Then, the Judiciary Act of shifted responsibility for most appeals to the newly created circuit courts of appeals. Since then, the Supreme Court only hears appealed cases at its discretion through the granting of a writ of certiorari.
In deciding which petitions for certiorari it will grant, the Supreme Court strives to hear cases in which its ruling will affect the interpretation and application of the laws involved throughout the United States. In addition, the Court prefers to hear cases in which its ruling will provide definitive guidance for the lower courts.
While there are no hard-and-fast rules, the Supreme Court tends to grant petitions for certiorari for:. Cases that will resolve clear conflicts of law : Anytime a number of lower courts issue conflicting decisions involving the same federal law or interpretation of the U. Constitution, such as gun control and the Second Amendment , the Supreme Court may choose to hear and decide a related case in order to ensure that all 50 states operate under the same interpretation of the law.
Cases that are important or unique : The Court will decide to hear unique or momentous cases such as U. Wade , dealing with abortion, or Bush v.
Gore , involving the contested presidential election. Cases that are interesting : Being human, the Supreme Court justices will sometimes choose to hear a case simply because it involves a favorite area of law. When it comes to petitions for writ of certiorari, the Supreme Court gets many but grants few. The vast majority of petitions are denied. For example, of the 8, petitions filed during its term, the Court granted only 91, or about 1.
In its landmark decision in the case of Roe v. In deciding to grant certiorari in Roe v. Wade , the Supreme Court faced a thorny legal issue. By the time the lengthy Roe v. Wade appeal finally reached the Supreme Court, the appellant, a Texas woman "Jane Roe" who had sued after having been denied the right to have an abortion under Texas law, had already given birth and surrendered the child for adoption. As a result, her legal standing in the case was uncertain.
In granting certiorari, the Supreme Court reasoned that because of the lengthy appeals process, it would be impossible for any expectant mother to have standing, thus preventing the Court from ever ruling on abortion or reproductive rights issues. Feeling the law involved merited review, the Court granted the petition for certiorari.
In , Ohio corrections officials spent two hours trying—but failing—to execute Romell Broom by lethal injection. In the case of Gideon v. Wainwright , Gideon v. Wainwright , U. The Court granted the writ, heard the case, and ruled that Gideon was entitled to have a lawyer represent him and that if he could not afford one, then the government had to pay for one.
Of the 7, petitions filed in the term, 87 cases were eventually argued. With such a large number of petitions filed, and a less than 1 percent acceptance rate, what kind of cases do the justices typically grant? Remember, the Supreme Court is a court of discretionary jurisdiction. It does not exist as a court to right every legal wrong, or to correct every social injustice.
Typically, the cases fall into one of three categories. The first category is a case of tremendous national importance, such as the Bush v. Gore Bush v. Gore , U. These cases are rare, but they dominate headlines on the Supreme Court. Second, the justices typically take on a case when they believe that a lower court has misapplied or misinterpreted a prior Supreme Court precedent. This category is also fairly infrequent.
By far, the majority of cases granted by the Supreme Court fall into the third category, the circuit split A split among the federal circuit courts of appeals on the meaning of a federal law. Recall that there are thirteen circuit courts of appeals in the United States see Figure 2. Federal Courts". Eleven are divided geographically among the several states and hear cases coming from district courts within their jurisdiction.
Thus, for example, someone who loses a case in federal district court in Pennsylvania will appeal his or her case to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, while a litigant who loses in Florida will appeal his or her case to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. In addition to the eleven numbered circuit courts, there are two additional specialized courts of appeals.
They are both seated in the District of Columbia. The U. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is a specialized court that mainly hears appeals involving intellectual property cases, such as those involving patent law. This is usually acknowledged as "cert. Further, Rule 10 of the U. Supreme Court's rules states that it will only grant a petition for cert. When the U. Supreme Court grants or denies cert.
Justices are not precluded, however, from issuing written statements when they dissent or concur with the decision made by the Court concerning the petition. As of , Justice Sonia Sotomayor has issued more of these statements than any other justice.
Most of her statements deal with cases involving the criminal justice system. The following indicate the character of the reasons the Court considers for granting a writ of certiorari:. The denial of a petition for writ of certiorari does not have any effect on the case. The lower court's judgment still stands. Further, denial of cert. It merely means that the higher court does not find the legal issues raised in the petition to be important enough to consider at that time.
Before taking office, each Justice must be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Justices hold office during good behavior, typically, for life. The Constitution states that the Supreme Court has both original and appellate jurisdiction. Original jurisdiction means that the Supreme Court is the first, and only, Court to hear a case. The Constitution limits original jurisdiction cases to those involving disputes between the states or disputes arising among ambassadors and other high-ranking ministers.
Appellate jurisdiction means that the Court has the authority to review the decisions of lower courts. Most of the cases the Supreme Court hears are appeals from lower courts. Parties who are not satisfied with the decision of a lower court must petition the U. Supreme Court to hear their case. 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.
In fact, the Court accepts of the more than 7, cases that it is asked to review each year. Typically, the Court hears cases that have been decided in either an appropriate U.
Court of Appeals or the highest Court in a given state if the state court decided a Constitutional issue. The Supreme Court has its own set of rules. According to these rules, four of the nine Justices must vote to accept a case.
Five of the nine Justices must vote in order to grant a stay, e. Under certain instances, one Justice may grant a stay pending review by the entire Court. Each Justice is permitted to have between three and four law clerks per Court term. These are individuals who, fairly recently, graduated from law school, typically, at the top of their class from the best schools.
Often, they have served a year or more as a law clerk for a federal judge. Among other things, they do legal research that assists Justices in deciding what cases to accept; help to prepare questions that the Justice may ask during oral arguments; and assist with the drafting of opinions. The participating Justices divide their petitions among their law clerks. The law clerks, in turn, read the petitions assigned to them, write a brief memorandum about the case, and make a recommendation as to whether the case should be accepted or not.
The Justice provides these memoranda and recommendations to the other Justices at a Justices' Conference. If the Justices decide to accept a case grant a petition for certiorari , the case is placed on the docket.
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