide whether Defendant X is guilty of the charge of burglary. Perhaps the evidence at
trial includes computers recovered from the defendant's car. The trial court will also decide whether the search of the
defendant's car was legal under state and federal law. A case can only be appealed if the defendant believes a mistake was
made in the court procedure. The appeals courts will not reconsider the defendant's guilt or innocence. They will
reconsider only whether the search was lawful. If the search was invalid, then the conviction may be overturned. That
does not make the defendant "not guilty." It just gives the defendant another chance at a new trial, this time without the
illegally obtained evidence.
The petitioner or appellant (the side that lost at the lower level court) files the first brief. Then the respondent or appellee
files a reply. Then the appellant can reply to the appellee, and the appellee can file a final brief.
Oral Argument
After both sides have submitted briefs, the Court may set a date for oral arguments. During the oral arguments, the
lawyers for each side speak to the nine justices of the Supreme Court. The petitioner goes first, followed by the
respondent, followed by a short rebuttal by the petitioner.
Lawyers get very little time to give speeches during their 30 minutes of oral argument. Most of the time is taken up by
questions to the lawyers from the nine justices. Questions usually begin quickly, and the justices ask an average of 30
questions of each side during an argument. Sometimes the justices have already made up their minds. They may argue
with one another through the questions that they ask the lawyers.
Conference
After the oral arguments, the justices set a time for their conference, their time to discuss the case and come to a decision.
By tradition, only the nine justices sit in the conference room. Not even clerks or messengers can enter.
After a while, their views become clear. They take a formal vote. The case is decided.
Preparing Opinions
The chief justice-or the senior justice in the majority-assigns one justice to write the majority opinion. The majority
opinion becomes the law of the land. Even if it is arrived at by a five-to-four vote, it is as much the law as a unanimous
decision.
If there is a dissent, one of the dissenting justices will write that opinion. In addition, justices who voted with the majority
but don't agree completely with the majority opinion may write concurring opinions, explaining their positions. Justices
who voted against the majority, but don't agree with the dissenting opinion as written, may write concurring opinions in
dissent.
Individual justices get help from their law clerks in drafting and writing opinions. After the opinion is written, it will be
circulated to other justices for comments and editing.
Announcing the Decision
Decisions must be made before June 30, the end of the term. Sometimes they take months, and sometimes they are made
quickly.
All decisions are announced in the courtroom. The justice who wrote the opinion will deliver a short summary. Then
copies of the opinion are distributed to the lawyers and to the press. These decisions then become the guidelines for all
courts.