ABA Family Legal Guide

How the Legal System Works

The Civil Trial: Step by Step

Procedures After Trial

How does the U.S. Supreme Court decide whether to hear a case?

In the usual course, a party seeking review in the U.S. Supreme Court will file a petition asking the Court to issue a writ of certiorari. This is simply a request to review the case. This petition will include a copy of the lower court's opinion and a brief. A brief states why the Court should agree to review the decision. The other party may file a brief in opposition to the petition. The Court will then either deny the petition (its action in most cases) or grant it, and if granted, require the federal or state court to transmit the record of the case to the U.S. Supreme Court for its review. In his book The Supreme Court: How It Was, How It Is (New York: Morrow, 1987), Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist describes the process of selecting which petitions to grant as being influenced by the justices' views on three major factors:

1. if the decision is from one of the federal courts of appeal, whether it is in conflict with the decisions of other circuits;

2. the general importance of the case; and

3. whether the lower court's decision may be wrong in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's previous opinions.